LeBron James’ new challenge
There is an uneasiness in the basketball heartland. There is, outside of south Florida, a muted reply to the new NBA champions.
LeBron James is being handed his proper respect, but nearly every package delivered is dripping with reluctance.
The Miami Heat (the Prefab Five) vanquished the deer in the headlights Thunder to finally validate its July 2010 celebration, and James is being toasted with a round of praise and handwringing. The high and mighty are chastising those who ever doubted LeBron, even if they were once among those firing keyboard arrows into his hide.
All hail King James. Behold the new NBA order.
But that doesn’t mean people have to like it. The vast consensus is that this will go down as one of the least nationally popular victories of our time. And while it would be moronic not to respect the accomplishment. It would be equally muttonheaded not to understand there are valid reasons why many find it distasteful.
There was absolutely nothing illegal or even immoral with the way LeBron and Chris Bosh conspired to join forces in a warm weather city with Dwyane Wade. They cannot be blamed for taking advantage of their collectively bargained rights.
LeBron James.
LeBron James and David Stern were on opposite sides of a labor battle last fall, but at the end of a record-breaking National Basketball Association season, both men were smiling together.
James led his Miami Heat through the NBA playoffs, culminating in Thursday night’s 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA title, while for Stern there were superb television ratings for season, powered in part by Miami’s success.
It seems like much more than seven months ago that the NBA locked out its players in a labor dispute and canceled regular-season games, with the entire season in doubt and the league’s newfound momentum in danger of petering out.
Some of those worries were overstated. But from a business perspective, the later rounds of this year’s playoffs were almost perfectly scripted. James’ Heat battled the big-market, big-name Boston Celtics for seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals before facing a young and popular (albeit small-market) Thunder team for the championship.
The first four games of the Finals averaged 16.5 million viewers, up 6% from last year’s Heat-Mavericks series, and overnight data suggests Game 5 had even higher numbers. It was the best-viewed series since the 2004 Finals, when the fading Los Angeles Lakers dynasty of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant lost to the Detroit Pistons, a storied and popular NBA franchise.
“In the NBA, market size doesn’t matter as much as the stars involved” – said Stephen Master, head of Nielsen Sports Practice, noting the Finals had three of the league’s biggest names in James, Dwyane Wade and the Thunder’s Kevin Durant.
”(Overall), it’s been a phenomenal year for the NBA, coming off the negative attention they had in October and November” – he added.
Now that LeBron James and the Miami Heat have capped off the NBA season with a glorious title run, the spotlight turns to the next great stage for basketball, the London Olympics.
Miami’s “Big Three” of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh dominated Oklahoma City Thunder’s talented trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in five games to claim the NBA crown on Thursday.
All six will be meeting up again soon in Las Vegas among 18 finalists for the 12-man US Olympic team that will defend the gold medal this summer in London.
Other players in the NBA Finals teams, including Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka (Spain) and Miami’s Ronny Turiaf (France) will join their countrymen in preparation for basketball’s greatest international extravaganza.
“It’s what basketball is all about” – Turiaf said.
“When the opportunity presents itself to step out there on the basketball court and compete, it’s definitely more fun to compete against guys that you consider friends.”
Turiaf said the squad was yet to be picked for France, who along with Spain and Argentina are considered strong contenders to join the US team in the push for the podium.
“If I was fortunate to go out there, I would expect intensity and basketball at a very high level” – said Turiaf, whose prospective teammates include San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker and Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, among others.
“We have a great squad. [The] coach has a lot of options at very key positions. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Ibaka would bring his impressive shot-blocking skills to a Spanish team expected to feature the Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and his brother Marc of the Memphis Grizzlies.
No greater amalgamation of NBA talent was ever gathered than the squad that launched the involvement of the league’s professionals in the Olympic tournament, the US “Dream Team”, 20 years ago at the Barcelona Olympics.