Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate greatness when we are in the midst of greatness. We never stop to think about what we are watching right now will be sports history 20, 50, and maybe even 100 years from now. 20 years ago, in the sports word Tiger Woods won his first Masters. The Bulls won their 5th championship of the decade on the way to their second three peat. Brett Favre won his first and only Super Bowl. 50 years ago, the Packers won the first ever Super Bowl. UCLA, coached by John Wooden, beat the Dayton Flyers to win the NCAA championship. Now thinking about this, I’ve composed some things in the NBA today that we might talk about decades from now.

LeBron James – Nothing really needs to be said about this guy. 3 titles and 7 straight Finals appearances is just scratching the surface with this guy. His domination and greatness has been done by very few in sports in general. This guy brought a title to Cleveland. That right there puts him up with the greats. I mean, even in the past week, this guy put up 57 points at age 32. Similar to Kobe Bryant, it will be a very hard day for everyone in generation to see LeBron leave the game basketball because he has been the guy in the NBA ever since we have been able to understand what we were watching when it came to basketball.

Gregg Popovich – Talk about a basketball mastermind. This guy coaches basketball like none other. A Popovich team always seems to play the most unselfish basketball ever. Always making the extra pass and practically doing circles around the other team. Popovich has built a dynasty down in San Antonio. Winning 5 Finals over the past 20 years, NEVER having a losing record over the course of those 20 years, and just gathered his 1,156th win passing Phil Jackson to be number 6 in total wins by any coach. By the end of the season he could be number 3 on that list. The incredible thing about the Spurs is they draft their star players. You have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and Kawhi Leonard. It’s hard to think that one of the greatest basketball minds ever is coaching in our world today.

Russell Westbrook – We all know how hard Westbrook plays every night and how he leaves his all every time he goes out on the floor. And I don’t know about you guys, but the fact that he averaged a triple double last year still blows my mind. Only one other person has done this for a season and that man’s name is Oscar Robertson. Everyone says that he is only doing this because the players around him aren’t that good and he is just padding his stats instead of winning. For people who say that, let me show this fact. Every time Westbrook got a triple double, OKC’s winning percentage was 78.6%. When he didn’t, it was 35%. So obviously he needed to do that in order for his team to have the best chance of winning. Also, if he was only doing it because his team wasn’t that good, where were LeBron’s seasons of averaging triple doubles in his early years in Cleveland when his teams were about the same as OKC last year?

Steph Curry – Whether you like the guy or not, you have to respect his ability to shoot a basketball. Curry has never shot below 40% from the 3-point line in his career. He is the only player in the history of basketball where you expect the basketball to go in every single time he shoots it. Think about it, you’re more surprised when he shoots it and it doesn’t go in. And do you know what’s the most amazing part about it? He still manages to get wide open sometimes. Like can we just imagine how that player feels whenever he is guarding Curry and loses him and Curry is just sitting with the ball with all the time in the world to shoot? Like he had one job and he still couldn’t do it. Curry will go down as one of, and maybe the best, shooters of all-time.

Steve Kerr – Yes, I know this man fell into one of the best jobs ever known to man. It’s a lot easier to win games when the team you start with has 3 all-stars on it and you eventually have two MVP caliber players on the same team as well. But let’s take a step back on that for a second. The year before Kerr was there the Warriors got bumped out of the playoffs in the first round and posed no real threat to make a title run. Once Kerr became head coach and implemented his own plan, they went from good to elite really quick. Am I saying this guy is as good as Popovich? I think it’s too early to tell for that. But winning 2 championships and making three straight finals in your first three years has to be respected and exciting to see what else this guy can do in the years to come.

Michael Jordan once said, “I believe greatness is an evolutionary process than changes and evolves era to era.” I think we can all agree all of these guys I have stated have recreated greatness through different ways. And the beautiful part about it, we get to sit back and enjoy the greatness of each of these guys and the guys to come.