Lebron James

What about this high school player? Though He's is not eligible for this years draft cos he has one year more in high school. But great upside, great potential and already compared to kobe.

here is a story for Lebron

The man went up to a Cleveland Cavalier open gym and finally found some comp. Unfortunately for the Cavs and others, it only meant that it brought out the best in Lebron.

After watching him play so much the past three years, one thing is apparent. He has been experimenting with his game to continue to give himself challenges. He plays little games in his own mind to challenge himself; Such as, shooting impossible shots from behind the backboard during game action, passing in as many ridiculous ways as possible and shooting from as far away as he can.

But when it comes time to REALLY perform, that's when he shows just how much is in his arsenal. As indicated by this article, that arsenal is overloaded.

Yes, Lebron your game is so tight, all you need to do is perfect your jumper, continue to get stronger and develop your mental consentration on the little things for the future (like boxing out and denying defense the ball for when you play in the NBA). Off the court, he's a merit roll student and has an incredible personality.

Lebron's got all the tools and even the opportunity to have as much influence on humanity that an athlete in our lifetime has ever had. But what KIND of influence will that be? Please pray for him. That burden is unfair for anyone, let alone a junior in high school.

God has gifted this young man for a purpose. If those of us that enjoy watching him play, support him in the REAL world with prayer and encouragement . . . instead of trying to find ways to exploit him for our own personal benefit . . . then we will have all been part of something a lot more satisfying than a highlight dunk or a championship.

Will you be part of that supporting cast or the destructive cast?

Think about it.

 

i've found this thread about LeBron: very interesting

The LeBron phenomenon


02/10/02

Tim Rogers
Plain Dealer Reporter


The story in Sports Illustrated is expected to hit the newsstands any day now.

Representatives from the "Today" show have made inquiries, and so have editors from Teen People magazine.


The New York Times and the Daily News have published stories, and scouts from nearly a dozen National Basketball Association teams have been dispatched to Akron to evaluate him.

The LeBron James Project has gone national. Can Madison Avenue be that far behind?

In a span of about two years, LeBron, a 17-year-old junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, has gone from being just another high school basketball player from the poor side of Akron to a kid who, rightly or wrongly, has been labeled as the next Michael Jordan.

This year, the demand to see his two-time defending state champion team play is so great that the school moved the Irish's 10 home games to the University of Akron's James A. Rhodes Arena, a 5,200-seat facility that on some occasions this season wasn't large enough.

Last year, an appearance by the Irish in the Division III state finals attracted a crowd of 17,612, the first sellout for the high school finals in Ohio State's Value City Arena in the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

LeBron is 6-7, 225 pounds of high-flying, slam-dunking, bull's-eye passing and shot-blocking talent. After his domination last summer at a basketball camp featuring the country's top prep players, speculation grew that he might try to turn pro after this, his junior season. He later shot down that idea.

Now, although he says he has not made the decision, it seems likely that LeBron will skip college and turn professional shortly after he graduates from high school in 2003.

Today, LeBron and his teammates will play national power Oak Hill Academy of Virginia in the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, N.J. A sellout crowd of 9,000 is expected at the 48-team, 28-game tournament.

As always, LeBron will be the marquee attraction.

"LeBron feels he still has some learning to do, and he does. The potential is there, and that's something that will keep the fire burning."

- Michael Jordan

On a Tuesday after school in October 1994, Frank Walker put a basketball in the hands of 9-year-old LeBron James for the first time.

"It was in my back yard," said Walker, 41, and the father of Frank Jr., now a sophomore at SVSM. "LeBron had never played, other than just fooling around shooting and stuff like that, and Frank beat him, 21-5. But I knew then that he was going to be different."

How?

"His gift is that you can teach him something, and he catches on real quick," said Walker, snapping his fingers three times for emphasis. "Over the years, I learned you could show him something once or twice, where you would have to show everyone else four or five times. It's a blessing he has."

Walker, a maintenance worker and the father of three, began working on the fundamentals with LeBron.

Soon, LeBron was a member of the Summit Lake Hornets, joining Frank Jr., Willie McGee and Brandon Weems, all current SVSM players.

LeBron, too, remembers those days.

"[Walker] doesn't get the recognition he deserves, because he's real quiet," LeBron said. "But he was the first one to give me a basketball and the first one to really show an interest."

Walker coached LeBron for two or three years before stepping away.

"It was time for someone else to take over," he said.

That someone was Dru Joyce II, who is now in his first year as the SVSM varsity head coach but has known LeBron since he was in the fourth grade. Back then, a LeBron-led team beat a team that included Joyce's son, Dru III, in a Summit Lake Recreation League. A year later, LeBron was on Joyce's team.

By the time that group was in the seventh grade and went to Orlando, Fla., for the Amateur Athletic Union 14-and-under national championships, Joyce thought LeBron was bound to become a star.

"I mean, he dominated," Joyce said. "He was the best player there, and there were kids from all over the country.

"He knows the game."

When LeBron was 14, Joyce saw him dunk with two hands for the first time.


"I haven't seen him play, but everyone I've come in contact with, people who know basketball, I've heard nothing but the greatest comments from them about his skills and explosiveness. He's a name that's unique and special among people in the basketball world."

- Dick Vitale, ESPN college basketball analyst



%%bodybegin%% In November 1999, at a preseason practice at St. Vincent-St. Mary, Keith Dambrot stood on the sidelines with a reporter, watching 15 or 20 kids run passing drills.

The conversation was casual until Dambrot, starting his second season as the Irish head coach, was asked about LeBron James, a freshman on the roster.

"He is good, damned good," said Dambrot, stopping to take the whistle out of his mouth. "He is the best 14-year-old I have ever seen."

Dambrot has been around basketball all his life, with an impressive coaching resume. He was a head coach in college by the age of 25, and he has coached three players who went on to the NBA, including SVSM graduate Jerome Lane.

So, when Keith Dambrot talked, it was wise to listen.

Dambrot, now an assistant at the University of Akron, can no longer discuss LeBron because NCAA rules bar him from discussing high school players.

But, soon after LeBron helped SVSM win the Division III state championship in March 2000, Dambrot's opinion had changed from four months earlier.

"How good can he be?" Dambrot was asked. "I could tell you, but you won't believe me."

"Come on."

"I think he can go from high school to the pros," he said. "I really do."

LeBron James was 15 years old.


"I don't remember anyone teaching me the no-look pass. I think it's just basic instinct. As far as the real game goes, Frank and Dru taught me that. Maybe I taught myself the other stuff."

- LeBron James



%%bodybegin%% LeBronmania has reached a point where LeBron no longer sits in the stands with his teammates to watch junior-varsity games.

He is besieged by autograph seekers and requests for interviews. An Akron policeman is posted outside the team's locker room. Admission is granted by invitation only.

LeBron takes refuge on the team bench, cordoned away from those who want a sound bite or a signature, before escaping to the tranquillity of the locker room to change into his uniform, No. 23, the same number worn by Jordan, his one-time hero and now an acquaintance.

Having just turned 17 on Dec. 30, he takes life one day at a time.

"I'm flattered anytime anyone asks me for my autograph, even if it's a little kid," LeBron said. "One thing I will never do is stop signing for little kids."

Adds his mom, Gloria: "You know why he relates to little kids?

"Because he's still a kid himself."