LeBron James: better than the rest?

By Zeke Trezevant
Western Herald

After another great season, LeBron James is en route to his second MVP award.

His play and his efforts are almost never questioned, but his off the court actions speak volumes about him. It seems as if James always gets preferential treatment, from the things he does on the court to things he does off it.

James received his first MVP award in the 2008-2009 season. The same season, his team was dominated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Orlando Magic. After being eliminated, James walked off the court without shaking hands with any one of the Magic players.

The Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship two seasons in a row in the late 1980s. They lost in the conference finals the following season. Isiah Thomas did the exact same thing to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in those conference finals, and still hasn’t been forgiven for it.

James hasn’t won a championship and he gets away with it.

Shortly after his snub of Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, James created and wore a specially made shirt for himself. The shirt read “LBJ MVP.”

Really James?

If anyone else in the league had created, let alone wore a shirt like that, the press would have ripped them to shreds. Michael Jordan won a total of 14 MVP awards yet he never created or wore a shirt that read “MJJ MVP.”

James has one and he gets away with it.

Recently, a few of the players from the 2008 USA Olympic basketball team disclosed with the public they might not or would not play for the team this summer in the World Games. USA Basketball manager and director Jerry Colangelo responded by telling superstars, such as Dwayne Wade, that skipping this summer’s games without a “legit issue” could seriously jeopardize them qualifying for a spot on the 2012 USA Olympic team.

Colangelo boldly said there were “no special rules for anyone.”

That was before James got in on the action though.

After James let the world know that he was leaning towards not playing, a reporter told him of Colangelo’s comments.

James’ reaction: “I don’t respect that.”

Again, had anyone else said that, the media would’ve been all over them.

James says it and it’s all good.

Once “King James” let the world know his stance on the subject, Colangelo responded by saying “if a player is not able to perform, (their) situation will be looked at on a case-by-case basis.” Is James “not able” to perform or does he just not want to?

Come on, Colangelo!

It’s understandable that James would lean towards not playing. This summer is going to be the biggest free agent period in recent memory, if not ever. Maybe he doesn’t want to risk injury and subsequent leveraging power by playing this summer.

That’s obvious, but not a legit issue such as Dwayne Wade’s pending divorce.

All these things make James look like a drama queen. Maybe if he had a little more credibility and a little less celebrity to his name, these actions could be somewhat acceptable.

Credibility in the NBA and any other sports league is championships and he has none. In his day, Michael Jordan had the “Jordan rules” but then again, he was…Jordan. By that time, he had won championships which led to certain things being overlooked.

Until he gets comparable to Jordan, James should be treated like anyone and everyone else.

Since no one will ever be as good as Michael and even comparing anyone to Jordan is absolutely blasphemous, James getting treated like everyone else will probably never happen.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Apr 11 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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