Nitro Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 (edited) Is LeBron still The Man? This was the question being asked by people around the league who accused James of running away from his responsibilities as a franchise leader. Charles Barkley said he was "disappointed" that James chose to "piggyback" onto Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Magic general manager Otis Smith mocked James for preferring a lesser role with the Heat: "I thought he was more of a competitor. The great ones usually stay in one location." "The most explosive part of this is that a great player left to go not do it on his own -- and in his prime years. When has that ever happened?" a Western Conference GM told me. "The reason we're hearing so many people react the way they have is because they feel like the sanctity of greatness in the NBA is tarnished. "It's like one of those movies when the baseball player lets everybody down because he isn't the hero everybody thought he was and they show a kid crying because his hero isn't what he was supposed to be. We all thought LeBron was a leader, and now it's a letdown to think we were all wrong about him." There are two parts to this story involving James. The first involves the way he announced his decision, for which I criticized him in Sports Illustrated this week. He hurt himself badly by putting the needs of the TV show ahead of his relationships with his hometown fans. The second -- and separate -- issue involves this question of being The Man and whether he couldn't stand the pressure of being that in Cleveland. I'm not sold on the idea that he wanted to be or needs to be The Man -- at least not in the way that others wanted him to be. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/07/16/lebron/index.html Kind of long, but a really interesting read. I agree with a lot of what he said. Edited July 19, 2010 by Nitro1118 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Swish* Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 LeBron won't be the man. it's Wade's team. Wade will be the man like he was next season and previous other ones. LeBron will obviously be a huge part of this team such as Wade and Bosh but Wade's the man of the Heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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