THE OHIO HOTSHOT, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward, is flaunting his celebrity status and it all seems quite sickening. He’s just in high school for crying out loud. Perhaps you’ve heard of him as LeBron James, Player of the Year for USA TODAY as a high school junior. He is expected to be the first pick in the 2003 NBA draft. He is called the next Jordan. He handles the ball, dribbles it, shoots it, stuffs it, rebounds it, perhaps even does needlework with it because he is so gifted. Now we should call him King James. He is a rising senior, attends high school in Akron, Ohio, and his basketball team commands appearance fees upwards of $15,000 for its games because everyone wants to see him play. And what has this adoration produced? Judge for yourself. King James seems to be on the verge of promoting his own clothing line. At one camp he wore a shirt with a crown on it and called it “King James.” Snickered that God left this shirt in his hotel room. The kid wasn’t serious, but why be so silly? King James, who has no intention of going to college, was asked last week about taking recruiting visits to five college campuses his senior season in high school. He says he will go because they are free and he wants to travel. King James is 6-foot-7, but the height of his arrogance can’t be measured. He wants to waste somebody’s time and money on a needless recruiting trip so he can be courted and fawned over. Duke and Kentucky, I bet, have turned their backs. In another sign of haughtiness, King James was scheduled to appear at a press conference at the adidas ABCD camp. He is intentionally late. He boasts how he has media people waiting on him and he controls them. King James arrived at the two rival basketball camps held by adidas and Nike with an entourage. They must be flown everywhere. Their bags are carried; they arrive in style in a big car with a driver. Sure, the white tennis prodigies arrived with entourages for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and no one fussed, but at least they had attained some measure of status in the pro game. According to one report, King James is already driving a Lincoln Navigator. Hmmm. He lives in a small apartment with his mother. Hmmm. Has he been corrupted already? Will he even be eligible for his senior season in high school if someone digs and finds money from an agent is already in his pocket? You shake your head with pity. Just a teenager and already another athlete who takes himself too seriously. Don’t we have enough of those: Sammy Sosa, Shaq, Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson, Vince Carter, and on and on. “He hasn’t changed a little, he has changed a lot,” said Bob Gibbons, a high school recruiting analyst. “It’s all gotten out of control. I guess you could call him the ‘King James version of high school basketball.’ He is signing autographs and this has all gone from the sublime to the absurd. “The kid is talented, make no mistake. But you’ve got to be focused on getting better and improving. He’s focused on what he can get. When Michael Jordan came out of high school he was a hungry player. I question how hungry Lebron James is?” Perhaps this kid needs a taste of the NBA game right now with Kobe or Shaq or Vince Carter serving the first dish of humble pie. I can’t wait for this kid to get lost in a maze of screens and Caron Butler uses him like a rag on a dirty window. Six months ago, LeBron James seemed like a high school athlete with some humility. He played for his school’s football team to help them win, even if there was significant risk of injury. It was all about school pride. A rival high school coach told me last fall that James refuses to shoot at a times and prefers to be a playmaker and team guy. What happened? Every humble thought he once had looks like it has been replaced by swagger. Maybe it was just the summer season, but the garish clothes and the diamond stud earrings … geez. I know why the handlers of Amare Stoudemire, the high school phenom from Orlando kept that child away from the spotlight. I don’t blame Stoudemire’s caretakers for limiting access and not responding to interview requests. Teenagers, most of them anyway, can’t handle the adoration. They end up looking like self-promoting brats. They end up looking self-absorbed like King James. Maybe it’s the media’s fault for fueling the hype. But even without the media clamoring for news about King James’ pending sneaker deal, which could be a $20 million whopper from Mike’s Nike, LeBron James might still be strutting into basketball camps acting self-important. At least we know King James has a sense of humor. He was invited to a press conference by adidas at the shoe company’s summer basketball camp and arrived wearing shoes by hated rival Nike. That’s fair. He showed up at the Nike press conference wearing adidas. The other thing to like about King James is that if he turns out to be as good everyone says he will be Nike might lose some of its bluster. If James signs with adidas does he do for them what Michael Jordan did for Nike? That might be the best sales tool for adidas. The German company cannot match Nike’s money, which could be as much as $20 million. But what if James is persuaded that if he goes with Nike he would always be second-ticket behind Mike, but at adidas he could be No. 1? How glorious would that be for King James? He could lift up an entire brand. Even that should satisfy a head that seems to be swelling by the day.
