In Praise Of The GOAT
What LeBron James is doing on a basketball court this year is extraordinary.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality. If you were sent this email or are a free subscriber and would like to become a paid subscriber, you can sign up here.
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I know this newsletter is generally dedicated to politics and related topics, but I want to take things in a slightly different direction today.
In Praise of The King
Sports fans have witnessed some incredible athletic achievements over the past couple of years.
Last year, Shohei Ohtani arguably had the greatest season in baseball history — he was one of the best hitters and pitchers in the game.
Hitting: 184 OPS+, .304/.412/.654, 78 XBH (44 HR), 95 RBI, 102 R, 20 SB, 6.0 WAR
Pitching: 23 GS, 10-5, 3.14 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 55 BB, 167 K, 132.0 IP, 4.0 WAR
He led all of baseball in home runs even though he was shut down on September 3 due to an elbow injury. In terms of WAR (Wins Above Replacement), which measures the number of wins a player is singlehandedly responsible for, he was the 7th-best hitter and the 10th-best pitcher in baseball, for a combined WAR of 10. That means he was worth ten additional wins to the Angels, which didn’t mean much because the team stinks.
What he has done the last three seasons as a dual hitter, and pitcher is something that none of us have ever seen. And I mean that seriously. Not since Babe Ruth has there been a player like Ohtani, and considering the level of talent in the league today, Ohtani is arguably even more dominant than Ruth.
Then there is Tom Brady, who, at the age of 43, won his 7th Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At the ripe old age of 40, he won the league MVP award. He’s the greatest quarterback ever to play the game, and it’s not remotely close.
But what LeBron James is doing right now is otherworldly. Last night, in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament semifinals, he did this .. IN 22 MINUTES.
30 points
5 rebounds
8 assists
9/12 FG (75% FG)
4/4 3PT (100%)
8/8 FT (100%)
There’s more!
And then there was this — back-to-back-to-back three-pointers.
Here are a few other fun stats about the season Lebron is having.
This is my favorite stat.
Most points + rebounds + assists by a player in their 21st season:
860 — LeBron James
843 — Vince Carter
566 — Dirk Nowitzki
Carter and Nowitzki reached these numbers in an entire season … LeBron has 59 games left.
His season stats a quarter of the way through the season are 25 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists and an absolutely insane 62.6 field goal percentage and 40.7 percent from three.
In short, James is having a dominant season. He’s arguably one of the top ten players in the NBA and deserves serious consideration for MVP (though I’d still give it to Nikola Jokic). And he turns 39 in 22 days.
The only past age 39 seasons that come close to what LeBron is doing are from Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Karl Malone.
Jordan:
Kareem:
Malone:
I was actually a bit surprised that Jordan scored 20 points a game in his age-39 season — though on 40% shooting. Still, that’s better than I remembered it, and he played in all 82 games and averaged 37 minutes. Kareem was still producing pretty good numbers into his 40s, and so was Karl Malone, but he’s a horrible person, so who cares?
(And Kareem was still getting generous calls from the refs like this bullshit foul call in the 1988 NBA Finals that cost my beloved Detroit Pistons the NBA title, and which I will never get over).
Seriously, that’s not even close to being a foul.
Also, this is the greatest Karl Malone-related clip (NSFW).
Still, none of these players were as dominant as LeBron — and neither Jordan nor Kareem or Malone was playing in a league with a level of talent like we have today.
But there’s something else about LeBron that I love: he’s a good dude. The guy doesn’t get caught in scandals. He’s not distant and aloof (like Kareem in his playing years) or uber-competitive and annoying (like Jordan). He’s engaging and fun.
This video of him losing his s**t when Kevin Durant blows off his former teammate James Harden when selecting his All-Star squad is phenomenal.
From all appearances, he’s a great husband and father (his son Bronny is a budding college basketball star). He gives back to his community. He doesn’t shy away from addressing controversial issues (here he is talking last night about the latest mass shooting that happened in Las Vegas). And, after leaving Cleveland for Miami (his worst professional move), he returned home and won the Cavaliers their first NBA title (his best move).
Obviously, I don’t know the man, and maybe he’s a jerk in private. But outwardly, he seems like a mensch, and what he’s producing on the basketball court this year is a wonder to behold.
In general, the level of talent in the NBA and the star power in the league is unsurpassed. Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Tatum, Embiid, Tyrese Halliburton, Durant and Booker, Steph and Klay, Lebron’s teammate AD, SGA, Chet Holmgren, Wemby, Dame, Ja (if he ever comes back), Fox and Sabonis, Paolo and Franz, Mitchell and Mobley, even my boy Cade Cunningham (though the Pistons are clearly a dumpster fire). It’s an incredible time to be a basketball fan.
But LeBron is in a class all his own.
So, I know things are rough right now— at home and abroad. But there are still a few great stories and reasons for joy. Watching LeBron James play basketball is definitely one of them!
What’s Going On
Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard, has now had three chances to say that calling for the genocide of Jews is wrong … and she still can’t seem to get it right.
Michelle Goldberg has a good piece on the issue, though I think it doesn’t hammer enough the key reason why this is such a big deal. Many American Jews are scared and angry. They are concerned about open displays of anti-Semitism on college campuses. They want reassurance from university presidents, not robotic, legalistic answers.
I liked this piece by Stephen Fowler on how to cover the 2024 election.
The Associated Press writes on Donald Trump’s pledge to be a dictator on day one of his presidency. I tend to think that comments like these are quite politically disastrous.
Leon Aron makes a strong case that sanctions against Russia are working.
Musical Interlude