Outrageous

Picked this up this morning at the Manila Standard Today.

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Greatest of all time?

By Anthony Suntay

NOBODY likes being wrong, but in this case, I was pleasantly surprised.

Before the National Basketball Association playoffs began, I predicted that the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs would meet in the finals, with the Spurs bagging another title for their trophy chest.

The Spurs made it, though the Phoenix Suns sure made it an interesting series.

The Pistons, on the other hand, were defeated by the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers, who I believed were a few years away from being a legitimate title contender.

And why not? This Cavs team is a group in transition.

Two years ago, they changed their majority owner, who then brought in a new and dynamic coach in Mike Brown. They then built around budding superstar LeBron James.

They have a pretty good mix in Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao, Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Alexander Pavlovic and rookie Daniel Gibson.

But I honestly felt that they still needed a couple of quality players to make it to the next level of the playoffs.

But who needs better players when you have King James?

LeBron played like royalty and made a believer out of me in this series. I always knew he was a special player, but to be this good, this early is amazing.

Just look at what he did in Game 5 alone: he scored 48 points—the team’s last 25, and 29 out of the last 30. This against one of the best defensive teams in the league. And he didn’t do it all in the paint. He mixed it up with jumpers from all over the court, going up against double and triple-teams. His final line was 9 rebounds and 7 assists, hitting 18-of-33 shots from the field and 10-of-14 free throws in 50 minutes of play.

Still not convinced?

He became the first player to score 25 straight points in the post season, his 48 were the most scored against the Pistons in over 590 games, that was back in Nov. 23, 2001. It was also the highest scoring game in Detroit by a playoff opponent since Elgin Baylor in 1961 and the most points against the Pistons in the playoffs since 1986 when Dominique Wilkins shot 50.

I believe it now when people say that we are fortunate to be able to watch all-time greats playing their sports during “our time.”

We had Michael Jordan in basketball and Pete Sampras in tennis recently. Now, we have Tiger Woods in golf and Roger Federer in tennis.

Now comes LeBron.

People keep talking about the heir apparent to Jordan. Kobe Bryant comes really close. His unbelievable skills, desire to win and tremendous effort on both ends of the court bring him so close to “His Airness.”

James has most of that, too, he just needs to be a bigger force on the defensive end, but he has made his teammates better and he has already carried them to greater heights.

And he just might lead them to the Promised Land, though I feel the Spurs should still be the favored team for the championship.

But with James in tow, the Cavs feel they can achieve anything.

And why not? After it’s all been said and done, LeBron just could be the greatest basketball player of all time.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=sports7_june9_2007

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You've gotta be kidding me. That's some strong shit your smoking to say this early that LeBron could possibly be the GOAT.

He's got a long way to go. He ain't even near Jordan territory. And unless he surpasses MJ's unearthly achievements. He'll never be The Next One.

Now, quit that shit and go get your ass off to rehab.