LeBron: Champion or Champion*

It is now official ladies and gentlemen, whether you wanted it to happen or not. After 7 years in the making, LeBron James has finally captured that elusive NBA Championship. No more will he be grouped in with the likes of Karl Malone, Elgin Baylor, John Barry, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkely. Yes sir, he has the bling. Now people are asking is he going to win more rings with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, is he going to become the next big thing, will he become the next Michael Jordan? 

Here's my question: Did LeBron actually deserve to win this ring? Let's get this out in the open folks. I want to make it clear that I acknowledge LeBron James basketball talents. I seen what he can do. He's a dominate force at 6'8'' 275lbs and can create defensive mismatches. He's too big for a Point and Shooting Guard to defend, he's too physical for a Small Forward to cover one on one, and he's too fast for a Power Forward and Center.

But that being said, he gets babied way too much. During the playoff run against the Knicks, Pacers, Celtics, and Thunder, LeBron averaged 30.3 points per game. Impressive huh? Yet he went to the free throw line on average about 10 times per game, including a laughable 24 times in Game 2 and 17 times in Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. Here's the real kicker that most people tend to overlook: LeBron averaged close to 43 minutes per game playing time during the playoff run. Yet he averaged just a little bit over 2 fouls per game. How can somebody average 2 fouls over 43 minutes? When you watch him play, on offense LeBron just lowers his shoulder and charges into people. Then when you watch him on defense, he plays very physical and grabbing onto jerseys. Both instances, those will be called fouls but the refs just held back their whistles . But just ask players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Durant how quick the refs are to blow the whistle in favor of LeBron. Pretty fast if you ask me.

So how do we look at LeBron's first title? Did he win because of his talent or because he got help by the whistles? You decide.

-Ryan Fox