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Who is currently the face of the NBA?


Need4Sheed
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Who is currently the face of the NBA?  

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If you define "face" as the player who would first be associated with the NBA by any person, I think it's definitely Kobe. He's been around long enough to establish his name across the globe, through the NBA championships and the Team USA runs. And at the same time, he is still playing at an All-Star level to maintain that status.

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If you define "face" as the player who would first be associated with the NBA by any person, I think it's definitely Kobe. He's been around long enough to establish his name across the globe, through the NBA championships and the Team USA runs. And at the same time, he is still playing at an All-Star level to maintain that status.

This is probably the answer, although Durant is closing in.

 

Right now, while LeBron has taken over as the best player in the NBA, that doesn't necessarily make him the face. He's not exactly trying to play the villain role anymore, but the media still has him in it from time to time, and the guy is too hated outside of Miami to really be considered.

 

The hate for Kobe has died down, by miles. People still want LA to fail, bad, but I've seen a lot of guys (here and on other sites, and in the media) that respect Kobe far more than I had ever thought they would. It's like the Spurs...I hate them, but I have nothing bad to say about Tim Duncan, who I think should be talked about more than he has over the years.

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I still think of Kobe as the all-around "face" of the NBA. He's clutch, respected, and for the most part, well liked. But now for some reason when I think of the NBA, I think of Lebron. I think it's also partly due to the Lakers early exit. It's weird how both Lebron/Kobe are such dominant players, yet our outlooks on each of them are so different!

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LeBron is the face of the NBA. He's widely regarded as the clear-cut best player in the league, and NO ONE gets as much attention from the media, and as strong of a reaction from the fans as he does. No one draws crowds from city to city as Bron does. Kobe is a very close 2nd, and Durant/Dwight/Wade are a clear step below as far as who is the faces of the league.

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Hate to say it, but it's LeBron....face doesn't mean good guy in this case though, as he still has a lot of growing up to do, and apologizing.

 

Apologize for what? He said he went about The Decision the wrong way, but even though it was distasteful he still raised a TON of money for a reputable charity. He had every right to leave Cleveland as they did an awful job of building a championship caliber tean around him over his 7 years there...they truly did over-achieve based on talent, and them overachieving is solely because of LeBron. He brought threm to their only Finals in franchise history, and gave them the only MVP awards the franchise has ever seen (among other individual accolades). He brought the franchise an insane amount of money, from endorsements, national attention and ticket sales. He owes Cleveland NOTHING.

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Hate to say it, but it's LeBron....face doesn't mean good guy in this case though, as he still has a lot of growing up to do, and apologizing.

Other than how he handled that week of free agency (which is almost two years old now), I don't see anything significant for which he should apologize. I don't like the guy, but there's no denying that he's subject to unwarranted hate because he chose to place himself in a better contending situation.

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Apologize for what? He said he went about The Decision the wrong way, but even though it was distasteful he still raised a TON of money for a reputable charity. He had every right to leave Cleveland as they did an awful job of building a championship caliber tean around him over his 7 years there...they truly did over-achieve based on talent, and them overachieving is solely because of LeBron. He brought threm to their only Finals in franchise history, and gave them the only MVP awards the franchise has ever seen (among other individual accolades). He brought the franchise an insane amount of money, from endorsements, national attention and ticket sales. He owes Cleveland NOTHING.

 

The fan in me realizes how many people were emotionally invested in the Cavs and LeBron as a loyal person to Ohio.

 

Anything he brought to this franchise was tainted. I think "those were the days, but then again, knowing what he did, do those moments really have any value anymore?" I could care less about the money he brought us...

 

Saying he "went about it the wrong way" comes nowhere close to the feelings he brought among the fan base. Maybe it does to non-Cavs fans who were initially pissed.

 

Ilgauskas wrote a freaking letter in the Cleveland Plain Dealer thanking us after merely signing with the Heat.

 

It's too late now for LeBron to have an emotional apology because if he hasn't gotten it now, he won't in the near future. The ONLY way I'll consider a true apology sincere is if he doesn't win in Miami. If he wins a title in Miami and then apologizes, it taints the realness of it. It would feel like such a FU. It's my standards in particular; maybe it's different for others.

 

If he never wins and realizes "Gee, I had a right to leave, but boy, did I really [expletive] with those fans' feelings. Maybe saying 'I didn't go about it the right way' shouldn't justify as an acceptable apology. Maybe the passion and respect they had for me should be reciprocated in my apology. Maybe they deserve something from the heart, because that's all I ever got from them."

