If a viewer who has not watched basketball for many years opens the basketball version of today’s sports forum, he will be surprised to find that,The recognized number one player in basketball history, Jordan, seems to be less recognized.
An ordinary NBA game will be remembered in history because of the birth of a new milestone. On February 8th, LeBron James scored the 38,388th point in his career in the game between the Lakers and the Thunder, surpassing the star “Skyhook” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. Prior to this, the record had been sealed for 34 years.
Later, a congratulatory picture produced by the foreign media ESPN was reposted by James himself. In the picture, James sat on the throne and raised his arms. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stood on the ladder. Down. Its original intention is only to show that the “scoring champion” has changed hands, but the strong contrast in the composition is still widely interpreted by fans.
To further fuel the fermenting public opinion, at the celebration party hosted by James himself, two goats were led into the dinner scene. Goat is GOAT in English,And GOAT is also the abbreviation of “The Greatest of All Time”is the supreme title of competitive sports.
In fact, James said in an interview earlier this month:“I think I’m the best basketball player ever. That’s my confidence, my accomplishments, what I have. As far as being the all-time leading scorer in the NBA is going to take me to another level, I don’t know.”
But obviously not all fans agree with this rhetoric. The GOAT discussion in the basketball world will not stop with the emergence of a new scoring champion, and it is even foreseeable that there will be no conclusion on the day James retires. In this discussion, James is both an initiator and a vested interest.
In this era of traffic, fans are tirelessly “creating” data for idols on social media, and the media needs to capture fresh topics at all times. A ball game only lasts one or two hours, but quarrels on social media can last a whole day. In the gap between real “news”, there are netizens’ saliva, materials that have been “discovered”, and rankings and comparisons that can always “introduce the old and bring forth the new”.
In many cases, this is also a carrier for the public to vent their emotions. Stars in the sports world, like idols in other fields, are symbols that reflect and magnify the psychology of the audience. The negative voices surrounding James actually represent the ambivalence that fans of this era both hate and yearn for.
2. Controversy “first person”
The back of James is engraved with a line of “CHOSEN · 1”-the Chosen Son. This is indeed his destiny from the beginning of his career.
As the “No. 1 high school student in the United States”, James entered the league as the No. 1 pick in the draft 20 years ago, and brought an intuitive impact to the audience with his explosive physical talent. With a height of 203 centimeters and a weight of 108 kilograms, it is common for other players to collide with them like “being hit in the chest by a brick”.
Fans who like the fierce style of play were quickly captured by James’ starlight, and those who didn’t like it took a closer look: Did he take a few more steps just now?
This is James’ early “black spot”: walking violations, ugly play.Fans’ first impressions of players are also influenced by their vision. After all, they have to imitate themselves on the court. On the “field field”, walking is one of the most ferocious movements caught. “Ugly” is simply the original sin. In the era when perimeter players regarded “elegant” as their beauty, the “violent aesthetics” James was relatively different. The number was circulated on the Chinese Internet.
Coincidentally, the NBA changed its walking rules in 2009. In fact, there is no evidence to prove that the league is “specially handling special cases”, but James’ movement is often ignored by referees, and he is also a beneficiary of the new rules. The matter was rumored and aroused another wave of saliva. What’s more coincidental is that due to a foul conflict by James in 2014, the NBA immediately revised the “vertical jump defense” rule, and “the rule will be changed for James” has become a fact in the hearts of many fans.
“Impression flow” is only part of it, and many fans are willing to rely on complex data analysis to prove James’ various “black materials”.
Regarding “walking”, Zhihu user “Yijie” used James’ 49 finals videos to draw a conclusion: James walked 46 times in 9 finals trips, and was whistled 12 times. Take 1-1.5 points; Regarding “unsportsmanlike ethics”, “Data Simon” picked out more than 40 unsportsmanlike moments of James from the 04-18 season, and released them to multiple channels in the form of videos and animations; about the competitive state , “Death Wing” analyzed all the scores of James in the 2013 Heat and Spurs Finals, and believed that James used to avoid the opponent’s main force, and scored points when he was on the bench. This is “staggered travel” on the field…
More often, the shells that fans attack James come from his own mouth. Putting together the contradictory words that James has said can achieve a good comedy effect. Like “I’m old enough to stop throwing chalk” (James’ signature opening move) and “I can’t wait to get this ritual back,” or “The league should retire all 23s” (23 is Jordan’s number) and “The new season I will wear the number 23 again.”
