LeBron James says he'll finish as one of the four best players ever

There's no question that LeBron James is one of the best players in basketball right now, if not the best.

The four-time league MVP and two-time defending champ has more than lived up to the hype that surrounded him as he entered the NBA straight out of high school. He's great now, but is he one of the greatest? James seems to think so.

During an interview with NBA TV that airs Feb. 17, James was asked a question many a sports fan has debated: Who's your Mount Rushmore?

“I would say obviously, the easy three, that we all talk about in our league is Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and you got Magic Johnson. And I would say my fourth… this is so tough, the greatest players of all time that I would like to see on Mount Rushmore… this is not fair. You know how many great players there is?

“Oscar Robertson.”

Then comes the question that will ignite hours of sports talk radio: When his career is over, will LeBron be up there?

“Yes.”

Why?

“Because I’m going to be one of the top four to ever play this game, for sure. And if they don’t want me to have one of those top four spots they better find another spot on that (mountain).”

I know what most fans of any team not named the HEAT are thinking right now. "Yea, right." "What a pompous ass." "He wishes he was half as good as those guys."

But while it's a great topic to debate, the truth is we don't know where James fits yet. The book on James' career is still being written. He just turned 29 years old in December and is so dominate that any team he's on automatically becomes a favorite to win the title.

He's on track to be one of the best ever, but whether or not James finishes as one will depend on what happens over the next four or five years. He has two rings, but if that's all he finishes his career with, it's not enough. He grabs two or three more titles and it'll be damn hard to make an argument against James being on that mountain.

As for his comments, yes they may be arrogant, but so what? We're talking about professional sports here. This isn't the first time a great athlete has spoken about his greatness (see: Sherman, Richard or Ali, Muhammad).

And it's not like James is constantly talking about how great he is either. Part of the reason his comments made the news is because you hardly ever hear James talk about how dominant he is. Sure, part of it could be due to the increased attention Kevin Durant is getting, as many have him pegged as the favorite to snag the MVP trophy away from James this year, but until Durant wins a ring of his own, he'll always be second banana to James.

So go ahead and crow James. Just make sure you keep backing it up.

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