 

This is coming from a fan who invested a lot in believing that he may be different from other athletes. The fan in me remembers the heartfelt and tearful reaction when we won the freaking Eastern Conference Finals, and I saw him and Z hug each other. It wasn't just them that were passionate though, it was a whole city buying into this guy as someone who we could trust. So yeah, "going about it the wrong way" may be due diligence for non Cavs fans who in the short term thought he was lame for what he did. But for the fans, who remember such moments and had an emotional investment into an athlete, as someone who could put the city back on the map and shut the haters up, maybe he could do something somewhat close to the heartfelt and passionate love we showed for him.

 

A true apology should go to the fans and he should mention the city, Cleveland, by name. For guys who wanna say I'm butthurt, you know shit about this topic in comparison to me. There is no bias here because my feelings are perfectly understandable if you think about it from a fan's perspective who followed the franchise through this whole era. It makes perfect sense why I have such HATE because I see his ass being kissed all over on ESPN, and it continues to fuel my anger. Why shouldn't it? I'll never forget that moment because I owe it to my pride as a fan of this team to never forget what he did to disrespect it and its fan base.

Edited by Cleveland's Finest
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The fan in me realizes how many people were emotionally invested in the Cavs and LeBron as a loyal person to Ohio.

 

Anything he brought to this franchise was tainted. I think "those were the days, but then again, knowing what he did, do those moments really have any value anymore?" I could care less about the money he brought us...

 

Saying he "went about it the wrong way" comes nowhere close to the feelings he brought among the fan base. Maybe it does to non-Cavs fans who were initially pissed.

 

Ilgauskas wrote a freaking letter in the Cleveland Plain Dealer thanking us after merely signing with the Heat.

 

It's too late now for LeBron to have an emotional apology because if he hasn't gotten it now, he won't in the near future. The ONLY way I'll consider a true apology sincere is if he doesn't win in Miami. If he wins a title in Miami and then apologizes, it taints the realness of it. It would feel like such a FU. It's my standards in particular; maybe it's different for others.

 

If he never wins and realizes "Gee, I had a right to leave, but boy, did I really [expletive] with those fans' feelings. Maybe saying 'I didn't go about it the right way' shouldn't justify as an acceptable apology. Maybe the passion and respect they had for me should be reciprocated in my apology. Maybe they deserve something from the heart, because that's all I ever got from them."

 

This is coming from a fan who invested a lot in believing that he may be different from other athletes. The fan in me remembers the heartfelt and tearful reaction when we won the freaking Eastern Conference Finals, and I saw him and Z hug each other. It wasn't just them that were passionate though, it was a whole city buying into this guy as someone who we could trust. So yeah, "going about it the wrong way" may be due diligence for non Cavs fans who in the short term thought he was lame for what he did. But for the fans, who remember such moments and had an emotional investment into an athlete, as someone who could put the city back on the map and shut the haters up, maybe he could do something somewhat close to the heartfelt and passionate love we showed for him.

 

A true apology should go to the fans and he should mention the city, Cleveland, by name. For guys who wanna say I'm butthurt, you know shit about this topic in comparison to me. There is no bias here because my feelings are perfectly understandable if you think about it from a fan's perspective who followed the franchise through this whole era. It makes perfect sense why I have such HATE because I see his ass being kissed all over on ESPN, and it continues to fuel my anger. Why shouldn't it? I'll never forget that moment because I owe it to my pride as a fan of this team to never forget what he did to disrespect it and its fan base.

 

LeBron was the most hyped player ever coming out of high school. It wasn't like he was one of those late 1st round/2nd round/undrafted picks who Cleveland gave a shot that no one else would. No matter who had that #1 pick, it was gonna be used on LeBron, he was gonna immediately get 35-40MPG, and the team was gonna immediately start building their franchise around him. If Cleveland didn't appreciate him as a player, another team and their fanbase would have welcomed him with wide open arms.

 

Cleveland didn't offer him anything special. They did a pretty awful job of building a championship contender around him, from the owner, to the GM, to the coach, to the players. What was special about the Cleveland-LeBron relationship was what LeBron brought the city. He brought that city their first MVP awards, first Finals appearence, first ASG MVP, multiple ECF visits, scoring title, and brought that city SO MUCH NATIONAL MEDIA EXPOSURE the likes of which that city has never seen from ANY of the 3 major sports.

 

So, explain to me why LeBron owes them so much? Because they spent 7 years cheering one of the greatest players the league has ever seen? Because they filled the seats while he was carrying them to deep playoff runs? LeBron owes them an apology for "The Decision", but THAT'S IT! Most franchises never get the chance to see a player as talented as LeBron play for them, never get to sniff the NBA Finals, and never get so much national exposure. He doesn't owe them shit, and had every right to leave them for Miami.

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