flipcritic
05-26-2009, 07:36 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/sports/basketball/26rhoden.html
In LeBron James, Oscar Robertson Sees a Star With a Familiar Plight
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: May 25, 2009
Everyone wants to see a showdown between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in the N.B.A. finals, though the way things are going, we’ll be lucky to get one of the two.
Like Oscar Robertson in the 1960s, above, LeBron James has gone only so far without a strong enough supporting cast.
Bryant’s Lakers have had their hands full with Denver. Cleveland, after roaring through the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, has run into a granite wall in the Orlando Magic.
In the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals, Orlando has exposed a truth about Cleveland that everyone suspected but no team exploited: the Cavaliers without LeBron are an average team. While this is a testament to James’s greatness, it may keep Cleveland from reaching the finals.
Oscar Robertson has watched LeBron James for years and thinks so highly of the young star that he recently gave him the nod over Kobe as the N.B.A.’s best player.
But with each successive playoff game against Orlando, Robertson, the greatest all-around player in N.B.A. history, said Cleveland was beginning to resemble Robertson’s Cincinnati Royals. While Robertson played with Jerry Lucas from 1963 to 1969, the Royals had no depth.
“When I played for the Royals, when I look back on it, there’s no way we could have won,” Robertson said Monday in a telephone interview from his home in Cincinnati. “We played the Celtics, and they had three or four superstars playing in their lineup. We had one.”
Robertson played for Cincinnati from 1960 to 1970. The team was carried to whatever heights it attained by Robertson. The Royals never reached the finals during Robertson’s tenure, but he was an actor in a great individual rivalry. Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were the Kobe and LeBron of their era. There certainly were other great guards of the era, but Robertson and West defined the position: black-white rivals in the racially charged civil rights era of the 1960s. They were the same age, shared similar backgrounds — “Jerry had a tough time growing up, and I grew up in a ghetto in Indianapolis,” Robertson said.
West was the cold-blooded, stop-on-a-dime clutch shooter, so deadly that he made his way into a Richard Pryor monologue. Robertson was the exquisite technician who ran the team, scored, rebounded and made each teammate better.
West, like Kobe Bryant, had the better supporting cast. Robertson, like LeBron, was his team’s everything man.
•
Robertson and West entered the N.B.A. in 1960, though their careers sharply diverged. West joined a Lakers organization with a winning tradition; Robertson joined a Royals team that was trying to find itself and never did.
Cincinnati finished fourth in the Eastern Division while Los Angeles advanced to the Western Division finals in their rookie seasons. That more or less would be the nature of their rivalry.
Oscar would win his share of the individual battles — he is the only player in N.B.A. history to average a triple-double in a season — while Jerry West would invariably win the wars, reaching the N.B.A. finals nine times.
Who knows if this will be the trajectory of the Kobe-LeBron rivalry? But recent history suggests that magic will not happen until Cleveland gets one more great player to complement James.
“If you look at every great team that’s won, there’s always been a key trade someplace,” Robertson said.
The Royals never made that trade while Robertson was running the show, and before the 1970-71 season, Cincinnati traded Robertson to Milwaukee. The Big O joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and won his only N.B.A. championship in 1971.
And even though West reached the N.B.A. finals so often, he did not win a championship until 1972. The Lakers won with Wilt Chamberlain, who had joined the Lakers three seasons earlier.
Last season, Boston added Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to a roster that included Paul Pierce, and the Celtics won the championship. This season, Denver traded for Chauncey Billups and added his veteran leadership to a team that had Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony.
Does LeBron James need another great player?
For the here and now, no, according to Robertson. “He needs the players they already have to come to play,” Robertson said. “You see Cleveland playing the best it can and still having difficulty winning. They have maxed out, and they need a contribution from someone else.”
For all the expectations of a Kobe-LeBron matchup in the finals, even superstars need help.
“It’s a sad, sad, sad time in the our history of sports when everyone wants to say, ‘Who’s the best one?’ ” Robertson said.
“LeBron has been terrific for Cleveland, Kobe been great for the Lakers. But you need help. You need a good, strong bench to win basketball games for you; if you don’t have it, you’re not going to win.”
•
Will LeBron be willing to share the stage with another star? Kobe Bryant has won three N.B.A. rings, though his critics say Kobe’s tortured eternal quest is to prove that he can win a ring without Shaquille O’Neal.
Oscar Robertson learned that lesson more than 30 years ago. No one player, no matter how great, can complete this journey alone.
