ThePhillySportsBlog

I didn’t want the Philadelphia 76ers to sign LeBron James.  There, I said it.

I understand that signing LeBron James makes the Sixers better, but I just personally don’t want to deal with all the unnecessary drama that accompanies LeBron wherever he goes.  And yes, there is always drama, because LeBron is a narcissist.  Plus, he is the biggest flopper in the NBA.  If I wanted to see a guy flop all the time, I would watch soccer (Note: I do NOT watch soccer).

Free agents in the NBA sign with new teams within a matter of days or even a week or two.  With LeBron, it’s weeks or months because he has to be the center of attention at all times. It’s like he’s a Kartrashian. 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver even had to come out and tell LeBron to stop the nonsense and announce where he is going to play this season, so that the NBA could finalize their schedule.  LeBron is so popular, that the NBA needs him on primetime and holiday TV broadcasts as much as possible for ratings.  Me?  I could care less if the Sixers are a TV ratings draw.  The NFL has taken over TV viewership on Christmas day, so it doesn’t matter which NBA teams are playing on that day any longer.

I get that LeBron is probably the most popular professional athlete playing today, but I care about sports, not Q-scores.  I care about wins, not TV ratings.  I care about my teams, as a whole, more than the individual players on those teams.  LeBron makes everything about him.

Hell, the guy gave himself the nickname “king”. That’s a joke.

What isn’t a joke is that the Sixers now have the fourth best odds to win the NBA Championship next season behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and the defending champion New York Knicks.  For a team everyone assumed had zero chance to win anything for years after they got crushed by the Kicks in the playoffs, that’s quite a turnaround.

To be fair, the Sixers actually became legitimate title contenders before LeBron decided to join the team.  When new GM Mike Gansey somehow got Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics for Paul George and draft picks, the Sixers suddenly became legit.  LeBron and his agent have said that the trade for Brown put Philadelphia on his free agency radar.  So that means that LeBron thought that the Sixers were his best chance to win a championship.

That brings me to the biggest reason, I don’t like LeBron.  While Michael Jordan made everyone around him better and carried the Chicago Bulls to six championships, LeBron has had to move around and pick and choose the best spots for him to win his four championships.  He literally had to build a superteam around him to win his championships.

LeBron isn’t as good as Jordan, but his bloated ego has him constantly trying to convince everyone that he’s the GOAT.  He’s not.  Jordan has never said that he’s the best basketball player ever.  He doesn’t have to.  Even if LeBron wins two championships in Philly during his two-year contract with the Sixers, he still won’t be the GOAT.  If you don’t agree, then I know you never saw Jordan play.

The good thing about that two-year contract is that it is only for $8 million.  Considering that LeBron is a billionaire, he doesn’t need another big contract.  Plus, no team that was capable of winning a championship this coming season had any cap space, for obvious reasons.

Now I know you think I’m unfairly trashing LeBron, so allow me to bring up his positives.  He’s the NBA’s all-time leader in points and games played, a four-time MVP and has won those four championships in Miami (2012 and 2013), Cleveland (2016) and LA (2020).  While he’s no longer an MVP Candidate at the age of 41, he is still a great player with a high basketball IQ.

LeBron averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals a game last season in LA.  This is important to note, since he was not the number one offensive option in LA with Luka Doncic on the team.

With the Sixers, LeBron is going to be the third offensive option most nights and the fourth option half of the season.  Jaylen Brown is the best player on the Sixers now and that isn’t even up for debate.  Tyrese Maxey is the second-best player on the Sixers and, for the handful of games that he might actually be healthy and able to play, Joel Embiid is the third best player.  Can LeBron exist as more of a facilitator than a scorer on this roster?  That is the biggest question that we need answered.  I assume the answer is yes, or else he would have signed somewhere else to further pad his stats.

Speaking of Embiid, if he isn’t healthy for the playoffs, this team can’t win.  That’s not a slight on any of the other players on the team, it’s just the reality of the salary cap in the NBA.  Quick, name the Sixers backup center……….

It’s not Andre Drummond anymore.  He signed with the Kicks.  The backup centers on the Sixers roster are Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti.  Sixers fans need to pray that LeBron somehow teaches Embiid how to stay healthy for a change.

LeBron should be able to fit in with the Sixers since he has shown that he can bring the ball up the court and run a halfcourt offense from time-to-time.  That will free up Maxey to be more of a scorer.  Again, this is assuming that LeBron is willing to sacrifice his scoring stats in order to win.  We’ll see about that.

Another issue I can see with this situation is how Jaylen Brown will react to yet another mouth to feed on offense.  Brown didn’t choose the Sixers.  He was traded to Philly.  Depending on which story you believe, either the Celtics traded Brown because they couldn’t fit him and other the Celtics players under the salary cap, or Brown didn’t like sharing the spotlight with Jason Tatum.

Philadelphia just had to trade away another disgruntled Brown.  The Sixers need to hope that Jaylen Brown is going to be happy and willing to sign an extension with the team and not try to force his way out of town, like AJ Brown did with the Eagles.  I would find it hilarious though, if Jaylen Brown is unhappy about not getting the ball enough and when asked what he thinks is wrong with the Sixers offense, his response is simply “passing”.

Ultimately, LeBron signing with the Sixers can’t be considered anything but a positive in a basketball sense.  I get that.  He’s still a great player, even at his advanced age.  I just won’t enjoy the spectacle that comes with the LeBron James experience.

Finally, LeBron has to deliver a championship like the last big addition to the Sixers did.  Back in the summer of 1982, the Sixers signed restricted free agent and reigning NBA MVP Moses Malone a contract.  The Houston Rockets matched the offer but had to do a sign-and-trade with the Sixers.  Malone came to Philly and delivered an NBA Championship in his first season with the Sixers in 1983 and was named the league MVP and Finals MVP.  It wasn’t quite the “Fo, Fo, Fo” that Moses promised, but by storming through the playoffs with a 12-1 record, it was Fo, Five, Fo.

If this signing doesn’t lead to at least one championship, it will be considered a colossal failure for LeBron and the Sixers.  Moses led the Sixers to the Promised Land.  Now it’s up to the guy who calls himself the King, to do the same.