As Bill James cautioned in his book, “The Politics of Glory,” the “we-can-make-a-group” argument can be used in error to make a player appear more exclusive than he really is. In the book, he was commenting on various approaches employed to make it look like someone should be in the baseball Hall of Fame when such may not really be the case. This discussion is applicable to all sports when attempting to declare a player’s uniqueness.
From the book, he described: “the only player in baseball history who had 2,500 hits, 200 homers, and 200 stolen bases who isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Vada Pinson. There are six players in baseball history who have that combination – Aaron, Mays, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Reggie Jackson and Vada Pinson, all Hall of Famers except Vada… Want Al Oliver instead? Simple. Just take the Vada Pinson list, change ‘200 stolen bases’ to a ‘.300 average’. Now you’ll have a list of thirteen players, all of whom are Hall of Famers except Oliver. He and Pinson were truly fine players, but their place in history can be overstated.
Getting back to LeBron James and Oscar Robertson. It would not be sensible to challenge LeBron’s rightful place in basketball’s Hall of Fame once he retires and becomes eligible. However, there was a recent article which used the same “we-can-make-a-group” tactic to imply that he’s unique beyond all who have ever played.
The article described the NBA’s great triple threat with: “The 31-year old is the only player with 27,000 points, 7,000 assists and 7,000 rebounds.”1 (His current log shows 27,521 points, 7,046 assists and 7,281 rebounds.2)
To reiterate, LeBron is a marvel for the ages. He’s one of a select few who can essentially carry a team single-handedly in a big game.
What About Oscar?
But for those of us who grew up with the NBA of the 1960’s, we must speak up for Oscar Robertson who had 26,710 points, 9,887 assists and 7,804 rebounds.2 And, given that Robertson played before the NBA adopted the three-point field goal and that he made 9,508 baskets, it’s safe to assume that he would have had at least another 290 field goals that would have counted for the points needed to put him into the “LeBron Group” while exceeding LeBron’s assists by a significant amount.
Let’s Not Forget Other Greatest of the Greatest
However, the main point to be made is that by looking beyond the arbitrary 27,000-7,000-7,000 grouping, we can find players who exceeded LeBron’s stats in two of the areas by huge margins, which temper the his OMG factor if we were to be texting.
Make it 30,000 points, 4,500 assists and 20,000 rebounds, we find Wilt Chamberlain as the unique triple threat. He totaled 31419, 4643 and 23924 respectively. He was also the only center to have the most assists in a season which makes him the only player to lead the NBA in points, rebounds and assists in the same season.3 Change the grouping to 38,000 points, 5,500 assists and 17,000 rebounds and we find the incredible Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who had 38387 pts, 5660 ast and 17440 rbds.2
A Slight Tweak and LeBron is Replaced!
Returning to similar stats of the “LeBron Group”, make the totals 26,000 points, 6,000 assists and 7,000 rebounds and LeBron has company (John Havlicek who had 26,395 pts, 6,114 ast and 8,007 rbds). As we can see, make a slight change to 8,000 rebounds and LeBron falls out of the group for now.
LeBron James is truly one for the ages. He is one of the all-time great multi-faceted threats on the court. The point is: be wary of arbitrary groupings. They can exaggerate a player’s uniqueness by unfairly ignoring other superstars of the game.
1 – “LeBron keeps filling record books,” by the Associated Press, no author listed and as appeared in the Kentucky Enquirer, 12/12/2016.
2 – www.basketball-reference.com
3 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Wilt_Chamberlain
Sportuoso 