The most famous of these are “I won’t leave until I bring a championship to my hometown” and “I’m going to bring my talents to the South Coast”. This matter is called “Decision One” in NBA history, that is, James decided to transfer to the Miami Heat in 2010 to form the “Big Three” with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The three were all top players in the league at the time, and they were all at the peak of their careers. It was an unprecedented and unbalanced combination.
Audiences waiting for the NBA “finale” would not have imagined that James also made “decision two” and “decision three”. to retirement”. James obviously understands that “choice is more important than hard work”. As early as in middle school, he gave up football, which could also be selected as the “first team in the state”, and chose basketball, which can better highlight physical talent, and put pragmatism first into practice. Throughout his athletic career, despite his own opinion: “I’ve never been on a superteam.”
After James, “peak grouping” began to become common practice in the NBA. For example, Durant is even more outstanding, “joining if you can’t beat” has become a joke for a while. In short, since the moral fig leaf covered in “shortcuts” has been pierced, the traditional sportsmanship of rising from adversity and working hard seems like a joke.
There are still many controversies about James, such as “forcing the palace management”, “enthusiasm for taking turns”, “killing the ball and throwing the pot”, etc., but they are not as qualitative as “Bao Tuan”. It can be said that “Bao Tuan” is his career. The footnote of his style is also the core reason why some fans do not recognize him as GOAT. This is also James’ choice that best embodies the NBA temperament of the new era. Only from this perspective, he has indeed opened up a different history from Jordan.
Of course, competitive sports winners take all,James’ embarrassment is that the number of objective honors has not reached the point of crushing his predecessors.Generally speaking, a team that wins 3 consecutive championships will be called a “dynasty”. James’ 4 championship trophies were won by 3 different teams, and his rule of the league is also nicknamed the “nomadic dynasty”.
“10 finals, 6 championships” itself has become an irony. Cole, who was Jordan’s teammate in the player era and led the team to meet James many times in the coaching era, left a sentence: “I have the same respect for Jordan and James. They both let me harvest 3 championship rings.”
A simple and simple truth is–fans know that the essence of competitive leagues is commercial leagues, but the reason for loving a sport is pure, and a sport is represented by an impure star, there is always a kind of closed-eyed acknowledgment It tastes more delicious than homemade dishes.
Criticize James for having a “meme culture” in some communities, that is, breaking away from the subject-object relationship of the incident and the debate about right and wrong, and simply playing meme can be fun. For senior fans, the above-mentioned controversies are mostly familiar. People who don’t know much may wonder why James can still charge GOAT as the “second man in history” all the year round?
2. Star making and bonus
After all, James is the master of NBA stars.
“Star-making” was originally a tradition and a necessary ability of mature business leagues. This tradition was carried forward by former NBA president David Stern. When Stern took office in 1984, the market value of the NBA fell to 15.5 million US dollars, and 17 of the 23 teams were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Stern has made many reforms in the image of the league, attracting investment, international promotion, etc.The most direct is the operation of players and games, The main theme throughout the 1980s was “Black and White”, the legendary duel between “Big Bird” Bird and “Magic” Johnson saved the NBA’s declining ratings. Some operational logic can already be seen from it:Treat players like calling cards, package like stars, and add storytelling to sports.
In the same year that Stern came to power, Michael Jordan entered the league, and the two sides achieved each other. In the next ten years, Jordan successfully became a star standing at the top of the NBA pyramid, and also became the connection point between global audiences and basketball.
