Tuesday, July 13, 2010
LeBron James made his now infamous decision last week, and since then seemingly everyone from talk radio hosts to grocery store cashiers has chimed in with an opinion.
There are those who wish the self-anointed King had stayed with his roots and brought a championship to the success-starved city of Cleveland.
And then, on the other side, there are those who can’t wait to watch the hype machine of LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh form one of the NBA’s most appetizing, if not top-heavy, teams.
Yet as I watched “The Decision” last week, two thoughts crossed my mind.
The first probably resonated with anyone watching the overhyped, completely unnecessary hour-long special LeBron requested on ESPN: This is the biggest waste of television time since MTV rolled out “Parental Control” and “Date My Mom.”
But while LeBron’s one-hour announcement screamed of narcissism and was an open-handed slap in the face to the entire state of Ohio, those emotions were to be expected with such a stupid idea.
What I didn’t fully expect was the backlash against LeBron in strictly the basketball sense of his decision.
LeBron James isn’t Michael Jordan or Larry Bird. Heck, he isn’t even Kobe Bryant. He’s not a killer — a guy who will crusade through a career with the ruthless win-and-stomp-on-the-competition approach those aforementioned players displayed.
No, James has dazzled with his powerful dunks and blocks and, simply, his ability to make anyone watching shake his head and smile. In an age of “Top 10” replays, that’s impressive.
But he never appeared ruthless on the court. And so, instead of shouldering the weight of an entire city — of an entire state, really — by having to almost single handedly lead a team to a championship, James decided to join with another superstar (Wade) and another extremely talented player (Bosh).
James is 25 and he has been playing in the NBA for seven seasons. At the end of his current contract, he’ll be 31 with loads of game experience ripping at his knees.
So James did what any successful businessman — or any successful person — does in life: He realized and accepted his weakness.
He realized that maybe he’s not cut out to lead a lesser cast by himself to a championship and joined forces with two other great players who, on any night, can lead Miami to a victory.
Maybe this hurts LeBron James’ image. Maybe it doesn’t.
But to chastise him for seizing an opportunity to increase his chances of winning championships is foolish and goes against the fabric of sports.
Criticize LeBron for his handling of the free agent period, of his narcissistic first-person answers to interview questions or of his lack of emotion for abandoning the hard-luck city of Cleveland.
Just don’t criticize him for accepting his limitations and improving his situation to better his chances of winning a title. After all, that’s the ultimate goal of any athlete.
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