Second Team: F – LeBron James:
2000s Resume: Six seasons, one NBA Finals appearance, one regular season MVP award, NBA Rookie of the Year, three-time All-NBA First Team, two-time All-NBA Second Team, one-time NBA All-Defensive First Team, one-time NBA leader in scoring, five-time NBA All-Star, 27.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 6.7 APG, 26.2 average PER
If we were talking about 2000-2014, LeBron James would obviously be First Team. But since he only played six seasons in the early 2000s and didn’t win his titles until the second decade, we have to relegate him to Second Team honors. That doesn’t mean LeBron’s accomplishments during that time weren’t awfully impressive though. He became the first player since Allen Iverson to completely carry a mediocre squad to the NBA Finals (in his fourth season), and though he and the Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs, he was simply up against a superior squad.
LeBron quickly made it known he wasn’t all hype by taking home the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award and helping the Cavs improve by 18 wins from the season prior. King James became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double at age 20, he put up a triple-double in his playoff debut, and it didn’t take long before the Michael Jordan comparisons started raining down.
Though LeBron’s successful Cavs never reached the top of the mountain, King James put up monster numbers and never got the help he needed in Cleveland to win the championship he coveted. It wasn’t for lack of trying though, since performances like his 48-point masterpiece against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals — in which he scored 29 of Cleveland’s final 30 points, including a game-winning layup — made it pretty clear he was aiming for all-time great status.