The Tyrannical King James

Lebron Given the Royal Treatment and it Shows

Referred to as the next Jordan since he was a freshman in high school, Lebron has been treated as basketball royalty. He won “Ohio Mr. Basketball” and was named to the USA Today All-USA First Team three times and was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year twice. This hype eventually led to the coining of the nickname “King James,” a first overall selection in the draft, and becoming the face of Nike Basketball.

However, despite all the raves and achievements, the comparisons to Michael Jordan will never stop. His unbelievable talent will ultimately rank him as one of the best players to ever play the game, but unless he can add a couple of championships to his resume, he will not be considered as one of the greats.

All this hype has become such a great deal to him that the name Jordan just throws him off. On Monday, in his own skills camp, he got shown up by a Jordan: Jordan Crawford, a 6-4 sophomore guard from Xavier University. Rumor (no, it’s a fact) has it that Crawford dunked on the King. Wow. A 6-4 guy dunking over a freakishly athletic 6-8 guy? Well, that’s unheard of. Actually no it is not unheard of. Guys in the NBA and college ranks get dunked on all the time.

It isn’t just the dunk that has people buzzing, but Lebron’s reaction to it. Immediately after the dunk, Lebron called the Nike Basketball Senior Director over and told him to confiscate all film during the pick-up session. Sure a picture is worth a thousand words, but that still won’t stop the word from spreading: the news immediately spread like wildfire over cyberspace. Nike recently released a stating that “cameras are not allowed after hours,” which was surely acting upon King James’s bidding.

I mean getting dunked on is embarrassing, but it is a part of the game. What you failed to remember was that the main focus is the player on the giving end, not on the receiving end. Maybe this is karma for all the guys you posterized in the past. Sure, the fact that it was the King getting dunked on would make it a bigger deal, but remember when Rudy Fernandez dunked on Dwight Howard in the Olympics last year? That was a pretty big deal at the time, but Superman did not become a national farce on the play, while Rudy was able to vote his way into the dunk contest. But by reacting the way he did, Lebron unintentionally made Crawford’s dunk temporarily legendary.

I do not know the details, but if I was arguably the best player in the world, I certainly would not be playing my hardest in a pick-up game against guys 5 to 7 years younger than me. Thus, I am certain that Lebron was not. If I so happened to get posterized, I would go over and congratulate him and tell him that he was lucky that he wasn’t blocked or I would get the ball, run the floor, and return the favor with an acrobatic jam. Lebron should have done one of those two things; instead he stopped and cried about the cameras at the gym. He’s a competitor right? But come on, you’re the best player in the NBA. You have a target on your back for college players to show you up and to receive some national exposure. You must expect something like this.

Let’s rewind back to the NBA playoffs. After sweeping his way into the Eastern Conference finals, Lebron and the Cavaliers were defeated by Dwight and the Orlando Magic. James made sure that the players on the Pistons and Hawks stayed and congratulated him after a sweep. However after the game six loss, Lebron immediately left to the locker room, showered, and waited on the bus. No postgame comments, no congrats, no class.

In my book, Lebron will never be considered with the ranks of MJ, Magic, and Russell until he shows some class. Sure champions and greats hate to lose, but ending a pick-up game because you got dunked on? Now that’s unheard of. Someone needs to set Lebron straight, but we know it won’t be anyone from the Cavs organization (players or executive), nor Nike (as already shown in this incident). All this royalty business is getting into Lebron’s head and he seriously needs to grow up if he thinks that he can get away with foolish acts like this. Now, Crawford’s dunk will haunt him for years to come.