Ever since he made it to the NBA, it became pretty clear that LeBron James was on to something. He was just different, he was ready, he looked determined to become the greatest player ever.
However, he vastly struggled to find success earlier in his career because of the lack of a true supporting cast around him.
Needless to say, a young man with such an NBA-ready body and mindset managed to draw a lot of attention since the very first day, with some basketball legends showering him in praises and compliments because of his way of dominating the game.
That’s why Hall of Famer Bill Walton thought that all things considered, a 20-year-old LeBron was already an all-time great for what he did with the teammates he had.
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“LeBron James is there right now. And what he’s doing is just so spectacular, but is also sad and frustrating because LeBron has everything going for him, the talent, he reminds me so much of Michael Jordan in the early days of his career. Playing out there by himself. And his teammates are letting him down right now.
They don’t have any team spirit. They don’t have any concept of playing together and you see this guy who’s just 20 years old doing things that have never been done before and everybody else is sort of scratching their heads thinking ‘what do we do?’. They need a completely new team around him”, Walton stated.
Back in 2005, LeBron was averaging 27.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers per game on 42/35/72 shooting and a league-high 42.4 minutes per game. That was just his sophomore season.
Also, he played 80 games and made the first of his 16 All-Star Game appearances. However, he was unable to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to the playoffs that year as they finished the season with a 42-40 record and the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Now, 15 years later, we’re still talking about LeBron James’ impact and that says a lot about his greatness and his place among one of the greatest ever. Make no mistake, Bill Walton sure knew what he was talking about.
