Text|freelee
LeBron James' "Project 411" is officially completed, but for the NBA league, will the Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers match on March 2, 2024, play the most value?
James had 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists in this game, and his career regular season total was 40,017 points, 11,046 total rebounds, and 10,847 total assists. "Zhan Huang" finally achieved the unique achievement of scoring more than 40,000 points, rebounding and assisting more than 10,000 each.
Earlier, James commented: "No one has done this before. For me, at this point in my career, at this juncture, at this position (40,000 points), I think it's great. ”
However, the game ended with the Lakers losing 114-124 to the defending champions, suffering an eight-game losing streak against the Nuggets. To a certain extent, this reflects that James's own amazing achievements are misaligned with the embarrassment of the Lakers' poor performance in recent seasons. James' influence is certainly transcendent, but the league desperately needs a new card and a new championship-level superstar to support the future. In this game, Jokic, the star of the Nuggets, was still better than James, scoring 35 points, and was the key figure in the reversal of the Nuggets, who fell behind in the first two quarters. The Mesozoic generation represented by him and more new generations have become the protagonists in various topic battles, which is the hope for the NBA's continued growth.
There is no need to deliberately select the "completed" session.
In the "411" project, James has already completed the rebounds and assists target, and everything is just waiting for the score to break the 40,000 mark. As we get closer to the goal, the potential games to witness the historic moment will be three home games from late February to early March, with the Lakers facing the Washington Wizards, Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder, in that order.
From the perspective of James's "good marketing" personality in recent years, it is a more talkative moment for the Thunder to achieve a breakthrough - on February 7, 2023, James scored more than 38,388 points in his career, replacing Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time scoring leader, and the opponent at that time was the Thunder.
But when he was about to hit 40,000 points, James played a "god-killing" performance. Knock on the opportunity in advance. At the end of February, the Lakers took on the Los Angeles Clippers and trailed by 21 points early in the fourth quarter. James led the comeback, scoring 19 points on five three-pointers in the quarter to help the Lakers achieve the biggest fourth-quarter turnaround since April 2003 and win 116-112. James scored 34 points in the game.
Then in the home game against the Wizards, James scored 31 points to help the Lakers win 134-131 in overtime. The Lakers' top scorer in this game was Anthony Davis with 40 points. If James is a little more explosive and achieves the same output effect as Davis, he can directly win the "411" in this game. However, it is difficult to score 40 points in a single game, so there is not much momentum about "411" before the first game against the Wizards. If James succeeds in this game, it will reduce the spread of the legendary moment.
James recreates data that latecomers can only look up to.
In the end, two consecutive "30+" games accelerated the "411" process, but there was no "chaotic rhythm". Before the Nuggets, James was only 9 points away from 40,000 points, and the "breaking 4" in the game was almost a certainty.
In the game that became the all-time scoring champion in 2023, James broke the record but lost the game against the Thunder. If "411" is realized in the game against the Thunder and the Lakers win, the drama of "Zhan Huang's revenge" will make the "411" battle even more legendary. However, there is no need for James to deliberately "keep his hand" on the Nuggets for this kind of drama that relies on artificial atmosphere. On the contrary, if the "411" cannot be achieved in the first game against the Nuggets, James' double-digit record of scoring in 1,204 consecutive games will be interrupted, and the loss will be even more "heavy".
In the battle of 411", James still relied on a fast-break layup and a three-pointer in the first quarter to ensure that the impact process was on track, although he did not shoot frequently in the early stages. Early in the second quarter, James turned around and broke through Porter Jr. and made a left-handed layup, finally scoring his 40,000th point in the NBA regular season.
411 "Nothing Helps Change James' Historical Evaluation."
After the 411" is achieved, the discussion about James's legendary data will hardly extend into a powerful wave - the legendary data has been "dug up".
In the 2019 '20 season, James won the championship trophy in his first year with the Lakers. Since then, however, Zhan Huang has not been able to expand the number of championships. The Lakers' overall form is even more tepid, with no higher regular season ranking than seventh in the West in the three seasons since winning the championship in 2020, and even missed the playoffs once (2021-22). This means that it is difficult for James, who is getting older, to elevate his status in history through championships or MVP numbers.
At this time, the all-time scoring champion has become one of James' few remaining honors that can compete and have a certain topicality. It didn't help James make another breakthrough in terms of historical evaluation, just as Stockton was the all-time assist and steal king, but the number one point guard of his time is still recognized as "Magic" Johnson.
The all-time scoring champion can't change James' historical status, and "411" can't. James himself understands this. In his post-game press conference against the Wizards, he said: "Is '40,000 points' the pinnacle of my career achievement? No. "The all-time scoring champion shows that James continues to play as a star, and after experiencing the league's scenes of old people going and new people coming, he has always been a unique face figure, and his long and brilliant career is admirable. "411" emphasizes that James is an unborn "all-round warrior" who can rank near the historical level in various basketball indicators. The problem is that James' accomplishments and versatility don't need to be recognized by virtue of the two statistic milestones he set up at his age.
James is still the face of the league, and he is in C position on the 2024 All-Star Weekend poster.
The NBA is one of the best professional sports leagues at telling stories with data, but data alone can't replace stories. As artificial intelligence continues to advance, the general public can easily access enlightening data insights as long as the original data is trustworthy. "20 years and 10 months of the largest fourth-quarter deficit reversal" such tongue-in-cheek data can be presented in an instant through human-computer dialogue. This data can help people understand how incredible it is that James led the Lakers to a reversal of the Clippers, but directly witnessing James's life-saving three-pointers in the fourth quarter made people deeply admire James's immortality.
