The Lebron James Fiasco

When did competition and love for the game take a back seat?

With the Lebron James Fiasco in full-effect, hoping to come to an end tonight at 8, I’m brought to write again to get my thoughts out on him and the state of the NBA and its young superstars.

First, as a basketball talent, I love Lebron. He is by far the most gifted player in my generation. When you group his athletic ability, vision, instincts, and strength, there is nobody that can compare in the NBA. Who out there is as strong as him, that can jump as high as him, that can pass as well as he can?

The biggest knocks people have on Lebron is his competitive nature and his shooting ability. Both are gifts of some, but can be an aquired skill of others who work at it. So, to me, in MY OPINION, Lebron is the most talented basketball player in the game; but that doesn’t mean he’s the best, IN MY OPINION.

My thoughts on Lebron as a person is still up in the air, cause I don’t know him and don’t like judging.

BUT, this Lebron fiasco of a situation is starting to get old quick for me. I understand that Lebron SAYS he wants to win a championship, and wants to be on a team that gives him a chance of doing so, I just think in the current landscape of free-agency, Lebron, and everybody else in the league, get too caught up in the aspect of sacrificing your team through creating all this cap space, some making that a 2 year process, and putting all hope in getting better in the summers by scooping up the best free-agents. What happened to drafting well, grooming your team and developing young players, and adding pieces throughout the process. It’s the get-rich-quick scheme of pro basketball. How often do such schemes pay-off? Boston made it work, but LA couldn’t get it done. Look at Portland, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Orland (to some degree). Teams that use the draft to make good decisions on whom to build around, COMPETING to get better, and building a true team.

At the end of the day, its MY OPINION that Lebron is making more out of this than he should be. His intentions are stretching beyond basketball and seems to be centered around money and his wish to become this big-time mogul. I was with Lebron and his having the fun with the dancing and pre-game antics, but as a basketball player, coach, and someone who loves the game, I am thinking Lebron is starting to make a mockery of it with his actions.

Magic and Bird and Dr. J created an outlet for using their basketball and celebrity to make money outside of the game with their Converse endorsements, and Mike Jordan took that to the next level and created branding in sports, but, as Jordan put it in his book, Driven From Within, their endorsements outside of basketball were driven solely on their ability to play basketball, and the basketball was all of the aforementioned sole purpose during their careers. Their competitive drive in the game pushed them to make money. Everything else they did was extra. As Jordan also stated in his book, the marketing plan is now flipped to where you come in to the league with everything before you even have to compete and prove yourself. The competitive nature is sometimes lost.

As a true basketball fan, you have to respect the fact that all Kobe cares about is being the best basketball player and winning championships. Everything else to him is secondary. He’s criticized for everything under the sun, most stemming from his focus on his sport and lack of relationship with everything else, but he is old school where basketball is pure and from the heart.

It seems these players today are doing more off the court than on. And its cool to have a life and they are young and should enjoy it, but understand what this is all about too. Understand what basketball is all about, what being a champion is all about. The NBA is turning into a league of entertainment instead of competition, and this free agency can be a very dangerous benchmark for the way the business of the NBA will be conducted in the future.