Despite Recent Past, LeBron Now Worthy of High Acclaim

CLEVELAND - Ever since LeBron James bolted Cleveland for the sunny shores of Florida two years ago, my admiration and rooting interest for the man vanished quickly. But after he led the Miami Heat to a convincing 4-1 series victory and NBA championship over the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night, I realized that my disdain for him needed to be placed on hold for awhile. In other words, I decided to salute James for his total mastery of this NBA postseason.

Mind-blowing greatness should be appreciated, period.

Heavily worshipped in the media as a super spectacular basketball whiz since the final two seasons of his high school career, LeBron joined the pro ranks in the fall of 2003, just six months after the great Michael Jordan ended his career forever in a ghastly blue and white uniform. James immediately garnered immense praise for his singular brilliance; he was a breathtaking playmaker for the team that drafted him, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and a stunningly proficient scorer. As the years added up and his across the board statistical feats increased, he began to come under heavy scrutiny for not leading his team to a league title. He authored shockingly great games both in the regular season and postseason, but always fell short in leading his team to a championship.

The negative whispers grew louder.

LeBron's callously executed departure from the Cavs following another postseason loss in 2010 transformed him from beloved hoops hero to basketball outcast and villain. Instantly, he was the subject of enormous bitterness across the NBA and especially in Cleveland, where his exit quickly returned the Cavs to their pre-LeBron irrelevance. Once he joined forces with Heat megastar Dwyane Wade and the newly acquired star Chris Bosh, James was seen as a shameless opportunist who tried to short cut success. He was derided by the general public as well as former NBA greats, all of which added to his new villainous reputation. When Miami loss the 2011 NBA finals to the Dallas Mavericks, many people across the country cheered and celebrated LeBron's failure, especially since he was a non-factor in the fourth quarter of multiple games.

Fast forward to this season.

Several times during the 2012 NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat looked like they were on the verge of collapse and elimination. Many people seemed ready to cheer again for James to tumble further down the ladder of public perception. However, the 27-year old superstar found another gear and enormous inner strength and focus to rescue his team from disaster. Beginning in their second round series against Indiana, LeBron turned in historically dominant performances, something that carried over to the showdown with Boston in the conference finals. His resolve, resiliency and flat-out superiority proved to be at an all-time high and sent the message that this season, his 9th as a pro, was going to end differently.

Boy did it ever.

The delicious NBA finals match-up with the Thunder afforded basketball fans the chance to witness a marvelous rivalry-in-the-making between the league's two pre-eminent players; James and Kevin Durant. OKC was favored to win the series based on their dominance of three straight Western conference powerhouses as well as their young and awesome star-laden team. Durant and star guard Russell Westbrook were outstanding in the series, but James was in another galaxy with his all-around play. He dominated the rebounding, made countless pinpoint passes to teammates for easy baskets, hit huge shots and free throws himself in crunch time and repeatedly scored in the lane. All of that brilliance came as a result of LeBron operating from the low post, something he rarely did in the past, but was always capable of.

The result? LeBron's first title and the second in seven seasons for Miami.

Without question, another factor in the Heat's 2012 breakthrough was the bitter pain they endured collectively (and James in particular) after last season's meltdown. LeBron's historic dominance of these playoffs is worthy of extensive praise, no matter how much he screwed up his own reputation by being such an arrogant brat after leaving Cleveland. He reformed that aspect of his persona this season, at least publicly, and took an all business approach from Day one of this lockout shortened campaign. These are all contributing elements as to why he now sits as a once-in-a-lifetime player who is also an NBA champion.

And he did it the hard way.

LeBron James Is An Embarrassment To Basketball

CLEVELAND - Right now, I feel as though I owe Kobe Bryant an enormous apology. Though I have always admired him, I also criticized his late '90's, early '00's selfish ways while playing with an in-his-prime Shaquille O'Neal. After last night's unbelievably stunning LeBron James egofest on national television, I now realize that Kobe was a saint by comparison.

LeBron, to put it nicely is literally an embarrassment to the game of basketball.

I know many people may think that it's an unfair statement by a disgruntled and angry Cleveland Cavaliers fan, but the truth is, (even though I enjoyed watching the team play) I didn't care where James landed next year after an unprecedented display of arrogance, selfishness and disloyalty in this year's long anticipated NBA free agency extravaganza.

James, 25 starred in his own one off reality series on ESPN last night to tell the salivating sports world where he would be playing pro basketball next season and beyond. When those stunning words, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach to become a member of the Miami Heat" trickled almost clumsily out of his mouth, he immediately became something far worse than the proverbial Benedict Arnold. He became the most overhyped, fictitious wanna-be legend any sport has ever known. It wasn't so much that LeBron left the Cavs, he left his credibility and his good name in the dust as well.

Let me explain.

