NBA Predictions 2011: What Will a Title This Year Mean for LeBron James' Legacy?

Are you excited for the 2011-12 NBA season?

After enduring the insanity that was the NBA lockout, fans are ready to see this NBA season get underway. The shortened free-agency and training camp periods may have only added to the suspense as great storylines develop by the day.

How will Chris Paul and the new-look Los Angeles Clippers fare? Will Tyson Chandler make the New York Knicks title contenders? Where will Dwight Howard end up? All these great questions are on the table for fans to argue, watch and see.

One storyline that seems to be relevant despite the calendar year and trumps all other stories is LeBron James' quest for an NBA title. The ring was there for James and the Miami Heat last season, but they seemed to fizzle under the pressure.

LeBron has endured a year of being ridiculed for not leading the Heat to a title.

What if James does impressively win the title this year? What exactly does this mean for his legacy?

Is he automatically dubbed the "greatest of all time"? Is he a top-five all-time great?

I think the first title will be the most important for LeBron James. If the Heat do come up short again this year, it will put James on the wrong side of time. James would now be swiftly approaching 30 years old with little to show for it.

If Miami lets another couple of years go by before they win a title, James definitely will not be getting the seven rings he predicted. He may walk away from the game at that point with two titles at the most. LeBron would be another Hall of Famer with a couple rings, no big deal.

This brings us to the importance of now.

The first title will be the toughest and has to be won this year. With a dominant run this year, it will unload tremendous amounts of pressure off James and allow him to play even more freely. The Heat would then easily win four to five titles.

Yes, I said easily. Heck, the team almost won the title last year playing pick-up ball.

So, if LeBron James does indeed get his first ring this year, he becomes a threat to all those who played the game before him. His legacy will be wide open with no cap on the number of rings he might get.

The "greatest of all time" can then be appropriately argued.

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