Being drafted by such an incompetent franchise hurt him. Everyone who Lebron is compared to played for great franchises with all time great coaches and/or teammates.
Bird was drafted to the 2nd best franchise in NBA history, which was the best franchise in NBA history at the time (still might be it's debateable), and also had hall of fame teammates (Celtics acquired McHale and Parrish both in his 2nd season) almost immediately after entering the league.
Magic drafted to the GOAT NBA franchise, with Kareem to groom him.
Jordan made the Bulls one of the GOAT franchises, but had Phil, Pippen, and later Rodman, along with many great role players.
Kobe drafted by the Hornets and cried his way to a trade to the GOAT franchise with Phil as the coach and Shaq to shoulder the load, pause.
Lebron went to one of the worst franchises, with no structure and no good teammates, didn't have a great teammate until he went to the Heat and Wade only had 1 season left as a great player, and Bosh showed that he was a really good player but not a great player.
It's really not fair to compare Lebron's career to any of those players, he didn't have the luxury of a support system that was better than him that could lift him up until he went to the Heat and that began to slowly crumble along with Wade's knees almost immediately after he got there. There's no and never has been a reason for him to submit to the system in Cleveland completely because he has a higher basketball IQ than all of his coaches in his time there, and it still remains to be seen if Kyrie and Love can step up and be truly great players when it matters the most.
EDIT: In hindsight he should have stayed with the Heat, but Wade should've been willing to take a HUGE paycut to keep him there and add young talent around him.