The 2003 NBA Draft was celebrated as one of the best drafts
the NBA had seen in a long time even before any players were drafted. That’s
because the two biggest names in that draft were current New York Knick Carmelo
Anthony and current Miami Heat forward LeBron James.
These two small forwards drafted at the top of the 2003
Draft had different games but both possessed all-world ability. This was
supposed to be the second coming of the Bird-Magic rivalry that put the NBA on
the map back in the early ‘80s.
Anthony was a flat out scorer. He could drive, post up and
shoot with range. Even more intriguing though was how well Anthony performed
under pressure.
Anthony played one season at the University of Syracuse
before entering the draft. He averaged 22.1 points-per-game during the regular
season but it was his stellar play during the NCAA Tournament that showed why
he was such a special player as he led Syracuse to its first National
Championship.
James never went to college but there really was no need for
him to. James had been on NBA scouts’ radars since he was in the 5th
grade. Despite only playing on the high school level, scouts could find few
holes in his game.
James already looked like an NBA player. He was 6’8”, 250
pounds with a body that looked like it was chiseled out of stone. He was super
athletic, could score and rebound but the thing that blew most scouts away was
his court vision.
Scouts hadn’t seen a player with his height and passing
skills since Magic Johnson retired from the NBA. Although James idolized
Michael Jordan growing up, it was believed that his game more resembled Magic’s.
With Anthony’s versatile scoring game and James’s superb mix
of size and passing ability, the NBA and the media were really to proclaim this
as the next great rivalry. A rivalry that would define the next era of the
league and help the NBA finally transition from the Michael Jordan era of dominance.
So what happened? Although Jordan had ended his career for
the third and final time just the season before James and Anthony entered the
league, there were plenty of other players in the league who were not quite
ready to “crown” Anthony and the self-proclaimed King James as the league’s new
“saviors.”
Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson,
Jason Kidd, and a no-name squad in Detroit were determined not to let upstarts
James and Anthony reach the Finals as quickly and as easily as Larry Bird and
Magic did.
Magic won a championship his first season in the league then
went on to win four more before his retirement in 1991. Bird won his first
title in his second season in the league and would win two more during his
career.
James and Anthony were unable to have the same early success
that Bird and Magic had. Anthony played his first seven seasons in Denver and was
only able to advance past the first round one time.
James had more playoff success with the team that drafted
him, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and was even able to advance to the NBA Finals in
just his fourth year in the league. Once there though, his Cavaliers would be
swept by a loaded San Antonio Spurs team led by All-Star forward Tim Duncan.
James would be denied another NBA Finals appearance as a
member of the Cavaliers though. Two times the Boston Celtics would knock them
out of the playoffs and the Orlando Magic did it once.
So in 2010 both Anthony and James decided it was time for a
change of scenery. James was a free agent going into the 2010-2011 season and
decided he had a better chance at winning a championship playing for the Miami
Heat.
Anthony was in the final year of his contract that season
and used that as leverage to force a trade to New York. Unfortunately for
Anthony the results have been the same. Both seasons he has been in with the
Knicks has ended in a first-round ouster.
James once again advanced deep into the playoff and even
made it back to the Finals. Once again though, he would be thwarted in his
quest for a title. This time by the Dallas Mavericks who were trying to redeem
themselves of their previous Finals collapse just five years earlier.
James did get his ring this season but the chances of an
Anthony-James rivalry that would match the one Bird and Magic had, never
developed and is not likely to. Magic and Bird played in different conferences,
on loaded teams and even faced off against each other in the Finals three
times.
Anthony and James are now in the same conference which means
they will never have the opportunity to play each other in the Finals. And although
both are playing on teams that are loaded with talent, Anthony hasn’t been
nearly as accomplished player as James has been during the nine seasons they
have been in the league.
James has three MVPs, a scoring championship, and now an NBA
title. Anthony doesn’t have any hardware of any kind making this once promising
rivalry very one-sided.
And although the Knicks have plenty of talent, they aren’t
considered to be in the same class as the Heat. There is still a lot of
basketball left in James and Anthony though so there is a chance that this
rivalry could get more interesting in years to come but at this point I wouldn’t
hold my breath.
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Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at sportmentalist@yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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