How much does another Finals loss impact Lebron's legacy?

[mctyson]

Fair or not, Lebron's status as an all-time great will at least be partially impacted by his Finals record and how many rings he ultimately ends up with.

However, these last two years of Finals losses (including another presumptive loss this year) have been devastating for two reasons - A) he's essentially handpicked and assembled these teams the last two years, even including the coach this year, and B) this has now put him at an almost insurmountable Finals record to climb out of for a winning record.

2-5 in the Finals is pretty dang poor and equates to a winning percentage of around .285. Further, three of those losses (including this one if it goes only 5, which seems most likely) would be either by sweep or a gentleman's sweep of 5 games, and the other two were 6 game series that weren't necessarily all that close, more the GS one last year than the Mavs one. What's more, there have been several games in each series where Lebron has just simply failed to take over like the best player on the planet that he supposedly is.

So how will his legacy ultimately be affected due to this fairly terrible Finals record? Personally, I think it keeps him out of the question for a top-3 all-time great, no matter what other individual records he holds. And he certainly will never pass Jordan without a major turnaround in his Finals record.

Bonus question: does he win anymore titles in his career as the main man? Will he title chase at the end of his career?

This is a very good question and I have a lot to say about this guy as a player, but it's not all necessary at this point...

I think there are 3 key points that need to be made about Lebron:

1)  Adding him to any team in the NBA, even at 30+ years of age, immediately makes that team a Finals contender.  He has had this effect for almost his entire career.

2)  Lebron is not a good shooter.  He never has been, and he never will be.  He gets his points by using his superior athleticism, speed, and size.  He also gets his points by lowering his shoulder, or using an arm-bar push-off (ie an offensive foul).  The NBA allows this all the time in the regular season (and gives him foul calls when he initiates contact) but come playoffs that does not happen, and he cannot adjust because he is a mediocre shooter.

3) He has proven himself to be the biggest prima donna in NBA history.  He left Cleveland for Miami because he knew he couldn't beat Pierce and KG with his Cleveland squad.  He left Miami for Cleveland when he knew that he would never get the credit there because Dwayne Wade was his teammate.  He is so obsessed with his own narrative of greatness.

[MBunge]

How many times has LeBrons team actually been on par or better than his opponent in the finals?

His final year in Cleveland before leaving, they had a title-contending roster and their playoff failure was as much LeBron's fault as anyone's.  His first year in Miami, everyone thought they were better than Dallas.  He beat the Spurs once and then lost when both teams had virtually the same roster.  Plenty of people also gave Miami the edge against the Thunder.

So, that's four trips to the Finals where LeBron's team was either considered better or as good as the opponent.  He went 2-2.  Throw in at least one more season with the Cavs, and I think you can probably add one more because nobody thought Orlando was that great when they beat LeBron and went to the Finals.  That makes him, at minimum, 2-4 when he had a very good chance to go to or win the Finals.

Not terrible but definitely something to consider when it comes to his all time great ranking.

Mike

[trickybilly]

The argument that you have to have at least 4 or 5 rings to vault into the top 5 is fairly persuasive, which is why I have to put Kobe ahead of Bird, which obviously makes me nauseus [cough]rapist[cough].

Re this series though, I am still amazed at how pathetic that system in Cleveland is. Bigs roll SO slowly out of screens, which themselves are set as strong as wet towels. I haven't seen one weak side pindown. There was SO MUCH useless pointless aimless off-ball action. That last 5 minutes was embarrassing. I feel like a college team with its meaningless 15 passes would have a shot at beating that cavs team last night.

Bron needs to player/coach or go to the spurs.

[chiken Green]

End of the list of All timers.. 
Never ever ever ever no matter how many super teams he forms to win Chips will his legacy ever hold a candle to the Goat..  No game 7's in the finals - never losing a finals -  no man can ever say that know what its like to beat the Goat when the light shined the brightest..

IF he loses his title this year and never Wins another the order should be:

The Goat, Magic, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, Bird, D-wade, Curry, Wit, Russell - James.

Once he forms or Joins a Super team his personal legacy stops an he will be judged as member of a super team Like the Globetrotters or the USA Dream team (or Pierce, Kg and Ray)