LeBron James' "Tribute to MJ" fraud

Couldn't this have been posted in the already existing thread?

 

didn't Bryant say that he wanted to go back to his old High school number as the 'reason' for the change from 8 to 24?

 

This probably could have gone in the other thread (still on the first page) about LeBron changing his jersey number. There's really nothing new in this article, it's just another example of a sports writer giving his opinion on a topic that's already been widely discussed and trying to pass it off as factual and new.

 

The NBA shouldn't allow players to change numbers.

 

Kobe had some non-business excuse for why he changed numbers. I don't remember what it was.

Perhaps LeBron is changing his jersey for the opposite reason he is claiming, but doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't want to be seen as a "Jordan successor", because that puts a cap on his own legacy. No. 23 will always be tied to Jordan, and LeBron knows it. He wants to have a number he can claim as his own. And how many NBA fans recall that No. 6 was Bill Russell's number? Not many outside of Boston, I think.

Its probably partially business related, but I don't buy the "I am not worthy" stuff. It is more like "I am so good, I don't need Jordan's number to validate my greatness any more."

 

..and if they do allow players to change numbers, the player should be forced to wear something ridiculous and embarrassing like 69 or something to that effect. I would love for LerBon to wear a "69" just for giggles.

 

lebrick been a fraud, this isnt new information, i absolutely despise his whole character

he's broadulent and fraudulent, sensitive, a front runner and immensely immature, thats why he wears his headband so high on his forehead bcuz hes ashamed hes goin bald, Jordan simply shaved his head and made bald heads cool.. queen james isnt makin anything popular with the flooding headbands, thats the equivalent of steve urkel pants coming up to his news.. queen james = better stacey mclazy

 

The great players before LeBron were and are all about basketball first, business second. LeBron seems to be business first, basketball second. If he really wants to be the GOAT, he should think about switching his priorities. Don’t worry about what business move you want to make or what's going to make the most money, that all will come on it's own if he is the greatest player to win X # of championships.

 

I think the media is already hailing him as the best evarrr so he doesn't need to worry about his basketball priorities. Teams will bend over backwards to please him and most of the media already thinks he's the second coming of Jesus (at least BSPN).

I would focus more on the business side, too, if I were him. He only has a certain time frame to maximize his income and he's doing just that right now. Milking every single penny he can out of this fame. Too bad sometimes he comes off as a spoiled ass doing it.

It wouldn't be surprising if he surpasses Mr. Woods' total earnings in the near future.

 

wow...were you inappropriately touched by someone wearing a LJ jersey?

not sure why anyone would hate Lebron. Good attitude, work ethic and heart.

 

yea that is my gripe with this guy, I remember initially in an interview his goal was to be the first athlete billionaire before he said anything about championships, hes been under nike's marketing scheme and referred to as the king before he ever played a single game, and it seems the league handed it to him before he went out and earned it, he is ofcourse doing great, but i think Jordan feels these sentiments too, who do you think he is speaking of in this article? :

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3243645


And not to mention to the number 6, if he is a "student of the history of the game" as he often likes to say, and wanted to pay homeage to Jordan, what about Bill Russell(arguably the greatest ever) and Julius Erving? He is absurd at times(dancing in games then talking about respect, not shaking hands because hes not a loser(nor was Jordan or kobe or the other 50 years of PROFESSIONALS who came through the league), claiming he doesn't go for individual 'ak-col-ades', but then runs through for the the garbage minutes stats like no bodies business, its fine to do that, but don't straight up lie and try to deceive people about it).

Everyone likes to claim bryant is so image first, but LBJ has the marketing giant on everyword he says, not to mention the (I love you guys cmon you know that, to the media, who love him as well). People hate bryant for demanding a trade. What did he demand a trade for? because the dude wanted to win and compete flat out so he put his name and loyal fan base on the line, because hes here for one thing and one thing only. That is the guy I want to pay my max dollars too, the one who won't shut up and cash it, but who wants to produce because that's what he does. And on the flip side, you have lebron playing in a place that will do ANYTHING to keep him to stay, pay luxury tax, aggressive with trades, and he's threatening to leave and explore for teams that haven't made playoffs in years, for more marketing exposure? and that is supposed to be better and getting publicity, but not half the negative publicity bryant got for a demand to win.

