So much was unique about the Lakers’ championship run in this year of the bubble, the suspension of play, the interpenetration of NBA business and progressive political action, the back-to-back erasures of 3-1 series leads by the inspired Denver Nuggets. So much that we might fail to appreciate the degree to which we were witnessing the majestic raising of the bar for dominant duos in league history, just as the Lakers’ 16-5 playoff record proved their greatness.
Watching Lebron James team with Anthony Davis is a wondrous sight to behold. Though James is universally acknowledged as the “best player in the world,” it’s not altogether clear who is the best player on (t)his Laker team, even if, because of his peerless effect on all his team-mates (even marginal players immediately find their roles and become service-able), James is clearly his team’s most valuable player.
It may come as a surprise, before giving it serious thought, that such a situation (the blurring of best and most valuable on a championship team) is not without precedent. When Bill Russell turned an also ran Celtic franchise into a perennial champion, Bob Cousy was universally regarded as Mister Basketball, and was named MVP in Russell’s first year in the league, only the second year the league made such an award [1].
Racially divided Boston adored Cousy and failed to honor Russell, not just biting the hand that fed them eleven titles in thirteen years, but occasionally decorating its savior’s lawn with dead animals. It took years before Russ’s hegemony was acknowledged, years for which Cousy attempted to make belated amends, as Gary Pomerantz documents in his 1998 book The Last Pass.
Other great duos in league history to rival Lebron and AD? Elgin Baylor and Jerry West? Twin superstars, and with longevity together, but not quite. What about Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Well, Oscar was still fully in charge of the unfolding of the game, as practiced so perfectly by the mature Lebron James, but was past his prime. Magic Johnson also had Kareem as his accompanying star, Magic Johnson and Kareem deserve serious consideration, but their career arcs were so different that they were only briefly in their prime together.
And is it too far fetched to mention Bill Walton and Larry Bird in the title year of 1986? Preposterous, because Walton was playing only twenty minutes and came off the bench? Conceded, but at the crucial times, particularly in the decisive game of the Finals, it was Walton who made the critical plays and constituted “the difference.” Going back even further, one could invoke the early Minneapolis Laker dynasty: George Mikan dominated the league, but team-mate Jim Pollard also had superior skill and grace for a man big enough to be a rebounding force as well as an agile small forward. Did I leave anyone out? Parker and Duncan? Ginobli and Duncan? Julius Erving and Moses Malone? Too brief a run to match what Davis and James have gotten started.
OK: I can’t forget Kobe Bryant and Shaq, but James and Davis are both in their primes, and have not only overwhelming size, but also the versatility to play any position. James has become a point guard who is also big and strong enough to play center. Magic Johnson shocked everyone and made history by playing center in the critical championship game his rookie year, when Kareem was hurt, but James would surprise nobody if asked to dominate from inside.
His unique combination of superior skill, strength, and size give him a leg up on even Michael Jordan in the GOAT wars, and, for his part, Davis was a skilled point guard in high school before a growth spurt of seven inches in his senior year vaulted him to superstar potential level. His grace, size, strength, skill, and athletic ability are unmatched. His competitive fire has been questioned, but if anyone is going to mount a serious challenge to Lebron’s keeping his designation as GOAT, it just might be Davis.
Before too long, the Free Agent Scramble begins, with some possible reconfiguring of the landscape, allowing wannabe GOATS to graze in pastures green and brown, artificial and endangered, bubbled and otherwise encased.
But we shouldn’t forget Davis and James, who ain’t goin’ nowhere: we’ve never seen the likes of these two guys together.
NOTE
I. Bob Pettit won the first in the 1955-56 season. Russell’s turn came just after Cousy’s. Pettit following with another, just before Wilt Chamberlain won it handily in his rookie year, easily shattering all previous records. Wilt appeared so dominant that it seemed he might make the annual award his own property, but Russell’s superior competitive nature leveled the playing field, and won the consecutive awards the next three years!