Is the LeBron James bashing ever going to end? – NBA Feature
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t LeBron James the heir apparent of the greatest of them all, Michael Jordan?
So what went wrong?
The ‘Chosen One’ came into the league amidst hype levels unheard of before and quickly endeared himself to the Cleveland Cavaliers faithful in particular and the wider NBA audience in general. James succeeded Jordan in the sense
that he developed into the best basketball player of his generation and the best playing the game at present.
He hasn’t yet won the NBA World Championship, but LeBron still has plenty of time and will almost certainly win one, or more, in the near future now that he is surrounded by Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh at the Miami Heat.
However Michael Jordan wasn’t just a great champion of the sport, he was one of the most loved players to play the game. It was Jordan’s likeability and his strong sense of PR management that propelled the sport of Basketball to
newer, higher levels and turned a whole generation towards the spectacle of the NBA.
LeBron James was supposed to do the same. But that’s where it has all gone horribly wrong. James might yet become a successful champion of the NBA, he might be set to become a legend of the game and a future Hall of Famer, but
he is not going to be the loved as the 'messiah' that basketball has been crying out for ever since Michael Jordan hung up those expensive sneakers.
The question now is can James recover from what has been a couple of years filled with PR disasters. Today LeBron James, aka The Chosen One, is chosen by one and all as the most hated athlete in America. Maybe the world.
So much has the dislike grown for the once Cavaliers star that NBA, and the Miami Heat, actually benefited from it last year. People from all over the U.S.A, and particularly from Ohio, tuned in just to see LeBron fail.
It all reached fever pitch in the NBA Finals. A Cinderella story unfolded there, with LeBron James, the villain beaten into hasty retreat by the underdog, Dirk Nowitzki, and his Dallas Mavericks.
The boy who came into the league as The King has reduced himself to the role of a jester through his petulant and immature behaviour. Yes, it is LeBron himself who is to blame. People are people, they have a tendency to love and
hate in equal measure, and it is LeBron who brought out the worst in them.
He began by quitting in the 2010 playoffs series against the Boston Celtics, who by the way made sure to rub it into the Cavaliers fans with a blowout win at Cleveland. The fans in their despair looked to James who retorted with
the now famous comments “I have spoiled people with my play”.
But it didn’t end there, as James decided to leave the Cavs and not tell them about it. Instead he chose, for whatever reason, stupidity high among them, to do it in an ESPN special “The Decision”.
Right after taking his talents to south beach, LeBron James just had to do a weird dancing on the stage segment where he declared that he will win multiple NBA rings.
Winning those rings might help shut some people up. But it definitely won’t shut keep everyone quiet. People have long memories when it comes to star names and bad karma.
However at the end of the day the question isn’t when will people stop hating LeBron James, the question is when will LeBron James stop stoking the fire? The winning or celebrating or defiance won’t cure this ailment, it is only
with a humble demeanour that LeBron James can calm the storm that rages against him.
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