Ha sorry for the rant, He has had his flaws that annoy me. Starting rookie year when he averaged 20-5-5, but did so with league leading turnovers and a sub 37 percent shooting(meaning hte ball would've been efficient in someone else's hands, but they forcefed him to produce stats before he was ready) and then won outright rookie of the year to a guy averaging 21-6-3, and leading his team to the playoffs? it made no sense. And then I realize things were changing as hand checking was removed, crab dribble became legal, and the game was promoting athleticism above skills if you compare now to the 90s and it was unfortunate to see the flow of the game stopped the way it was. He had holes, and this year he patched them up by getting a shooting coach this summer so I give him his credit, I still think hes the most athletic player in the league, while bryant is the most skilled, and I appreciate that much more

 

I agree with some of the things you said about Lebron, but you're simply manufacturing stats to downplay his performances throughout his career. Lebron averaged 20.9, 5.5 and 5.9 in his rookie year on 41.7% shooting, not 20-5-5 on <37% like you're claiming. Compared to Carmelo, who had 21.0, 6.1 and 2.8 on 42.6%. It is definitely not ridiculous that Lebron won the ROY, considering that he had arguably the more well-rounded stats and played point guard at 6-8. Definitely, he wasn't as efficient a scorer as he is now, but who else did he have in Cleveland to defer to? Ricky Davis or Darius Miles?

 

Hey, trip your right about the stats, misread on the shooting percentage and just rechecked nba.com to confirm, but still, when awards are given to 'winners' as they emphasize now, you have arguably very comparable stats, and except one kid leads his team to the playoffs in the tough western conference and he was the leader of the conference, atleast give me a co-rookie of the year?

and I remember reading about kobe vs lebron for mvp for years now, and I remember when Kobe hit 35 ppg and was schooling individually while leading the lakers to playoffs with the worst supporting cast I have seen(smush parker and kwame in starting line up in most important positions, both close to out of league now), the espn folks said good job kobe, but we can't give you this because its more so about winning and stats just don't do it, and he got 4th place. I remember years later when he was among the top of the league in terms of wins and lebron had a 4th place team in the east which made him 13-15th in the nba i believe, so right in the middle, and espn said as the cavs are mediocre, he gets our vote because you just can't ignore what hes doing individually, its undeniable

so its like they cater around their definition for this kid and that and those hand me outs like what MJ himself refers too, especially for someone watching the toughness league of the 80s and 90s and then seeing hoops now where euros are saying euorpean bball is more physical than nba, it just sort of frustrating

and also on the article where it says mj doesn't have a relationship with any of these guys. I have read in an article recently actually I am trying to find it where they ask kobe about mj and he said they keep in touch via phone and he gives him advice but he won't reveal any more details because those conversations are between them two and they are sacred...could've marketed himself and got some headlines for that, but he chose to keep it personal and sacred, and heres some pics if you want to respect mj 23 yet not benefit


http://www.nba.com/media/lakers/kobe_jordan_254_020612.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Xd7W6OPSCuI/SEfgh4ksaYI/AAAAAAAAAjE/9wbsYZ6RxZA/s400/kobe_jordan.jpg

the best one I can't find is where MJ is kicking it next to kobe's locker at all star game with his leg up

 

and yes I am really high on kobe, I just respect the dude's work ethic and fierce approach and commitment to the game, who else calls a great who plays center just to study his moves(when he called hakeem to learn post moves), spends off season doing 5+ hour work outs after he's made it this far with guys who still haven't made it in the league fully like sasha vuajic,

and personal story, he gets called a jerk and only nice for the cameras, well in houston all star game is where i met him, behind scenes, no cameras, while lebron, carter, ray allen blew me off and respectfully wanted no part of me, kobe actually came up to me because i was one of the only kids there at the time and asked what happened (to my injury) talked briefly, signed a ball, no cameras or anything he could've followed the other guys and never heard about it, but you know, as a fan that meant something to me definitely and won me over

 

That is a really long article for a topic nobody cares about.

 

His high school number was 33 so I doubt that.

 

As for Lebron's fraud. Well, we all knew why he was changing his number.

The guy said he wanted to be a billionaire, so there you go he's making some money.

You can't hate him for that when both Kobe and Jordan did the same thing.

 

Ehh.. who cares. There are better people in the world to care about than MJ, Lebron, or Kobe.