You Need To Be Skilled To Be The Best

This isn't going to be long but this is important to me. I legitametly don't think you can think LeBron James is the best basketball player of all time unless you just look at numbers. I can't deny that he's dominant, has insane longevity, and has done things no other player has done before but there's no way you watch him play and think he's the best.

Of all the basketball players in the GOAT conversation he has to be the least skilled. I mean watch this YouTube video on the best basketball players from 2017 (1 year after winning his Cleveland title): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iMN8kfPCVM (Embedding videos is a feature request relax).

In the video we have some players with incredible skill, Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, all of them talk about a move that they make and showcase their knowledge of the game and ball handling ability. Lebron James literally shows a crossover into a dunk, like how is that a skill and how can do you showcase that as your signature move?? You dunked the basketball bro. He's very knowledgable, has a high basketball IQ, and is really athletic, it's not like he needs to do all the thinks a 6 foot guard like Curry has to do to score but damn how is that your signature move. Dribble, dribble, dunk: incredible.

Here's a highlight video for Lebron, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b117a8_jALE. There are some great plays there but how is this the best of all time. It's a bunch of dunks and drives and most of them just him going fast. It's great that he's found a playstyle that works: being a bulldozer, but in my opinion if you are going to be the greatest you have to showcase a certain level of skill and raise the ceiling of what was thought to be possible on the court. We've seen 40 year olds play really well, not as well as Lebron, but other than his age and longevity the ceiling hasn't been raised. I've seen a dude dunk a ball and run fast.

Other Alternatives

I'm not going to sit and advocate for a specific player being the greatest but watch some of these highlights and tell me they are not more impressive

• Michael Jordan (Of Course)
• Kobe Bryant
• Shaq (He dunks it better)
• Steph Curry

It's not about having the greatest highlight reel, otherwise we would be watching AND1 mixtapes but it has to be nice man. Also all of these players are some of the most interesting players to follow. They have incredible storylines of adversity and success. Kobe might have the greatest story as he was a great storyteller but MJ and Steph also have great story lines, MJ of dominance and being a winner and Steph of being a great leader and being able to win with different teammates and times. All of these players also changed what was possible. Kobe and MJ taking teams to championships while taking some of the hardest shots you can on the basketball court, Shaq showing how dominant a big man can be, and Steph showing how dominant a small guard can be when a team spaces the ball and is willing to throw up 3's.

Beauty

The final point here is that sports isn't just about numbers and statistics, it's meant to be watched. Fans are spectators, they are there to watch the game and the game is meant to be pleasant on our eyes. We can watch games for storylines and feelings and attachments to players and teams but it would be dissmissive to not talk about the art and beauty that a sport can showcase. These are some of the greatest athletes on Earth moving their body in a way that only they can.

One of Michael Jordan's first nicknames was "The Black Cat". That might seem like a really weird name (perhaps in this era the word "Black" is especially odd) but it was a reference to his movement. He was so graceful he moved like a black cat, a Panther. When you went to watch a game you saw things you didn't see before, and you saw a human move with a grace and ferocity never before beholden to the human eye. I wasn't old enough to see MJ play but even on YouTube you can see the grace.

I know I said that I wouldn't advocate for a player but it's probably obvious who I think the GOAT is. I mean look at that swagger.