How to like LeBron James, despite it all
Roar Guru 
Yesterday LeBron James proved that he is an unbelievable basketball player with freakish talent, perhaps the best athlete in the world, no matter what your opinion of him.
James haul in the series-tieing win against the Indiana Pacers was simply Jordan-esque. Look at the figures and then read them one more time to fully realise their impact – 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists.
This was in a crucial Easter Conference semi-final game, and the Heat were also without a star in Chris Bosch.
That is impressive, a complete performance on the floor (OK, he only got two steals), whether you love or loathe James.
Personally, I have tended in the past to more dislike “King James”.
Part of the reason was The Decision, his farcical media event that trumpeted his move from his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to Miami. The program was strung out over a few hours, time I will never get back, and when James said “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach” my view was complete.
The words wanker, and arrogant tool, came to mind. His talents? Was that all he was taking? What about his luxury cars and expensive wardrobe? Jesus. Hardly a dignified way to switch teams. T
he whole drawn-out transfer to the Heat was a waste of time, unedifying for James and painful for the Cavs faithful.
The reaction of Cavs majority owner, who slammed James’ decision as a “selfish”, “heartless”, “callous”, and “cowardly betrayal” in a long rant, was petty but in many ways understandable.
James has been called a chocker, his failures in the playoffs in Ohio and Florida hailed by many who enjoy seeing him lose. Tall-poppy syndrome or not, you can argue that he has hardly helped his cause with some of his actions.
In the past he has seemed petulant and money-grabbing. Watch this video. Hell, even the way he wears his baseball cap pisses me off.
But then I watched the documentary More Than A Game, and I gained some new-founded respect for LeBron. His dedication to his childhood teammates, his humble beginnings, his rags to riches story, his struggles to deal with fame and attention.
Sure he has made mistakes, so have we all.
James is fantastic athlete, a ridiculous physical specamin who dominates at both ends of the floor and also may have had the ability to play in the NFL (he was a high school gridiron star).
He may be a mercenary, he may be selfish and he may be up himself, but it’s hard to argue that he’s not a freak and very enjoyable to watch from a pure hoops perspective.
You might not want James to succeed, but enjoy the thrill of watching him do his thing on the court while you can.
Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.
The Crowd Says (27) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Basketball, LeBron James, NBA
May 22nd 2012 @ 12:32pm
mushi said | May 22nd 2012 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
It is very hard to argue the mercenary angle. He didn’t sing for the Max (albeit not much off it) and would have earned more in NY or Chicago from sponsorship dollars. Miami, despite it’s current perception isn’t a big market team.
As for the player yep I hate the decision but on court I think people are robbing themselves if they watch to see his failures rather than revelling in what he can do.
We also need to stop expecting him to be Jordanesque, he isn’t that kind of scorer. He’s more a point guard that happens to defend centres every now and again than pure wing.
May 22nd 2012 @ 3:12pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 22nd 2012 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
I completely agree Mushi.
LeBron haters are robbing themselves the chance of admiring/witnessing a once-in-a-generation a player.
Hate if you want, but the guy is a special, special basketball player. And if can step up and win a Finals series, he’ll be just about the perfect basketball player.
May 22nd 2012 @ 3:22pm
Johnno said | May 22nd 2012 @ 3:22pm | Report comment
Mushi I am a Le Bron hater, I can’t stand him and style and his I am the best player at basketball attitude to his game .
May 22nd 2012 @ 3:45pm
mushi said | May 22nd 2012 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
That’s cause you’re a clueless troll that thinks basketballers are done by 27.
May 22nd 2012 @ 5:32pm
Johnno said | May 22nd 2012 @ 5:32pm | Report comment
yes I do mushi but only some players and I stand by that opinion you should look at some of the facts and you will see I am right.
May 22nd 2012 @ 6:13pm
mushi said | May 22nd 2012 @ 6:13pm | Report comment
Um what facts did you present? You used Dirk and Magic as examples for Christ’s sake. Even your own cherry picked “facts” defeated your poor argument.
I’m going to take the mountain of evidence to the contrary over the voodoo troll.
May 22nd 2012 @ 6:19pm
Johnno said | May 22nd 2012 @ 6:19pm | Report comment
Mushi the i think you are the voodoo troll i love your wit and your propaganda is most riveting i love it keep it coming mushi.
May 23rd 2012 @ 11:17am
mushi said | May 23rd 2012 @ 11:17am | Report comment
So johnno nothing to support your arguement except the “I know you are but what am I?” line
Though to be fair there is actually nothing to support your arguement that basketball players are over the hill at 27.
May 22nd 2012 @ 1:41pm
JJ said | May 22nd 2012 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
He made his own bed … it certainly breathed even more life into the NBA when he did what he did … everyone hated the Heat. He had every right to leave the Cavs, but he disrespected millions and for what … a couple of $million? Oh, and then the famous “not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5″ … come on man.