Many people have expressed bewilderment at the backlash that James has gotten since that announcement last night at 9:28PM EST. They have said things like, 'he didn't have enough help' or 'no one has to justify to their former employer that they are signing with a new employer.' People talk of the "seven good years" he gave the Cavs. While I understand that those are merely people's opinions, it is still frustrating that folks feel that he did nothing wrong. Yes, it is his life. He is an adult who has to make choices that are best for him and his family. But for LeBron to have been conceived, birthed and raised in Northeast Ohio, then fawned over in his last two years in high school like a hapless nerd drooling over the prom queen and all but deified in his seven years as a pro by first and foremost his hometown, it is stupefying that he didn't feel any obligation to handle his departure more graciously. Indeed, he didn't even alert the Cavs of his plans until moments before he stepped on stage and in front of the cameras.

Then, he slaughtered his city with the same callous iciness of the reviled Art Modell.

Millions of hard-working people spent countless millions of dollars, time and energy on worshipping James. After decades of stunning heartbreak in every sport at the hands of opposing teams' megastar players, Cleveland's fortunes took a dramatic turn for the better when the Cavs lucked out and earned the right to draft first in 2003, the very year that James was exiting high school as the most acclaimed prep star in history. He came to town and shattered the impossible expectations that were placed upon his broad, 18-year old shoulders.

After seven brilliant seasons that yielded two consecutive MVP awards, six all-star nods and two scoring titles, James decided he'd had enough of Cleveland. In his "press conference" last night, he indicated that he'd just made up his mind that same morning. But there is great reason to believe he made the decision weeks ago. In Game 5 of the East semifinals against Boston, LeBron did something he and no other bona fide NBA legend has ever done-- he quit. He played listlessly, limply and wore a hollow and detached expression the entire game which was a pivotal match which Cleveland lost and gave the Celtics a 3-2 series lead. A national debate ensued about what made James suddenly tamp down his superlative game at the worst possible time. He downplayed it and shook it off as just one bad game in a seven year career. He followed that empty performance up with another weak effort in Game 6, though his 27 points and 19 rebounds tell a very misleading story about his tenacity, which was absent for about 44 of the 48 minutes.

And he has yet to take ownership of his cowardly acts in those games.

The Cavs, winners of 66 and 61 games during the past two seasons lost the series to Boston and LeBron seemed to not even care. That was shocking and unacceptable behavior for a man so highly skilled, so talented and who proclaims himself to be the "King." Comparisons to history's greatest icons are inevitable and no way would Magic Johnson or Larry Bird have ever played so vacantly in such a critical postseason game. Or any game for that matter. And Michael Jordan? Forget about it. LeBron has explained countless times how he idolized MJ as a child, but he certainly didn't study his hoops DNA. Jordan was an assassin because of a searing determination to best his opponents and win at all costs. Yes, LeBron says he only cares about winning, but forsaking his hometown team who has a billionaire owner willing to spend whatever it took for the Cavs to contend and win for the "easy way out" choice of Miami is beyond puzzling.

The Heat's resident megastar, Dwyane Wade entered the pros in '03 just as James did. But Wade has been the fiercer, more offensively aggressive performer of the two and actually led an arguably less talented (than the '10 Cavs) Heat team to the 2006 NBA title in dominant fashion. LeBron had many excellent pieces around him to do the same and with his unique skill set coupled with his body build, his presence alone should have compensated for whatever flaws his teammates had. With the free agent signing of all-star Chris Bosh earlier this week, Miami already possessed a dynamic duo. Adding James to that only undermines his own brilliance and legacy because it illustrates a supposedly awesome megastar leaving his talented although flawed hometown teammates in favor of joining a star studded squad. I read somewhere that Jordan would never have wanted to link up with the league's other stars...he wanted to crush them.

LeBron could have toughed it out and shaped the Cavs into a dynasty, which would have elevated him to the highest peak imaginable. The first guy to lift the oft-humiliated city of Cleveland to world champion status several times over in more than half a century.

That would've been off the charts.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert unleashed a no-holds barred tirade of the most caustic variety against LeBron in the form of a letter online. He castigated James and expressed utter disdain and intolerance for James' diva-styled attitude for the months leading up to this overblown, overhyped self-aggrandizing fiasco. In other words, it was less about him leaving and more about how he did it. No matter how you slice it, LeBron owed this city and his team far more than that. Anytime more than one party enters into a long-term relationship in which they experience highs, lows and everything in between, an obligation and responsibility forms automatically between those involved. That's why LeBron's actions can't be simply dismissed as "his life, his right."

The world has finally met a new LeBron James. The real one. He's immature, self-absorbed and highly narcissistic. He'd better hope he doesn't ever run into someone else like that. But, as he proved last night, anything is possible.

Loser.