Who could forget Arizona Cardinals' coach Dennis Green yelling at the media that the Chicago Bears "are who we thought they were!!" That line has become quite popular but in this case it must be changed around a bit because could it be that LeBron James isn't who we thought he was? It sure seems that way after watching his disastrous fourth quarter performances and his ill-advised comments in the postgame press conference. The pressure that James has been under this year is unlike any other that we have seen. Tiger Woods, Michael Vick and Kobe Bryant were all under the microscope, but that stems from off-the-field problems. In LBJ's case he technically did nothing off the court to keep people from liking him, but he has taken a series of actions that have greatly affected his reputation to the fans and media. After another failed attempt at an NBA title it is time to re-evaluate how we perceive LeBron and what we think he will become.There has been much discussion, and it's pointless arguing, about whether James is already better than Michael Jordan or if he will ever be considered better. Scottie Pippen offered his opinion and was blasted for saying such blasphemy. However, then we took a step back and thought maybe Scottie knows what he's talking about. After all, the guy played with Jordan every day and knows him very well. On top of that, LeBron was a monster in the Eastern Conference Finals against Chicago. He looked so dominant and was on top of the basketball world for the time being. And then the Finals came...and we immediately knew that James will probably never reach the heights of His Airness. The great ones bring it in the fourth quarter. That's when it's Winning Time and the best players know how to close a game out. Sure, MJ or Kobe can't be a hero every game (see Game 4 of the 1996 Finals or Game 7 of the 2010 Finals) but nearly every game they TAKE and MAKE the big shots. With James we were left scratching our heads because, at times, it appeared he didn't even want the ball late in the game. If you go by the name of King you should never defer to somebody else. Jordan never deferred and Kobe never deferred. Neither LeBron nor Wade wanted to take the big shot and, as a result, the ball looked like a hot potato in the fourth quarter of Game 7.
I'll say this, LeBron James is a great athlete and he can be a great player. However, he doesn't have some of the skills, such as a reliable shot, nor does he have the intangibles. By intangibles I'm talking about that assassin mentality. When it's the fourth quarter you would like to see the fire in his eyes that says, "I'm going to make sure we win this game." In the series against Chicago that's exactly what he did and he routinely buried the Bulls late in the game. In the Finals Miami would have been better off with him on the bench for the final period. LeBron averaged only 2.2 points in the fourth quarter of the Finals and most of his buckets came when the game didn't matter because Dallas had sealed the deal. That simply cannot happen from James. For a man who is supposed to be the best player that we have today, he has routinely disappointed us with his disappearance in playoff games. This is the second time it has happened along with the Boston series last year and it begs the question: What is wrong with him?There has to be some psychological problem with him and sports psychologists will try to figure it out this summer. It's something that we haven't seen before. We are so used to seeing the greatest athletes hit the big shot, make the perfect pass, blast the game winning homer or sink the tough putt under the highest pressure situations. For so long the media has put LeBron in that group but it is clear he is not on that level. His poor performances have hurt his image on the court but his off the court, yet still basketball related, antics will ultimately be his biggest downfall.
No one will ever forget last summer when they think about LeBron James or the Miami Heat franchise.It was two moments of selfishness and ego that brought about the strong backlash against James and the Heat. Kevin Durant went on Twitter to announce he was staying in OKC and others called a simple press conference to announce their decisions. That's all fine and good, but to take an hour television spot on ESPN and dub the event The Decision is way over the top. That right there lost him thousands of fans and that was before the South Beach party with James, Wade and Chris Bosh. The three stomped around stage, shirt-popping and screaming before sitting down to discuss the future. That was when James predicted not 5...not 6....not 7 championships!! And not only would they win, but it was going to be easy! Why would somebody say that?? I still can't figure out why he would say that. He couldn't have been thinking when the words left his mouth. Talk about putting a target on your back.It's fitting that he closed the season with another soundbyte that left people scratching their heads. LeBron basically said that his life was better than all of ours so he was just going to be happy and live how he wants while we had to go back to our daily problems. He has since apologized, and I commend him for that, but he still said it. Whoever is advising LeBron is doing a terrible job. He needs a PR person because he isn't good around a microphone and he is constantly digging himself a deeper hole.
Is LeBron a bad player? Not by any means. He is still a dominant player but the knock on him is that he is a different kind of player in crunch time. He isn't the closer we expected him to be and he has behaved very childish off the court, perhaps a testament to the company he keeps that advises him. LeBron is still young and he is on a very good team. They will win a championship soon but LeBron must figure out his fourth quarter failures and he must work to improve his image as a selfish guy. When he does that maybe then we can finally open our arms and accept him as one of the greats.
Read Tom Haberstroh's article on LeBron's fourth quarter performances by clicking the link below:
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/8778/the-lebron-james-4th-quarter-experience
Off the court, LeBron just needs to be quiet. On the court, he needs to be more selfish and not defer every opportunity he gets. Look at Dirk. He shot terrible the last game but he still hit big shot after big shot late in the game to ice it regardless of is ad shooting. LeBron is good at a lot and great at nothing on the court. He is a good passer, a god shooter, a good defender (I would say great but Terry changed my mind there). Until he wins it all he will be criticized. He will even be criticized if they win it all and LeBron isn't the batman of the team, in that case we would still be asking what is wrong with him.
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