Perception

"I just play the game the way it's supposed to be played bruh!"

Oprah Winfrey once said, “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” Victor Hugo, the French poet, got up and said, “Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” The famous actress, Laura Linney, got fired up and shouted, “Doing the right thing has power.” Big Momma shut the building down by saying, “Baby, don’t worry about what folks say about you, just always do the right thing and everything will work out for you.”

During the Miami Heat’s press conference with the media on Saturday, LeBron James was asked about the perception that he needs to be more aggressive at times. Simple and sweet ole boy answered the question by saying, “I’ve done more and lost before.”

"When I was in Cleveland, we played Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals and I think I averaged 38, 36, or whatever I averaged," James said, referring to the 2009 series where he averaged 38.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and eight assists. "I guess I should have done more in that series as well. But I can't. ... I do what's best for the team. What's best for the team, it doesn't always result in a win."

When he answered that joint I started thinking, what if LeBron had come along before Jordan and Kobe? When John Naismith invented the game of basketball he wanted it played a certain way. He decided on 5 players for a reason and that it would be a TEAM sport for a reason as well. He could have easily made it an individual sport or simply a 2 or 3 player game but he didn’t. So I would think that his desire would be for all players on the floor to be important to the game at all times.

If LeBron had come before Jordan or Kobe our perception of him ALWAYS looking to make the right basketball play would be different. As a matter of fact, we would probably embrace him more as the ULTIMATE PLAYER because he plays the game the way the inventor envisioned it to be played.

See Mike and Kobe were selfish people by nature and they played the game of basketball selfishly as well. No disrespect to them or their games because they were both beasts. They were able to win championships and that is the ultimate reward in playing the game. However, would our perception of them be different had LeBron come along first making the right basketball plays and winning either more or less titles along the way?  

My only point here is to simply get people to think about why they believe LeBron isn’t doing the right thing by making the right basketball plays when he clearly is. This isn’t a comparison as to who the better player is. It’s just me putting something on your mind playboy to think about.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! If the goal is to make money! Then you would think that the richest cat in the room has always played by the rules of the game. However, that isn’t typically the case! Just because you’ve got more bread doesn’t mean that you’re playing the “GAME” the way it’s supposed to be played.

Sometimes playing the game the right way is the right thing to do playboy! Just like Big Momma said earlier, “Baby, don’t worry about what folks say about you, just always do the right thing and everything will work out for you.”  Playing the game of basketball the right way will ultimately benefit this young cat and those playing with him.

Only time will tell just how many championships he’ll win. However, if he had come before Jordan and Kobe our perception of him and the way he plays the game would be completely different because we wouldn't have selfish players to compare him to. Keep in mind that Magic won 5 titles and was a very unselfish player. Even though he played in 9 Finals it doesn't taint his legacy because he played the game the way it was supposed to be played! Stop me when I start lyin’!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
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The quote under the caption isn’t real but its REAL talk!