In the summer of 2010, the “decision” was made that the best player on the planet was taking his talents to South Beach. LeBron James joined forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to compete for NBA Championships. A celebratory parade took place and the rest is history.

“Not four, not five, not six, not seven…,” left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths and the Miami Heat found themselves as the villain competing against the world.

This writer is not going to get into whether LeBron should have left the Cleveland Cavaliers or not. That was a decision he made with many things in mind, including, competing for rings, his family and the current salary cap situation for Cleveland. LeBron was a costless agent and he did not force his way out of Cleveland, he did it the right way.

Yes, the ESPN special could have been avoided. Now, with that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at key NBA trades and/or signings that included players not named LeBron James.  Keep in mind that some of these were successful and some were epic failures.

Taking a look back at NBA history:

On July 9, 1968, the Los Angeles Lakers were coming off of a finals loss to the Boston Celtics. What did L.A. decide to do after the loss? They made a trade to land the great Wilt Chamberlain. This trade may have formed the original Big 3 consisting of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt. We are pretty sure at the time, there were no talks of West not being able to get it done alone.

In June of 1980, the Boston Celtics were a loaded team. Larry Bird was coming off of a loss to the 76ers in the East Finals. The following year, a blockbuster trade was made. The Celtics traded for two-thirds of their original version of the Big 3. The Golden State Warriors sent center Robert Parish (The Chief) along with a first round pick to Boston. That pick translated into Kevin McHale. Yours truly wonders if Bird was scrutinized back then for teaming up with Parish?

In the late 1980’s, the Bad Boy Pistons were having trouble getting over the hump versus the Boston Celtics. They knew Isiah Thomas needed help. Therefore, the Pistons traded for Mark Aguirre. Please keep in mind, Aguirre at the time was considered to be one of the great scorers in the NBA. With Dallas, he averaged between 22 – 25 points per game. This helped Thomas and the Pistons win multiple titles.

In 1992-93 all-time great Charles Barkley joined forces with all-star point guard Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle and Danny Ainge, to compete for rings. He was unhappy in Philadelphia and knew it would be tough to win a ring there. Barkley won the regular season MVP that year, leading his star-studded team to the NBA Finals only to lose to Jordan and the Bulls.

In 1995, NBA all-star and maybe the best guard in the league at the time (Jordan was in his first retirement), Clyde Drexler joined forces with the great Hakeem Olajuwon to win his first NBA championship. Nobody talks about his legacy being tarnished.

In 1996, the Chicago Bulls knew they needed to beef up the inside in order to compete with Shaq and Penny Hardaway’s Orlando Magic. They went out and signed arguably the best rebounder to ever play the game: Dennis Rodman. Not to mention, they signed the best international player, Toni Kukoc, to be their sixth man. Did Jordan need all this help? Yes.

In 1999, three basketball hall-of-famers decided to join forces with the Houston Rockets to compete for titles; Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwan teamed up to do the unthinkable for Sir Charles. He at the time desperately needed an NBA Championship.

In 2004, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired players Karl Malone and Gary Payton to team up with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Don’t tell me Malone and Payton were washed up. The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals that year and probably would have won the title if it wasn’t for the off court distractions including Kobe’s legal battle in Colorado. The Lakers had won three titles and were hungry for more – sound familiar? (Hint: Carmelo Anthony joining the Heat).

In 2004, the New Jersey Nets acquired Vince Carter. The Nets consisted of their own version of the Big 3 with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. They won the East twice as well.

In 2007-08 Kobe Bryant figured out the hard way that he could not win titles without Shaquille O’Neal. The Lakers made a trade to acquire Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzles. Gasol was an up and coming star and nearly averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. To add to that, the Lakers signed Ron Artest, who was arguably the best defensive player in the league. Therefore, Kobe could not do it by himself.

In 2007-08, the Boston Celtics knew that Paul Pierce needed help. They sought out Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to form Boston’s second era of the Big 3. Let’s not forget Rajon Rondo, who blended in well with the Big 3.

We think you are getting the picture here. Some other notable transactions include Wade teaming up with Shaq, Dwight teaming up with Harden or even Magic Johnson teaming up with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy to win championships. Your humble writer is sure that some of these aren't the same magnitude when compared to LeBron teaming with whomever – maybe they are, who knows. Fact of the matter is you need stars to when multiple championships.

It's not that much of a different league today. It's only that Jordan was blessed enough to not have to leave Chicago. However, most don't know that he only retired in 1998 because the Bulls wouldn't bring back Scottie Pippen. If they did, he would have competed for another title run. Jordan wasn't ready to hang them up, so he came back to play for the Wizards, right?

Could you imagine if LeBron did that in today's society or league? He'd be scrutinized and called a quitter. Jordan knew he couldn't win without Pippen and LeBron knows he needs a caliber type player such as Pippen. Wade is not that player anymore, we all know that.

Jordan admitted to this in a one-on-one with Ahmad Rashad that aired on NBA TV. Jordan knew he needed help and he got it throughout his career. Kobe is another example of being blessed. He had help throughout his career in L.A. Remember, before the Gasol trade, Kobe was ready to bolt out of town since the Lakers didn’t aggressively pursue Jason Kidd (post Shaq era).

Jordan, Bird, Magic and Kobe are anomalies. Their respective organizations somehow built championship caliber teams around them. These four did not have to leave town in order to win. It is also not a sheer coincidence that the Celtics, Bulls and Lakers have won the most NBA titles.

It is a blend of the organization doing things right along with these four players. Not every team or organization can be as savvy, especially the Cleveland Cavaliers. Think about that rationally.

The Cavaliers had a terrible salary cap situation. They could not sign any additional players to help LeBron win a title. Players like Jordan, Kobe, Magic and Bird never had to deal with that dilemma. You may throw Tim Duncan in the same conversation -- the San Antonio Spurs are a savvy team organization.  

However, this all comes down to one thing: stop the comparisons of LeBron to Jordan. James is not Jordan; he is a different basketball player. If we can get over that aspect of this debate, then LeBron would just be another player who teamed with other stars to win championships.

Just like his predecessors did.