The Fall of the King

This past Sunday night, I and about 98% of the country celebrated the failure of LeBron James and the Miami Heat to win the NBA Championship. It was a bit surreal, but a glimpse of the Twittersphere and Facebook universe showed a bizarre unity which rivaled the reaction of Americans when Osama bin Laden bit the dust (okay, it wasn't that unanimous). Overwhelmingly, the general public were thrilled, and you got the sense it wasn't so much that the Dallas Mavericks won, but that the Miami Heat lost. And these weren't just Cleveland Cavaliers fans or fans of other teams which were spurned during Lebron's free agency (Knicks, Bulls, Nets) or key competitors (Celtics, Magic) - it was an unpopularity landslide.

In an earlier post, I already argued that we ought to give LeBron a break, while also acknowledging that he poorly handled "The Decision". Of course, that didn't stop me from rooting for the underdog against a man who:

1. Stabbed his home state and original team in the back on national television
2. Took part in an over-the-top coronation celebrating the "Three Kings" of the Miami Heat before having a single practice

And when it was over, LeBron walked off the court, yet again, without a championship. Some random observations:

• LeBron yet again looked awfully close to "mail it in" mode when his back was against the wall. This was a major critique in his team's flameout against the Celtics last year, and it came up yet again. As the Mavericks started to build their lead and precious time counted down the Heat's season, LeBron turtled and inexplicably started to pass the ball to role players instead of going down fighting.
• Notwithstanding Scottie Pippen's laughable comment that LeBron James (without a single NBA title) could be better than Michael Jordan (with six), the bizarre twist is that James is actually more like Scottie Pippen... well, but not yet. At least Pippen was successful in being a wingman to a superstar who won titles.
• Dirk Nowitzki simply had an awful shooting night(7 for 21), which was salvaged from "obscene" to "awful" only because he started to hit jumpers in the 4th quarter. I'm glad for Dirk, and yes, he hit some key shots when they mattered most, but here's what I don't get. A number of commentators applauded Dirk for his fearlessness in continuing to shoot the ball even when he couldn't hit the side of he barn in the first three quarters - in this situation, it's supposedly courageous. Knicks fans have painful memories John Starks in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals where he shot 2 for 18 from the field, but none of us were saying "It was courageous that he kept shooting despite missing his last 10 shots." So, is it only courageous if you end up winning? Or it that superstars should keep shooting even if they seem not to have their shot falling?
• If it's the latter, here's where this ties into my criticism on LeBron being passive. If the theme is that superstars (or the best player on the team) should always be aggressive no matter how poorly they've shot the ball during the game, I wonder if that confuses LeBron given the presence of Dwyane Wade and - to a lesser degree - Chris Bosh. Or put another way, does LeBron subconsciously get paralyzed with, "I'm going to get aggressive because I'm the MAN... but then again, I have Dwyane Wade on the wing and Chris Bosh in the post who might have a better matchup... uh... " For Dirk, there's no question that he's the man on the Mavericks. Yes, Boston's "Big Three" played wonderfully together, but that's a testimony to Doc Rivers' coaching and their chemistry. LeBron and the other Three Kings haven't gotten there yet.

On the court musings aside, what I think is even more intriguing is the off the court drama between LeBron and the general public. LeBron didn't help matter when asked whether people rooting for his failure bothered him. He answered:

Absolutely not cause at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.

Of course, the widely accepted translation of this was:

F*** you, you bitter and pathetic losers, because you'll all go back to their dreary lives and worrying about keeping your jobs and paying the bills in this economy while I have host barbecues at one of my ten mansions for my other phenomenally rich friends where I use cash for briquettes. You ordinary people will trudge own with your existences virtually begging to be euthanized while I satisfy every hedonistic desire I have because I can. I may not have an NBA Championship, but I don't believe for a second that you wouldn't trade your miserable, pathetic lives for mine in a half a second.

While his choice of words was terrible, the interpretation was a little unfair and over the top, and LeBron's PR people were quick to send a predictable "I was misinterpreted" press release out the next day. As I take a step back, I'm trying to understand exactly why LeBron is hated so much, and whether that degree of hatred is commensurate with his mistakes in judgment.

Is his arrogant? Sure, he is - big time, but isn't every great athlete? Does he have a "heart of a champion"? Not yet, but since when did that become a moral imperative? Does he think himself as someone who deserves more glory than he truly warrants? Sure, but so do all of us. Does he distance himself from the common man? Sure, but like my first point, most famous athletes and celebrities aren't exactly bending over backwards to show the world that they eat at KFC, shop at Trader Joe's and buy their cereal in bulk at Costco.

Let's face it, he can't emphasize this because that'll just dig himself a deeper hole, but of course there's some jealousy from all of us 'haters' out there. Let's be honest with one another. This is a phenomenally wealthy young man at the age of 26 who will achieve a level of worldly financial success, fame, glory and adulation that 99.999% of the world will never get remotely close to. We resent that he seems like an unworthy and undeserving beneficiary of his current good fortune and that which is to come. And with each verbal or decision-making misstep, he validates our rancor that "he just doesn't deserve it!" And the amount of schadenfreude is off the charts.

The guy's a 26-year old kid. He's not polished or mature. He's said plenty of things that he shouldn't have and he's made mistakes - and he will make plenty more. Let's give him a break and hope that he uses this setback as an opportunity to get simultaneously humble, hungry and even better. As someone who had the pleasure of watching athletes like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer play, we'll all be better off if we have the opportunity to witness anybody who can achieve that "arguably the best that ever played" status. So we'll hope for that - unless he's playing my beloved Knicks.