LeBron is even better than advertised
LeBron James is even better than we thought. His game-winning three pointer at the buzzer in Game 2 was, in his words, the biggest shot of his career so far. He's just scratching the surface too. He'll have even more spectacular buzzer beaters as his career progresses. I wouldn't be shocked if he does something absurd to win another game or two in this series. He's carried the Cavaliers this far. Don't expect him to stop doing it now.
Rarely do athletes with the spotlight on them in 8th grade actually meet the outrageous expectations. Remember when Damon Bailey was featured as an 8th grader in Sports Illustrated. Bob Knight said he could start for Indiana right then. He had a nice career. He was a star in college and collected a few paychecks in the NBA. But that was pretty much it.
Remember Ben McDonald. He was the alligator wrestling pitcher and basketball star from LSU who, at the time, was the highest rated prospect in baseball history. He had a few decent years with the Orioles after being the #1 pick in the draft and then disappeared.
Darryl Strawberry had a good career. He made millions of dollars that he squandered away on drugs and fast living. But he never reached his potential. Strawberry could have been Willie Mays. He proved he had the physical tools to be a Hall of Famer. But it wasn't meant to be.
Ronald Curry was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year in basketball and football. He played hoops at Carolina and quarterbacked the football team. He was supposed to be a star. Now he's a reserve receiver in the league with a few dazzling special teams plays.
Hal Sutton was supposed to be the next Jack Nicklaus. Harold Miner was baby Jordan. Ryan Leaf was supposed to be better than Peyton Maning. The hype machine starts so early these days. Everybody wants to discover and anoint the next "Great One". Usually they don't live up to the expectations.
But two athletes come to mind that have surpassed expectations. Tiger Woods and LeBron James. We expected them to dominate and they did that and more.
Tiger won 6 straight amateur titles and a college championship at Stanford; since turning pro, he has dominated more than anyone ever has at his age. At 34 he already has 14 majors, 66 tour titles, 9 PGA Player of the Year Titles, and he led the Tour in scoring average 8 times. We thought he'd be great when he won all those Amateur titles, but we didn't know he'd be so far and away better than everybody else. LeBron is going to be in this same category when it's all said and done.
So far King James, in his first five seasons and still just 24 years old, has been the NBA Rookie of the Year, 3 times made the All NBA First Team, been named to five All Star Teams, won the All Star Game MVP twice and earned this year's NBA MVP honors.
The only thing missing is the championship hardware. Those trophies and rings are coming soon too. It took Michael Jordan seven seasons to get his first of six NBA Titles.
LeBron is on pace to get his even sooner.
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Categories (click for archive)Eric Bickel | Junkies |
Cakes gets salty and bitter...
Nice post EB. I'm also a Tiger and LeBron fan. The only thing I take issue with is LeBron's killer instinct. He's only 24 and has plenty of time to get to the MJ level, but I don't think he's there yet. That shot put him well on his way though. And Dena is silly.
Well put. With the emergence of so many forms of media, a lot of things in sports get overhyped. Being a Wiz fan, I have a tough time worshiping Lebron although I found something admirable in the genuine excitement he showed after he made that shot. It was good to see that the moment was bigger than he was.
EB,
Great blog however, and this is just my opinion, if that last second shot wants to remain in playoff history, like MJ's last second shot over Ilo, Lebron has to win the whole thing. It will not be this year. However I agree with you he is living up to the hype of being a super star.
Airwick,
What chu wan eat? I makeuh da steak uh cheese, o do you wan fri cheekan wit extwa mumbo sauce on da wings?
Worst. Post. Ever.
And if Lebron didn't hit that three in game 2 I assume this post would have been on Mike Matusow? Wake up lick.
JUNKS!
EB:
Good Post! All of these other DONKS are just Jonen!
I am not much of a basketball fan but I do think Lebron is a very entertaining and upstanding player.
The only thing better than Labron is Dina's orwange cheekan
LeBron is silly - and the Tiger parallel is a great one. Obviously, both carry themselves in a very business-like manner, which is what they have to do to succeed with all of the various forms of marketing and hype out there.
Cakes is going to be BITTER when he reads this! Nice post.
You could easily add Crosby and maybe Ovie to LeBron and Tiger. Crosby was supposed to be the next Gretzky and while he may not be quite that good, he is well up there and also getting close to possibly winning a title in his fourth year in the league. Not sure of how hyped Ovie was coming into the NHL, but I am sure he had expectations with his name as well.
Fren Fries wit ketcha, sal, peppa.