Now It's On
July 20th 2010 01:31
We finally have closure to the LeBron James hoopla. It seemed like this endless media frenzy of analysis, conjecture, and criticism would be open-ended as long as a certain someone remained silent. After all, this certain someone is the standard by which everyone else is measured. For this guy to speak is to put all other statements and critiques to rest. And finally, His Airness himself, Michael Jordan, has spoken.
Everyone has been killing LeBron for joining with the best in the league to reach the mountain top instead of beating them for it. The damage to his legacy is seemingly irreparable, and he hasn't even played a game with the Heat yet. MJ weighed in this weekend essentially echoing the sentiments of everyone else.
The thing is, it carries a lot more punch when the best player ever to play your sport offers an opinion on your career. It also puts the rest of us out of our misery, wrapping up all the conversation with a perspective of someone who actually knows something about excellence in the NBA. I mean, what is there for anyone else to say? Jordan has spoken; who can surpass his opinion?
Charles Barkley is in agreement with MJ about LeBron. In fact, he went a step further and claimed that this move by LeBron means he will never be in the greatest player conversation.
The change he made was not an alpha dog move. It wasn't a winner's move. It was the move of a 25 year-old kid who, above the expectations of his career, simply wanted to enjoy this time of his life as much as possible. To him, that means sacrificing everyone's perception of him and damaging his legacy to play in a great city with close friends. To me, there's nothing wrong with that motivation. In fact, I admire LeBron for making that move, showing more transparency and personality in his decision (NOT transparency in his method, mind you) than we ever get from athletes.
For the record, I applaud LeBron for being true to himself and doing what he wants to do. That's so rare these days with the way that business and image management trump athletes' desires.
There are many reasons why his decision lost him respect basketball-wise, most of which are valid. But there are also a few reasons why his decision earned him respect personally, at least from me.
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