At the extreme, at James' age and stage of his career, the all-time scoring champion and "411" are even less meaningful than the mid-season tournament winners. In the first season of the midseason test waters, the Lakers won the championship and James won the MVP. Although the tournament is far less valuable than the Finals, James has at least proved that he is still a dominant figure in the battle for honors with a certain intensity.
The data isn't as significant as it could be, but James and the league are trying to turn it into a story. After all, James has always been one of the league's most interesting superstars, and the all-time scoring champion and "411" made the late James still focus on the eyeballs, which brought significant instantaneous benefits to the player's own commercial development and the league's publicity. In the final analysis, if James, who is difficult to change the championship situation, has not left the court, he will eventually have some legendary pursuits to be worthy of his "identity". And the all-time scoring champion and "411" are the best choice at the moment. With proper planning, nature will come naturally. Related topics are sure to get an instant spike in traffic. Subsequent commercial activities can also follow up with packaging, such as commemorative shoes, apparel, star cards and other types of merchandise. In a few years' time, things about those two games — such as game balls, James' used towels and even the most valuable off-court jerseys — will flow into the collectibles market and be monetized exponentially.
However, after even the "411" was successfully knocked, James no longer has many meaningful data stories to tell - whether it is the "big 411" (scoring more than 40,000, rebounds and assists breaking 110,000, the current number of assists is xx) or "double 42" (if James remains a star until he retires at the age of 42, his career total is expected to exceed 42,000 points), are just some secondary embellishments to the already brilliant statistics.
International superstars should be praised.
For James himself, the effectiveness of data packaging is basically at its limit (unless the championship and the number of MVPs are rewritten, but as mentioned earlier, winning championships and MVPs is inherently contagious, and its charm and significance cannot be summed up by a single corresponding statistic). His next goal may be to "return to storytelling" and achieve the same long-standing "father and son on the same stage". Then if his peers give face, he can also try to retire from touring. And then there's probably the story of the extra-competitive one, investing in an NBA club of your own in Las Vegas.
As for the NBA, I am afraid that it will not dig out new data meanings for him. Compared to when he surpassed Abdul-Jabbar, there was no official direct intervention in the timeout to celebrate when James scored the 40,000th point. The league clearly does not view this milestone as a "top-of-the-line" specification. In fact, the league's score in recent years is "inflationary" for all to see. After years of rule adjustments, the NBA has entered a state of "big score", and the scenes of individual scores of 50+ in a single game are becoming more and more frequent. The league seems to have achieved the goal of "encouraging offense", but in fact, fans believe that the flood of three-point shots and "body hair whistles" leads to a lack of close hand-to-hand confrontation in the game, and the scene is not exciting enough. The significance of the high-score data was spontaneously dissolved by the fans. After the 2024 All-Star Game created a "crazy" score of 211-186 in the East over the West, fans' complaints about "scoring points" reached a boiling point. After James' data has been "squeezed" of promotional value on the surface, there is really no need for the league to force the use of data to tell stories.
Coupled with James's advanced age after all, if the NBA, as a business league, cannot find a new generation of face-to-face figures to replace James, fans will become more "nostalgic", and the next stage of development of the league will be significantly restricted.
Judging from the battle of "411" alone, it can actually be packaged as a more daring story of the old and the new. Traditionally, the faces of the NBA have been dominated by Americans. However, as the most successful international member of the American professional ball league, the NBA can actually lead the topic of Serbs becoming the "first brother of the league" by comparing the performances of James and Jokic in recent years, so as to render a new era of the league in which heroes are twilight and new kings are established.
In particular, the 29-year-old Jokic and his age-related Greek star Antetokounmpo may be just transitional characters to pave the way for a more international NBA stage. With Frenchman Benjamin joining the league with incredible talent, it would certainly be good for the league's future if it "mentally prepares" for the dominance of international stars sooner. Wembanyama is favored as a candidate for the new all-time star, but the American basketball community may still not be free from its nationalist complex, and its willingness to package international stars is not strong enough. This means that no matter how well Wembanyama performs, the process of discounting influence may be lengthened, affecting the league's propaganda in the "post-James era".
Wembanyama has a lot of potential.
On the contrary, if international stars such as Jokic and Brother Alphabet are fully recognized and packaged by the league, Wembanyama will definitely have a smoother path to the latecomers as long as they play superstar performances and leading performances. The international star-studded league has the opportunity to expand the NBA's global revenue and make the league have no shortage of material on the topic of superstars, and the NBA will still be the big winner in the end.
Other American professional leagues have taken a more active stance towards embracing international superstars. Needless to say, in terms of football, which has a weak tradition, Messi has been sought after all over the United States after joining Inter Miami, and Messi's global fans have also followed MLS. And the more traditional "American-style sport" baseball has also praised the Japanese Shohei Ohtani as the absolute "first brother" of the league with an astonishing 10-year $700 million contract. The NBA, which has a very good international background, has no reason to refuse a capable international player to play the top card.
In this context, the situation becomes even more interesting when we look at James' next deployment. James wants his NBA team to land in Las Vegas. This flashy city full of dollars has once given birth to one of the most commercially valuable single bouts in sports history - the 2015 boxing superstar Mayweather vs. Pacquiao's "fight of the century", which attracted more than $600 million in a single bout. Both fighters are some of the world's top superstars, with Pacquiao, known as "The Asian Cruiser," hailing from the Philippines. Las Vegas' tradition of recognition of international sports superstars seems to be able to be combined with a more open attitude towards international players in the future of the NBA. James, who is good at "planning" both on and off the court, can he use this to achieve a more ambitious basketball business"Go.a.t."What about (the best ever) dream?
Regardless of what James and the NBA choose in the future, today's "411" should be seen as just a vignette about the legend. Because, when data is no longer a pure chase goal and story theme, fans have more reason to believe that more moving basketball stories will come to them.
Note: The ** used in this article is from osports.