LeBron James recently climbed into illustrious ranks in the NBA, becoming one of only two players ever to rank in the all-time top 25 for both points and assists. The other player: Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.
Naturally, that invites comparisons. But as LeBron explains, he's tired of listening to them.
"I think what we get caught up in, in our league too much is trying to compare greats to greats instead of just accepting and acknowledging and saying, 'Wow, these are just great players,'" James told Cleveland.com. "I think in the NFL when you talk about great quarterbacks, they don't really compare great quarterbacks. They say, 'Oh, Joe Montana is great.' You know, 'Tom Brady is great. Aaron Rodgers is great. Steve Young is great.'
"(Terry) Bradshaw, all those great quarterbacks they never compare them as much, but when it comes to our sport we're so eager to say, 'Who is better, Oscar or (Michael) Jordan?' or, 'Jordan or LeBron or Kobe (Bryant) or these guys?' instead of just accepting greatness."
Since James was in high school, he's been endlessly compared with players ahead of him. He was pitted against Kobe as the best players of their time, framed as an heir to Jordan, and his multi-faceted skill set has inevitably drawn comparisons to Robertson, who was a triple-double machine in his prime, just as James is a threat on any given night.
It's no surprise James is losing his patience with the side-by-side comparisons, which detract from the best part of his game: That it's happening live in front of our eyes.
