Lebron "bumps" Spoelstra...

[Rocky21]

The fundamental problem for Spoelstra isn’t that James doesn’t respect coaches – he doesn’t respect people. Give LeBron this, though: He’s learned to live one way with the television light on, and another with it off. He treats everyone like a servant, because that’s what the system taught him as a teenage prodigy. To James, the coach isn’t there to mold him into the team dynamic. He’s there to serve him.

Wade was one of the Team USA players who’d watch incredulously as James would throw a bowl of fries back at a renowned chef and bark, “They’re cold!” Or throw his sweaty practice jersey across the court and command a team administrator to go pick it up. Everyone wants James to grow out of it, but he’s never showed much of an inclination for self-examination and improvement. And he’s never surrounded himself with people who’d push him to do so.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebronspoelstra112910

What a spoiled, petulant child.

[Kosher Ham]

LeBron is not nearly as arrogant as some of you guys think.

[mcsluggo]

man.. the amount of whining about LBJ could fill the grand canyon with soggy diapers.

seriously.

[PeterMP]

Why isn't this thread entitled Spoelstra "bumps" Lebron?

[Kosher Ham]

man.. the amount of whining about LBJ could fill the grand canyon with soggy diapers.

seriously.

Agreed. You would think it was Cavs fans, but it's not. Strange.

[Chachie]

Why isn't this thread entitled Spoelstra "bumps" Lebron?

Valid question, Pete. I suppose it's because Lebron wasn't almost knocked to the floor.

[Chachie]

LeBron is not nearly as arrogant as some of you guys think.

That doesn't mean he's not really, really arrogant.

BTW, ESPN's front page is declaring that everything's on the right track for Miami now. They beat the Wizards last night. :no:

[Botched]

Here's the Lebron Ball Boy incident for those who don't know:

Wow, that video is unbelieveable.

That P.O.S. ballboy almost touched the ****ing King. I hope he apologized.

[alexey]

..Chris Bosh video...

Coach wants us to work, we want to chill, but he knows that he'll have to meet us half way. Hilarious.

[Rocky21]

Eight years in and counting and the LeBron James Will Never Be A Champion Era is moving right along as expected.

[Elessar78]

Why do people care so much about a player's character or personality? His personality doesn't affect the average fan one iota. Watch him play his sport and marvel at his ability. People get too hung up on the irrelevant.

[alexey]

Why do people care so much about a player's character or personality? His personality doesn't affect the average fan one iota. Watch him play his sport and marvel at his ability. People get too hung up on the irrelevant.

His personality effects his performance. MJ was not the nicest guy either, but he was a professional. It's hard to marvel at a guy who does not act professionally.

[SuperBash]

Lebron does what he wants and defies coaches. Now that he is being told No on occasion, he doesn't like that one bit, not the "King." The day Lebron starts listening to his coaches and stops trying to run the show himself, he might win a championship. But, he can't follow orders, I guess he should just coach the team himself.

[Mr. Sinister]

Honestly, this is old news.

[sideshow24]

So, basically he was raised by a single teen mom and never saw his Dad.

Hardly a tumultuous upbringing.

That scenario is actually all too common in today's society.

I've seen countless people grow up through far more hardship than that, and end up with far more character.

He's inexcusable.

Take London Fletcher for instance:

"But the boy is not afraid. Back home, there is trouble that makes anything that happens on these streets irrelevant. In a few months his sister will be raped and beaten, left to die on the railroad tracks. His mother, the foundation of his life, won't be able to handle this pain and soon she will start slipping out to meet the handful of men who linger on the corner, desperate for the drugs they keep tucked in their pockets."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/09/AR2007040901116.html

[terrifNick21]

http://cavschants.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/cavs-chants-x-laugh-at-lebron-pdf1.pdf

:rotflmao:

[Elessar78]

His personality effects his performance. MJ was not the nicest guy either, but he was a professional. It's hard to marvel at a guy who does not act professionally.

Sure it is. Don't watch ESPN (or other news outlets) and it's really hard to know what goes on off the court. People hate on MJ, Tom Brady, Jeter, Tiger, Randy Moss, and on and on and on all for stuff that happens OFF the field. The media really has turned pro sports into something akin to the WWE/pro wrestling. All this drama and back story. What's wrong with just watching PLAYERS drop 50 in a night, throw for 400, shoot 8 under, or catch a football one-handed while running at full speed?

No. Not anymore. We need heroes and villains. Someone to root for or against. I just like and respect what Lebron can do as a basketball player. Just like I can respect Mike Vick for his football ability. I don't care how my favorite musician spends his day as long as they make music I like. I don't care how mean a good actor is to his assistant as long as he makes a good movie. I have no personal connection to him. My employees or coworkers, sure their behavior matters to me.

[Rocky21]

Take London Fletcher for instance:

"But the boy is not afraid. Back home, there is trouble that makes anything that happens on these streets irrelevant. In a few months his sister will be raped and beaten, left to die on the railroad tracks. His mother, the foundation of his life, won't be able to handle this pain and soon she will start slipping out to meet the handful of men who linger on the corner, desperate for the drugs they keep tucked in their pockets."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/09/AR2007040901116.html

Great point. Thank you for this example.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Sure it is. Don't watch ESPN (or other news outlets) and it's really hard to know what goes on off the court. People hate on MJ, Tom Brady, Jeter, Tiger, Randy Moss, and on and on and on all for stuff that happens OFF the field. The media really has turned pro sports into something akin to the WWE/pro wrestling. All this drama and back story. What's wrong with just watching PLAYERS drop 50 in a night, throw for 400, shoot 8 under, or catch a football one-handed while running at full speed?