LA, where was the article from? It doesn't make him look good, but some writers have an agenda of their own. Just curious. And if it's true, I wouldn't be surprised. Sounds like he has an agent filling his head with a bunch of noise.
I think that Lebron is going to be awesome. I think he's going to be better than Kobe, and even more arrogant then Kobe. From that article and other stuff I've heard about him, he seems full of himself.
I'll wait and see.......Besides, in a few weeks there will probably be an article by a different author talking about how kind he is, and how much support he lends to the community. And in the following year up to the day he's drafted, there will be countless amount of articles in favor of him, as well as ones similar to the one in this thread. I'll wait and see if can deliver on all this hype. He hasn't played a single NBA game and he's already better than Tmac and Kobe in the eyes of some of these analysts.....as well as others.
this article doesn't appear to have been written for an accredited news publication... there are obvious biases and grammar problems... looks like someone out there just wanted to weigh in on their personal opinion of James after hearing some stories about him... It looks more like something you would read on a "Letters to the Editor" section of a newspaper, written by a layman.
wow, i'm utterly shocked... this seems like sensationalist journalism... i'm rather surprised that MSNBC would print an article that badmouths a person so much! to call him "King James" throughout the entire article seemed to tip it off for me... color me wrong and in disbelief!
Yeah I was pretty suprised to. Most articlse that speak against people don't taunt them the whole article. But I liked the article a lot.
it would be funny if he ended up like Kwame Brown, and be a bust. The same thing happened with kwame. I won't believe til i see it. Same thing applies for yao ming.
I don't think that James will be like Kwame Brown, because there is a heck of a lot more hype surrounding James then there was when Brown came into the L.
You are right, it has only been a year, but Kwame played aweful his first season and didn't really show much of an offense game at the pro level. I think he'll be a pretty good player when he developes, but I don't think that he was worth the number 1 pick.
The media and people around him have hyped Lebron James up way too much. They say how he's better than Kobe was at the same age, they say how he will end up being better than Kobe is as a pro, they say how he's the next Michael Jordan. They forget that Lebron James is still only a 17 year old kid. He hears all this garbage about being better than Kobe, being the next Michael Jordan, etc. etc.; of course it's going to go to his head...he's 17 years old. I don't know how much this kid is going to want to be the best and improve anymore with all of this garbage going to his head. He's going to have to live up to some big time hype- Michael Jordan, the man who just about everybody agrees is the greatest man to every to step on the basketball court, and Kobe Bryant, the man who just about everybody agrees has the best chance in the game today to fill MJ's enormous shoes. That's HUGE expectations right there; most top high school players will be happy to be able to become half the player Michael Jordan was. We'll see how "King James" handles this.
quote from the article: "Maybe it’s the media’s fault for fueling the hype. " uhhh... ya think? that was such a weak article. are we really surprised to find out that a 17 year old kid who is being hailed as a basketball god is arrogant? lebron james is cocky? noooo....... i'm sure the guy who wrote the article (um, ray glier) was a perfect gentleman at his press conferences when HE was 17, and always showed up on time wearing the right shoes.
So all this money, power, fame was given to him by the big companies, media, etc., yet we want to trash this kid? Like it's his fault that he has all this?! Why do we always want to talk **** of some youngster who gets the money? Where are the so called adults of these companies who are dolling out the cash for this kid? I never will buy the argument against these kids becuz it's the adults who are giving it to them hand-over-fist!When we hold these corporations accountable then I'll hold these kids responsible. Otherwise, this type of argument against these kids have no relevance in my book.....
