Miami Mercenary: Why LeBron Is Basketball's A-Rod

It's finally over.  Following weeks, months, even years of endless speculation, debate, and discussion, it's finally over.

LeBron is not, nor is he likely to ever be, the greatest player in NBA history.

Oh, and LeBron finally chose a team, the Heat, just in case your "sources" hadn't told you yet.

But back to my previous point, "The King", now that he's made the decision to join Dwyane Wade's team—make no mistake about it, the Heat is Dwyane Wade's team—has put pursuing basketball legends on the back-burner in favor of pursuing a championship (or championships), which could do much more to enhance his legacy than staying in Cleveland and enduring many more early playoff exits.

He's certainly not the first to make a major move like this.  Considering LeBron's fondness for the New York Yankees, as best exhibited by his regular sporting of a navy blue Yankee cap off the court, and his admission that he rooted for the Bronx Bombers, not his hometown Cleveland Indians as a kid, he's probably acutely aware of athletes of his ilk changing uniforms and chasing rings.

Case in point: Alex Rodriguez.

Before I delve too deeply into why LeBron is, indeed, his sport's A-Rod—in short, a great player who moves to a new team in search of championship glory—it's necessary to first acknowledge that the circumstances surrounding each player's move were quite different.

While LeBron chose "on his own" to leave Cleveland for Miami via free agency, A-Rod made his way from Arlington to the Bronx by way of a blockbuster trade, which saw Alfonso Soriano and the now-position-challenged Joaquin Arias being sent in return to fill A-Rod's pricy shoes.  Also, A-Rod did not leave his hometown. On the contrary, A-Rod was born in New York, though he grew up a Mets fan in Miami. Nor did he leave a team that had been in playoff contention, much less championship contention, while he was there.

To be fair, there's little doubt that A-Rod wanted to join a contender, that his two AL MVP trophies while in Texas didn't exactly whet his appetite for winning, and that he was aware of the Yankees' need for another infielder after Aaron Boone injured his knee playing pickup basketball.

That A-Rod didn't send out smoke signals, if not a full-on fireworks display, to Rangers and Yankees management that he wanted to be in the Big Apple.

Of course, LeBron, unlike A-Rod in Texas and thanks in large part to his northeast Ohio roots, consistently professed his desire to stay in Cleveland with the Cavaliers, the city and franchise that he'd called home for his entire life and professional basketball career, respectively.

But, as was the case with both, when loyalty didn't breed winning, loyalty was sacrificed for the sake of winning.

James said as much during his pompously self-promotional prime-time special, expressing his likely genuine regret for leaving Cleveland without a ring while also explaining his choice as being about winning, "now and into the future".

For LeBron, he embarks upon a new chapter in his basketball career not as THE man, but rather as a prodigiously talented version of Robin to Dwyane Wade's Batman, or, to frame the situation in more directly relevant terms, the A-Rod to D-Wade's Jeter.

Derek Jeter was a champion long before Alex Rodriguez arrived in New York, just as Dwyane Wade already has a piece of jewelry from Miami's 2006 NBA Finals victory that LeBron James covets.

A ring that James seems to be chasing with the same fervor and reckless abandon for his own well-being and that of his reputation as Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings".

Lest he forget, in basketball, it takes more than one ring to rule them all, even if you are "The King".

Now, some may suggest that LeBron can still walk into American Airlines Arena, even without a ring, and be the go-to guy for the Heat, particularly since Wade won his ring with Shaq's assistance.

What's easy to forget, and perhaps most of all what solidifies Dwyane Wade's status as the leader of the Miami Heat regardless of who Pat Riley brings in to help, is that Wade was the MVP of that Finals series in which he and his Heat squad dispatched the Dallas Mavericks in a somewhat surprising fashion.

That distinction, that championship pedigree, is the same one that assures Derek Jeter of his status as the leader of the Yankees, even on the same team as A-Rod, who joined Jeter and Co. with two regular season MVP awards under his belt.

And despite the fact that A-Rod has won both his third AL MVP trophy and his first World Series ring with the Yankees, New York remains Jeter's town.

