In 13 years in the NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James has accomplished all that a professional athlete can. James is a two-time NBA Champion, four-time league MVP, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, and one of the biggest enigmas that professional sports has ever seen. But as good as James is athletically, he also has developed the label of being a “diva”.
Upon being drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003, James would clash with then head coach Paul Silas which led to his firing in March 2005. The Cavaliers headed into the 2009 NBA Playoffs fresh off of winning a franchise best 66 games in the regular season. But when the Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals, James left the court without acknowledging his conquering opponent. When James was asked about his actions, he claimed that he doesn’t shake hands because he is a winner in spite of not having won an NBA Title to that point of his career.
The summer of 2010 would see James opt-out of his contract with the Cavaliers to become an unrestricted free agent which gave him the ammunition to hold the basketball world hostage as we awaited “the decision”.
James would join the Miami Heat where he would team with shooting guard Dwyane Wade and power forward Chris Bosh. And after a slow start in Miami, James would clash with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra which only heightened the public’s view of this superstar player being a diva.
In four seasons with the Heat, James made the NBA Finals four times while hoisting championship gold twice. But it wasn’t enough for James who would opt-out of his contract with the Heat in 2014 to re-join the Cavaliers.
Last year James would help the Cavs win their second Eastern Conference Title, but they couldn’t past the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals as his record in the finals is now 2-4.
Cleveland would enter this season expected to make it back to the NBA Finals and possibly win the title for the first time in franchise history. But in spite of having a 30-11 record, David Blatt was fired as the Cavs head coach. Outwardly Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said all the right things, but it still looked to be a power move by James. Blatt would be replaced by Cavaliers assistant coach Tyronn Lue who immediately received a three-year contract as the interim tag was never attached to him. Under Lue, Cleveland is 21-10 and their overall record is now 51-21 which is tops in the Eastern Conference. However this team still isn’t ready to win an NBA Championship with James at the forefront of that movement.
In an interview with Bleacher Report on February 8, James stated that he’d like to play with his longtime friends in Wade, New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony, and Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul at some point before his NBA career ends, and he would be willing to take a pay cut to make it happen.
Last Saturday, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing the Heat by 21 points at halftime. And instead of warming up for the second half of the game with his teammates, James was seen talking away with Wade. This drew the ire of Lue who let James know that something like that would not be tolerated. Recently James unfollwed the Cavs on Twitter only to follow them again. James’ comments to Bleacher Report would see him have to talk to Griffin, but this is no way for a leader to act as James is once again putting himself ahead of the team. James is 31-years of age, a 13-year NBA veteran, and along with being the face of the NBA, he is also the face of other large corporations such Nike as he is at the point of his life that someone should not have to sit him down to let him know who a leader is supposed to act.
It is quite clear that aside from being the poster boy for the NBA, James is also a poster boy for the majority of our society being that he doesn’t know how to deal with failure while also failing to grasp his leadership role. In life the only way to succeed is to fail, which James learned the hard way as he didn’t immediately win an NBA Championship in Miami. While with the Heat, Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley held James accountable while also not letting him get his way all of the time as Riley, not James was the boss on South Beach. James had his issues with Blatt in Cleveland, but there shouldn’t be a person alive that should feel sorry for James as he knew what he was getting into when he left the Heat to re-join the Cavs as Blatt didn’t have any prior coaching experience in the NBA. It’s okay for James to express his friendship for Wade and other NBA players, but there doesn’t need to be a show of “special” handshakes on the court when you see your friends who are wearing another uniform.
James might have not thought too much of it when he did his interview with Bleacher Report, but what does his desire to play with the likes of Wade, Anthony, and Paul say about his current teammates in Cleveland? I understand that James has the option to opt-out this summer to become an unrestricted free agent once again, but right now it is time for him to focus on bringing a championship to Cleveland which is why he left Miami two years ago.
The more that you hear James speak and you see his actions, he must be a distant cousin of former National Football League quarterback Brett Favre who was one of the biggest drama queens that we ever saw in professional sports with his inability to make up his mind as far as retiring. Right now James isn’t contemplating retirement, but he is a man that is simply chasing titles. I understand that during James’ first tenure with the Cavaliers, he did attempt to get superstar players to come to Cleveland, but no one was willing to join him due to the fact that Northern Ohio just doesn’t have that appeal. It was easier for James to get that done in Miami, but now it just appears to be a joke with his constant uncertainty. And every time that James opens his mouth, or makes another decision, he is only tarnishing his basketball legacy. Unfortunately for James, by the way that things are going for him, I doubt that you’ll ever see him win another NBA Championship as you cannot achieve it in a pair of flip-flops, and you can’t do it when your decisions are constantly like that as well.
Leave A Comment