Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Non-Thunder Related Reasons Why I am Rooting for Lebron

The NBA Finals are set and the Oklahoma City Bandits (Thunder) are going to play the Miami Heat for the Championship. Here in Seattle a large and loud majority are rooting against the Thunder which in turn means they are rooting for the Heat. Around the country fans appear to be much more divided. Lots of fans are simply opposing the Heat because of there dislike of Lebron. Since his Decision Stunt two years ago King James has become enemy number one to many NBA fans. This is a very loud and vocal group of haters. You can find articles all over the web villifying James. However, if you can get past his one really bad decision, there are lots of reasons to root for Lebron and I for one am not in the camp that pulls against him.

Since his early days in Cleveland I have been a fan of James and his basketball skills. He isn't really a guard or a forward and because conventional basketball doesn't offer him a natural position he has basically created his own. A sort of point forward. This makes him almost unguardable. He is to powerful for guards and to fast for forwards. His super well rounded style of play is highlighted by his career averages of 27.6 pt, 7.2 rb , 6.2 ast, 1.7 stl and .8 blk. Lebron can do so much of everything. He offers the best combined skill set of any player in recent NBA history.

Lebron is also super exciting to watch. From high flying dunks to stealthy no look passes his game also provides a show worth watching. A perfect example of this was right before half time in the Eastern Conference Finals game 7. Lebron stole the ball drove up court passed to Dwyane Wade who then passed back for an alley-oop dunk. Simply and amazing play by an amazing player.

The one blotch on Lebron's record is The Decision. That fateful event catapulted James into the sports star villain category. However, outside that he has been an ideal citizen, which can be hard to find in the NBA. He has never been pulled over for a DUI or mentioned in connection with sexual harassment. As far as the law is concerned he has kept a clean sheet. Additionally, Lebron has been a good sports citizen, never racking up technical and flagrant fouls. A lot of times players like this, clean team players on and off the court, come across as dull and boring. Uncommonly, James has managed to keep a sense of fun about him through his interactions with fans and in game showmanship. If you are going to look up to the personel life of an NBA player you could do a lot worse then James.

However, the Decision does way heavy on the minds of many (especially those in Cleveland who are given a life long pass to hate him). So, let's not forget about it or ignore it. Yes, playing with the hearts and minds of the city that drafted you and then deciding to announce on a national TV special that you were leaving to team up with some friends in another city was a bad idea. Too many it basically felt like a big middle finger to the enitre city of Cleveland. But, let's not put all the blame for this on Lebron.

Lebron is a guy that loves to entertain. He has comic books about himself, tweets on a regular basis and does that whole chalk thing. Add to this persona that since he was 16ish he has been told, by almost the entire sports media world and legions of yes-men, how great and wonderful everything he does is and you can see why it might not have occurred to him what he was about to unleash.  The epic spectacle that was the decision took a lot more people to put on then just Lebron. Somebody in that group should have stopped him and told him what a big mistake it was. (You know the bigwigs at ESPN just loved the idea of a hour long special showcasing Lebron big decision and you know they loved turning around and attacking him for the stupidity of it right afterwards.)  I am sure the guy couldnt see it himself. All this doesnt forgive him for the stunt but it definitely helps explain it.

Basically, rooting for Lebron is rooting for a hard working, law abiding, fun loving guy that just also happens to be the best player in the NBA. For me all that definitely outweighs any stupid one time decision he might have staged. It is time to let bygones be bygones and enjoy watching one of the most electric athletes on the planet. If all that is not enough, there is the whole making the Thunder lose thing.