Just as Miami will remain Wade's.

Sure, LeBron can and just might win another MVP trophy or two or three to go along with however many rings he might win in Miami,  but he will always play second-fiddle as a member of Dwyane Wade's All-Star Band in South Beach.

It would seem, at least on paper, that LeBron is okay with that.  It would seem, whether he says it or not, that LeBron left dreary Ohio for sunny Florida knowing full well that he'd not only have to share the spotlight, but also cede it to Wade and Bosh.

As LeBron said during his ESPN-hosted publicity stunt on Thursday evening, "championships are championships", regardless of where you win them, how you win them, or who you win them with.

Really, LeBron?  And pray tell me, how would you know?  Have you won any?!?! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHAMPION?!?!?!

HOLD ME BACK!!! HOLD ME BACK!!!

Sorry about that, folks.  I let my inner Dan Gilbert get the best of me there.

Anyway...what were we talking about?  Aah yes, LeBron and A-Rod.

So what's the point of all this, you ask?  Fans, pundits, and athletes alike often speak of greatness and what it means to be great.  Rarely does anyone discuss what it takes to be legendary.

By anyone's measurement, LeBron and A-Rod will likely go down as among the greatest individuals to ever play their respective sports.  LeBron could potentially garner such consideration even if he retires without a ring, which seems unlikely but is certainly possible, especially when perusing a list of other jewelry-starved stars that includes such luminaries as Charles Barkley, George Gervin, John Stockton, and Karl Malone.

However, at this rate, neither LeBron nor A-Rod is likely to go down as a sports legend.  And not just because "The King" jilted his hometown or because Rodriguez took steroids.

Great players win, but only legends LEAD the victory parade.  Legends don't abandon their own bandwagon for someone else's; they keep riding 'til they win the race.

As The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon put it, Michael Jordan didn't join the Pistons after they ousted the Bulls from the playoffs three times in the late 1980s.  Instead, he stuck with a team whose personnel hardly changed until he finally broke through against Detroit on the way to the first of his six titles.

More recently, the summer of 2004 saw Kobe parade around the league as a free agent, dictating terms for franchises from coast-to-coast (i.e. the Lakers trading Shaq to Miami for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, and Brian Grant), though not quite to the extent that LeBron has over the past few months.  Even after all the hoopla, Kobe decided to stay in LA, knowing full well that he would have to endure some leaner years before he could ever even sniff the Larry O'Brien trophy again.  As the last few years have shown, Kobe's commitment to a franchise that, not unlike the Cavaliers, is itself committed to winning has paid off.

In short, great players win championships.  Legends EARN them.

That's why, when it's all said and done, Derek Jeter is more likely to be mentioned alongside the likes of Babe Ruth than A-Rod is.  That's why, somewhere down the road, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Shaq, and perhaps even Dwyane Wade will be included among the legends of basketball like: Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, while LeBron James will be left out in the cold.

Because to dine at the table of legends requires more than just hardware, more than just a "championship" fork to steady the meal and an "MVP" knife to cut it with.

It requires perseverance.  It requires leadership.  Most of all, it requires substance.

So, best of luck (or not) to LeBron as he leaves Ohio; never to be welcomed home again, for the potentially golden pastures of Miami-WADE County.

He may win championships on end, he may be crowned the Most Valuable Player year after year.  Heck, he might even have a street or two named after him.

But try as he might, he'll never be the man in Miami.  He'll never have a whole county renamed in his honor.  And because of that (the "being the man" thing, not the county thing), he'll never really be a basketball legend, which has to at least be part of the job description when trying to determine who is the greatest player in NBA history.

And maybe he's fine with that.  Maybe LeBron is content with a few rings and his "brand", however tarnished those things may be, even if he's Scottie instead of MJ, or Robin rather than Batman.

Even if he has to play A-Rod while D-Wade hogs the spotlight as Jeter.

Because when it's all said and done, Wade's rings will always be Florida's Best, while LeBron's, if he wins any, will be nothing more than Minute-made.