Dirk got his moment in the sun, posted up with NBA commissioner David Stern at center-court while his condor-like arms raised the Finals MVP trophy while hundreds of fair-weather Miami fans exited the building with their minds once again fully entrenched on the next "Early Bird Special". Still, it didn't take long for focus to shift back to the self-appointed King. James ruffled some feathers in the days after Miami's chokejob when he made comments that a nation, already turned off by LeBron's "look at me" show all season, perceived as arrogant.
The problem here isn't so much LeBron's arrogance, which was put in place since he was a teenager when everyone short of the Pope was putting him on magazine covers and christening him "The Next Michael Jordan", as much as it a national media unsure what it wants from the best player in the game. When LeBron hit free agency around this time last year, we all secretly wanted LeBron to go somewhere where he had the best chance of winning a title because, while we weren't quite ready to call him "The Next MJ", we wanted him to be the second coming of His Airness. After all, Kobe Bryant was nearing the end of his rope and who wanted to root for a guy once accused of rape anyway? In July of last year, LeBron did just that. We just didn't like the way he went about it. Furthermore, we painted LeBron as a sidekick because rather than continue to be a one man show, he openly admitted to needing help by teaming up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Nevermind the fact that we had just finished watching an NBA Finals where Kobe and a star-studded supporting cast that starred one of the games best forwards in Pau Gasol, the game's premier perimeter defender in Ron Artest and coached by the game's best general in Phil Jackson just outlasted a Boston Celtics team that was comprised of All-Stars Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen(and an emerging star in Rajon Rondo).
Somehow, what LeBron was doing was different. Why? Because Michael Jordan would have never done it. Jordan would have never asked Magic or Bird to come to Chicago and tower over the league. So, because Michael Jordan was the epitome of all that is good with basketball(this despite a well-known gambling addiction and accounts by teammates and peers claiming Jordan was an arrogant schmuck of Donald Trump/Bill O'Reilly proportions) and LeBron was now the anti-Jordan, the path of least resistance was to paint LeBron and his cohorts as the villians. It was a role that "The Big Three" struggled with at first but eventually became something they came to terms with. They were the new Dallas Cowboys. They were the New York Yankees. They were the Floyd Mayweather of basketball. The team that looked so good on paper that those around them feared what their success may do to the sport going forward. It's why so many rooted for the resurgence of the Bulls led by the humble NBA MVP Derrick Rose come playoff time. It's why there was so much hand-ringing when the Heat finally ran out of gas against a Mavs team with Somalian-like hunger. Like most scripted movies, the bad guys died at the end.
My issue isn't so much painting LeBron and company as villains as much as it is why some are so surprised that James has come to terms with his new pubic standing. He knows reporters despise him. He knows guys like DeShawn Stevenson will always have a bone to pick with him. He knows he'll never be allowed to roam the streets of Cleveland. He knows he's persona non grata in areas outside of South Beach. Most importantly, he knows that this latest failure to win a ring will be all the basketball world will talk about for next five months until basketball starts up again or until our minds our occupied by the return of football. My issue is that we put a bullseye on a man's head and then became disappointed that he didn't beg for us to take it off him. LeBron's now the NBA's biggest bad guy. He's ok with that. It's not what he preferred, I'm sure, when he made his "decision", but it's something he can't take back now. The only cure is winning.
Which brings me to my next point......what would the book on LeBron be today if LeBron was a champion and not 0 for 2 in the NBA Finals? Look at how quickly we forgave Kobe's childishness when he won a ring without Shaq. Would winning the title this year have washed away all of James' past sins? And, if so, does that make those that hate him now hypocrites? And, if not, what will? What exactly is LeBron's crime? He chose to leave a miserable situation for a better one. Isn't that what we all are trying to do? Perhaps I'm coming off as a LeBron apologist. However, you should know that I was vehemently against the idea of "The Decision" and that LeBron's inability to take down an aging Mavericks team despite being the best player on the court for six games will go down as one sports' biggest disappointments. That being said, I don't believe in stringing out a man because he doesn't live up to OUR expectations and OUR projections of what he should be. LeBron James isn't Michael Jordan.
And you know what?
Nobody is.
The conclusion of these Finals should have been about Dirk Nowitzki coming full-circle and winning the ring that had escaped him his entire career. It should have been his golden moment. Instead, much like the rest of the NBA, it was overshadowed by the world's newfound love-hate relationship with LeBron James. That, to me, is more tragic than any ill-advised, self-centered comment the once media-anointed King has made. We created this monster, so when do we get to blame ourselves? We created this monster in hopes that the memory of Michael Jordan would live on in a kid who spent his entire life trying to be like his mentor. Instead, LeBron James made the choice to be the man he wanted to be and not what we wanted him to be. Since when did being your own man make you the bad guy? Probably since we are the ones who write the scripts.
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