"UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN"

There are huge numbers of fans out there that I like to call:

"Janet Jacksons"

Meaning when it comes to superstars, their slogan is:

"What have you done for me lately?"

These are the same fans who make statements such as:

"Kobe has never won a title without Shaq."

As if Kobe was the 12th man on those teams! These same fans are the ones who are saying, "Lebron is overrated," and that he cost the Cavs the series against the Celtics. These are the same fans that form their opinions based on either simple statistics or just plain bias. These claims are ridiculous to anyone who watches basketball and knows the sport.

Does Lebron have faults? Of course, he needs to work on his mid range jump shot, play better defensively, and cut down on his turnovers. Did he play his best series against the Celtics: Definitely Not! He shot horribly, turned it over way too many times and made some bad late-game decisions. Let's not fool ourselves, though. There is no way the Cavs could have made it to Game 7 without Lebron James because, without him, they are the Charlotte Bobcats.

I have personally been critical of James in the past for his lack of a "serial killer" mentality. However, if you watched Game 7 of the Celtics vs. Cavs series, what you saw, if you were paying attention, was a player so talented that he was able to keep a team in the game by himself. There are only a handful of players in the league that can do this by themselves. Sometimes, even in a losing effort, greatness can be seen (e.g., Jordan's 63 in the Garden). If you can't see that Lebron James is only touching the surface of what he is capable of doing, then you have blinders on.

The consensus is that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the league. But Kobe is almost 30 years old. Lebron is only 23 and, unlike Kobe, when Lebron came into the league, he was expected to be a savior. He was expected to be one of the greatest players, not just in the league, but in the history of basketball. More than anyone else since 23 left the building, he was expected to carry that mantle.

In my opinion, he is a bit underrated, if anything, because I remember all the naysayers that said he was going to be fail miserably and never live up to expectations. No one expected him to make the NBA Finals at age 22. No one expected him to ever lead the league in scoring. He has exceeded expectations and, while he has room for improvement, it is laughable that people are questioning his greatness which is only going to grow. He hasn't even come close to reaching his peak potential.

Just like all great players, be it Jordan, Hakeem, CP3, Kobe, Shaq, etc., you can't win without the right combination of teammates and the right coach. Everyone can't be like Magic Johnson and just fall into the right situation. You can be the greatest player of all time, but one player will never beat five. You can honestly say that there isn't one person on the Cleveland roster that is worth keeping.

I was listening to sports radio and someone made a very good point that Cleveland is made up of Lebron and eleven "6th men". The fact that Cleveland is an even competitive team says more about Lebron than anything else. It also doesn't help that Mike Brown might be the worse offensive coach of all time. At this point, we have a Michael Jordan/Doug Collins situation going on. Mike Brown is good for now, but, trust me, by the time Lebron is winning championships, he won't be the coach.