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| "There's only one reason to even get out of the bed in the morning...To WIN!" |
On Friday the ESPN The Magazine cover story with LeBron sitting down with Chris Broussard hits the streets. They talk about a number of things from LeBron's fear of failure, his relationship with Jordan or lack thereof and growing up an MJ and AI fan. But what they don’t talk about is all of the pressure that this dun faced coming into the league that was created by the very people who put him on a pedestal at 16.
What boyz have never seemed to realize about LeBron James is that he came into the NBA with more pressure than any player that has EVER been drafted. And oh yes playa… that includes the G.O.A.T., Michael Jeffery Jordan!
Boyz have been piling on this cat for years about why he couldn’t lead the Cavs (some BUMS) past the veteran San Antonio Spurs in the Finals when he was just 22 years old. They blasted him for leaving Cleveland after playing through two contracts and hooking up with his boys down on South Beach as well. What duns fail to realize, especially Jordan fans, is that their boy Mike never had the pressure that LeBron had to win multiple championships when he walked into the league. There was no expectation for Mike to win titles coming out of North Carolina. He went to the Bulls bruh! As a kid I could go over to the Bulls games, bring my sneakers and get some playing time! Nobody expected that dun to win out the gate! Don't ever forget that playa!
Even though there had been legends like Bill Russell that had come before Jordan his legacy from day one wasn’t compared to Russell’s. When Mike was drafted boyz weren’t saying that in order for him to be great he’s got to win at least 11 championships. They weren’t saying that if he doesn’t at least match Bill in titles he’ll be a failure. They weren’t comparing him to the Big O and saying that if he didn’t average a triple double for at least a season he’s not worth the price of admission. Naw playboy! You didn’t hear that!
The media didn’t say when Kobe came out of Lower Marion High School that if he didn’t win as many as Jordan he would be considered a failure. But from day one LeBron had to be better than Jordan or bust because the media said so and because very few human beings actually think for themselves the fans accepted it as fact.
When Jordan came into the league as a very inconsistent shooter that couldn’t go to his left they didn't say that he was a bust because there were parts of his game that needed work. They did begin to ask the question, “When is he going to win "A" title not 6?” because boyz like Magic, Bird and Zeke were already winning and Mike was such a prolific scorer. They didn’t say, “When is he gonna win 11?” No, they let that young boy develop into the player that he eventually became. Nobody said once he won his first joint in ’91 that he’s got to win 10 more to be the greatest player we’ve ever seen! Stop me when I start lyin’ now!
However, LeBron came into the league with the expectation from all of the media that named him “The Chosen One” that if he didn’t live up to it he’d be a failure. What blows me away is that the same media that named him “The Chosen One” got upset with the kid when he put it on his back. The same duns that called him “King James” even before he’d won anything got mad at him because he ran with the moniker like every other kid that gets a nickname from the media.
He didn’t come up with his own nickname any more than Magic, The Ice Man, Pistol Pete, Chocolate Thunder or Air Jordan came up with theirs. But the world frowned upon this cat for accepting the pressure that came with the name.
So if you never take time to understand the pressure that this dun had on him to win from day one you’ll never begin to understand why he’s made the decisions that he’s made about his future. You hear cats blasting him about why he left Cleveland to play with his boyz etc. But nobody seems to deal in the reality of LeBron James!
After playing through two contracts with some bums and no help coming in the foreseeable future, his coach had just been fired and his GM had just quit. Why stay? Because the pressure to win and become better than Jordan wasn’t going anywhere. That train had already left the station when he was 16 years old playboy and nobody was gonna let him off of the hook and he knew that.
No other player in the history of the game had been put on the cover of Sports Illustrated and named “The Chosen One!” Not even the great Michael Jordan! Why? Because he wasn’t the greatest high school basketball player the world had ever seen.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! There has never been a kid drafted into the NBA that HAD to win 5,6,7 championships just to get the respect of the dull media that hyped him up and brain washed the fans into believing that if he didn’t win at least that many championships he’s a failure. Not Wilt, Bill, Magic, Bird or Jordan!
Sure, LeBron added to the pressure when he did the dull pep rally in Miami and got caught up in the hype and said, “Not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7!” That was stupid because now boyz are gonna hold you to it. But don’t get it twisted, that expectation had already been set on the table the day he walked into the league in 2003 because they constantly compared him to Jordan before he'd even signed a contract.
So when LeBron made the decision to leave Cleveland not one of the duns dogging him about why he left ever once thought about the pressure that this cat was under to win! See if Jordan had only won 2 titles boyz wouldn’t have tripped. Why? Because there was no expectation for him to win 11 championships when he was drafted. There was no expectation for him to be better than Wilt, Bill or the Big O etc. Magic and Bird were still playing. So their resumes were still being formed. Therefore, Mike didn’t play under the same microscope that LeBron has been playing under.
But check this out bruh! He’s lived up to the hype and at age 28 he’s a far better player and he’s more accomplished than Jordan was at the same age. Simple numbers playboy, he can play all 5 positions and guard them, he’s been to 4 Finals, won 2 of them and he’s won 4 MVP’s. Mike at the same age had only been to 1 Final, had 1 title and won 1 MVP. He only won 5 MVP's in his whole career bruh! LeBron's sittin' on 4 already! And oh yeah, MJ could only play 2 positions!
Stop telling me about Mike never losing in the Finals because up to this point in his life he'd only been to one! At the same age LeBron's been to 4! You have no idea what he's going to do post 28 bruh!
Think about this playboy! Every dun on LeBron’s team right now has already overachieved in life! Not one cat on that roster came into the league with the media expectation of having to win a title not even D. Wade that has 3 rings to his credit. If he had never won a title coming out of Marquette nobody would have cared. Every cat on the Heat’s roster is rich beyond their wildest dreams, dating or married to some broad that they never would have met had it not been for the bread they’ve made as a result of the NBA and they’ve won at least 1 ring. So the only cat in the car that still has somewhere to go is LeBron.
Everybody else is just ridin’ bruh. If they make it to their final destination this year cool. If not… oh well they’ve already overachieved. Nobody expected them to play this long or win a title at all so everybody is good except for LeBron.
So now you can understand the pressure that this cat is playing under that nobody in the history of the game ever had to deal with. Not even the great Michael Jordan. So sit in the cut the summer of 2014 pimpin’! His decision to stay or leave Miami will be based solely on whether or not he can win more championships.
Jordan never had to make decisions like that because there was no pressure for him to win 11 which was the standard for the greatest at the time and I don’t know how 6 became the standard like Bill never even played the freakin’ game. On some real talk, championships are team awards not a determination of how good an individual player is but some idiot journalist said it and boyz ran with it. But that’s a whole "nother" talk show right there.
Mike never had to leave the Chi because he already had the best coach in the league (Phil), the best wing man in the league (Scottie) and always had the best 3-point shooter in the league (Craig Hodges, Steve Kerr, John Paxson) and then he ended up with the best rebounder in the game (Dennis Rodman)!
When it’s all said and done I’m quite sure LeBron will have no problem with the process because when you bury a boy under pressure, "Heat" and time it forms diamonds! Just don’t bet against it playboy!
Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
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The quote under the caption isn’t real but its REAL talk!
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