I mean Dirk won the title that year so yeah, if you take this version of LeBron making of the Finals in singularity, the former is probably more impressive. This is just yet another feather in LeBron's cap though.
It's also easy to talk down LeBron's opposition after he's beaten them. Not just this year but throughout this whole 'East is weak' narrative. Sure on balance the West is probably stronger than the East in recent years, but there's also some cause and effect at play. How many potentially very good East teams has LeBron broken up, disbanded or forced to perform a long rebuild?
This year, the Raptors had the #1 seed and went all out. Yes LeBron owns them mentally but most pundits had that series as a coin flip before it started or even in the Raptors' favour. Then it was Philly that was going to take him down. Then Boston went up 2-0 and he was done again...
The Cavs had the 29th ranked defence in the regular season for crying out loud. Bar joining a team like next year's Magic or Hawks I'm not sure what else he could do to prove that he could take basically any lineup to the Finals.
