Post#96 » by DrModesty » Mon Jan 8, 2024 3:16 pm
Only 4 rings for the amount of resources LeBron has used is underwhelming given his talents. I think he has been so sensitive to failure that he can't help but spend picks, churn the roster, fire the coach, team up with stars or abandon ship when things aren't going right for him. Anything to get the stink of imperfection off of himself.
We see Steph have a couple of bad/lost years with the Warriors when Durant left and Klay got his injury. He put his faith in the organization and his teammates, even the second year after they lost in the play-in. It paid off with a title the next year. LeBron's playbook would have been to either leave or trade Klay, because LeBron just can't handle when things go wrong around him.
Kobe withstood 3 years of mediocrity after Shaq left in the middle of his prime before making a trade request. Even then he ended up staying, with a deal on the table because it wasn't a preferred destination. The Lakers manage to swing a Pau trade and he gets 2 more rings. LeBron is not toughing out 3 years of first round exits/missing the playoffs in his prime. It's short term contracts so he can leave when the going gets tough and the blame starts to stick to him rightly or wrongly.
Even Duncan had a 7 year stretch where the Spurs were only contenders/fringe contenders, including 3 years in the middle of not making a conference final. He kept faith in his teammates and organization, and they pulled out a 5th championship before Duncan was done.
We have seen that LeBron doesn't have the temperance to sit through the ebbs of a highly public and expectant NBA career. It has been full of moves that reek of desperation, and I can only put it down his narcissism and the insecurity that comes with it. This all sounds quite harsh, but I'm not blaming him for his choices. His ego has been fed like few others in human history. Many of us would have turned out similarly in his situation. 4 rings is just an underwhelming result.