The 6'8" height of arrogance - LeBron James

Does LeBron James think he is God's gift to basketball?  In seven years in the NBA, he has won a grand total of zero NBA championships.  Most recently, Michael Jordan won six; Kobe Bryant has five.  LeBron wants to be mentioned in the same breath as them.  The Cleveland Cavaliers, perennial laughingstocks of the league, did all they could to obtain the right players around him to build a championship-winning team.

But it didn't work.  And now, at a much-publicized press conference which smacked of tremendous self-glorification, King James has left Cleveland for Miami, where he says he feels he will have a better chance at winning a title.  Crazy question here: Perhaps it was not the Cavaliers' fault, but rather LeBron's?  Maybe he did not play well enough in the playoffs, and it had nothing to do with the team Cleveland built?  I doubt this thought has even crossed LeBron's mind, because in his head, he is owed an NBA championship, he has earned it.

The city of Cleveland embraced him, a native Ohioan, as its favorite son.  They made him who he is.  And now, he has unceremoniously dumped them, on the grounds that Miami has the tools to win him a championship.  He has shown his true colors.  He never wanted the Cavs to win; he wanted to win.  Plenty of great NBA players never won a championship, and they did not jump ship after their team, and they, put in years of effort to win one (see Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and others).

Let us say that James wins this coming season, or next, in Miami.  Will it be exciting for him?  Of course.  But will it be as sweet as if he had stayed in Cleveland, put in more effort, and won with the Cavs?  Of course not.  Since we live in an age of instant gratification, James feels he is entitled to win an NBA title.  Since he knows he is great, he believes that this is coming to him.  And if he has not won already, it must be due to his team, not due to him.  He sees his arch-rival, Kobe Bryant, filling up his fingers with rings, and he feels that should be him.

I used to respect LeBron James.  He struck me as one of the good guys, a guy you could not help but root for.  He turned around the mindset of a city that has virtually only known sports losers.  He was Cleveland, and Cleveland was him.  He could have made true the Drew Carrey Show's theme song: Cleveland Rocks!  Instead, he showed himself much more concerned for his own achievements than his team's.

I'm a Knicks and Spurs fan.  I did not want LeBron to sign with the Knicks; the team is well beneath him., and I knew the Spurs were not a possibility.  This season, I will be very happy if the Cavs win the championship.  They deserve it much more than the ungrateful King James.