Former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce has made the case for LeBron James not belonging to the elite of basketball. The former small forward appeared on ESPN’s ‘NBA Countdown’ where he discussed a lot of topics, including Michael Jordan’s documentary ‘The Last Dance’.
Jalen Rose called out Pierce and Jay Williams for criticizing LeBron James and his ‘greatness’ after watching Jordan’s docu-series. That started the debate around LeBron and His Airness, with Pierce telling everybody that Bron doesn’t even belong to the top 5 best players in basketball history.
Pierce explained how LeBron’s journey in the league is different than other players who built a successful team from scratch, instead of jumping around the league to join with other players and have an easier path to the Finals and the championship.
“What has LeBron did to build up any organization from the ground? I’m talking about these players, top-5 players. Bill Russell built the organization of Boston, Kareem, Magic, Jordan, Tim Duncan, Kobe, Bird. These guys are all-time top 10 players who helped build their organization or continued the tradition.”
Pierce said that Bron left the Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat and then returned to Cleveland creating teams to compete for championships, not building them as the aforementioned guys did. Some could say this is just Pierce taking shots at the King for their rivalry and that is a weak argument to say Bron doesn’t belong to the elite of the game. He’s earned the right to be considered one of the best players of all time and every time he landed in a new team, that squad improved its level significantly.
Perhaps it’s not about building a team from scratch but to make sure everybody around you becomes a better player when they step on the court. That’s the magic of LeBron James.
