LeBron James: No Asterisk on 2012 NBA Champion

Ever since Phil Jackson infamously claimed the San Antonio Spurs deserved to have an asterisk placed on their NBA title in 1999, the theme gets trotted out whenever a shortened season is played. LeBron James completely disagrees with the notion. From ESPN: “I don’t think that’s right to say,’ James said. ‘I’m not going to get involved in it. Every team works hard no matter if it’s a lockout year or not. There’s not much of a difference between 82 games and 66 games.’ […] ‘I don’t discredit the effort San Antonio had when they won it in ’99 after the lockout,’ James said. ‘We all know Gregg Popovich is an unbelievable coach and Tim Duncan is an unbelievable player. It shouldn’t matter. They won multiple (titles) after that so are we going to say that first one wasn’t good enough? I don’t think that’s true at all.’ James said he believes the opposite is true. This has been a more difficult season than usual because of the demanding schedule and therefore the eventual champion would have had a more challenging road. ‘This is a tough season; this is a difficult season for everyone,’ James said. ‘This is the toughest season since my rookie year. This is very challenging to us mentally and physically.'”