The longer I obsess about this NBA offseason and the more time I waste at work reading article after article on LeBron James, the more ambivalent I feel about the situation. At first, I was bewildered by the Decision. I fought with two of my roommates about it, claiming that James had made a strange and large mistake. A player that I enjoyed who played for neither the Jazz nor the Celtics (certainly a rarity) lost a significant amount of the respect I had granted him. The story continued, however, and I became agitated by the hatred flung toward James. So many ESPN types criticized his ploy, but as a certain someone brilliant stated, this criticism was nonsense: if you want LeBron to be a ruthless winner, as many claimed after disappointing exits in consecutive playoffs, then he may have made the right decision (at least according to Vegas odds, so far). If on the other hand you wanted him to be loyal, then you should not have criticized him for losing the last two seasons. These arguments are very contradictory in nature and quite honestly got me all hot and bothered.
My opinion shifted as I took on the standard of defending James against the nay-sayers. I tried to argue that it was ignorant and invalid for us to project onto the sports star what we wanted him to be and that we should rather accept him for who he was. I believed (and still do) that he thought he was making the decision that would be best for his image (i.e. the decision that would please the ESPN culture). Tragically, he was completely wrong. I agree with Bill Simmons that this is a man who wants to amaze, and yet he couldn't have made a worse decision this offseason in that regard. This brings me to my third inconsistent narrative of James epoch.
After reading another clever blogger who I believe should write some elucidating posts in addition to his edifying comments, I have entered into a new abyss concerning James. Chris Paul seems (although it is difficult to say) to harbor some intentions of copying James to create a new super team. I agree that this, in the end, is bad for the league, and that LeBron precipitated it. What made the 90s great was the clash of the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls. It was Jordan overcoming Thomas. The 80s presented us with Bird vs. Magic. LeBron has played an integral part in tarnishing this newest generation of basketball talent by opting out of the killer mentality, as unpleasant as I find that mentality to be. My ideal player is someone like Kevin Garnett: a nasty dude, hated by many, but fervently loved by fans and teammates. He literally put faces of opposing players from newspaper clippings on his mirror to later slash Xs through them off once he had beaten them. He does strike me at the same time as a good person, though, in a way that Kobe and Mike never have. Watch this if you don't believe me. LeBron strikes me as a good person too. I thought the comparison made between him and Magic Johnson was a great one. They both wanted to win, but they both were fundamentally nice people too. I currently think that this comparison is undeserved also, as is the one to MJ. I still believe that we shouldn't project our sporting wants and needs onto James and we should understand him for who he is. But that elusive who is beginning to look less and less appealing, at least on a basketball level. Is he the scum of the slum? I don't think so and I like to believe that ghost would agree with me. Is he Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, or one of the best, most inspiring players to play in the NBA? Not quite.
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Agreed. Ultimately that is what is so disappointing about the Decision. In the NBA, for quite some time, every decade was better than the one before it. This pattern began in the sixties and culminated in the amazing B-ball of our youth, that of the nineties. The 2000s (or the zeroes as some would have it named) was the first ever to be less good than the one that preceded it. But starting around 2008 (and climaxing in the Redeem Team) it seemed we were finally back on track. It appeared that we had an elite cadre of athletes that could rival those of the nineties, maybe even best them. With Kobe presiding as elder statesman, and guys like Rondo (and even Granger) getting their chance at a place in the sun, it looked like we were building steam. LeBron may, however, have robbed us of that notion. He was the best of his class. He's now playing with the second best and roughly twelfth best guys. If Chris Paul follows suit and the Association forms into 3 elite teams, we'll be right back to the 60s (after a pretty 70sish last decade). I would hate to see that, but it would, at least, be a good step towards the completion of one of my most closely held NBA hopes: the repeal of the 24 second shot clock. Like I've always said, "slow down guys."
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