This is an interesting point and something I've been thinking about this season. I think Lebron really cost himself more championships by being impatient and constantly worried about his brand. What I mean by that is this: had he stuck around in two different situations in his career, or made different choices not based on his image, I think he could have won more.
He probably left Miami too soon. I have no doubt that Riley would have continued to add to their roster and make the team better. They probably could have won another title there had LeBron committed there for a few more years. Dont get me wrong, as a Cavs fan I couldn't be happier that he came back. But I think he made that choice mostly to repair his image and improve his legacy by winning one for Cleveland.
Then he leaves here for LA, which also feels like it was a bit impatient and also based on his brand. As you pointed out, maybe moving on from the Cavs was the right move. But either way, he could have stayed and re-tooled in Cleveland by committing; we all know he cost himself star teammates by not committing. Or he could have gone somewhere with a better team around him to win more. But in LA he gets to be Mr Hollywood and take over the media market there. But the road to a title there is not much better than here with Cleveland and hes really banking on the Laker lore to get more help there. He could have either taken another crack at winning the East or picked a better west coast team.
But we see now by some of his actions and strange comments that his priorities can be a little out of whack. His constant social media presence, his embrace of a city in a temporary way (Cleveland or nowhere shirts when he was here; Dodgers hats now that he is in LA). He professed his love for Cle then bashed it later by saying "no one wanted to come to Cle", the whole "more than an athlete" thing; like dude, we get it - you want to be a leader off the court and impact social change and that's a really noble thing. But everybody respects what you do for the community and so forth, you don't have to try so hard. And you can't just say whatever you want whenever you want, like comparing NFL owners to slave owners or declaring yourself goat. All of your shows with you making your points have nobody to counter you it's just a bunch of your friends agreeing with everything you say. It just makes me wonder if his decision-making when it came to basketball couldn't have been better had he not been thinking about other things in terms of his image and making choices based on that. Seems to be the one flaw in an otherwise spotless resume when it comes to his understanding of the game and how to win.
If you think about Kobe or Jordan, and how many titles they won, it seems somewhat logical to draw the conclusion that staying the course with one team and being obsessed with only winning increases your chances of more titles. I think LeBron jumped around too much. I mean, look at Shaq. Same thing. Would have won more if he didn't bounce around so much.
