Jun

4

LeBron James: The Anti-Kobe

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main 

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It is tough to be a sports fan in Cleveland, Ohio. Yes, it is a major league city with a MLB, NFL, and NBA team. One of the elite cities in the United States that does(although most Clevelanders, would be shocked with the pairing of the words elite and Cleveland.) But the last time any of these franchises were league champions, was in 1964 when the Browns won the NFL title, in the pre-Super Bowl days. The Cleveland Indians won a series of American League Central Championships from 1995-2001 and went to the World Series twice but have not won a World Series since 1948! And the Cleveland Cavaliers who have been in existence since 1970, long before many of their current fans were on the planet have never even been to the NBA Finals. But they soon will be after defeating their nemesis the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals on June 2.

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If you know a sports fan from Northeast Ohio, please excuse the happy and dazed expression that will be on their faces at least until the start of the NBA Finals. This is a day they have long dreamed of but never really thought would ever arrive. Actually between the end of the Mark Price, Brad Daugherty era up until the summer of 2003, not that many people really even cared. In those days in a three team town, the Cavaliers ranked fourth. Most people thought that the facility now known as the Q, formerly Gund Arena, was a building that the Indians stored their bats and balls in. But that all changed in the summer of 2003, because that was the season that Cleveland finally had some good fortune.

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The ping pong balls broke the right way, on an evening in May, 2003. The Cleveland Cavaliers had won the NBA Draft Lottery, and if then Cavaliers General Manager Jim Paxson had picked anybody other than the player he picked he never would have lived through the night. Paxson of course picked the Northeast Ohio native, the man who was named the Chosen One by Sports Illustrated while still a high school junior. LeBron James the player that Clevelanders rallied around like nobody since Bernie Kosar was a Cleveland Brown.

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Potential, is the cruelest word in the English language. Once you are tagged with it you are doomed. How many Major League Baseball players were tagged with the “Next Mickey Mantle” label? Lots, how many reached their “potential”, sadly none. To label somebody with “potential” to me is cursing them; if they turn out to be good, well that is what was expected. And if they turn about to be bad, well they are a failure. You can only meet your potential, you can’t exceed it! Except maybe this time someone finally has!

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If you are a regular reader of mine than you know I covered the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1995-2006, when my better half and I moved to Central New York. In the Autumn of 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers went from a team that you could not attract people with free tickets to come watch them to the most intriguing team in Ohio. And the sleepy Media Days that introduced the team to the public, usually covered by about ten of us turned into a circus! Reporters who had not been near the team since they played in Richfield, back in the mid-nineties were there! And it was all about a young man who was just out of high school not even a half year before. Talk about expectations, talk about pressure, every local station was there as well as people from ESPN and other National Networks. And this young man just stood there, not a bead of perspiration on him taking it all in with a huge smile on his face.

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The two things that struck me about this young man when I first met him was his physical maturity, he looked more like a man in his mid twenties, than the average gangly teenager. The second thing resounded even more, his penchant for saying the right thing at the right time. No stuttering, no stumbling, and no misspoken words this young man was extremely bright and very articulate. And this was not a young man raised with the silver spoon in his mouth, in the lap of luxury. Talking about how he had to pay his dues with the Cavaliers, just like he did in high school. That this was not his team it was Ricky Davis and Zydrunas Ilgauskasas team. This young man was from section eight housing, who was raised by a single mother who was a teen herself when she gave birth. Yet this man was dealing with the media like a seasoned veteran, as if he had been groomed all his life for just such a moment.

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I witnessed first hand the first three years of James NBA career, and interacted with him in every home game. Just when you thought this young man had accomplished every athletic feat imaginable, he would top it! James first two years ended in disappointment, a team that was out of it from the beginning in his first year. And a team that looked like they were destined to go to the Playoffs at the All-Star break. But the Cavaliers under went an ownership change mid season, and new owner Dan Gilbert and coach Paul Silas did not see eye to eye. Silas was fired, with about two months to play, and the Cavaliers Playoff ship was sunk.

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But the new owner brought in a new management team of G.M. Danny Ferry, who had played for Cleveland for a decade, and whose dad was the former General Manager of the Washington Bullets. And a young NBA assistant out of San Antonio who stressed defense Mike Brown. The Cavaliers looked good out of the gate, but the coach said he did not like the way they were winning. And sure enough he proved to be prophetic, because bad habits that they had gotten away with earlier started to catch up with them and turn games into losses. The team however righted it itself, and went on to win 50 games and make the playoffs for the first time since the late nineties. The season was not without it’s controversy however.

