There has never been a more hyped athlete coming into the league quite like LeBron James. When he was in high school his games were televised nationally by ESPN. He graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. He received a 9 figure endorsement deal from Nike. All before ever being drafted. When he was finally selected by his hometown Cavaliers it seemed to play like a Hollywood script; the hometown kid taking the perennial cellar dwellers to the mountain top. And LeBron and his posse were well aware of this. LeBron entered the league at a time when social media was taking off, and was aware from a young age of his image and need to cultivate that image worldwide. He embraced the attention, making commercial after commercial, and playing up his image as the "next Jordan". A massive banner was even erected in Cleveland of James in a Christ-like pose with the saying "we are all witnesses". And for the most part he delivered on the hype. Cleveland jumped to contender status immediately. The Cavs made the finals in his third year (getting swept by the Spurs) and he won consecutive MVP awards from 2008-2010. The team was winning, they were having fun, and the carefully structured image he had created was in top form. People not only were enamored with his play, but truly liked him as a person. He brought joy and excitement to a city in desperate need of it. It seemed only a matter of time before he gained the success that seemed ordained to him coming out of high school. Even with enormous expectations, LeBron seemed to be not only embracing them, but living up to them. But in the summer of 2010 things took a turn that LeBron and his people should have seen coming, but didn't.
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| Witnesses to untapped potential |
It is well publicized that LeBron has a close knit group that he travels with. These are not only his friends but his business associates. They are the ones that advice him and "look out" for him and his interests. When you are massively successful like LeBron, it is hard to take a step back and look at the big picture and see the ramifications of your actions. You feel invincible; like everything you touch will turn to gold. When you have close friends around you at all times advising you, it is also hard to get good, honest direction. They tend to become "yes men", agreeing with you, scared to go against the grain for fear or being alienated. When you factor in that all of these guys are in their mid 20's with no real business experience, it is a recipe for disaster.
When ESPN and LeBron's team put together "The Decision" it was doomed to fail. Using a nationally televised special to announce where you would be signing as a free agent clearly rubbed people the wrong way. It takes a massive ego to do such a thing, and while the public was aware of LeBron's ego before this, "The Decision" took it to another level. But he and his advisors saw this as great publicity, and justified it as a charity event benefiting the Boys & Girls Club (how many even remember this?). How LeBron could not see the perfect storm brewing is a mystery. Only signing with one place could justify such a classless publicity stunt like this, and that would be resigning with Cleveland. Instead, he chose Miami. The entire nation saw Cleveland's favorite son deliver a nut punch to the city of epic proportion. Fans couldn't understand how he could do such a thing to a city decimated by recession and unemployment in front of a nationally televised audience. But the NBA is a business, and LeBron had every right to choose where he played. He was not bound to Cleveland in any way, and the whole point of free agency is to weigh your options and play where you want. But the way he went about it destroyed his image. After the backlash of this ridiculous special, LeBron responded like a spoiled kid, playing the victim, not understanding why there was such an outcry. The arrogance that he showed spoke volumes to the fans who had fell in love with him. And in acting like an entitled child he pushed many more fans away. What he didn't realize was all he had to do was apologize for the way he announced his choice, that he should have notified the Cavs prior to his announcement to give them time to rebuild, and show them the respect that they and the fans deserved by thanking them for their love and support while a Cavilier. But for someone who had been coddled through high school and the pros he hadn't dealt with anything like this before. He was being criticized for the first time and couldn't cope with the ramifications of his poor decision and became defensive, failing to see how he had harmed so many that believed in him as a player and a person.
Clearly LeBron's actions during his free agency alienated him from many fans. No matter what he did on the basketball floor could rebuild what he had done in their eyes, as he was now seen as a spoiled brat with an ego as big as his potential. "The Decision" itself was the first chink in his carefully cultivated persona, but it also transformed the spotlight shown on him into a microscope. Everything he would do from then on both on and off the court would be scrutinized, and how he responded would shape his legacy and status with fans.
We as sports fans, when we see a specimen like LeBron, understand the potential they possess. And with that understanding we expect them to excel. Sometimes they meet our ridiculous expectations and have successful careers. Others don't and fade away into obscurity or live on as a trivia question. Whether this is fair or not it is the way sports work. Athletes understand this, and either embrace it or run from it. LeBron embraced this fully. He wanted to be the next great NBA star. He wanted the attention and to be the "King". And America, seeing the potential and freakish nature of LeBron's ability, bought into it. Which is why choosing to play in Miami, with his closest rival Dwayne Wade, didn't make sense to the true NBA fan. NBA history is filled with rivalries; Russell vs. Chamberlain, Magic vs. Bird, Jordan vs. whomever he thought was slighting him. None of these players would ever dream of playing with each other. In fact, all they wanted to do was BEAT the shit out of the other. Why did LeBron not want to beat Wade instead of joining him? Wade had already lead the Heat to a title, and the Heat was clearly Wade's team. Why would LeBron want to be second banana at the prime of his career? Wasn't he aware that no matter how many titles they won he would never surpass Wade? But LeBron seemed to be content to playing Robin to Wade's Batman, which baffled everyone outside of South Beach.
