[Money23]

The Breakdown: I guess there is an ‘i’ in N-B-A | SummitDaily.com

Fade in: AIG press conference. Company CEO LeBron James steps to the podium. and addresses the media.

Reporter 1 (in the crowd): Your team, I mean company, is in a tough hole right now, are you concerned? Are you up to the challenge?

James: I’ve shown through my leadership and my play, that I’m up for it. The question is whether my teammates are. I think they are, and I can lead them out of this.

Reporter 2 (in the crowd): Aren’t you worried about your company’s lack of production? I mean, no one is putting up any real numbers for you guys, that is, apart from yourself.

James: It makes it much easier on me when my teammates step up and hit shots. When their making shots, I can go one-on-one and do my thing. I’m not trying to put any pressure on them, but I’m doing my job out there; they just need to do theirs.

Reporter 2 (with puzzled look): Wait, isn’t your job to win, er, help the company succeed?

James: Yeah, but I’m doing all that I can. I will lead us out of this, but my teammates need to knock down shots.

... And scene.

Wouldn’t it seem strange for a CEO to talk that way about a company on the verge of disaster? Wouldn’t he seem like a pretty egotistical, me-first leader?

Somehow, no one sees it that way when it’s an athlete saying it about his team, especially in the NBA and especially when it’s a superstar like LeBron James.

Now, I’m not writing this to knock on LBJ — even though those quotes above are almost verbatim from his press conferences this past week.

My point is that every time I hear an NBA press conference, I realize why I just can’t get myself to like the league very much. I try to, I really do. I watch a lot of games, and I follow it the same I do for leagues I love. But there are some things that I just can’t get past about pro hoops.

An example: How every single decent player in the league acts like they're more important to the game than Dr. Naismith. I mean, hearing most of these guys makes Terrell Owens seem like a team player.

It’s not just what they say, but how they play. Anytime a team with a superstar is trailing toward the end of a game, the team doesn’t say, “Hey, we’re losing by trying all this one-on-one crap, maybe we should try working the ball around and only shooting in rhythm.” Nope, nope, nope. Instead, teams do the opposite. They hand the ball to Kobe or LeBron or D-Wade, and they dribble and dribble and dribble, then either huck up a bad shot or give it off to an unsuspecting teammate who promptly chucks up a brick.

Have you ever seen Tom Brady decide to just scramble around and try to run for touchdowns at the end of games? Or Sidney Crosby stop passing the puck and try to go one-on-five? Did Ronaldo just play keep away until he found an open shot when ManU was trailing the other day? No, because it just wouldn’t ever work, not to mention that the other team would knock them out of the game.

In the NBA, though, the defense is poor enough, the players are selfish enough and the officials will bail the superstar out with a phantom foul if their shots don’t fall.

Again, I try to enjoy it, mainly because the NBA has some of the best athletes in the world, but I just can’t.

Sure, there’s no “i” in team, but there happens to be three in National Basketball Association.

Bryce Evans is pretty sure that being called the “King” means that you rule over something, and he can be reached at bevans@summitdaily.com.

[tin mad dog]

Bryce doesn't know about our King...

[tin mad dog]

This is more fall-out from the MJ era. Not that it was really his doing but he was the first to really be marketed as an individual and his team became "Michael and the Jordanaires". ME ball was born and celebrated.

[Money23]

Again though, he didn't win a title until he realized that he had to rely on his teammates. But like you said, people just copied the flash.

[tin mad dog]

And even when the Bulls won, it (coverage) was still all about MJ.

That slo-mo hand switch highlight is all you really see from the '91 Finals.

The shoulder-shrug is all you really see from the '92 Finals.

The push-off and should've been career ending J is what you see from the '98 Finals.

You don't see nearly as many replays of Paxon's J or Kerr's J.

[Money23]

I dunno, I always see the highlight where Kerr tells Jordan "I'll be ready". But yeah, point definitely taken. And the great ones (Kobe, Lebron, Chris Paul, etc) "get" it, they know. But a lot of the young players, they just want to be "The Man".

[DYNOMITE]

ESPN has had a big role in how we view sports and it's stars.

[THE PISTONS]

Lebron averaged over 40 pts 8 rebs and 8 assts per game in that series. The 8 assists clearly indicate that he is passing.

[ThaMaestro]

Those numbers are ridiculous!

Lebron has been told since he was 16 years old the he was the chosen one. Of course it's gone o his head a bit. He's not a selfish on the court, though.

[tin mad dog]

Originally Posted by Money23

I dunno, I always see the highlight where Kerr tells Jordan "I'll be ready". But yeah, point definitely taken. And the great ones (Kobe, Lebron, Chris Paul, etc) "get" it, they know. But a lot of the young players, they just want to be "The Man".

I'm still not fully sure that Kobe gets it (most nights yes) and he sure didn't earlier in his career. If he had, Shaq would've been a Laker for a few more years.

Still, he was never as bad as

[tin mad dog]

Originally Posted by Money23

I dunno, I always see the highlight where Kerr tells Jordan "I'll be ready".

Only when you are watching your Bulls DVD set.

[hack]

And staying warm with your Bulls blankie.

[Money23]

Or watching just about any basketball history related show on ESPN.

I don't have the Bulls DVD set, BTW...but I would watch it if I did. And the Bulls' blankie was Maestro's.

[Money23]

Kobe gets it, definitely. He consciously realized the difference between when he trusted his teammates and when he didn't. He went to the Finals in two consecutive seasons after adapting more to team ball, picking up an MVP along the way.

Lebron played his best game in the ECF when he took Kobe's cue from the game before.

[tin mad dog]

Kobe has still had his playoff flameouts (7-22, 1 assist in the Game 6 NBA Finals 39 point loss) but I do agree he did improve somewhere after badmouthing Bynum into somebodies phone and demanding to be traded.

[Money23]

Right, exactly. He re-structured his game to fit the team, instead of the vice versa that HAD been going on since Phil left.