The Inevitability of LeBron James
Of course, it was inevitable. Sometimes it's fun to root against the inevitable, to hold it off, to believe maybe the inevitable is not inevitable. But of course, in the end, the inevitable is inevitable.
There is something that feels fundamentally right, poetic even, with the Miami Heat winning the 2012 NBA Championship. However, this story is LeBron's. The Prodigy, The Natural, The Can't Miss. He achieves some success early, but never wins the big enchilada. He makes a couple of truly boneheaded PR mistakes, but if that's his worst sin, i.e. preternatural swagger, he's practically a saint in a league filled with thugs and selfish players and coach killers. He gets absolutely pilloried by the press and by basketball fans outside of Miami's zip codes. And I don't care how thick your skin is, how rich you are, how big a mansion you buy to hide in, you'll feel the pain, the sting of hate. He lashes back. "All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today," he cried after getting thumped in the finals last year. He locks himself in his mansion, closes the drapes, turn off the lights, and try to deal with the Atlas-esque pressure that has been building on his shoulders since he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior with the heading: The Chosen One. Somehow he rouses himself, forces himself to watch his failures on tape, and reassesses. What does it say about a man, a multimillionaire, who's already by general consensus the most unstoppable player on the planet, to freaking reassess?
I honestly believe that individual accolades mean zilch to LeBron. He's been the best player on the floor his whole life. He's been awarded MVP trophies since he's been out of diapers. That's why he joined forces w/ his superstar buddies Wade and Bosh. He doesn't give a damn about anything else but winning, and he doesn't care to do it in some noble, solo way. Kevin Garnett threw in the towel at Minnesota to go win a championship at Boston. Clyde Drexler threw in the towel at Portland to go win a championship at Houston. Karl Malone and Gary Payton threw in the towel at Utah and Seattle to go win a championship at LA. Oh wait, they didn't win one there1. But the point is they all eschewed any vanity points in the name of winning. You might counter that those guys all did it late in their career as a last ditch effort for a ring. But I say perhaps the truth is LeBron matured quicker than all those guys and grasped the extreme difficulty of winning an NBA Championship and was smart enough to stack the odds in his favor. Do you think Jordan and Pippen would've won six rings if their contemporaries TRULY only cared about winning? Vanity kept Barkley, Reggie Miller, Iverson, Ewing, etc., from being ultimate winners. Because they all wanted to do it as The Man.
After reassessment, he makes some tweaks. He shoots less threes, less jumpers. He becomes more assertive in 4th quarters, worrying less about upholding an image of being an immaculate teammate and more about, you know, winning. He proposes to his longtime girlfriend. He reads. He doesn't let the ups and downs of games and playoff series and internet chatter bother him, because he's reassessed and he's found his inner scorecard. And yesterday, nine years after turning pro, he won his first NBA Championship2. His exuberance, his silly dance, his shit-eating grin, his bear hugs with everyone in his vicinity, all came pouring out like a shaken Champagne bottle after he dropped yet another triple-double on a formidable Thunder team and staked his team twenty points going into the 4th quarter. His teammates were pumped after building such an insurmountable lead. Mario Chalmers wanted to preen to the crowd. LeBron took him aside, told him to knock it off. "Not yet," LeBron said. But of course, it was inevitable. They won. And after all that, finally, he deserves the hell out of it.
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There is something that feels fundamentally right, poetic even, with the Miami Heat winning the 2012 NBA Championship. However, this story is LeBron's. The Prodigy, The Natural, The Can't Miss. He achieves some success early, but never wins the big enchilada. He makes a couple of truly boneheaded PR mistakes, but if that's his worst sin, i.e. preternatural swagger, he's practically a saint in a league filled with thugs and selfish players and coach killers. He gets absolutely pilloried by the press and by basketball fans outside of Miami's zip codes. And I don't care how thick your skin is, how rich you are, how big a mansion you buy to hide in, you'll feel the pain, the sting of hate. He lashes back. "All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today," he cried after getting thumped in the finals last year. He locks himself in his mansion, closes the drapes, turn off the lights, and try to deal with the Atlas-esque pressure that has been building on his shoulders since he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior with the heading: The Chosen One. Somehow he rouses himself, forces himself to watch his failures on tape, and reassesses. What does it say about a man, a multimillionaire, who's already by general consensus the most unstoppable player on the planet, to freaking reassess?
***
I honestly believe that individual accolades mean zilch to LeBron. He's been the best player on the floor his whole life. He's been awarded MVP trophies since he's been out of diapers. That's why he joined forces w/ his superstar buddies Wade and Bosh. He doesn't give a damn about anything else but winning, and he doesn't care to do it in some noble, solo way. Kevin Garnett threw in the towel at Minnesota to go win a championship at Boston. Clyde Drexler threw in the towel at Portland to go win a championship at Houston. Karl Malone and Gary Payton threw in the towel at Utah and Seattle to go win a championship at LA. Oh wait, they didn't win one there1. But the point is they all eschewed any vanity points in the name of winning. You might counter that those guys all did it late in their career as a last ditch effort for a ring. But I say perhaps the truth is LeBron matured quicker than all those guys and grasped the extreme difficulty of winning an NBA Championship and was smart enough to stack the odds in his favor. Do you think Jordan and Pippen would've won six rings if their contemporaries TRULY only cared about winning? Vanity kept Barkley, Reggie Miller, Iverson, Ewing, etc., from being ultimate winners. Because they all wanted to do it as The Man.
***
After reassessment, he makes some tweaks. He shoots less threes, less jumpers. He becomes more assertive in 4th quarters, worrying less about upholding an image of being an immaculate teammate and more about, you know, winning. He proposes to his longtime girlfriend. He reads. He doesn't let the ups and downs of games and playoff series and internet chatter bother him, because he's reassessed and he's found his inner scorecard. And yesterday, nine years after turning pro, he won his first NBA Championship2. His exuberance, his silly dance, his shit-eating grin, his bear hugs with everyone in his vicinity, all came pouring out like a shaken Champagne bottle after he dropped yet another triple-double on a formidable Thunder team and staked his team twenty points going into the 4th quarter. His teammates were pumped after building such an insurmountable lead. Mario Chalmers wanted to preen to the crowd. LeBron took him aside, told him to knock it off. "Not yet," LeBron said. But of course, it was inevitable. They won. And after all that, finally, he deserves the hell out of it.
1But did you remember Payton did in 2006 w/ Wade & Shaq?? I did not. That came as a shock when I was fact checking this piece.
2And a couple more MVPs, regular season and finals, while he's at it.
2And a couple more MVPs, regular season and finals, while he's at it.
