The Return of the King

Maybe you hate Lebron James.  You hate that he flops, you hate that he argues with the ref, you hate that he is the only topic on SportsCenter most days.  But let's be honest with ourselves, everyone hated Kobe Bryant a few years back too.  Now, after he is most likely past his time of title contention, scoring titles, and game-winners, he is almost a fan favorite around the league.  The point is that we don't appreciate what we have until it's almost gone.  As fans we are now searching for weaknesses in our stars in order to keep them from surpassing our favorite players from the past.  They say, "Lebron can't shoot," so Lebron becomes a 40+% 3 point shooter.  They say, "Lebron isn't clutch," even though he destroyed the loaded Pistons defense and Celtics star-studded roster, he still improved in the 4th quarter scoring over the past 3 seasons.  They said, "Lebron will never win a championship," so he wins two in four years.  It's to the point where if a player doesn't win a championship, they were a waste of time.  I would take Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, or Patrick Ewing in my starting lineup, and I hope everyone else would too.  Gale Sayers never won a playoff game, Jerry West was 1-7 in NBA Finals series, we have forgotten how difficult it is to win a championship, in any sport.  Look past the title-talk, Lebron James has averaged a near triple-double for his career, at 25+ points per game.  He has transcended the basketball-court, he is the most powerful black male in our culture outside of Barack Obama, his shoes sell into the millions, and he is a continuing leader in the world of charity work in many different areas.  Stop comparing Lebron James to Michael Jordan, stop comparing him to anybody. He is unique in that he doesn't model his game after a former player, he takes bits and pieces of each and combines it with the most physically dominant athleticism that we have seen since Bo Jackson.  Never has an athlete been more scrutinized, more closely watched, than Lebron; yet, he has never been in any type of trouble off of the court.  Lebron James' biggest flaw, is that he was born when he was.  20 years ago, James wouldn't have to prove to everyone that he is a good person since social media paints him as such a bad person.  He was the prodigy who was supposed to be the next big thing, and he has surpassed expectations. How many players have done that in the history of sports?  Not many.  I can't tell you how to feel about Lebron, but a lot of the hate is unwarranted.  He's undoubtedly the best player in the world, anyone who says otherwise doesn't watch him.  He married his highschool girlfriend, he never knew his father, he moved from home to home as a child, most of the time without his mother being there because she worked day and night, he's a family man with another child on the way, he trains with Kevin Durant (his rival) so he can bring his game to another level as well.  See him for what he is, then decide if you still want to hate him.