The Anti-Underdog...

Kinda hurts to see it right?

In the wake of the Miami Heat’s likely, then-un-likely, then-likely again, championship capper to their NBA season, everyone knows that one of the biggest questions in sports has been answered.  Would LeBron ever climb the mountaintop?  Asked and answered now.  And just as sure as I was that Oklahoma City would win in the Finals coming off their incredible series against the Spurs, was the fact that Miami was better.  They matched up incredibly defensively against the Thunder and just took the life out of them.  Something that I truly thought was impossible.  Well, I was wrong.  (Unfortunately for underdog fans everywhere too, because it’s only going to get harder from here.  Yikes.)  Last year we narrowly avoided it, but here we are.  Our worst fear realized.            

Anyway, I can’t think of anything more predictable, or typical, than a psychological retrospective on LeBron James.  Or perhaps introspective.  Either way, in spite of the idea’s complete unoriginality, I’m going to do it… because it’s just so fascinating!  Why?

Because he is and has always been, the opposite of an underdog.

Okay.  Here’s where we start. 

High School, with NBA headband

There’s never been a more talented player in NBA history than LeBron.  In that regard, he is the best ever.  But, that doesn’t tell the whole story.  He is also a product of his time.  Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Oscar, Wilt, Russell, West; they were all products of their time too, but none of them were times like these.  LeBron grew up a celebrity.  He was a superhero at age 15.  He was on magazine covers and ESPN aired games because he was in them.  He could have been the number one pick in the NBA draft after his sophmore year… of high school!  Other players have been there maybe, but never in an era where that kind of ability could be worth $300 million.  It’s just pure economics.  What would you do?  How would you be?

As Jordan was transcendent, he was made possible by Magic.  Magic was made possible by Doctor J.  Doctor J was made possible by Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, who were made possible by Oscar Robertson.  All of basketball’s greatest can be traced back through the generations.  It’s just the nature of things.  It’s evolution.  Inevitably players get better and the game changes.  Wilt was an anomaly; his numbers, biblical.  Baylor moved like no guard ever had before.  Magic was a 6-9 point guard who challenged all of the conventions of that all-important position.  And Michael was… Michelangelo. 

So what is LeBron?  A hybrid of all of the above.  The inevitable result of generations of natural selection.  He can do anything on the court; play at any speed, above the rim or on the perimeter, he can defend any position.  From a basketball point of view, he is truly miraculous.  But that’s the easy part.  That doesn’t begin to explain things.

It takes incredibly hard work to get to where LeBron James is.  It takes an amazing work ethic and attention to detail, but where is the source of that passion?  What is the driving force?  For Jordan it was a lifelong desire to disprove the naysayers, no matter how long ago he was doubted.  For Magic and Bird, it was the need for one to out-do the other, but before that, they were doubted too. 

For James, it isn’t so simple.  He was never doubted.  It all seemed so easy.  His desire to become great probably started early in high school out of fun and a sense of pride for himself as he started to live up to his growing fame.  But then it expanded into an extraordinary opportunity to make ungodly amounts of money, to support his family and friends.  And as with any business venture, there must be multiple motivations, and that’s where it becomes fascinating. 

He is a product of a yes-man life-style, an AAU system that pretty much pre-ordains NBA millions; did anyone ever give him tough love?  Who was going to give him honest advice?  Who was going to really coach the guy?  It seems like no one even really tried it.  Almost like he was too good for that or something.  He was never heavily scrutinized.  Never villified.  But that all changed in 2010 when he shocked the world by joining his biggest rival in Miami in one of the most awkward live events in television history.  It was unprecedented and remains so. 

After seven years in Cleveland, giving every ounce of his energy, all of his blood sweat, and tears, to an organization that did very little to help him, he decided to leave.  Not for New York, and the chance to resurrect the wayward Knicks, not to Chicago, where he would have had the best chance to win, but to Miami.  Where Dwayne Wade practically plays the same position!  It made no sense to the traditional sports person.  You’re supposed to want to demolish your rivals… not join them!  It baffled us.  But therein lies LeBron James.  How could we possibly know what we expected him to do?  He grew up in the light, and has been living in a glass house ever since.  A never sleeping media covers and dissects his every move, desperate for any content they can supply to an insatiable sports public.  If he bought a different kind of toothpaste it would be news.  How does that affect someone psychologically? 

Like most of us, he wanted to be liked.  And because he cared, he paid attention… he wanted to know how people viewed him, and he tried to say the right things.  But the problem was it always seemed like he was trying to say the right things.  So it never seemed genuine.  And sports fans hate this.  He seemed too aware of things.  Because he was; and as the first athlete to be subjected to this kind of scrutiny he was basically one big case-study on the affect that mass-media and an empowered public, (through twitter, blogs, facebook, and podcasts) can have on someone’s psyche.  What happens to you?  Can you ever be real?

For years LeBron couldn’t figure it out.  He towed the line between defiant bravado and a universal need for acceptance.  He craved it too much and it showed.  And it over-shadowed the fact that he is most likely the best basketball player we’ve ever seen.  It’s bad news for the rest of the NBA now, because in the Finals, he figured it out.  Simply put:    

Nothing that anyone said (media or fans or other players) mattered. 

He finally dug deep, and just let it be about basketball.  Easy to say and think I guess, but maybe not so easy to do.  All he had to do was play the way that we all knew he could play, and let the clock run out.  And he was absolutely brilliant.  For years, I’d been so happy that he seemed to have ignored this fact.  But now that he’s unlocked this drive deep within himself, it stands to reason that he will be able to go back to that place over and over.  And frankly, it’s going to be downright scary for the league; and bad for underdogs everywhere. 

But then I guess, someone has to do it.  Should we thank him?  After all, where would underdogs be without… the anti-underdog? 

You know his name.

Well we will find out starting next year, because this is our new reality.
From now on, in the NBA, ugh... the Heat is on.