Don't Blame LeBron or LaVar. Blame Yourself

Is LaVar Ball a fool for branding his kids,
or would he be a fool not too/

That's all I can stand. I can't stand no more. I am tired to my core of people hating on a 15 year old basketball player for scoring 92 points in a California high school game, as if any scrubs can make a team anywhere in Cali.  I am tired to my core of those who are mad about AAU players and parents and coaches, as though all of you basketball purists actually travel to summer tournaments or determine who gets to college or watch the game outside of the month of March.

Sure, basketball is watered down from back in the day when we played the game all day every day, weather permitting. If you think things are watered down because players don't stay in college long enough to learn the game, you are probably right about that too.  Basketball, in its current form, is a watered down sport in which supreme knowledge of the game has given way to supreme athletic ability and shooting talent. There are a handful of parents and hoop mentors that force kids to perfect their games. The rest of America's basketball playing kids are playing video games a little too much during the summertime, creating a widening gap between the Ball'ers and the gamers who hoop during the school season only.

All of that simply is what it is, but none of that has anything to do with Sebastian Telfair, or Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner, or even Grant Hill who also once carried the burden of being "next in line". I could be weary from the endless comparisons made between LeBron and Jordan, but LeBron is just the current one, and the one with the best chance of living up to the hype. What makes me tired the most is each and every one of you, who has been searching for the next Michael Jordan starting several years before Jordan hung it up. It was back then when LeBron was first placed under the heat of expectation, and you all ridiculed that kid for being too cocky, even though he actually passed the ball more than he shot at the time, and the name James actually begged to be preceded with the word King. Now, you deride him for calling himself King and not shooting the ball more like Jordan did.

Did he really believe himself of biblical proportions when LeBron pegged himself King James, or was it just a cool nickname from a young boy named James with cameras in his face all the time?  At this point in his career, he's come way too close to living up to the expectations that were piled on him,  with the obvious hope of forcing him to fail.

People are generally too uncomfortable with their own success- or lack thereof- to assume the next person will live up to their promise. Consequently, it's much easier to predict doom and then root for yourself to be right, then to think that anyone will ever be the next Michael Jordan, and wait for them to prove you right.

I don't blame LaVar Ball for exploiting the potential of his very talented sons,  nor do I blame him for the hunger of a very ravenous NBA fan base who all hope to witness greatness, just so long as it's not greater than Jordan.

The inescapable truth is that all of this- the scrutiny and the skepticism- is about Jordan, a man that many of you didn't even like that much when he first retired. Today, we refuse to even dream of crowning another NBA GOAT as he is the last true king. Maybe it is because NO ONE before Jordan realized that you could make so much money from a shoe contract, so, being next up means a lot more than it used to? The window for making money in sports has forced the hand of every great player and their family. Either you embrace the shine and learn to earn it, or it will go away of its own devices.

In the end, we simply can't help but scrutinize and be skeptical towards the next great young player who we hope isn't quite as good as Jordan was. The way I see it, Lavar's kids are simply next in line.

LeBron James Could Realign NBA Solar System

In the ongoing debate between Jordan and every star who dares to shine after him, Bill Laimbeer says Jordan would not have been able to get this group of Cavaliers to the finals and I tend to agree with him.  Now that the group LeBron brought is falling apart at the seems, its unlikely to some and doubtful to most, that even the best player in the world can pull off this miracle.  In my opinion, this is his legacy moment- something predestined for his ability an
d one that Michael Jordan could never have achieved.

Could Jordan have taken Cleveland to the finals like LeBron?

I qualify (or disqualify) my opinion and that of Laimbeer with an inbred contempt for what Jordan did to the game of basketball, evidenced by the numerous players who copy the worst parts of his game and wear his shoes to the mall on the weekend......... still. Laimbeer was a hard-nosed rebounder who understood that possessions in the playoff make the difference between winning or losing. Jordan, who finally had to get the same message in order to overcome the Pistons, eventually learned to beat them at their own game.  The addition of bad boy Dennis Rodman to the Bulls allowed Jordan to benefit from their own game in the later years of his career.

Playoff Games with 10+ rebounds

• LeBron James                        58 games
• Michael Jordan                     21 games

____________________________________

Whether Jordan agrees with Laimbeer's view of King James is a good question to ask Jordan himself, especially with the cast of characters that LeBron is now pressing forward with. Would Jordan care to take on this challenge?  Laimbeer believes that Jordan's low number of rebounds and assist in the playoffs would have made Air unable to take Cleveland to the finals- a feat the king has now done twice.

