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Los Angeles Lakers superstar and future first ballot Hall of Famer LeBron James is no stranger to criticism, both fair and unfair. It’s the price of celebrity, and maybe more so, the price of sports greatness to be equally loved and hated at the same time. Once a player retires, they typically see more love than hate, but during their playing days, the seesaw tilts in the other direction. Even Michael Jordan was blasted by fans and media until 1993.
This isn’t to say that James should have quit at the peak of his powers to play another sport, so he could come back more beloved. It’s just the nature of sports, and a great example of this can be found in the land of trolls, better known as Facebook. Circulating in several basketball fan groups was the hypothetical question, “Would Tom Brady be considered the GOAT if his Super Bowl record was 4-6?”
The sentiment is not about Brady, but more about using him to put down James, whose finals record is 4-6 (3-6 according to those who don’t count the bubble championship). This is what is called a false narrative. Stating facts but omitting important context to make a point that doesn’t exist in reality. In this case, Brady is considered the GOAT because he is 7-3 in championships, and he likely wouldn’t be considered the GOAT if he were 4-6 (like James).
Rings aren’t the only thing that matters, but they are part of an equation, or a piece of a puzzle. In Brady’s case, he does have more Super Bowl rings than any quarterback in the history of the sport, and since quarterback is the most important position, people think he’s the greatest. It’s important to understand that GOAT is not a factual term; it’s an opinion. People will support their opinions with the stats that support it, and ignore the ones that don’t.
Brady currently has more passing yards than any quarterback in NFL history (89,214), more touchdowns (649), and yes, more titles (7). It’s the sum of these parts, and not just one of them, that has Brady a near-consensus top dog in the sport. It also helps that he has a winning record against almost every team in the league (31 of 32 – he is .500 against the Broncos).
No other quarterback in history has ever won 10 conference championships, so if Brady were to have gone 4-6 in the Super Bowl (tying him with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for most SB wins for a QB), then he would still likely be considered the GOAT.
Just like football, rings aren’t all that matters in the NBA. If they were, the GOAT would be Bill Russell (11 titles). Sam Jones would be second (10), followed by John Havlicek (8), Tom Heinsohn (8), KC Jones (8), and Tom “Satch” Sanders (8). Michael Jordan would be tied for the 10th-best player of all time, along with his teammate Scottie Pippen. Maybe more stats than just championship rings should be considered (similar to the NFL)?
Unlike football, where certain position groups are responsible for certain stats, in basketball, every player on the floor has the same responsibilities. They all need to score, rebound, and dish out assists to their teammates. Considering that, and considering career numbers for James (like people do for Brady), there is a serious case to be made for James (and his 4-6 record) to be the greatest basketball player of all time. He is the league’s all-time leading scorer after all (42,184 points).
James also ranks among the league’s best in career rebounds (25th all-time with 11,731) and career assists (4th with 11,584). In fact, adding points, rebounds, and assists together gives James, for lack of a better term, a score of 66,156. This is the best score of any player in NBA history by nearly 5,000 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is second with 61,487). Since James, like Jabbar, played an abnormally long career, some folks will say these numbers don’t count (unlike Brady) and that averages should be used.
The baseball stat WHERIP determines the league’s best pitcher, and the best pitchers of all time, based on how they performed per inning throughout their careers vs how they did per game, or using career totals. The idea is that averages trump career totals. That would hurt LeBron’s case, as he is eighth all-time in points per game (27.01), 211th in rebounds per game (7.51), and 24th in assists per game (7.42). Not being a career leader in any per-game stat, along with his finals record, would prove the Facebook question’s point.
Where it doesn’t prove the point is going back to the question’s assumption that Brady is the GOAT. Brady is ninth all-time in yards per game (266.3), fourth in touchdowns per game (1.94), ninth in passer rating (97.2), and 27th in career completion percentage (64.3). The question posed ignores the fact that Brady, like LeBron, does not lead the league in any career per-game statistic, and like LeBron, is not undefeated in the finals.
The truth of the matter is, the person who created the meme/question probably doesn’t believe that Brady is the GOAT either. They just know that the masses do think that, so they invoked his name to put James down. Rather than presenting the troll with all the stats and facts (since they wouldn’t be able to start grasping the numbers), a better response to the question, “Would Tom Brady be considered the GOAT if his Super Bowl record was 4-6?” would be this:
“If LeBron James were 7-3 in the Finals, would he be considered the GOAT?”
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