Rhetorical Analysis Of Lebron Is Still Painting His Masterpiece By Bill Simmons

Popular writer and sports columnist, Bill Simmons, in his article, “LeBron is Still Painting his Masterpiece”, describes the current state of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and compares the careers of two of the greatest players in the league’s history: Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Simmons’ purpose is to show the effects of being driven by competition and how that has brought James into the discussion for the greatest basketball player of all time. He adopts a comic tone in order to amuse and entertain the reader, but also to establish a common ground with the reader in order for them to consider his inquiry that consistent, continuous competition has been the catalyst for bringing James into the discussion for the greatest of

He gives what he calls a “brief history of the NBA in eight fake quotes, five exclamation points and two question marks”, which simultaneously makes the reader chuckle, catches their attention, and begins discussion on one of his main topics: the history and current state of the NBA. In his second paragraph, he goes on to repeat one of his statements “in bold italics” as a bit of a joke to further appeal to the casual nature of his readers, but also to further discuss his first topic of the state of the NBA and emphasize the ridiculousness of how much the players are being paid nowadays. Not only is his opening entertaining, but it does a good job of introducing his topic of discussion, in order to begin his build-up to his main argument later on in his

However, now he reveals what he really thinks: that LeBron James should be in consideration for the greatest basketball player of all time, perhaps even greater than generally agreed upon “Greatest of All Time” Michael Jordan. This idea is probably radical to a lot of his readers, which is why he has taken the time to gradually and effectively build them up to this point. But even now, he is careful to present his argument logically and without that “in your face” aspect that turns a lot of readers off. He uses logos throughout the rest of his article to explain his reasoning and help the reader to see his point of view. The first thing that he does in this part of the article is give evidence to why James is even in this discussion. He reminds the reader that “The first 13 years of LeBron’s career were better than the first 13 years of anyone else’s career” and goes on to list all of James’ major accomplishments, which, if you line them up with anyone else’s, is a fair argument to make. He reminds fans that James “has played 199 of 199 possible playoff games” and “has logged nearly 47,000 minutes including the playoffs, more than anyone through their first 13 years except Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell”. His use of immediate evidence after