LeBron James is tripping on LeBron James. He envisions himself as a savior of the NBA and a bringer of championships when the reality is he's an underachieving small forward who appears to pout and quit when things don't go his way on the court.
Since his 2nd straight early playoff exit, LeBron has been enjoying constant media speculation as to where he will sign. He's cost various NBA brass many thousands of dollars in fine money for discussing his free agency. And he's even been offered unlimited lap dances for life by Scores if he signs with the Knicks.
For a chronic NBA loser, it must feel great to be treated like a champion. Will the Spearmint Rhino offer Kobe unlimited lap dances if the Lakers win the title? Doubtful. Will Mark Cuban throw away $100,000 speculating on whether Paul Pierce will opt out this off-season? Probably not.
Since LeBron was a sophomore in high school, his basketball existence has been based on predictions of his greatness. He played pick up games with Michael Jordan as a kid, his high school games were televised on ESPN as a junior, and his first NBA game was shown on TNT like the Cavs were the defending champs.
Aside from requiring 2 OTs to score 48 points against the Pistons in 2007, LeBron's playoff performances have been occasionally strong, but not historically great. He was swept out of the finals that same year in one of the most forgettable finals in the last 30 years. Beyond that, LeBron has been little more than a regular season MVP on teams with the best record who find ways to fold in the playoffs.
Now he's having the time of his life. He feels more eyes on him than ever before. He's the king of free agency. He's even uniting a posse of free agents so that he can be the team captain of unsigned players.
"It will be fun to get all the free agents together and, you know, figure out a way how we can make the league better," he told basketball know-not Larry King.
Make the league better? Besides Dwyane Wade, who of the summit members knows anything about winning championships, let alone making the NBA better? LeBron, Amar'e, Bosh and Joe Johnson have 4 games total in the NBA finals between them. 1 game for each player. Wade's participation in the summit is probably his way of luring Amar'e or Bosh to feast in the paint with Miami to give the Heat their own Kobe/Pau combo.
LeBron also said, "Well, I mean, to me, I think my ultimate, my ultimate goal is winning championships, and I understand that me going down as one of the greats will not happen until I, you know, win a championship."
Translation- I, me, I, I, me....
If LeBron really was all about championships, he would call the Magic and tell them to find a way to unload Rashard Lewis and/or Vince Carter's mega contracts so he can get some of that money and play with Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson.
Or he could call Steve Kerr (who's already been fined for publicly salivating over LeBron) and tell them to re-sign Amar'e and move Jason Richardson's contract so Nash would finally have some real talent to run with on his own unfulfilled quest for a ring.
Neither scenario will happen though because LeBron is lying. Winning isn't his ultimate goal. Making the most money and getting the most attention comes first. If he's tired of playing in Cleveland, then he'll find a sexier spot than Phoenix or Orlando to set up his ego kingdom.
Michael, Larry and Magic made the league better without cute summits celebrating their free agency. Ditto Bill Russell and Jerry West in their era. They all made the league better with their performance on the court on the way to winning championships.
The biggest difference between them is that LeBron is caught up in his ego and is trying to suck others into the vortex. The league will remain bigger and better regardless and LeBron will remain rich and ringless.
In the long run, he'll be happy with that.
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