E-mail: [email protected]
In LeBron James, Oscar Robertson Sees a Star With a Familiar Plight
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: May 25, 2009
Everyone wants to see a showdown between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in the N.B.A. finals, though the way things are going, we’ll be lucky to get one of the two.
Like Oscar Robertson in the 1960s, above, LeBron James has gone only so far without a strong enough supporting cast.
Bryant’s Lakers have had their hands full with Denver. Cleveland, after roaring through the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, has run into a granite wall in the Orlando Magic.
In the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals, Orlando has exposed a truth about Cleveland that everyone suspected but no team exploited: the Cavaliers without LeBron are an average team. While this is a testament to James’s greatness, it may keep Cleveland from reaching the finals.
Oscar Robertson has watched LeBron James for years and thinks so highly of the young star that he recently gave him the nod over Kobe as the N.B.A.’s best player.
But with each successive playoff game against Orlando, Robertson, the greatest all-around player in N.B.A. history, said Cleveland was beginning to resemble Robertson’s Cincinnati Royals. While Robertson played with Jerry Lucas from 1963 to 1969, the Royals had no depth.
“When I played for the Royals, when I look back on it, there’s no way we could have won,” Robertson said Monday in a telephone interview from his home in Cincinnati. “We played the Celtics, and they had three or four superstars playing in their lineup. We had one.”
Robertson played for Cincinnati from 1960 to 1970. The team was carried to whatever heights it attained by Robertson. The Royals never reached the finals during Robertson’s tenure, but he was an actor in a great individual rivalry. Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were the Kobe and LeBron of their era. There certainly were other great guards of the era, but Robertson and West defined the position: black-white rivals in the racially charged civil rights era of the 1960s. They were the same age, shared similar backgrounds — “Jerry had a tough time growing up, and I grew up in a ghetto in Indianapolis,” Robertson said.
West was the cold-blooded, stop-on-a-dime clutch shooter, so deadly that he made his way into a Richard Pryor monologue. Robertson was the exquisite technician who ran the team, scored, rebounded and made each teammate better.
West, like Kobe Bryant, had the better supporting cast. Robertson, like LeBron, was his team’s everything man.
•
Robertson and West entered the N.B.A. in 1960, though their careers sharply diverged. West joined a Lakers organization with a winning tradition; Robertson joined a Royals team that was trying to find itself and never did.
Cincinnati finished fourth in the Eastern Division while Los Angeles advanced to the Western Division finals in their rookie seasons. That more or less would be the nature of their rivalry.
Oscar would win his share of the individual battles — he is the only player in N.B.A. history to average a triple-double in a season — while Jerry West would invariably win the wars, reaching the N.B.A. finals nine times.
Who knows if this will be the trajectory of the Kobe-LeBron rivalry? But recent history suggests that magic will not happen until Cleveland gets one more great player to complement James.
“If you look at every great team that’s won, there’s always been a key trade someplace,” Robertson said.
The Royals never made that trade while Robertson was running the show, and before the 1970-71 season, Cincinnati traded Robertson to Milwaukee. The Big O joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and won his only N.B.A. championship in 1971.
And even though West reached the N.B.A. finals so often, he did not win a championship until 1972. The Lakers won with Wilt Chamberlain, who had joined the Lakers three seasons earlier.
Last season, Boston added Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to a roster that included Paul Pierce, and the Celtics won the championship. This season, Denver traded for Chauncey Billups and added his veteran leadership to a team that had Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony.
Does LeBron James need another great player?
For the here and now, no, according to Robertson. “He needs the players they already have to come to play,” Robertson said. “You see Cleveland playing the best it can and still having difficulty winning. They have maxed out, and they need a contribution from someone else.”
For all the expectations of a Kobe-LeBron matchup in the finals, even superstars need help.
“It’s a sad, sad, sad time in the our history of sports when everyone wants to say, ‘Who’s the best one?’ ” Robertson said.
“LeBron has been terrific for Cleveland, Kobe been great for the Lakers. But you need help. You need a good, strong bench to win basketball games for you; if you don’t have it, you’re not going to win.”
•
Will LeBron be willing to share the stage with another star? Kobe Bryant has won three N.B.A. rings, though his critics say Kobe’s tortured eternal quest is to prove that he can win a ring without Shaquille O’Neal.
Oscar Robertson learned that lesson more than 30 years ago. No one player, no matter how great, can complete this journey alone.
E-mail: [email protected]