White Suburban Punk

The best analogy I can come up with is Dr. J.  Julius Erving entered the NBA in the 1976-77 season at the age of 26 after five seasons in the ABA.  His Sixers made the playoffs every year of his career, and he made the All Star team every year of his career.  He was a great player.

In ’77, Philly lost in the finals.  ’78 lost in the conference finals.  ’79 lost in the conference semifinals.  In ’80, Bird and Magic entered the league and Philly lost in the finals to the Lakers.  ’81 lost in conference finals to Celtics.  ’82 lost in finals to Lakers.

Through the first six years of his NBA career, he was a truly great player whose team could not get over the hump and win the championship, despite being a dominant regular season team.  Dr. J was 32 years old entering the ’82-’83 season and had to be frustrated.  Bird and Magic had eclipsed him as the best players in the league, and the Celtics and Lakers had already begun dominating the decade.  Did he stomp his feet and demand a trade?  Nope.  The Sixers beat the Lakers in the finals to win the championship in ’83.

Lebron had a similar run of playoff disappointments with the Cavs, with the additional factor of it being his home state team (Dr. J was from New York).  He decided to quit.