I think calling him weak is a bit of a stretch. I'm completely rooting for him NOT to win a ring this year, but the guy has put up unbelievable numbers. In his career he has lost exactly 1 series that he should have won (against Orlando last year). He took his team to the Finals not that long ago, and that was a pretty ugly team outside of LeBron. Granted it was the East, but they still took down a much better Pistons team. I think it's fair to label him as "not ruthless." Kobe and MJ had laser focus and wanted to annihilate their competition, but they are rare examples of that trait the past 20 years. I wish he'd knock off the stupid antics and showboating. That, more than anything, makes me hope he never gets a ring. But the guy is a hell of a talent, has won a ton of games, and had a fair amount of playoff success.
LOL I hadn't seen this before The way he opens up his pant legs and keeps glancing over at sideshow bob is hilarious
The guy won exact one series as underdog too. So it's an even. Actually Pistons were the only 50 win team Cavs beat. The other teams won't be in playoff in west.
Yes, the guy who posted the greatest sustained statistical performance in any playoff run in NBA history is mentally weak. I wonder what he would average if he was mentally strong. 60 points, 30 rebounds, 22 assists?
No one's denying that he's incredible. But let me ask you this. Can you imagine shooting FTs with his left hand, bringing huge amounts of attention to his injury? Nope. He'd grit his teeth, fight through the pain, and not say anything. That's what we're talking about. The mentally strong athletes hate people asking them about their injury. They usually avoid answering the injury question at all. They don't talk about it and they pretend it's not there. It's completely different with LeBron, he did what I don't see too many athletes do and say, "Yeah, it does hurt. This is how it hurts me and this is how it's affecting my play." I have never heard of that before. Most athletes will say no excuses and yet LeBron does the exact opposite, saying if he does play bad, it is because of the injury. That really surprised me and I absolutely question his mental toughness. Most athletes despise giving excuses, regardless of how perfectly valid they can be, and they try to hide their injury. LeBron showed no such restraint, makes sure everyone knows he's hurt, and acknowledges it will affect his performance. What the? What's up with that?
You've obviously never seen Kobe Bryant play in a nationally televised game. If he has any injury, he makes sure to wince in pain every time the camera is on him. He wants everyone to know how "heroic" he is being by playing through pain.
WTF? Loving the spotlight doesn't have anything to do with being mentally weak. Those are two unrelated traits you're talking about. Mental toughness is all about fighting through adversity, bringing attention to your situation or being a diva/drama king has nothing at all to do with it. You can be a diva and yet still be mentally tough. Shaq would be the a good example of that. The guy's one of the league's biggest drama kings and manages to destroy almost every single relationship he has...and yet he's managed to deliver when it counts time and time again. LBJ may be hyping it up a bit, but his injury's real, and only a moron will insist that an elbow injury won't affect your performance.
LMAO so you're saying Lebron's mentally weak because his 24 pt performance was pedestrian compared to....LEBRON?!? Do you realize you're comparing Lebron to himself? How can he be mentally strong and mentally weak at the same time? Lebron's always been taking ill advised 3's and mid range jumpers, its one of the few flaws of his game and what makes him still human IMO. I love how people try to be "experts" and say a players production is "un-impactful" when the dude had 7 rebs and 4 assists to go along with his pts. Any other player does that and he has an MVP performance, but by your standards just because Lebron is the one doing that he's somehow mentally weak and invisible throughout the game. 24 pts on 19 shots isn't something to be proud of, but it isn't game-breakingly bad either, in fact for a playoff game that kind of shot/pt ratio is average. For being a mentally weak person, LBJ was so soft, hesitant and tentative, ONLY taking 15 ft attempts, JUST 1 more than the entire Boston starting 5. For comparison: LBJ 24 pts 19 attempts KG 18 pts 21 attempts Allen 22 pts 22 attempts Pierce 14 pts 15 attempts Now tell me which of these guys took ill-advised shots all game?
I think you've hit the nail on the head with what most people complain about regarding Lebron. They see the antics and the playing around and can't reconcile it with the fact that Lebron is actually producing at an MVP level, because MVP players are all serious will annihilate the enemy types. I don't have a beef with people saying he's goofy or he unprofessional or he's childish. But don't say the guy is mentally weak or is overrated or unproductive, because the facts tell the opposite.
He's getting his numbers in garbage time, when the team was down 20+ pts and refs were making every call favoring home team to keep fans on seat. Not impressed.
mentally weak, cmon guys...in 07-08 he had a sprained pinkie finger...sat out for 2 weeks, he really toughed that one out... how can we expect him to be mentally strong, we pamper him and hold him on a high horse before he played a game, he was named king, hes done well but had to earn it less with mroe hand outs and accommodations, espn true hoop the last two days had 2 different posts dedicated to defending a perceived travel on james....how much do you see that focus and defense by media for any other player? He wouldnt shake hands, he doesnt want to be disrespct, but he can disrespect adn dance in people's faces, he says the crab dribble wasn't a travel(it got changed the next year for him), i mean its ridiculous, hes a unique talent, its ashamed for all this to not let him reach his full potential by always getting babied
Great. LBJ detractors said he did a disappearing act and when proved wrong you go pull out the biased refs card? LBJ had 19 attempts that game. He also had 15 fts, so if every ft was the result of a foul shot he'd have around 7 more attempts. That's a total of 26 attempts the entire game. Must have been a long garbage time for one player to fit in 26 attempts 09-10 LBJ Playoff stats: 31.1 ppg, 8.6 rebs, 7.4 asts, True Shooting% of 0.645. ^If that doesn't impress you nothing the man does ever will.
I don't know if he's mentally weak or not, all I know is this elbow stuff is a bunch of crap. It suddenly starts hurting after he loses game 2, not after game 1 where he put up incredible numbers. Oh well, it's not like I feel bad for him if he loses again before reaching the finals, I think he's as big of a douche as Kobe.
I hate Lebron. I really do. But he is an amazing basketball player. Athletically he is the Greatest of all time. Better than Wilt, better than Shaq prime. He's also got a solid basketball game, amazing court vision and everything. His numbers are ridiculous. 38-8-8 and losing the series is sad. However, he's a drama queen. He's an attention w****. He's not a killer like Kobe who plays through everything and doesn't make an injury excuse. That doesn't mean he isn't an amazing ball player.
Language NSFW <object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11555128&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11555128&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/11555128">TBJ exclusive: LeBron's elbow speaks!</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/thejones">The Basketball Jones</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
Half of the complaints about Lebron are about how the media treats him. What is Lebron supposed to do about that?
mentally weak does not mean he isn't physically gifted scorer. mentally weak means that when things are not going the usual fashion, he breaks down and disappears when his team needs him most. quoting all these amazing numbers against eastern conference playoff teams that are just plain awful doesn't mean a thing. when things aren't coming to him easily, he is not as effective. he racks up stats against lousy teams and then looks to score more when his team is losing instead of making the team better. oh, and then he blames his elbow or lack of talent. i wanna like him, but he is not on the same plane as kobe or even wade. until he grows up and gets mentally tougher, he will resemble dominique wilkens... big numbers no ring. until he produces a monster series against a good team, he will always appear mentally weak. and will people STOP with the greatest player label? he ain't won a damn thing, and until he does, he is just highlight reel #2
