Pretty simple question - of the two greats battling it out, who needs this Finals win to better cement their reputation? And why?
IMHO, if Lebron loses he is 2-3 in Finals and pretty much comes in automatic second to any “LeBron or Jordan” debate because of that.
I don’t think Duncan’s reputation will be as hard hit with a loss as the fact that he’s able to (at 37 and 38) lead his team to two back-to-back NBA Finals, especially after the devastating loss last year, reflects well on him and his organization. And he’ll still be 4-2 in NBA Finals.
In my mind, neither man “needs” a title more, and neither man has anything left to prove. Both are established as all-time greats, as future Hall of Famers, and as champions.
But from a fan/media standpoiint, it may FEEL as if LeBRon needs it more, solely because some fans and reporters will never let him to live down his "not one, not two, not three…: speech at the press conference where he announced he was going to Miami.
For MOST players, three championship rings would be a great legacy. But LeBron may have created a very tough standard to live up to.
I’m a Spurs fan, so I hope Duncan wins.
Duncan has nothing left to prove and no expectations left to live up to. Nobody expected him to be the Greatest Ever and nobody has ever suggested he could surpass Jordan as the best ever. He has quietly gone about his business winning for many years. He is now exactly what he will be remembered as no matter if they win or lose.
I personally agree with astorian that James should not have to prove anything more, but it is fact that public expectation of him is that he will always be greater. If he is never better than Jordan people will always wonder if he could have been. No such question surrounds Duncan.
That’s all there is to say, in my opinion.
I agree that neither “needs” it. But it would elevate Duncan to legendary status, since 5 rings would put him past Shaq and equal to Kobe. Quite frankly, Kobe is way over-rated in my book but the general public’s opinion is what ultimately matters in terms of legacy. And Duncan should already be legendary, but beating Lebron twice would cement this.
Assuming no serious injury, Lebron will probably be on another 10 title-contending teams so he has quite a bit of time. Yes, being 2-3 in the Finals will be a negative to some, but I think he’ll win at least a handful before retirement.
Well, they both “need” it as it will help fill out the narrative arc of their careers. And this is important because creating a narrative isn’t just something that the “media” does, it’s part of parcel of being human - it’s one of the things that separates us from the other species, right?
And so… as far as the narratives of each of these players, LeBron needs it more (imho) as his story already has a couple of strikes against it: largely, the Decision and how that played out. Great players have left their teams before (Kareem/Bucks, Robertson/Royals), but LeBron’s narrative will be spun as the one who left his home to create a “super team”, something no other great needed to do (well, Robertson was traded by the Royals to join Kareem and the '71 Bucks, but he was 32yo at the time.)
And if he doesn’t win this series (especially if he never wins another NBA title*), that’s the way it’s going to be told: “Great player, no doubt, but needed to create his own ‘dream team’ in order to win a championship (and stabbed his own hometown fans in the back by doing so.) And, hell, he went 2-2 with those guys anyway!”
Fair or not, right or not, it doesn’t matter. For the sake of the “LeBron story”, it’s more important that he wins this title than it is for Duncan and his reputation.
*Heresy, I know, but think of it this way: Somebody asks you in 2008 after the US Open: “How long will it be until Tiger wins his next major?” Who the hell was responding “Not until 2014, if then!” That’s kind of the same place we are with LeBron: It’s harder to imagine him not winning more titles than winning them.
People are always talking about what the story is “going to be” as if they aren’t telling a story when they do that. I think that if you’re predetermining, before the actual narrative events occur, what the narrative will be based on the outcome, you’re half admitting that this isn’t really about what’s true. I mean, if the Spurs win it in 4 and Lebron scores 75 points total, has his pocket picked by Leonard ten times, and degenerates into a screaming teammate-blaming mess at the end of it all, then LeBron will have needed that not to happen more than Duncan needed it. But that’ll be true because it happened, not because of what people later on might say about what it could have meant.
For my own personal opinion, I would say that literally nothing that happens in this series can affect what Tim Duncan’s legacy is in my own mind. If the Spurs win and he plays great, that will be incredibly unsurprising. If they lose and he plays terribly, well, the Heat are really good and there’s enough tape on Duncan already that I know how good he is. In that sense, LeBron has more at stake, because there’s at least room for a little movement.