Jordan’s career trajectory is perfect. In the 1984-19907 season, he was shrouded in the shadow of the “Bad Boys” of the Pistons. Being viciously strangled, the overall result was that his Bulls never made it to the Finals. Only this stage is similar to James in the “1.0 period”, with a somewhat tragic color of a lonely hero who cannot realize his dream.
In the 1991-1993 season, Jordan won three consecutive championships, established the “Bulls Dynasty”, and completed the handover with “Magician” in the finals. , the reality is even more legendary. Jordan’s father was shot, and he switched to baseball for two years. In the 95-98 season, he won his second three consecutive championships in “The Return of the King”, leaving behind classic battles such as “Battle of the Flu” and “Last Pitch”, which were “sealed” For the “God of Basketball”.
Although the speed of information dissemination was limited at that time, the audience received information in one direction, which meant that some carefully selected moments would be processed, amplified, and circulated by the media industry, so as to obtain excellent communication effects. And labeling is also particularly good for memory. Even if you never watch the game, you will know the binding relationship of “Jordan-NBA-basketball”.
In the 1998 Finals, tickets to Jordan’s game had been fired up to $9,000 apiece. In the same year, an article titled “The Jordan Effect” in the American “Fortune” magazine specifically calculated the wealth that Jordan brought to the entire league: since he entered the NBA, direct ticket revenue was 135 million U.S. dollars, broadcast revenue was 366 million U.S. dollars, sweatshirts, sneakers Sales of sporting goods such as sportswear accounted for a quarter of the NBA’s total sales in the 1990s, reaching $3.1 billion.
If the scope of influence is only in the United States, the significance of “star making” will be greatly reduced. Simultaneously, Stern also promoted the NBA globalization strategy. In the cold spring of 1989, he traveled across the ocean to send the first videotape to CCTV, and started the broadcast cooperation. Jordan then became the first generation of national-level basketball stars. In 1992, the American Dream Team led by Jordan shined in the Barcelona Olympics, further expanding the global influence of the NBA.
It was Yao Ming, who took part in the draft in 2002, who took over the stick. He pushed the influence of the NBA in China to an unprecedented height.At the same time, the NBA also tasted the sweetness of promoting international stars. In the second year after Yao Ming joined the Rockets, the valuation of the Rockets team rose from 255 million US dollars to 422 million US dollars.
At the same time as Yao Ming, the NBA’s method of promoting stars was already very mature. Any player who has an outstanding performance on the field will soon be promoted to all over the world through commercial packaging.
For example, Yao Ming’s teammate McGrady accomplished the miracle of “scoring 13 points in the last 35 seconds to help the team come back to win” in a game. It didn’t take long before the sports brand Adidas’ advertisement “That’s It” hit the world, and the advertisement made McGrady Putting on the flaming sneakers and growing black wings, the line “Even God was moved to cry” was spread on the basketball courts of all sizes.
For another example, Kobe created “81 points in a single game”, the second scoring record in NBA history. In just one week, jerseys, albums, DVDs and other products related to 81 points were put on the shelves. Its commercial influence also quickly penetrated into China. A huge poster of Kobe was hung in Xidan, Beijing, with “81 points of spirit” written in Chinese characters on the top of the head, and “If you want to improve, you have to practice every day” on both sides.
Refining objective events into a certain spirit is inherently processed. Kobe may be the most successful star in this propaganda route. The Wall Street Journal once wrote that “one of the most curious phenomena in modern sports is the Chinese people’s perception Kobe’s “favorite” and his “Mamba spirit” have become a totem in the hearts of many fans.
Both Kobe and McGrady are the continuation of Stern’s strategy of vigorously looking for “Jordan’s successor”. The first to be “like Jordan” were players such as Grant Hill and “Penny” Hardaway. Later, Kobe was the leader. A number of front and back swingmen represented. But Kobe can only be “closest to God”. When the audience and the NBA found that Jordan was difficult to copy, it was already the era of James.
Since Jordan proved that the league needs a spokesperson, the NBA’s star-making journey will not stop.The various foreshadowings of previous generations of players have made James attract the attention of fans all over the world since his debut. If Kobe was the most like Jordan before him, James, who was also a high school draft pick and broke a series of “youngest records” held by Kobe, would be the next league card.
