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INTANGIBLES
It’s too early to assess James fully in this category, which considers such traits as leadership, court savvy and clutch ability.

INTERACTIVE Comparing LeBron James to the greats Introduction Scoring Rebounding Passing Ballhandling Defense Intangibles

Jordan, Bird and Johnson were incredible in all three of these intangibles and James will have to play in a lot of playoff games to prove himself the equal of that Holy Trinity.

He has been criticized for his role in the Cavs' collapse in 2005, with former Bulls coach Kevin Loughery saying James is not close to Jordan because Jordan wouldn't have let his team fall apart like that. But in all fairness, the Bulls did go just 68-96 in Jordan's first two seasons, compared to LeBron's 77-87 two-year mark.

Also, we’ve already seen evidence that LeBron can make the clutch shot. And though gifted physically, James also is a smart player. So the potential for him to be among the elite in the difficult-to-define category of intangibles is there. It may come down to the caliber of teams James plays on throughout his career, and how many championship opportunities he gets.

In the end, the most tangible evidence of superior intangible qualities is a championship ring. Or several of them. That may be the bottom line someday when it comes to matching James up against the best of all time.

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