Ok I see I need to have a little come to Jesus talk with some folks around here.

Let's start off with a little history lesson...

Let's go for a ride OKS. Come with good ol' Uncle Truth as we take a trip down to West Monroe, Louisiana. There in 1934 Charles and Katie Russell had a son and named him William Felton Russell. The younger Russell, who would later be known as Bill, grew up to become a great basketball player winning 11 NBA championships and a was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the only NBA player to ever receive that award.

A couple of years later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, William Chamberlain and Olivia Ruth Johnson had a son and named him Wilton Norman Chamberlain. "Wilt", as he was called, grew up to become an outstanding basketball player as well and set statistical records that had never been achieved before and haven't been matched since.

However, as great as Chamberlain was individually, he only won 2 NBA titles in 5 trips to the Finals and Russell was considered to be the better winner and better player by most accounts. #RingsMatter

Then there would be another great player to come along by the name of Julius Winfield Erving II from Long Island, New York. His high-flying, slam-dunking style would take the game to a new level. Additionally Erving was also an oustanding defender, rebounder, passer and ballhandler at the forward position.

Erving went to the NBA Finals 4 times in 7 years but only won title. In 4 of those seasons in the Eastern Conference Finals Erving faced the Boston Celtics led by Larry Joe Bird from French Lick, Indiana and they split those series 2-2. During that same time-frame Bird went on to win 3 championships and is almost universally considered to be the superior player even though for anyone that actually watched them play it was nowhere near that clear cut. #RingsMatter

Once Bird got past Erving in the Eastern conference he had another nemesis usually waiting for him, a fella named Ervin Johnson Jr. from Lansing, Michigan. They called him Magic. Bird and Magic played each other in the Finals 3 times in 4 years and Magic's Lakers won 2 of the 3. Overall Magic won 5 titles in 9 trips to the Finals and despite Larry Bird's greatness winning league MVP for 3 consecutive seasons(the last player to do so) Larry only won 3 titles in 5 Finals appearances so in the NBA hierarchy most people have Magic ranked higher. #RingsMatter
(sidenote: I've never heard anyone discount Magic or Larry's titles when they didn't win Finals MVP)

And then He came. To James Jordan Sr. and his wife Deloris and child was born in Brroklyn, New York. They named him Michael Jeffrey Jordan and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Michael would grow up to be a great basketball player as well. Michael's dominance in the NBA was evident from day one but some said while he was a great individual player he would never win a title. Jordan would eventually silence those critics and win 6 titles in six trips to the Finals and be considered as the Greatest of All-Time. #RingsMatter

And I could go on...

Why is Olajuwon considered head and shoulders over contemporaries like Robinson and Ewing? #RingsMatter

Why is Duncan universally considered the greatest power forward of all time over people like 2nd all-time leading scorer Karl Malone and Charles Barkley? #RingsMatter

Why is Isiah Thomas considered better than all-time assists and steals leader John Stockton? #RingsMatter

Why is 2-time league MVP Steve Nash considered inferior to those two who never won MVP? #RingsMatter

Now we have our current hero. On December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio a 16-year-old Gloria Marie James gave birth to a bouncing baby boy and named him Lebron Raymone James.

"King James" as he is know IS the greatest basketball player in the world RIGHT TODAY(c)wc.

But that's not good enough for some people. They want to push him higher. They want to elevate him and push him past certain folks. Some event want to put him on the same level as the GOAT himself, Michael Jeffery Jordan.

They want to totally dismiss that other guy. You know who. Joe and Pam's son Kobe Bean Bryant.

He came in and snatched 3 rings almost right out the gate. But that didn't count. He was a "sidekick". He just rode Shaq's coattails. It's not like he wasn't out there at 21 years-old averaging 21ppg and leading the team in assists and steals en route to the Lakers first title in over a decade. It wasn't like they didn't run it back the next year with Kobe scoring the same about of points as Shaq and still leading the team in assists sweeping the first 3 rounds of the playoffs with Kobe dropping ALL of his nuts in the Spurs mouths culminating with them dominated the Sixers who had the league's best record. I mean that was Shaq chasing MVP Allen Iverson around on the perimeter and forcing him to shoot only 40%. Its not like they didn't 3-peat, the only team to do so since Jordan's Bulls. Something no other "great teams" have been able to accomplish in recent times like San Antonio or Miami.

But then Shaq left, folks said Kobe would never win another title. But he sneaked back in and snatched two more rings out of the cookie jar and all of a sudden motherfuckers got scared. They wanted to change the rules. All of sudden #Rings don't matter as much.

Now they wanna hype "finals appearances", it doesn't matter if you won or not as long as you participated, lol.

Is that where we really are now?

The reality is Lebron SHOULD BE going for at least his sixth title now.

He should have won at least one in Cleveland before. That 08-09 team good enough to win 66 regular season games, sweep the Pistons and the Hawks in the first 2 rounds, but couldn't get past an Orlando team lead by Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu? How silly does that even sound? lol. Was that Cleveland team THAT much worse than the guys Lebron is playing with now?

And then he took his talents to South Beach. What did he say? "Not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7". That first year after and few early struggles but then they got on a roll. They finished the season strong and rolled through the first 3 rounds of the playoffs dropping only one game in each series.

Then it happened. I know Lebron fans like to Cuban B(c) the shit but the 2011 NBA Finals actually happened. Yes, it did. Your boy nutted up in a major and almost inexplicable way. I don't know if he was really that intimidated by Shawn Marion and DeShawn Stevenson or if Gloria was in big to the mob for gambling debts and he was forced to throw the series to save her life but he had probably one of the worst and most bizarre performances by a star player in NBA Finals history that no one can really explain to this day.

The next year he finally got over the hump. It took Wade breaking Rondo's arm in the conference finals and they were able to dominate a super young OKC team but Lebron FINALLY got that first ring.

He got another the next year. The Pacers stretched Miami to the max and they were basically a lucky bounce from losing to the Spurs in the finals but in the end it doesn't matter and Lebron is a two-time champion.

The next season they rolled through the first 3 rounds but the Spurs had their number and wiped the floor with them pretty easily.

Then all of a sudden Lebron didn't have enough "help" again and ran back to Cleveland.

Now he's back in the Finals again for the 5th straight year and people are trumpeting that like its a significant accomplishment even though he only has 2 titles to show for including his 2007 finals appearance giving him 6 overall.

But if he can manage to beat Steph and the Warriors in the finals he'll be halfway to basketball immortality. Jordan won 3 of his titles after age 30.

Lebron can do it too but lets not anoint him just yet, let him EARN his place in history like everybody else did. Don't discount it, don't grade him on a curve. He can still do this. The NBA is wide open right now. Durant and OKC was supposed to be "next" team but its not looking like that now. The Warriors are looking strong but its going to take a salary cap genius to keep that team together. Lebron and the Cavs look like they could easily run off a few titles the way they are playing right now.

But for now let's officially dead the #BronCurve and cease the blaspheming of the one true GOAT MJ and let the "King" EARN his crown.

THE DOORS OF THE CHURCH ARE OPEN!!

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"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0