Need a little Love?

That's right!  Don't forget about the last Cleveland team that made it to the finals and lost to the San Antonio Spurs.  LeBron launched his first Cavalier team into the finals within four years of turning pro. Four year's into the NBA, Jordan could have done no such thing, and even the glowing shine of his stellar career has the benefit and complement of completion. The constellation LeBron may not have as many rings yet, but he has decorated the heavens in so many ways already that we tend to hold him more accountable for how many times he didn't overcome the championship challenge instead of creditting him for taking so many trips.

Jordan confesses to being too physically fragile to overcome the physical demand that Laimbeer's Piston's forced him to deal with.  Though he eventually developed himself to endure the bang of the league, LeBron was giving the bang right back from the moment he joined the big boys. His oversized body and small man dribbling skills redefined the term big boy, whereas the "Jordan Rules" (hit him every time he nears the lane) came as a result of realizing that Mike was originally too fragile to be given so much freedom on the court.

Ironically, the Cavs will probably have to reignite the Jordan Rules on Steph to keep him from squeezing his fingerprints all over this championship series.  If Steph is the heir apparent to the throne, his game is more closely connected to the second coming of Jordan with his ability to create off of the dribble in a way that paralyzes the opponent.

The Warriors and the Cavs are far and above the most defensive teams left in the league, so their presence in the final series comes as no accident, and relagating the Warriors to nothing but a jump shooting team, or LeBron as the only scorer for the Cavs, means you haven't watched the defense and rebounding that drives both of these teams. LeBron will have to return to himself and Steph will be challenged to increase his assist count or win by scoring in a way that we've never seen in the finals.  Sort of like LeBron almost did in game one, until the hoop gods denied he and  Iman Shumpert the benefit of such luck.

Will Steph be asked to do more things to win it all?

Jordan was a legendary talent who is often remembered for the worst parts of his game.  He played exceptional defense, demanded it of his teammates as well, and shared the ball enough to create legends of names like Paxson and Kerr, players forever remembered for hitting big shots in the finals. He also tries to remind us all that he missed more game winners than he ever made, but nobody listens to that part of the Jordan story.  My fear is that Steph returns the league to that same misperception of good basketball as young kids flock to mock the glitz and glamour and not the grit and grime. San Antonio did a great job of humbling LeBron (twice) into a clear recognition of winning basketball, For one really strong quarter, he had his really average lineup performing like champions.


Where Does Greatness Begin?

LeBron could place himself among the brightest of the NBA stars by pulling off this impossible dream.  When we watch a 33 year old tennis legend still winning major titles in dramatic fashion, and then see a  horse racing accomplishment that we haven't seen in 4 decades, you realize that sports have always been designed for amazing story lines.  Nothing seems plausible about these adventerous stories as we watch them, but they color the spectrum of sports in a way that deserves reckoning.  Is not the opportunity for greatness the reason for its being in the first place?  It was for Serena when she saw herself giving away a French Open title that she had no reason being two games from securing as a 33 year old woman anyway.  As with any great sports story, suddenly the wheels fell off Serena's car.  To reclaim that victory without wheels on the car demanded a fire from Serena that was driven by the lure of opportunity.

Jordan fans often remind me that he could have and should have won two more titles when he ran off to chase the lure of opportunity that baseball offered him.  Did he succeed?  We know the end of that story including his triumphant return to championship basketball. Whether it was the chance to do something different, or the opportunity to do it again, the lure of opportunity has always written the narrative and provided the script to the movie that usually follows.  LeBron's story will one day be told in its entirety, and it will be full of opportunities that lured him into the greatness he's destined to enjoy.

The NBA doesn't need any one player to keep it healthy, however, destiny has a way of sending a King just when the people need it the most.  Without the impact of smarter basketball players- especially players like LeBron who could rely on athleticism if they prefer- the game will continue on a path of being unwatchable.  Not like the fabulous contest that we got a chance to watch for 47 minutes and 55 seconds in game one of the NBA finals.  More like that 5 seconds of crap followed by an OT that smelled even worse.  LeBron has an opportunity to erase that error and truly earn the King moniker he was prematurely given. NBA fans have the chance to finally bear
Witness.