by Kenneth Gregory Smith

Created on: May 15, 2010

Lebron James can already be considered an all-time great player, but his resume will be incomplete without an NBA championship? At age 25, he has plenty of time, but he has to do some soul-searching. How badly does he want to win? To what lengths is he willing to go to win? Only he can answer these questions.

Michael Jordan wanted to win so badly he took over games when he needed to, played in pain and with the flu when he needed to, and demanded that his teammates get better. Kobe Bryant wanted to win so badly he convinced Shaquille O'Neal to join him in Los Angeles, and he threatened to leave the Lakers if they didn't get better players around him.

So Lebron has to decide if leaving his current team (Cleveland Cavaliers) will give him a better chance at a title. Whether he stays in Cleveland or leaves, does he have it within him to act like Jordan and Bryant?

In other words, can he play great when in pain, can he consistently take over a game, can he elevate the play of those around him? And is he willing to use his power to demand things from his coach and organization? Only time will tell.

On a practical level, he may also need a superstar coach like Phil Jackson or Pat Riley (two coaches used to coaching all-time greats). His current coach, Mike Brown, looked a bit over-matched in the series against Boston (with the Celtics winning the series 4-2 to eliminate the Cavaliers) and it didn't help that the Cavalier's offensive coach from 2008-2009, John Kuester, left to become the head coach at Detroit.

A well-known rule of thumb in the NBA is that a team cannot win a championship without two superstars on it's roster. Lebron needs someone like Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls guard,) Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors small forward), or Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic center) to be a one-two superstar punch. Surely Lebron will take this into consideration when he decides what team to cast his lot with in 2010-2011. 

Lebron will also need some luck and timing. Superstars like Charles Barkley and Karl Malone never won championships because they had the misfortune of playing at the same time as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. With Bryant nearing the end of his career, Lebron is poised to take over as the face of the NBA game.

Will that be enough to get him an NBA title? Let's wait and see.

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