Can’t see anyone getting past the Spurs/OKC … if he’s is Jordanesque like you say, then he will for once perform in the final quarter, rather than choking and pussying out.
Go Celtics!
May 22nd 2012 @ 3:55pm
mushi said | May 22nd 2012 @ 3:55pm | Report comment
I said he ISN’T jordanesque? Magic is his better refernce point given his willingness as a passer and his all around versatility.
Also how can a Celtics fan say “the he will for once perform in the fourth quarter” did you see last year’s playoff series?
But you are right on the decison that was poor and off the court he’s a bit of a prat. But really that doesn’t exactly put him in rare company.
May 23rd 2012 @ 10:20am
mushi said | May 23rd 2012 @ 10:20am | Report comment
Whoops sorry mate compeltely misread the Jordan-esque bit. i’m an idiot.
May 22nd 2012 @ 3:04pm
roarr said | May 22nd 2012 @ 3:04pm | Report comment
I can fully appreciate his absolutely freakish, once-in-a-lifetime sporting ability… but that still doesn’t outweigh my desire for him never to win an NBA title.
I’ll be SO happy if he keeps choking. Cant really explain why I feel this way, think it’s because he’s an akron boy who went to ‘south beach’ to live in luxury with 3 other top 10 players to win a title. Cleveland could have traded him for value but have struggled immensely the past 2 seasons becuase he left as a free agent.
I think dan gilbert giving a personal guarantee that the Cavs would win a title before Lebron was a bit foolish… but geez I hope it’s true!!
May 22nd 2012 @ 5:27pm
Swampy said | May 22nd 2012 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
Lebron got a max deal at Miami cause in actual fact they have no state tax.
Every sport needs a good villain and for a while there the NBA really didn’t have one – Lebron changed that with the decision and he seems fine with it.
The strange part is, if you watch the heat regularly, Dwayne Wade is the much greater villain. It has also been suggested he was the evil architect of the big 3. But everyone seems to love and respect him… Go figure!
–
Comment left via The Roar’s iPhone app. Download The Roar’s iPhone App in the App Store here.
May 22nd 2012 @ 6:01pm
mushi said | May 22nd 2012 @ 6:01pm | Report comment
The state tax angle is blown massively out of proportion. State tax in Ohio is around 5% lebron reportedly signed for 12% less.
Also the way state taxes work it is only when you are earning it in that state so away games, payments outside of the season etc depend on where you play that day and live.
This is why so many players reside in non tax states.
May 22nd 2012 @ 6:30pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 22nd 2012 @ 6:30pm | Report comment
Fair comment on Wade though. Look at his body of work, in terms of being a villain, and it’s much stronger than LeBron’s. Imagine if hat dust up the other day with coach Spoelstra was actually LeBron instead of Wade?
He’s becoming somewhat of a brat, young Dwyane.
May 22nd 2012 @ 8:22pm
Eric George said | May 22nd 2012 @ 8:22pm | Report comment
It seems a bit odd to let a (pretty average, in my opinion) documentary about Lebron that was produced by Lebron change your opinion that was based on what you’ve seen him do in and out of games.
Over the last 3 seasons, Lebron has proved himself to be damaged goods time and time again, and I don’t really see why disliking him prevents me from enjoying what he can do on court. What does prevent me from enjoying what he can do on the court is when he can’t post up J.J. Barea in the finals!
Lebron isn’t Jordan, and every time you draw the comparison by doing something like calling his performance “Jordan-esque” you only highlight his greatest deficiency: his lack of fire. If Lebron played in a manner akin to Jordan he would look forward to destroying the best players who can guard him. If Lebron played like Jordan he would take big games by the throat and destroy opposition teams with impossible plays when his team most needs it.
Lebron tends to defer to Wade in the 4th qr, even when he has the hot hand, and this is the biggest indicator of why I scream at the television when I watch LBJ: he could be exponentially better if he added some more tools to his offensive chest, but more importantly, he continually proves that he lacks the mental toughness to lift his game to a higher level when his team needs him to.
May 22nd 2012 @ 10:04pm
Swampy said | May 22nd 2012 @ 10:04pm | Report comment
To be fair on Lebron, he has had some very major performances. The 48 point evisceration of Detroit a couple seasons back stands amongst the greatest playoff performances of all-time.
It seems though that theory of Lebron choking has become self-perpetuating. I can’t remember him ever being as timid as he is now in the clutch.
I might add that despite being a force of nature, Lebron is basically a pass first guy who isn’t a very good shooter. Perhaps if he did clunk game winner after game winner off the back of the iron we would damn him anyway.
