First, what should the symbol of an era in the NBA look like?
Answer a question first?
Turning the clock back sixty years, who would you think of when it comes to the NBA?
Most people will answer that it should be Bill Russell and "Big Dipper" Chamberlain.
One is the ancient king of the NBA. Eleven rings, eight consecutive titles, nine out of ten titles in the sixties. It also sets the bar for team, defense and leadership.
One is still the league's king of data. He averaged 50.4 points, 25.8 rebounds in 100 points in a single game and 48.5 minutes per game in the season, and the first center assist. Aside from the championship, he was an omnipotent presence on the pitch.
What about the seventies? It was the NBA's most chaotic period, full of addicts, flesh and blood, and racism. Just merged with the ABA and almost went bankrupt together.
But what if you have to choose a representative?
Maybe it was "Skyhook" Abdul-Jabbar, who won only one championship in that decade (still called Lu Arcindo at the time), but won half of the mvps (5).
He went from a UCLA-graduated lad to the league's number one center, from Chamberlain and Colenz, to Bill Walton and Moses Malone, all of whom snatched championships from him, but only he was always strong. And at the end of the seventies, I waited for the magician.
By the eighties, nature was the "black and white male" of magicians and big birds.
The same height of early 2 meters, the same full of talent and skill, the same raised the ceiling of their respective positions, and became the ceiling.
But they have different skin colors, joining two of the NBA's most prestigious rivals, and their personalities are completely different. The magician is born to be a mess, can handle all creatures (Jordan), Bird is sullen, and is still the first "king" in history.
They carved up seven championships in the 1980s while bringing the NBA back into the public eye from a moribund and bankrupt sports league.
The nineties were naturally Jordan.
He beat everyone of that era, two triple-caps, unbeaten playoffs. His talent, his success, his perfection made the entire NBA take off and become the most successful sports league on the planet.
Step into the new century, the first decade. After Jordan retired, who was this league?
You can say the Sharks, who have completed a championship that only Jordan has ever done . It has raised the dominance of the center to another level.
You can say Duncan, who made the Spurs league powerhouse for years to come. Created a silver dynasty that "won the championship in odd years".
In fact, he and the Sharks carved up Jordan's eight championships nine years after retiring.
But in this decade, the one who won the most titles was Kobe Bryant.
At the beginning of the first decade, he won three consecutive championships with the Sharks as the second boss,
At the end of the first ten years, he entered the finals three times in three years as a big boss and completed the defense of his title.
After winning the championship in 2010,
"I have one more than Shaq now."
In the last decade, the label can only be "LeBron James"
From 2010 to the present, if you have to choose a signboard, it can only be LeBron James.
You can love him or you can hate him, but you can't avoid not discussing him. It is also undeniable that from 2010 to the present, except for the 2018-19 season, he has always been at the forefront of the league's title contenders.
He's won four championships +FMVP, two regular season MVPs, and as Coach Carlisle said
"If it weren't for the aesthetic fatigue of the media, LeBron could have taken three or five more mvps."
He averaged 26.9 points, 7.6 bosses and 6.7 assists per game for the Heat in the decade, and the Cavaliers had 26.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists in the second period.
By the time of the Lakers, there were 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists.
No matter where you are, it's always top performance.
Most importantly, they all won the championship.
He went from the Big Three of the Green Army to the Three Lesser of thunder,
From Spurs GDP, hit to warrior splash brothers,
From Duncan, Garnett, Nowitzki, who have become legends, to today's young alphabet brother and Doncic.
In the middle, there is also his grudge with Durant and Curry.
And Ross, Paul George, Joe Johnson, Lowry, DeRozan, all of whom he had suppressed to the point where he had never had a crown.
Of course, what could not be escaped was his "decision".
Choosing to join Miami in 2010 not only changed the league's power landscape and brought him the first two championship trophies of his career, but more importantly:
This is the first super deal in NBA history that is completely player-led and assisted by team management, commonly known as "hugging".
It is also the first time that three league A-list stars at the peak of their careers have come together in the form of free signings.
At the same time, it "disrupted" the flow of trades that have been dominated by teams since the NBA was created. For the first time, a player becomes a trader, not a commodity. And the Heat is just the "lucky one" they chose.
Since the second time, the calculation map of the entire league has begun to change, the status and voice of the stars have become increasingly elevated, and the relationship between them and the team has evolved from an employment relationship to a cooperative relationship, and the league has since entered the era of "player dominance".
Whether you love him or hate him, he did just that, and it was the most important turning point in the NBA's history in recent years.
Surpassing Curry and the Warriors' three-pointers, surpassing Young Master Wei's "depreciation" of the triple-doubles, surpassing Durant and Alphabet Brother, the "ultimate misplaced monster" who ignores the position, has deeply affected the history of the NBA.
Third, the decline of LeBron, the change of times
Of course, LeBron has heard the knock on the door of the old man of time today.
He can still average 29.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game this season, almost the best personal data performance since the 2013-14 season.
And the Lakers, 26 wins and 30 losses in the West, ninth. Today, they lost 105-107 to the Blazers, who had just experienced a big trade and were losing six in a row.
The current LeBron James has passed the stage where he can easily balance more than 90% of the league's teams as long as he exerts his strength.
Coming to the Lakers in 2018 and recruiting thick eyebrows after a season is tantamount to a disguised statement: what he needs is a young helper to cover for him, not to become the thickest thigh around Wade, Bosh, Lefour and Irving as before.
Although he won the championship and won the fourth finals fmvp in the 2019-20 season, the thick eyebrows were the first and second rebounds in the playoffs.
In his previous championship season, neither Wade nor Irving had provided such a strong output, not to mention the thick eyebrows on the defensive end that the Lakers relied on.
The Lakers have signed Westbrook this season, rather than being more like the deputy offensiveer (DeRozan) or pitcher (Hield) he needed before, also shows
Just after his 37th birthday, he didn't even want to play in the regular season, or couldn't play.
His body can only support himself in the playoffs to output at full strength, not even, not necessarily.
LeBron's era will eventually pass, the old man of time has been kind enough to treat him, and now the NBA has entered the era of others.
Alphabet Brother has just practiced to be crowned a championship, and he is now the closest "super monster" in the league to the peak LeBron. In yesterday's Bucks game against the Lakers, he scored 44 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists, leading the team to a 131-116 victory, almost the sum of the two Zhan Mei. (James 27 points, 5 boards and 8 assists, thick eyebrows 22 points, 9 boards and 4 assists)
Doncic has the same super brain as LeBron, and although he doesn't have an anti-heavenly body, his skill, big picture and sense of rhythm make him the core of a new generation of ball-holding.
And then there's Jokic, the 2.11-meter Serbian big man who plays like Larry Bird and has become the only center organizer in NBA history. His all-round skill, ghostly passing and super big heart have made him the second center MVP after the Sharks in 2000.
And, of course, Curry and Durant, who have been wrestling with LeBron for nearly a decade. They were the closest league label to LeBron of the era, and at the same time four years younger than him.
Curry with his Warriors 3.0 roster once again launched a championship attack and is likely to win his third regular season MVP, so he will become the second MVP number of active players after LeBron.
Durant's form remains heroic, and the major Achilles tendon injury has not had a devastating impact on his career, but instead we see a more brutal and cold-blooded killer. But he gives us the impression that after all, it is an insoluble killer, not a court core, and the nets are no less in the situation now than the Lakers.
The throne left by LeBron will also trigger the "War of Five Kings" in the NBA version of "Game of Thrones".