Lebron James, It’s time to be a Leader

The greatest players in history (Jordan, Russell, Magic, Bird) were THE LEADER of their respective teams. They did not hop onto another player's coattails when it came time to win a title, they had teams built around them.

We are almost a week into the NBA's free agency period and it is still very much up in the air as to where Lebron James will end up spending the next five or six years of his basketball playing life. The King has no shortage of options - every team with cap space has offered him a max contract, every team without cap space would sell the farm to create it if he expressed interest.

All of this for a player with zero, let me repeat that - zero, wins in the NBA finals. No rings, no championships, not even a single victory in a Finals game.

Not to imply that the hoopla is not entirely justified. James is the best player in the world. He has made the Cavaliers a relevant force to be dealt with in the league despite being surrounded by (with apologies to Mo Williams) primarily a group of has-beens or never will-bes. This includes a Finals appearance in 2007 (promptly swept by the Spurs). There is good reason that any NBA fan would be willing to give their left leg to watch him suit up for their team 82 times a year.

Conventional wisdom has James going to a team where he has a better chance to win. Hooking up in Miami with Dwyane Wade, Chicago with Derrick Rose and (possibly) Chris Bosh, or New York where the Knicks just reached an agreement with Amare Stoudemire. He is going to get paid no matter where he goes, but Lebron knows that his legacy depends on winning championships if he is to truly be consistently listed with the greats of the game.

If Lebron truly wants to be remembered as a guy who provided the leadership that gets a team a title, the choice is clear - re-sign with Cleveland.

It would not be an easy choice; the Cavs went for the kill the last couple of years to both appease James and win while they had him - which means that they currently hold a few bloated contracts and some players who are not going to be part of any long term solution moving forward. They are likely looking at rebuilding a couple of years before truly making another run at the title. Of course, in the Eastern Conference, rebuilding could still mean being a playoff team.

Why would this situation be the best for James' legacy? It is certainly not the best for immediate chances at winning a title. The answer is very simple - Cleveland is already Lebron's town. The Cavs have NEVER won a championship. If he wins one - just one - he is a hero there for all time. He will have done something that no other player has done before. In fact, the last professional athlete of any kind to lead Cleveland to a title was Jim Brown in 1964 (and that was pre-super bowl NFL days). This is a town that is starving for success.

If he goes to Miami, that is already Wade's town. Any championships won there will have a coattails feeling attached. Meanwhile, Chicago belongs to Michael Jordan. James could go there and become the team leader - but he would have to win 6+ titles to match MJ. With guys like Wade, Kobe Bryant, and emerging Kevin Durant playing top ball elsewhere in the league, the odds of anybody winning six from scratch in the near future seem far-fetched. The Knicks are also starved for a title run. He would be treated like a king there - but from a basketball standpoint, that does not appear to be a much better situation than Cleveland. He is better off staying with the devil that he knows.

It falls on the shoulder of James. Players like Jordan, Tim Duncan, Bryant, Wade, et al did not have to go to a different locale to win titles. They got it done with the team that they started with. Shaquille O'Neal had to become a hired gun (twice) to win his rings and his legacy will likely suffer (if only a bit) for that. James' legacy needs him to be the centerpiece. Championships will have to be built around him in order to go down as one of the greatest. If he can't do it - so be it, but at least he went down trying (and maybe the Cavs can spring for some leadership skills training).

If he goes elsewhere to win his title - people will still remember him fondly, but it won't be the same.