NBA Playoffs: 5 Eastern Conference Superstars Who Need to Win It All in 2012

The 2012 NBA Playoffs will begin in a few weeks, and players from all teams are ready to make their mark on NBA history.

One lucky team will become an NBA champion, and those players will cement their legacies forever. On the losing side, players from the other 15 teams will go home pondering what could have been.

In this two-part series, I will examine 10 NBA superstars who need to take home the hardware in the 2012 Finals. This article will focus on five players from the Eastern Conference, while the Western Conference will be analyzed in a later article.

History is on the line. Which player will seize the moment and earn a place among the all-time greats?

5. Rajon Rondo

When Boston won the 2008 NBA Championship, the Celtics were carried by the “Big 3” and were said to have won in spite of Rajon Rondo. At that time in his career, Rondo was a two-year pro and was completely overshadowed by his All-Star teammates.

However, Rajon broke out the following season with an incredible run in the 2009 playoffs, in which he averaged an eye-popping 16.9 points per game, 9.8 assists per game, and 9.7 rebounds per game.

Since then, the Celtics' “Big 3” have grown older and Rondo has emerged as the leader of the team. He is on pace to earn his first career assist title this season (11.6 assists per game), due in part to his incredible 23-consecutive game streak with double digit assists.

Yet despite all of his success and accolades, Rondo still has plenty of doubters who consider his success a fluke. In large part, this stems from his mediocre shooting in those 2008 playoffs.

Therefore, leading the Boston Celtics to their 18th championship would do wonders for Rondo’s image and legacy. His two NBA titles could cement him as the league’s greatest point guard, especially when you consider that players like Derrick Rose, Chris Paul and Deron Williams have yet to even play in an NBA Finals.

Rondo would also become a Boston sports icon and the face of the franchise. Most important of all, the Boston Celtics would win a championship because of Rajon Rondo, rather than in spite of him. 

4. Derrick Rose

The 2011 NBA MVP winner has been plagued by injuries this season, but his status as one of the NBA’s elite players remains. His Chicago Bulls will finish as one of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference, having performed admirably without their star point guard. However, it is this success without Rose that has raised questions about his true impact on the Bulls.

Granted, there is no doubt that Chicago is a much better team with Rose on the floor. In his 37 games played during the 2011-12 season, Chicago has a 30-7 record. This is to be expected, especially for a team that lacks a second superstar of Rose’s caliber. However, Chicago has surprised the NBA community by posting a 17-9 record without Derrick Rose in the lineup.

They are a better team with him playing, but how much better? Some doubters believe that the Bulls’ success without Rose calls into question the merits of his 2011 NBA MVP award.

Therefore, winning an NBA championship this season would go a long way towards alleviating those doubts, while cementing Rose’s status as the preeminent young superstar in the league. Also, winning his first Finals MVP would pair nicely with Rose’s NBA MVP award, proving that he is at his best in the regular season and the NBA Finals.

Becoming an NBA champion would also erase those memories of Rose’s Memphis Tigers team falling to the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2008 NCAA Championship game.

3. Dwyane Wade

Unlike some of the other players on this list, Dwyane Wade has already earned an NBA championship. The Miami Heat won the 2006 NBA title behind the efforts of Wade and the Big Aristotle himself, Shaquille O’Neal. However, the series was won mostly because of Wade, who put on a clinic and delivered one of the most dominant performances in NBA Finals history.

Since then, Wade has become widely renowned as one of the greatest players in the game, and he hopes to win a few more championships along with teammate LeBron James. Winning a second NBA title would greatly improve Dwyane’s legacy, but the more important honor would be winning the 2012 NBA Finals MVP.

This piece of hardware is what separates the top 50 greatest players ever from the top 10 greatest players ever. Winning a Finals MVP tells the world that you delivered big-time performances on the sport’s grandest stage. In that regard, Wade could tie Kobe Bryant in Finals MVP awards if he wins it for the second time.

This would set up a great debate as to how these two shooting guards rank against each other. Kobe has the edge in championships, but Wade would have been just as effective and legendary in the sport’s most pressure-packed event. This would also likely guarantee Wade a spot in the NBA Hall of Fame once his playing days are over.

2. Carmelo Anthony

One of the NBA's most frustrating talents is Carmelo Anthony.

Despite being one of the most dynamic scorers in the league, Anthony has yet to achieve postseason glory to match his talent. Many of his critics point that he is not a player who can lead a franchise to a championship. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but Carmelo's postseason record does speak for itself.

Anthony has had minimal playoff success at best, with his best finish coming in the 2009 Western Conference finals. Otherwise, Anthony’s teams have failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs in every other season of his career. Therefore, it is easy to see why followers of the NBA do not truly see him as a player who can lead a team to a title.

But there is a chance for redemption. Leading the New York Knicks to the 2012 NBA Championship would be a boon for Carmelo Anthony’s legacy, while also shutting up the critics. He could shed the label of being a “one-dimensional scorer” and would instantly become a New York City icon.

In addition, he would avoid being known as the Dominique Wilkins of this generation—an all-world talent who scored at will but could never win the big game. In fact, that title would be bestowed to the next player on this list.

1. LeBron James

This was the easiest choice of the entire list, as the 2012 NBA Championship NEEDS to belong to LeBron James. He simply must win it this year, or his legacy faces a major crossroads right at the peak of his career.

After that colossal failure in the 2011 NBA Finals, James has been heavily scrutinized for his lack of end-game production and supposed “choking” in the game’s final moments. In fact, LeBron had another “choke job” during the NBA All-Star game this season.

Despite his late-game shortcomings, “King James” has come back with a vengeance and has had perhaps the best all-around basketball of his career. With four games remaining, James has posted a jaw-dropping stat line of 27.1 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game, 6.3 assists per game, 1.9 steals per game, a shooting percentage of 53.1 percent and a league-leading PER of 30.7.

LeBron is well on his way toward earning his third NBA MVP trophy, which would put him in truly elite company among the NBA’s all-time greats. Only eight players have won three or more MVP awards, including the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Moses Malone.

While the historical significance of this third MVP award is not lost on LeBron, his eye is on the ultimate prize: his first NBA championship. He simply must win it this year, for a multitude of reasons: to erase the memories of the 2011 Finals; to quiet the critics; to satisfy his fans; to validate his work ethic and talent; to not go down as a “choker”; to win a ring “as the man”; to begin his chase of Kobe Bryant’s five rings; and to try and live up to the “not two, not three, not four, not five” speech at his introductory conference with the Miami Heat.

There is too much at stake for LeBron James not to win it, and that is why James is the NBA superstar who needs to win a ring in 2012 more than anyone else.

Check out the 5 Western Conference Superstars Who Need to Win It All in 2012

If you want to check out the companion piece to this article, then click here to read about the five Western Conference superstars who need to win it all in 2012.