Let the hoopla begin; Oct. 29 is here and the media circus is in town. Tonight, a national audience will be glued to their television sets as highly ballyhooed rookie LeBron James makes his true NBA debut. No more summer league, no more preseason — tonight it begins for real as LeBron and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers — this is a game between two teams, believe it or not — take on the Sacramento Kings. In all likelihood, James and the Cavs will take a good beating from the polished and talented Kings, but no one outside of Sacramento will care as long as they get to see LeBron.
The expectations on James are nothing short of ridiculous. His high school games were played before sellout crowds and televised on ESPN. His off-court behavior was subject to greater scrutiny than most politicians’.
Although James looks like he’s 35, people must remember he’s only 18 years old, and he cannot be expected to reach stardom immediately. If this kid is anything less than the next Jordan, his career will be a flop. But what if that happens? What if he is not as good as advertised? As remote a possibility as it is, given James’ physique and ability, what if three, four, five years down the road, James is sitting the bench?
All that would do is demonstrate once and for all the sad state that American basketball is in. The 2002 World Basketball Championships made it painfully obvious that the way American players learn basketball and develop their skills stinks. For all the whining and complaining Jason Kapono and other mediocre talents did about the preferential treatment foreign players received during the NBA draft, the fact is that Americans are just not doing it the right way.
The average kid growing up would much rather throw down a dunk or break someone’s ankle with a crossover dribble than knock down a mid range jumper. Whether you chalk it up to the way the NBA promotes itself or to the boringness of traditional, Dick Bennett-like basketball, that’s the way it is. Streetball is more popular than basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hot Sauce, Alimoe, the Professor, and Skip to my Lou — those guys are entertaining as hell. I’ve spent many a late night watching the And 1 crew dominate the blacktop on ESPN2. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the league. If it were, those guys would not be riding on a bus for a living. Dunk contests are boring, and the one time I saw Skip, a.k.a. Rafer Alston, try a street move in the NBA, he got called for traveling, and that’s hard to do.
Europeans like Dirk Nowitski, Peja Stojakovic, Pau Gasol, and other foreign players are getting drafted because they do what is needed to win, not entertain. They are the 6-10 guys who can dribble with their offhands. They’re the ones who can knock down the midrange jumpers and make the right passes, and they are the ones who can play with their backs to the basket and score in the post.
Shaq should change his self-given moniker of “Last Center Left” to “Last American Center Left.” Yao Ming, Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis — old and quasi retired as he may be — and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the only centers with post passing ability and legitimate post moves unless you consider Shaq’s polished charge and dunk a legitimate move. Laugh at them if you must, but Vlade and the Big Z could run a clinic on how to work in the post.
This perceived “invasion” of the NBA by foreigners has many upset and fuming at the potential takeover, and LeBron has been anointed American basketball’s knight in shining armor. No player, not even Yao Ming, has received this much hype entering his rookie season. If he cannot save American basketball, then no one can. He and Carmelo Anthony are already being touted as the next Magic Johnson and Larry Bird — pretty heady stuff for a pair of kids. The problem is that at this point the next great duo could just as easily be Yao and Darko as ‘Bron and ‘Melo.
Tonight “King James” is expected to take his first step toward greatness, but he’s been finding out that this is not high school anymore. This is the NBA and the Sacramento Kings — a chance for LeBron to see how the game should be played. Sure, the Kings will push the tempo and put up their share of points, but they also move the ball and find the open man, something James has shown he is already capable of.
Forget trying to become the next Jordan. If the kid wants a lesson in offense, he should just pay attention to the best shooter in the world and watch Peja work off screens, move without the ball, and drain the mid range J.
If LeBron wants to become a complete player and not just the complete entertainer, he needs to add some European flavor to his game.
