LeBron James: The "X-Factor" Holding Him Back from Championships and Greatness

I think we can all finally agree that after coming up short and falling in the Finals, LeBron James will never be Michael Jordan.

But what is holding LeBron back from Jordan-status and winning championships?

He is probably the most physically impressive player to ever play in the NBA. He has three inches and nearly 75 pounds of muscle on Jordan while also maintaining similar speed, quickness and jumping ability to go along with his incredible court vision and strength.

With his physical gifts, he literally has no foreseeable ceiling on his potential. But here we are, another year later, still with no championships, still with questions about his ability to close games.

He is much more gifted than Jordan, yet still not even close to being on the same level with him. And while it can seem that this is a result of their polar opposition in crunch time, I see the difference between them, along with others holding the self-proclaimed "King" back, all stemming from the same place.

It is not a difference in skills and talent (although Jordan had more skills and talent than LeBron), athleticism (close call) or size and strength (advantage LeBron); in fact, the difference is intangible. It can't exactly be seen, it can't exactly be measured and most importantly, it can't be obtained—either you have it, or you don't.

Essentially, it is a different wiring in the brain and heart, causing an unparalleled competitiveness and will to win.

Very few people have this "X-Factor." Only the very elite winners have this trait, and it goes beyond just the number of wins in the win column. Winning and competing consumes these players. Winning is the only thing they care about, and they would do whatever it takes to win.

There are only five players in NBA history to ever have this trait:

1. Bill Russell
2. Michael Jordan
3. Larry Bird
4. Tim Duncan
5. Magic Johnson

Notice a trend? Those are four of the top five, and five of the top 10, players of all time. And their success is due in large part to this trait.

Between the five of them, there are 29 championships. We have seen this trait take different forms, all with the same result: championships.

Ask yourself these questions:

What would Bill Russell be if he wasn't obsessed with winning or threw up before every game?
I think it is safe to say that the Celtics organization would not be the same, and Dirk Nowitzki maybe would have received the Jerry West trophy, or even the Wilt Chamberlain trophy, instead of the Bill Russell the other night.

What would Jordan be if he wasn't unhealthily competitive, with the killer instinct of a lion? 
I'm not sure he would still be the best ever; without his competitiveness, Jordan would still an unbelievable player, but would be lacking what truly set him above the rest.

Where would Bird's Celtics teams have been if he hadn't pushed everyone on his team and worked every second of his life towards his next ring? 
They absolutely would not have won it all in 1981 without Bird's leadership and commitment.

How many rings would the Spurs have won in the past 12 years if Duncan didn't care more about winning than stats or individual accolades? I honestly think that if Duncan only cared about himself and his own stats, the Spurs would still be seeking their first championship.

And finally, what would the Lakers of the 80's have been without Magic's will to win, ability to pick his teammates up and unselfish play? It would have been easy for the Lakers to give up to the Celtics after the painful 1984 painful defeat, but Magic picked them up and led them to beat the Celtics in the finals the next year. There is no way many of the Lakers championships from the 80's are won without Magic in this form.

As you well know at this point, LeBron lacks this trait and the characteristics of these aforementioned winners. It can help explain his shrinking in crunch time, his "Decision," and most importantly, his inability to surpass Michael Jordan, despite being more physically equipped than Jordan ever was.

Turn the questions around and consider this more compelling story line: What if LeBron had this "X-Factor?" What if he was obsessed with winning like Russell, or had the competitiveness and killer instinct of Jordan, or the leadership and work ethic of Bird, or the unselfishness of Duncan or the ability to pick teammates up and make everyone better like Magic?

The result is scary. What LeBron would be able to accomplish with any of the above is absolutely unfathomable.

How many championships would he have by now? How many would he win for his career? Would he be the greatest ever?

The answers to these questions would be unbelievable, which is why it is frustrating to watch LeBron play, particularly in crunch time. You see the wealth of physical skills, athleticism and talent he possesses and try to think of any other player as gifted and can come up with no one.

But then you watch him lose another championship he could have won and fail in crunch again and again.

And while you watch that, you know that there is more than you are seeing, that he is not reaching his full potential and something is being left on the table. There is a nagging feeling that he could be the best ever, but isn't. And despite the animosity towards LeBron, the fact of the matter is that everyone wants to see the next big thing, the greatest ever.

Saying you saw Jordan play is bragging rights, to talk to someone who saw Ali fight in his prime is something else and people love to tell about when they saw Wayne Gretzky play.

In 50 years, I would love to tell my grandkids that I saw LeBron play in his prime, but now it wouldn't matter as much. He is not the greatest and never will be, although he could have been.

Perhaps, that is where some of the hatred stems from. We all wanted to watch history. Despite what people say, everyone wants to see the new greatest. We wanted to see the new greatest. We thought LeBron would be that guy. He was advertised as that guy. Maybe we feel he let us down. 

Can we really blame him for it though? It's unfortunate because no matter how much experience he gets, how much he practices or even how many games he wins, he will never have this trait and thus, will never be able to touch Michael Jordan.

With Jordan and all the others mentioned, you felt that winning was the only thing that mattered to them and they would do whatever it took to win; with LeBron, you feel that he wants to win but cares more about other things. Even listening to his postgame press conference after Game 6, it seemed that his personal life was more important to him than winning, which is completely fine for 99.99 percent of the world.

But when you are in the other 0.01 percent, this matters and is the difference. He could, and might, sneak into the top five despite not having this ever important trait, but even so, it will hold him back from greatness he should achieve and championships he should win.