CLEVELAND - When LeBron James was drafted straight out of high school in the summer of 2003, I was asked by several people if I believed he would live up to the unprecedented hype he was receiving once he turned pro. I said constantly, "if he never believes the hype and instead works on his game as if he were a constant work in progress, he will indeed meet expectations and even exceed them."
Eight years later, he continues to do just the opposite. He believes his own hype.
James, 26 is at the most heavily criticized crossroads a pro sports superstar has ever experienced. Two days ago, his Miami Heat lost the NBA championship to the Dallas Mavericks on their own court. The loss was stunning in the way it took place. First, the Heat dominated Game 1 at home leading many to label Dallas as severely overmatched. Secondly, after the Mavs tied up the series, they immediately surrendered their momentum by losing the first game in Dallas, allowing Miami a 2-1 series lead. Over the ensuing three games, Dallas used poise, savvy, and brilliant crunch time execution to emerge victorious in each game to win the series, 4-2. But in spite of it all, LeBron's stunning vanishing act in each of the last three games stands as the single biggest shocker of the series' outcome.
The world's most talented basketball player played like an overwhelmed role player.
In all my years of watching pro basketball, I have NEVER...EVER seen a superstar, in his prime play as uninspired, listless and cowardly as LeBron James played in this series. I don't believe it is a stretch to say it, but LeBron disgraced the sacred club of superstardom. His performance was flagrant, empty and utterly embarrassing. Making it all the worse, LeBron is in the unusual position of being both an experienced veteran as well as a young-but-in-his-prime force of nature physically. Arguably, no one has ever been as gifted physically as him. Being 6'8," 265 pounds and breathtakingly strong, quick, agile and athletic as well as being a dominant scorer and expert playmaker is a little like a person being wise, good looking, charming and rich while still just 18 years old.
It's just not fair.
Yet in spite of those colossal attributes at his constant disposal, LeBron is flawed beyond belief. He spent seven seasons as the Cleveland Cavaliers' homegrown legend-in-the-making. Then in a selfish and classless act of arrogance, he humiliated the team and city by announcing his plans on national television to bolt the team in favor of joining Miami and its megastar, Dwyane Wade and new addition, all-star Chris Bosh. That was the start of the figurative evisceration of the previously fawned over James. Ever since he joined the Heat, he has displayed a stunning amount of immaturity and self-centeredness.
Just prior to the start of the 2011 NBA Finals, Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen ignited what amounted to sports blasphemy when he suggested that James is a greater player than Pippen's legendary former teammate Michael Jordan. He pointed to LeBron's playmaking style of basketball and seemed to insinuate that it was preferable to MJ's score-first mentality. If nothing else, Pippen's assessment proves that a person doesn't have to be a senior citizen to become senile. Before LeBron's watered down Finals performance ever happened, it was a ridiculous comment. After the dismantling by the Mavs and James' refusal to step up, the comment deserves to go into the comedy hall of fame and earn Pippen a one-way ticket into the most remote crazy farm on Earth.
Seriously.
Again, LeBron might be the most talented player in NBA history. But talent is just a fraction of what makes a player great, especially Jordan. The way MJ made teams bend to his will, even while his Chicago Bulls were losing in the playoffs before their 1990s dominance puts him on another plateau altogether from James. Jordan owned crunch-time, even if he was having a bad game--he never shrunk from high stakes or pressure; he embraced it and cultivated a gigantic reputation of tenacity and relentlessness. LeBron played in these Finals as if he forgot who he is. During the 2010 NBA playoffs, he did the same thing playing for the Cavs but forever denied widespread opinion that he "gave up." He often blamed the Cavs' postseason failures on the lack of formidable talent around him and when he submitted a shockingly uninspired and nonchalant effort in the infamous Game 5 of the 2010 Celtics series, he refused to take blame. Instead, he claimed that people had gotten "spoiled" by his repeatedly great play so they never gave him the right to have "one bad game in a seven year career."
Um, yeah.
With LeBron taking the easy road to a championship (or so he seemed to think it would be easy) by joining with super mega-star Wade and all-star Bosh in Miami, formidable talent was no longer going to be an issue, according to the way his mind works. In effect, LeBron put himself in a position where he couldn't win no matter what. He's the man who encourages people to call him "King James." He's the one that got "Chosen 1" tattooed across his back. He's the one that declared he'd be "taking [his] talents to South Beach." And with years of breathtaking, often superhuman highlights on the court, he set an enormously high standard for himself. And when he and Bosh, along with Wade were introduced together last July at that over-the-top celebration of their new partnership, LeBron famously declared that the Heat would now win more than half a dozen league titles.
Failure is all his.
Wade was brilliant many times in the 2011 NBA Finals. Bosh hit countless jumpers to frustrate Dallas. Even non-star Mario Chalmers had several huge moments. In other words, no one on Miami underperformed with the exception of James; the guy who is supposed to be using his unguardable abilities to dominate. When he drives hard to the basket, he is so unstoppable that it should almost be illegal. Yet in spite of this, he chooses all too often to shoot long jumpers which is a relief for whomever is defending him. When LeBron ignores his own dominant abilities, it's like a person having a Ferrari and a Ford Focus in their garage, but choosing to drive the Focus in a drag race.
LeBron averaged a putrid 17.8 points per game in the championship series. He averaged 3.0 points per game in the 4th quarter. Again, he's a super charged, springy-legged 26 year old at the outset of his prime. Meanwhile, Jordan in the 1997 NBA Finals averaged over 32 points per game at the far more physically disadvantaged age of 34. In that series, he had a game winning shot at the buzzer, another game of 38 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists, another game where he dominated the 4th quarter with 15 points and the game changing 3-pointer with less than a minute to play. Lastly, he made the game winning assist to Steve Kerr in the finale en route to 39 points and 11 assists. The following year at age 35, he scored 16 of his 45 points in the 4th quarter and made his famous, title winning jumper in the Bulls' 6th championship clincher. What's more impressive than MJ leading the Bulls to six titles was the fact that the Bulls were a perfect 6-0 in the league title series. And remember, a superstar at the past prime age of 35 is in decline, whereas a superstar nearly a decade younger is at the peak of his youthful athleticism. Yet MJ reigned supreme and Lebron stunk up the joint.
How can LeBron be declared as ANYWHERE NEAR Jordan's level?
I'm very happy Dallas won the title. Dirk Nowitzki has been an awesome player for over a decade and with his performance in the entire 2011 playoffs, he proved that he was great enough to deserve it. The Mavs as a team totally impressed me with their resilience above all else as they repeatedly rallied from huge deficits to win pivotal games in every series. That was almost unprecedented. But I won't deny that I'm most happy with the Finals outcome because of the way it denied and then humiliated LeBron James. His talent is undeniable, but so is his immaturity and yes, his unmitigated arrogance. This man needs discipline and polish in the worst way, because until he gets those things--IF he gets those things, he'll be the most unimpressive and underachieving figure in basketball history. He already doesn't deserve the talent that he has, and with his misguided and annoying sense of entitlement, he won't deserve any championship he wins either.
Unless he finally gets a clue and grows up.
