By MarkPurdy/San Jose Mercury News
Here in the Golden State Of Superiority, many discouraging words will be spoken of LeBron James over the next two weeks.
There will be no discouraging words spoken here. Not about James, anyway. He and the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Warriors in the NBA Finals eventually, following a break that has been so interminable, Riley Curry will be old enough to get her driver’s license by the time it’s over.
When the series does finally begin, you will see what I know to be true: James is not only the best basketball player in the world today, he is in the running for best basketball player ever. As a personality, he is already in my hall of admired.
The NBA is not my beat. My experience with James has principally been in coverage of the three Olympics in which he has worn a USA uniform. Every four years, with each successive Games, I have learned to like him more.
An anecdote from London 2012: The night at Olympic Stadium when sprinter Usain Bolt won gold in the 100-meter dash, I looked up from my spot in the “press tribune” just before the starting gun and saw James. He and some pals wanted to just quickly drop in and watch the race, then split. But every seat was full. He and his friends walked to an open area by a stairwell.
“I’m sorry, sir, you can’t stand there,” an usher with a clipped British accent told James. “You must move along.”
Right about then, I fully expected James to pull out the “do you know who I am” card. He didn’t. He nodded, did a graceful sidestep drill with his small posse, and they lined up behind some other standing-room folks in the proper area. We all watched Bolt take just 9.63 amazing seconds to cross the finish line. “Wow,” James said with a slight smile, then pivoted and was gone.
A small thing. But the episode told me that James (A) was a sports fan and (B) was not going to let people think he had an attitude. That followed what I witnessed of him on the court, where he led the USA to another gold medal a few days later.
I know many people will never forgive James for “The Decision” fiasco of 2010, when he compounded the sin of considering bad advice with the sin of taking that advice to turn a simple free agency choice into a television special. The show made him look over-the-top arrogant, especially because he was leaving plebeian Cleveland for glamorous Miami. When he returned to Ohio last summer, James was smart enough to be less obnoxious about it.
Look, James probably isn’t the most humble guy in the world. Why would he be? But athletes with far less impressive resumes display far more ego. Steve Kerr, the Warriors coach, spoke the other day about James and the “suffocating” attention that he receives.
“LeBron has been the ‘star’ of the league for the last seven or eight years,” Kerr said. “I think he’s handled himself really well when you think about the spotlight on him, the constant pressure to win. ... He’s obviously a champion, and he has matured into that role. He knows what he’s doing.”
All I know is, after a somewhat bumpy start, James has come to take playing for his country seriously. This matters. I first remember him as a 19-year-old in Greece, the kid on an American team that shockingly finished third in the Olympic tournament. James pouted some about his playing time and was told in no uncertain terms by USA Basketball officials that he wouldn’t be invited back in four years unless he reconfigured his outlook.
At Beijing in 2008, when the USA reclaimed gold, the change was dramatic. Someone asked James how the Olympics compared to the NBA, and he said: “This is 10 times, 20 times bigger than the NBA. It’s bigger than the NBA because I am representing my whole country. All the states. All 50 states. Not just the city of Cleveland.”
Which was exactly right, of course.
Another anecdote: In 2008 and 2012, according to one USA official I know, James was the man who addressed his teammates about how they should comport themselves on the medal podium during the ceremony, flag-raising and anthem.
The Warriors should win the upcoming series, even if they are the first team since the 1997 Utah Jazz to get this far with no players who have prior Finals experience. The Cavaliers’ only chance is to have James carry them. And he just might. Warriors fans might come to detest him.Except how can they?
The other day, James was asked his feelings about Stephen Curry, and this was the trash-talk reply: “Steph is great for our league, the way he approaches not only everything on the floor, but off the floor.
“He’s got a beautiful family and everything. It wouldn’t be bad for our league at all if they want to model it behind him. He’s great.”
