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How long have you been watching sport? Any sport that you love. Think about it for a second. I’m guessing a long time. No doubt a lot of you can vouch for many more than my 31 tender years.
Now think about all the young prodigies you have seen come and go. Take a glance at the past and consider how many young guns have come into your respective league, and I don’t care what sport you are talking about, highly recommended at the very least; at best, carrying an overwhelming burden of expectation from fans, media and, most importantly, the clubs that employ them.
I’m not talking about people that came into their sport under the radar and developed into something special. I’m talking about ‘The Chosen Ones’.
Now, think for a second about how many of them lived up to those lofty expectations to provide something other than a solid, at times, but often not consistently, spectacular career.
Chances are you could rattle off many names from numerous sports of ‘stars’ that petered out compared with the hype that surrounded their arrival on their sport’s big stage.
No doubt still Stars at the end of it all, but can you say that they at least reached the predetermined expectations of their peers?
Lastly, think of how many of these hyped future-stars have actually exceeded the at times over-the-top hype that preceded their stardom. This shouldn’t take long. I am going to go out on a limb and say I can think of two. Tiger Woods, and…
LeBron James.
I know, I know, many of you may not be basketball fans. If you’re not, I am happy to take your criticism and suggestions of numerous football gods, cricketers and many other sporting champions that could challenge LeBron in this field.
And I wouldn’t say I am disagreeing with any of you.
But I implore you to do some research on this guy. You’ll be impressed, if not convinced.
High School Prodigy doesn’t do him justice. At 6′ 8″ (200cm) and 250lb (113kg), he is a rare blend of size, speed, power and unparalelled all-round ability. The guy was playing in front of packed stadiums, and had national ESPN network coverage of his HIGH SCHOOL games at 16-17 years of age.
Remember when you were that age?
LeBron then entered the NBA, skipping College altogether. He was drafted first overall by Cleveland, a struggling, unpopular franchise, not far from James’ home town of Akron.
LeBron quickly set about forging his professional destiny. Every wily veteran, every budding star, every over-hyped rookie and established NBA superstar was waiting, and came calling, wanting to show up the young upstart, but few of them did, even at that stage.
Since then we have seen many spectacular moments: the dunks, the 50 point games, All Star appearances (and an ASG MVP award), the triple doubles, Olympic medals, but the most impressive aspect has been the development in James’ game.
He still has the raw athleticism that he made his name on, and at the same time he has further developed his passing game, his jump shot, most significantly, his leadership.
At just 25 years of age, with just six years in the NBA, and having amassed astonishing career averages of 27.5ppg, 7.0rpg and 6.7apg to go with 1.4spg, LeBron is already arguably one of the twenty best players ever to grace the hardwood.
The one thing missing to date? The Holy Grail of an NBA Championship ring.
Season 2008-09 could be the year. He has led a vastly improved Cavaliers team that is a strong favourite to take out a KG-less Eastern Conference, and whose strong team mentality is sure to give the Kobe-first, second and every place-else Lakers all sorts of headaches should they meet in the Finals.
Fittingly, James also looks a strong chance of taking out his first regular season MVP award over a ridiculously talented field including Kobe and D-Wade.
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