Seven out of seven, this should be the main story. For seven consecutive years, LeBron James has been voted as the No. 1 player in ESPN’s #NBArank. Since ESPN started soliciting votes to decide which player can contribute greatly to their team’s ability to win games, LeBron has consistently made it to the top.
Not because the Cleveland Cavaliers won more games than the 95-96 Chicago Bulls team -- they did not. Not because they have won the 2017 NBA title -- they did not. But the reason why voters voted for LeBron is that they believe he has the biggest impact on the winnability of the team he’s playing with.
The LeBron James experience
According to ESPN’s #NBArank, LeBron has a projected RPM of 9.19 for the upcoming season. That’s even higher than his RPM last season which was only 8.43 which was the league’s highest RPM. In addition, LeBron has been within the top-five finishes in MVP voting for 12 consecutive seasons -- he could even be the first player to win the MVP award in his 15th season or later.
Yet there are more reasons why voters have every reason to vote LeBron James in the ballot. Since ESPN started ranking NBA players based on votes, LeBron has won the NBA championship thrice (2012, 2013, 2016) and was named the NBA Finals MVP in each three. In those years, twice he was recognized as the league’s regular season MVP (2012, 2013).
And yes, he was named to the All-NBA First Team each year.
Trip to the NBA Finals
LeBron’s other accolades and awards not included -- mentioned were only during the last seven years when ESPN started ranking the Top 100 NBA players. But moving on to a more serious reason why he’s the No. 1 ranked NBA player for the last seven years, how about leading his team to seven consecutive trips to the NBA Finals?
During the last three seasons, he led the Cavaliers to three trips to the Finals, helping the team win their first-ever NBA title in 2016 since joining the league in 1970. When he left Cleveland to join Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Miami Heat, he brought the team to four NBA Finals appearance, winning back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
Here’s a fact: since LeBron entered his third year in the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers has gone to every NBA Playoffs except during his four years of absence. This means he has been to postseason games for twelve years now. Here’s another fact: LeBron has been the scoring leader of every team he played for since his rookie year. But LeBron is not all about offense.
LeBron’s Big D
As many LeBron James fans all knew too well, he was named five times to the NBA All-Defensive First Team (2009–2013) and once to the All-Defensive Second Team (2014). It was only until the emergence of big defensive-minded players like Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan, Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler and Rudy Gobert when LeBron stopped getting these awards.
But who will forget that historic block on Andre Iguodala during the 2016 NBA Finals? That monster swatter helped seal the deal for the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals in seven games. LeBron posted triple-double during that final game of the season -- 27 points, 11 rebounds (10 defensive rebounds) and 11 assists -- not to mention swatting three shots.