This is where Jordan became the greatest ever. He was exactly like Lebron but worked and worked at ways to win the game himself. He developed a post game. He developed a shot. He developed a 3 pt shot. He developed ways in which he couldn’t lose. Lebron hasn’t realised this or just doesn’t care. This is why ‘as a basketball purist’ I find him unlikeable. The South Beach thing just made him into an asshole who didn’t care.
Go Pacers!
–
Comment left via The Roar’s iPhone app. Download The Roar’s iPhone App in the App Store here.
May 23rd 2012 @ 11:09am
mushi said | May 23rd 2012 @ 11:09am | Report comment
I think the “inability to shoot” is a major perception error born out of his earlier years.
I just looked up the jump shooting EFG% of Danny Granger, Kobe Bryant and Rudy Gay three high volume swing men who all would consider pretty good shooters right? Well all of them had a lower conversion rate than James on jump shots. hell he was higher than Dirk this year (just).
Sure he’s not in Durant’s league as a shooter but his jump shot grades out better than many players we’d consider quality shooters..
May 23rd 2012 @ 1:10pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 23rd 2012 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
Swampy, I agree on the self-perpetuating myth of LeBron being a choker.
No one knows what happened in that series against Boston in his last season with the Cavs, but it was weird. I’m not even sure I’d call it choking, it was just complete indifference to what was unfolding. Yet two games earlier, he obliterated the Celtics all by himself. And he had a fairly good resume of performing in the clutch and in the playoffs before that.
He then had another great playoffs last year, before doing the same ‘indifference’ in the Finals, which was labelled choking. Fair enough that time too, I might add.
Now he’s been saddled with it, and everyone, potentially even himself, believes it.
May 23rd 2012 @ 3:59am
JVGO said | May 23rd 2012 @ 3:59am | Report comment
The best way not to hate Lebron is to see him in the flesh. He is a supreme athlete, as a media phenomenon not so much, but as an athlete and basketballer he will take your breath away.
May 23rd 2012 @ 1:05pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 23rd 2012 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Tend to agree. The wife surprised me by flying to Cleveland to watch a Cavs vs Suns game. LeBron dropped 38/10/8 is a dominant performance. He’s truly a sight to behold.
May 23rd 2012 @ 2:58pm
Johnno said | May 23rd 2012 @ 2:58pm | Report comment
Ryan I politely ask and you obviously don’t have to answer this question, but is your wife an Australian Opal basketball player or a player in the WNBA.
May 23rd 2012 @ 3:17pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 23rd 2012 @ 3:17pm | Report comment
Johnno, if you’d met my wife, you’d realise how funny that comment is! She’s struggling to be 5’2″!
Needless to say, she’s not an Opal or WNBA player. However, a close friend of mine does happen to be. Why do you ask?
May 23rd 2012 @ 4:41pm
Johnno said | May 23rd 2012 @ 4:41pm | Report comment
Ryan I asked coz of your comment above that I have copied here got me thinking. Your dad was an NBL coach, you write quite a lot of basketball articles put the 2 together got me thinking.
“Tend to agree. The wife surprised me by flying to Cleveland to watch a Cavs vs Suns game. LeBron dropped 38/10/8 is a dominant performance. He’s truly a sight to behold.”
-I find most women would not do that but I know almost 100% of men who follow sport would, and i thought well I got half suspicious and half impressed at the same time.
Suspicious that I thought is Ryan’s wife maybe an opal or playing in the WNBA .
But now extremely unlikely and confirmeed now after you told me her height unless, she sectretly has the talent of Mugsy Bogues, Spud webb, or is she related to Shaq’s current girlfriend, thats she has not told you about, she ain’t going to the WNBA soon. Laugh as i write that.
But if your wife is a regular sports fan and not a pro athlete like you said, that is mighty impressive sports fan wife you have Ryan that she would travel to away matches.
As in my circles i don’t know any pro men or women athletes.
But jumped to conclusions with society stereotype and think only women that would travel to watch a game would be pro women players in basketball or whatever sport they do.
May 23rd 2012 @ 5:30pm
Ryan O'Connell said | May 23rd 2012 @ 5:30pm | Report comment
Haha! No, she just spoilt me, that’s all!
She is a LeBron fan though.
May 23rd 2012 @ 6:34pm
Johnno said | May 23rd 2012 @ 6:34pm | Report comment
Haha. Sounds good, but I am one of the many Le Bron Haters i will have to give him the time and appreciate his game coz he sure can play when on fire le Bron, his stats and MVP’s show that.
May 26th 2012 @ 7:17am
Mushi said | May 26th 2012 @ 7:17am | Report comment
Mate most wives tend to do nice things for their hubbies. Mine tried to get tickets to the finals on our honeymoon