No Other Top-10 NBA Player Would've Made Same Choice As LeBron.

So we were all witnesses. ESPN and Team LeBron made sure of it. They even had cameras in Cleveland to get their humiliation on tape for future generations. Kudos LeBron. You did manage to keep the secret until the last day and you certainly made a decision no other player of your caliber would've made in a million years.

That's right. No other player with LeBron's potential and gifts would've made the same decision he just made.

Think about it. You are 25 years old. Reaching the peak of your physical powers and you opt to go to a team that already has a leader and alpha male?

Would Magic or Bird have done it? Would MJ have done it? Tim Duncan had a chance to do it and turned it down.

LeBron proved he wasn't a king or even a prince, but a pauper. Staring down a Wade/Bosh team in Miami the boy who would be King balked.

We know this is true because up until Bosh rejected his advances in Cleveland he didn't want to go to Miami or anywhere else. Faced with the task of beating Wade and Bosh, LeBron chose to shrink from rather than rise to the challenge presented.

It's a shame. A player considered to have potential to become the G.O.A.T will now at best be known as a great Pippen.

And I'm not disrespecting Pippen. There are far worse fates in NBA history than to be considered a sidekick to a great team. But LeBron James could've had more. LeBron James' gifts demanded more.

LeBron's closest doppleganger will be someone like David Robinson. Remember how great he was? Remember how nice he was? Remember how blessed he was with physical gifts? And yet he never had the killer instinct or the drive to win on his own. It was only when Tim Duncan became the alpha dog that San Antonio thrived.

Such is the curious case of LeBron James. He just doesn't have it.

All that can be said in LeBron's defense is that he is aware he doesn't have it. Who knows when he discovered this deep down? Was it last year as a flawed Orlando team took him out? Was it during his disappearing act in Cleveland's Game 5 with Boston this year? Did he always kind of know it?

LeBron tugged on the sword in the stone, but the sword wouldn't budge. We wanted him to be the greatest. Nike begged him to challenge Kobe in the Finals. It wasn't meant to be.

No matter what happens, LeBron's legacy now has a definite ceiling. He'll never be in Kobe's league. He'll never be in Magic or Bird's league. The list of players that strapped a team on their back and won a championship will never include LeBron James. He's a Dominque Wilkins on a good team.

Think about it. If Miami wins 5 straight titles, then Wade will have 6. Wade will be the guy that can say he won one without LeBron and LeBron will not be able to say he ever won without Wade. It will be Wade's kingdom and LeBron will only be a mercenary.

This is LeBron's destiny now. This is his legacy. Would Michael Jordan have watched Wade and Bosh at a presser giggling confidently about future greatness and decided his only hope was to join them?

The greats don't want to play with the best, they want to beat the best. They HAVE to beat the best.

Wade would've never went to Cleveland. Even Bosh refused to go to Cleveland. LeBron was the only guy in that trio so scared of his own expectations that he was willing to downgrade his legacy to escape it.

He's not the King. Kings don't share their throne. Kings don't bow to others. There is no joy in Cleveland or in the NBA, for the mighty LeBron has bowed out.