4 Comments
Jul 16Liked by Neil Paine

Is there any method that can estimate Bill Russell's championship probability added?

Expand full comment
author

Yes, I could do the same exercise using Elo for Russell's Celtics. Perhaps something for later in the summer...

Expand full comment
Jul 16Liked by Neil Paine

and also perhaps examine Jerry West's (soul destroying) Finals experience

Expand full comment
Jul 8Liked by Neil Paine

LeBron is a modern day Sisyphus...with he and his media enablers pushing their pro-LeBron (now craven and increasingly desperate anti-Jordan) boulder up the mountain so hard every year as eternity ruthlessly marches on..."LA got Westbrook!"..."LA quietly won the offseason again people!!"..."LA won the inaugural play-in tournament. That banner counts!!"..."Darvin Ham is so perfect for LeBron at this stage of his career!!"...all to no avail as the postseason arrives.

That, and then the supposedly more media savvy LeBron was checkmated by The Last Dance dropping at the outset of the Pandemic to remind new generations - repeatedly - of the prior greater monarchy and the need to please be kind and rewind. So guess who suddenly decided to film their own doc?

Like Wile E. Coyote, always chasing...but never catching. Beep beep.

When LeBron arrived in Los Angeles the media instructed the public that at least three championships awaited. As Magic Johnson reminded everyone as Wilbon dutifully giggled at his side, that's what LA does. Six years later, only an asterisk remains after LeBron was afforded nearly 5 months to rest during the Pandemic before that run.

That led to sudden but predictable annual late season ankle and difficult to resolve soft tissue injuries that reduced his playing time each year as the postseason approached...but don't call it load management. That's bad for the competitor brand.

Sports greatness is so often defined less by what you do, and more by how you look doing it. Aesthetics and iconic moments matter. Just say "Michael Jordan" and the reel of legendary - unbelievable - moments starts rolling in your head. Say "LeBron James" and you think of the date on his birth certificate as images of Ray Allen from the corner fills your head. Jordan was so iconic that at one point there was even a strong push to replace Jerry West as the NBA logo with Michael's image.

Eternity is a long time, but it's July and the boulder awaits at the bottom as Michael's image sits atop the mountain.

Expand full comment