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Americans have two National Pasttimes, and Baseball is not one of them. Americans love to take one of our own and put them on a pedestal, to lionize them. However most Americans enjoy even more finding fault with our heroes, finding that flaw. In that way they can feel better about themselves. LeBron James for the first time in his NBA Career misspoke, and the ramifications lingered for quite a while. In an interview with ESPN The Magazine last season James talked about other NBA Superstars. In talking about the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, he said that Bryant had something he lacked a “killer instinct”.

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Immediately the haters were all over this statement trying to find flaws, that James himself said he had. Now Notice that I said earlier that James “misspoke” during the interview. LeBron was correct that he and Bryant are different types of players, but the “killer instinct” is not the difference. James has as much if not more “killer instinct” than any player in the NBA. No, the difference between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant is actually quite simple. Unlike Kobe, LeBron is not a selfish player.

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Kobe Bryant is the poster boy for the spoiled, rich , arrogant, and selfish athlete that turns off most sports fans. But unlike Bryant, James realizes, yes there is a “M” and an “E” in team but without the other two letters it’s not complete. While Bryant, whines and complains and threatens to take his ball and go home LeBron’s life revolves around the “team” concept. That no one individual is greater than the whole.

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James was criticized last season for not taking, or not making game winning shots in crunch time. But during the playoffs last year, it seemed that LeBron had finally silenced his critics, by winning key games with key shots. This season also would end on a rather sour note as Cleveland battling the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals won game five in Detroit, but then lost a heartbreaking game six at home. They were never really a factor in game seven, and their season ended. If Cleveland had lost game five, won game six at home, and then lost in game seven people would have felt better. They would have said that the Cavaliers were a scrappy bunch who fought their heart out at home and just did not have enough left. But the heightened expectations left a bad taste in every one’s mouth as the campaign drew to a close.

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Cleveland again had another successful regular season, in 2006-2007, and again made it to the playoffs. They swept an undermanned Washington Wizards team in the first round, and then beat the New Jersey Nets in the second round a team that in the past had always caused them problems. The stage was set for a rematch of the Cavaliers against the Pistons, but this time the winner would go to the finals.

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Cleveland lost two close games in Detroit, and the haters started to get vocal again. James had dished off the last shot to a wide open Donyell Marshall in game one, but Marshall missed a three and Cleveland lost. It was the right move, Marshall had been on fire from three point range in the New Jersey series, and he was wide open. However, the haters started saying James was too timid. LeBron tried to win the second game himself, but his shot did not fall, and the Doom Sayers really became vocal. But they quieted down some what when Cleveland held home court and tied the series at two wins each.

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Last year LeBron had said that Cleveland went into the “dragon’s mouth” and pulled out a victory as they won game five in Auburn Hills. If Cleveland was to win this series, they had to win one of the two remaining games in Detroit. This year in game five James, did the impossible; he exceeded expectations. That night in a double overtime performance, James put himself in the next level, a rarefied air only occupied previously, by men named Oscar, Earvin, Julius, Larry, and Michael. In a game that will go down as an “instant classic” James scored 48 points including 29 out of his team’s last 30!!! The Cavaliers won and once and for all the haters were silenced.

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It would all be for naught however, if Cleveland repeated what happened last year. So James scored another 48 and took over the game, right? No exactly the opposite, James knew he would be double and triple teamed all night long so he told his protege Daniel Gibson the Cavaliers rookie point guard to shoot whenever he was open. Knowing that James had confidence in him, Gibson flourished scoring 31 and the Cleveland Cavaliers were finally going to their first NBA Finals!!!

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James had a perfect opportunity to call out his detractors and sing his own praises. He did nothing of the sort, instead he praised the Pistons for bringing out the best in the Cavaliers. The only boast he made, was about his eye for talent, saying he could be a G.M. because he saw the talent in “Boobie” Gibson. No beating on his chest, singing me, me, me. A true champion he praised his team mates not himself. That is why in my eyes he is the Anti-Kobe; if Bryant is the poster boy for the spoiled arrogant athlete, James is the antithesis of that.

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I don’t make predictions, I am a reporter, and a columnist not a gambler. I will not predict whether Cleveland can overtake a finely tuned San Antonio Spurs team which is truly a machine. But for the first time in 43 years Clevelanders can wake up and look forward to a sporting event. I’d say that’s a pretty big step for Cleveland.

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(C) Copyright thesackattack.com 2007



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