Ramsey: All hail LeBron, the Counterfeit King

LeBron James is, as everyone knows, The King.

But here’s a question we must ask as James transports his immense talent and even more immense ego to Miami:

The King of What?

He’s been promoted as the grandest basketball star for our age, but, come on, anyone with honest eyes knows that’s not true.

He has not won a championship. He’s not the best player in the NBA, and it’s not even close.
James has won consecutive MVP trophies. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant has won consecutive NBA titles with the Lakers. LeBron is the supreme athlete. Kobe is the supreme winner.

Kobe rules the playoffs, when the true emperors of sports emerge. LeBron rules the regular season, when exhausted, disinterested defenders shrug as the Counterfeit King rises for a dunk.

James will join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for a basketball circus near the beach. They’ll splash in the surf, score a spectacular amount of points and dominate the highlight shows. It should make for an entertaining, and empty, show.

Kobe and his Lakers will reign again. The best player will be motivated and directed by Phil Jackson, the best coach. This is an unconquerable combination.

And the Lakers will be fueled by anger. I’m sure Kobe and Phil and Pau Gasol and Ron Artest watched LeBron’s Thursday night TV announcement, which delivered enough mind-numbing torture to enrage anyone.

LeBron wasted 27 minutes of our time as he, with the aid of ESPN, forced us wade through endless commercials and such probing questions from Jim Gray as “You still a nail-biter?”

It was a bad night for the NBA, which watched its most overhyped star try — and fail, I hope — to elevate above the entire league.

Wade, Bosh and James now comprise the NBA’s most gifted trio, but they should be reminded the game is played with five players.

And they should look at the NBA’s past and examine what happened to past chemistry experiments blending multiple superstars.

Explosions have been the norm.

In 1968-69, the Lakers enlisted Wilt Chamberlain, the best athlete ever to play the game, to compete alongside Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. This was — sorry LeBron, Dwyane and Chris — the greatest trio ever assembled.

The Lakers were beaten in the NBA Finals by the Boston Celtics, who were a bunch of wheezing geezers. But they were determined geezers who battled together as a genuine team.

In 2003-04, the Lakers brought Karl Malone, Gary Payton to join Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

A title was a sure thing.

Right?

I was with Carmelo Anthony at the Nuggets practice facility the day the Lakers quartet was finalized.

“There are four Hall of Famers,” Anthony said. “There’s only one ball. How they going to do that?”

Not so well, as it turned out. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons — again, a real team — over the Lakers fabulous foursome in the Finals.

I don’t have a crystal ball at my home, but there’s every reason to expect a repeat.

Sure, LeBron is the King.

The King of games that don’t matter very much.

Kobe rules the games that are truly immense.

And that’s not going to change in 2010-2011.

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