Again, the public hoped, and LeBron led us to believe, he was the chosen one, coming to take the NBA to new heights. But truly great players are great when it is needed most. They not only want the ball, they NEED the ball when the game is on the line. They lead their team to victory any way they can, and if they don't, it kills them inside. They want to win so badly it physically hurts them when they don't that memory drives them to be better. There are many great players, but few elite players who live up to this status. LeBron is a great player, one that we may never see again, but despite this massive potential he is not an elite player. We only need to look to look to this past week as evidence of what kind of player LeBron James truly is.
During the All-Star game last Sunday LeBron was a beast. He had a mind boggling stat line and led the East back from an enormous deficit to have a chance to win the game. With seconds left, LeBron had the ball in his hands. It is situations like this that make great players elite. What did LeBron do? He passed to Deron Williams. When the East got the rebound and the ball made it back to LeBron with the chance at one more shot, he made an awful cross court pass that was intercepted by the West, securing the victory. There are two things that can be taken away from this. First off, LeBron did not want to take the shot. Whether he was shying away from the pressure of the situation, or he was trying to do too much, he was looking to pass and not shoot. This is not how an elite player acts. But he has a history of shying away from the pressure, as his no-show performance in last years finals indicate. He will dominate up until it matters most, at which time he shrinks from the moment. But what can also be taken away from this situation is the scene of Kobe Bryant barking at LeBron for not taking the last shot. It was assumed Kobe was talking trash to him for again shying away from taking over. But Kobe later confirmed that the reason for him taunting LeBron was that Kobe himself, who was guarding LeBron, wanted the challenge of defending the potential game winning shot. He knew the game was on the line and wanted to influence the outcome himself. THIS is what an elite player does. He wants the ball in his hands at the end of games. He wants to guard the best player on the opposing team. He does not back down from a challenge, but steps up, regardless of the circumstances. It is this reason that Kobe is on a whole other level than LeBron, and why Kobe, despite his own issues in the past, is more respected by fans and peers alike for his play.
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| Kobe trying to teach LeBron what it means to be "elite" |
Sunday's Lakers-Heat game was also very telling about LeBron's mentality. Dwayne Wade had fouled out with 5 minutes left and the Lakers went on to win a huge nationally televised game. This was the Heat's second consecutive loss after 9 straight wins. When the game ended and the cameras panned the players, you could see Wade looking out onto the court, dejected, knowing he could have helped his team win had he not fouled out. You could see this loss hurt him and it truly effected him. In contrast, LeBron was running around the court, shaking hands and joking with players, coaches and media, with a huge smile on his face. We want to see our elite players angry when they lose. We want them to feed off of that and store it away for later. We do not want to see them running around like everything is okay. Fans, reasonably or not, take these games seriously, and allow the outcome to effect them. A win can make an entire day great. A loss can cause depression. And when we see someone seemingly not taking a game seriously, we question their motives and their competitive drive.
But truthfully, this is who LeBron is. He is not the type of player who is in the gym religiously in the offseason working on his game. He is content with coasting on his pure unprecedented athletic ability and being the fun loving teammate. It is a mystery as to what type of player LeBron would be if he had that killer instinct and worked on facets of his game that he doesn't have. Watching him guard Pau Gasol on Sunday in the post was a thing of beauty. But it brings the question, why does he refuse to develop a post game? Is there any small forward in the league who could contain LeBron in the post? Absolutely not. Nor is there anyone who can stop him from getting to the basket. Yet he refuses to take advantage of this, instead deferring to Wade and his teammates when they need him most. It would make sense for us to just accept him for what he is, a great player with freakish ability. But it pains us to see such potential go to waste. LeBron has the potential to be one of the greatest to ever play the game, and the fact that he does not want to meet his full potential turns off many fans. We can't comprehend how he doesn't possess that drive. This may not be fair, but this is also the image that he has cultivated for the past 8 years. And when you build yourself up as something that people believe in, and you fail, there will be a backlash. He wanted people to believe he could be elite. We saw that he could be elite. But he isn't. And that, along with the arrogance and inability to be accountable for his actions is the true reason why we root against LeBron.
Soooo... have you seen him on the playoffs and the finals? :) Now just like Chuck and Shaq says, I'm just gonna wait for the obsessive haters to set new rules or barometer to Bron... oh whatever. x)
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