James has always had one and only one career goal: to surpass Jordan. It’s just that he chose another path.
3. “goat” under the microscope
GOAT, or any evaluation involving “historical status”, is actually a collection of “objective honor” and “legendary color”, and it is not entirely determined by the number of trophies.
Therefore, the “God of Basketball” is not Bill Russell who has won 11 championships, Chamberlain who scored 100 points in a single game, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who has maintained a total scoring record for more than 30 years, but Jordan, one of his 6 champions. The travel story is exciting enough, the timing is just right, and the achievements of promoting the NBA to the world are unprecedented. But because of this, there is room for flexibility in the “selection” criteria, which also gives the media the opportunity to make a big fuss.
On the one hand, the comparison of strengths across the ages is part of the star-making strategy. When a player enters the NBA for the first time in the draft, the scout report will generally clearly write several famous stars as the “template” for the future development of the rookie. James’ templates back then included “Magician” and Scottie Pippen. This practice somewhat has the meaning of “rubbing fame”. And if you are always mentioned together with some famous people in your player career, it will increase the attention invisibly.
On the other hand, media needs traffic. There is an interesting reference on Wikipedia that states that “many different reliable sources regularly rate James as the greatest basketball player of all time” and outlets that have written similar reports include the Boston Globe, ESPN, CBS Sports, NBSI Sports, etc. , Their headlines will all use Jordan as a comparison, such as the Boston Globe’s “Who is GOAT, Michael or LeBron?” “.
The difference is,The traffic era is a double-edged sword for James, and Jordan is the beneficiary of one-way publicity.Social media has brought ordinary people closer to stars. Durant used a trumpet to excuse himself, and Irving believed that the earth is flat. These private words and deeds have been exposed to the public. People got a glimpse into his conceited heart. According to the various materials retained, Jordan also had a paranoid, mean, and harsh side to his teammates. He was also keen on gambling and was involved in scandals. These were more hidden behind his performance on the court.
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In other words,The ideal state of GOAT is to summarize every era, but every athlete is a creation of the era.
Fans often ridicule: “James is more like a businessman than a player.” This is mainly to ridicule his shrewd calculations to win the championship, and his increasingly obvious emphasis on statistics over victory.And off the court, James is indeed a businessman.
Many years ago, James said his dream of “earning $1 billion”. In June last year, “Forbes” stated that he is the only active player worth more than $1 billion. In addition to signing with the Lakers at the age of 40 and a high-salary contract that can earn more than 50 million US dollars in the last year, his income also has many off-court sources. In the income list released by Forbes in May last year, his annual income was 121 million US dollars, of which 80 million came from off-site.
James will discuss equity transactions with the brands he cooperates with. For example, in 2008, he exchanged endorsement fees for part of the shares of Beats headphones; there are also a lot of direct investments. He is a shareholder of football clubs Liverpool and AC Milan; of course, he also owns his own company , as early as 2007, James and his friend Maverick Carter founded SpringHill. The company later established three subsidiaries, covering media, film and television and other fields. The movie “Space Jam 2” was produced by one of them. Company production.
Regardless of the “nomadic dynasty” on the court or the “business empire” off the court, James always seems to be doing the most “right” things in the current era. They point to traffic, efficiency and wealth. If you put aside your athlete status, these are business Laws of success in society.
In some online novels with the theme of basketball, there will be an interesting phenomenon. The protagonist will defeat James first, but the plot trajectory after that is almost the same as that of James in reality: changing teams, gathering stars, and continuously investing… Maybe this is disgust The epitome of coexistence with longing psychology. If you switch James’ experience to an ordinary person, it becomes easy job-hopping, building a team, always being the focus of the crowd, and constantly peaking in life… The evaluation may become much more positive.
A lot of people hate him, and many more want to be him in other fields. It’s as if human beings never reject desires, but only resent desires being shown too nakedly.
