It is Time For Everyone to Stop Hating and Start Enjoying the Greatness of LeBron James

by

Dear NBA Fans,

It is okay to like LeBron James. It is okay to think that he is one of the best players of all-time. Heck, it is even okay if you think LeBron is better than Kobe, or Larry, or Magic or even Michael. It is all okay.

We as basketball fans, yes The Informer included, need to get over this notion that if LeBron is great it will somehow diminish the greatest of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and every other great player who came before him. Here is a newsflash; it is not going to diminish their greatness.

Also, we need to stop downgrading what LeBron is doing because we are scared it will somehow make us traitors to MJ or Kobe. Trust The Informer, saying LeBron had a great game or liking the way he plays is not going to make you like MJ any less.

We all need to remember that no matter what happens in the next 50 years, we will always have the memories of those great players –they can’t be taken away from us. But, it is also okay to get new memories; which means it is also okay to enjoy watching new greatness while it is happening.

Listen, The Informer will always say Michael was the greatest player he ever watched. That is not going to change because LeBron scores 38 points in a Finals game. With that said, The Informer can totally appreciate what LeBron does on the court today while still cherishing the memories that made Jordan the greatest too him.

Memories of Mike dropping 50 points against Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals, the time “His Airness” dunked on Patrick Ewing, the night Jordan made six 3-point shots in the first quarter of Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals before shrugging his shoulders towards Magic because even he couldn’t believe how awesome he was at basketball.

Liking LeBron does not make those memories vanish.

Furthermore, thinking James is going to go down as one of the greatest does not change the fact that #45 dropped 55 points in the Garden a month after returning from a year and a half sabbatical where he tried to become a baseball player. It does not erase the 72 win season, the two separate 3-peats, or the fact that his 30.12ppg scoring average for his career is the highest in NBA history (Jordan also retired with the second most points in NBA history. Karl Malone has since past him leaving him third all-time).

Finally, while MJ is the greatest player The Informer has ever watched, Kobe Bryant is my favorite player of all-time. Guess what, just because The Informer now roots for LeBron (only when Kobe, Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook are not playing of course) does not and will not ever change that.

And if LeBron leads the Heat to their first 3-peat it will not erase Kobe’s five titles, or the year Kobe went “Black Mamba” and averaged 35ppg, or the time when Kobe scored 50 points in four straight games and 40 points in nine straight games (both non-Wilt records), or the time Kobe outscored the Dallas Mavericks 63-62 through three quarters, or the 81 points he scored against the Raptors. These are Kobe accomplishment that can never be deleted from history, no matter how great the next great player is.

Ultimately, The Informer’s point is that it’s time to stop with the “so and so would never have done that” or “LeBron can never be this” angles/stories. The fact of the matter is we don’t know what so and so would have done, or what LeBron is going to become, because so and so is not playing in today’s NBA and LeBron is only 29 years old (this means he still has another 7-10 years of great basketball left before we should even begin to talk about his legacy).

That is why today The Informer is writing to the NBA fans urging them to stop with all the hate. Stop with all the negativity. Stop with the LeBron will never be arguments and just enjoy watching one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game at the height of his powers before it is too late.

For those who don’t know what The Informer is talking about, let me ask you a question: Who remembers Harold Miner, Anfernee Hardaway, Jerry Stackhouse, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and even Kobe to an extent?

These were all guys that we (sports fans/media) wanted to be the next Jordan. The funny thing is they all played when Michael was still playing. Yet we were so caught up with trying to find the next MJ that many of us forgot to sit back and enjoy the real version.

That is exactly what is happening now with LeBron. We are all so quick to point out every LeBron fault and how he will never be so and so that we are forgetting to enjoy the greatness he brings every night. The sooner we all realize this, the sooner we will all be able to enjoy watching a true champion in his prime playing basketball at one of the highest levels we have ever seen.

In closing, The Informer is begging everyone to calm the LeBron rhetoric down, forget about legacies and careers, and for the next four games just enjoy watching the 2014 NBA Finals for what they are –the two best teams in the NBA and one of the greatest superstars ever battling for the right to be called champion.

Because in the end isn’t being champion what it is all about? And the last time The Informer checked, the reigning champion of the NBA is still LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

As the old saying goes, to be the best you have to beat the best. The Informer doesn’t know about “all-time”, but currently that means the best is still “The King”.

#Stop hating and enjoy the greatness.

Sincerely,

The Informer