No. Not anymore. We need heroes and villains. Someone to root for or against. I just like and respect what Lebron can do as a basketball player. Just like I can respect Mike Vick for his football ability. I don't care how my favorite musician spends his day as long as they make music I like. I don't care how mean a good actor is to his assistant as long as he makes a good movie. I have no personal connection to him. My employees or coworkers, sure their behavior matters to me.

Are you kidding me? ESPN crowned his ass and has put him up on a ****ing pedestal since he was a junior in high school. Maybe now, they're coverage has started to reflects the attitudes of the public but they're still pushing this King James bull****. Look how they and other media outlets covered the Heat's 10 point win last night against an injury depleted Wizards squad. Heat ROUT Wizards. Heat back on track after handling Wizards. On and on. They don't want negative stories about him.

I've hated Lebron for a half a decade now. I promise you it has nothing to do with ESPN. It has to do with the bull**** calls he gets, his crying, his smugness and his arrogance both on and off the court. I don't watch ESPN. I watched Wiz vs Cavs in the playoffs and in the regular season. We were ahead of the rest of the world because we DIDN'T get out view of Lebron filtered to us through ESPN.

[Forehead]

You're telling me I'm full of **** and you pull a wiki quote out to prove your point? C'mon dude. That's weak sauce.

If you can't see that LeTravel is a spoiled mama's boy, I don't know what to tell you.

The only thing weak is the use of "weak sauce." Where did that phrase come from anyway? Your exact words were that he was a spoiled baby who never had to work for anything in his life, and that he had no idea how to face or overcome adversity because everything in life came so easy to him.

I called you on your bull****. The kid was born to a 16 year old mother, and had a convict for a father who left them. And in Akron, Ohio of all places, not exactly the greatest town in the world. That's not facing adversity? The fact that he made it out of that starting hand he was dealt, took advantage of his God given talent is overcoming some sort of adversity. You think there was no work put in there? That everything "came that easy to him" as you so eloquently put it.

Wikipedia is an easy source to use, but his early circumstances as I posted them are pretty well known. So yeah, your original post was full of ****. I don't like LeBron either and I hope he never wins squat, but you were flat out wrong. And the fact that Mick was agreeing with you should tell you you're on the wrong side of the argument, Mick is never right about anything, and has never had to be in his entire life. See how I can play the same hyperbole game as you?

The London Fletcher example means nothing. Because someone overcame more difficult circumstances means what exactly? That LeBron doesn't get any credit for making it out of his situation because someone else went through a worse one?

[Chachie]

Are you kidding me? ESPN crowned his ass and has put him up on a ****ing pedestal since he was a junior in high school. Maybe now, they're coverage has started to reflects the attitudes of the public but they're still pushing this King James bull****. Look how they and other media outlets covered the Heat's 10 point win last night against an injury depleted Wizards squad. Heat ROUT Wizards. Heat back on track after handling Wizards. On and on.

I was laughing so hard at that this morning. The Heat beat the Wizards (minus John Wall, Al Thornton) by 11 points and suddenly all is well in Miami.

Things should get better for the Heat as the season goes on but if LBJ and co. think last night was the reason then they are even more delusional than they were when they said they just want to have fun while winning a championship. Ridonkulous.

I've hated Lebron for a half a decade now. I promise you it has nothing to do with ESPN. It has to do with the bull**** calls he gets, his crying, his smugness and his arrogance both on and off the court.

Ditto. He's a douchebag on the court. I don't need to know what his character or personality are like off the court.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

I know you posted this already Rocky, but I want to throw the whole thing on here in case people don't want to click on the link. (I'm prone to do that myself sometimes.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebronspoelstra112910

King James wants Spoelstra to bow to him

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

Nov 30, 2:00 am EST

Erik Spoelstra reached out to Mike Brown over the summer and searched for insight into both basketball’s blessing and curse: Coaching the two-time MVP LeBron James(notes).

Over and over, Brown uprooted his offensive system to appease James only to have it never work. Brown praised James’ character publicly when he would’ve preferred to have been truthful about James’ narcissism. James defied Brown in public and private, disregarded his play calls to freelance his offense, and belittled him without consequence within the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Meticulous in his preparation, Spoelstra spoke with several past coaches, and league sources said a clear and unequivocal picture appeared on how to proceed: End the cycle of enabling with James and hold him accountable.

And surprise, surprise: LeBron James has responded with a test of his own organizational strength, pushing to see how far the Heat will bend to his will. This season, James is hearing a word seldom uttered to him in Cleveland: “No.” And it keeps coming out of the coach’s mouth, keeps getting between the King and what he wants.

Can I stay overnight to party in New Orleans after a preseason game?

Can I play the clown in practice?

Can I get out of playing point guard?

No. No. No.

Wait, what?

No, LeBron.

No.

Even within a month of the season’s sideways 9-8 start, the NBA witnessed a predictable play out of the James-Maverick Carter playbook on Monday morning. They planted a story and exposed themselves again as jokers of the highest order. They care so little about anyone but themselves. Still, no one’s surprised that they’d stoop so low, so fast into this supposed historic 73-victory season and NBA Finals sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. They want Spoelstra – and Pat Riley – to bend to them, to bow to the King the way everyone has before them.

Nevertheless, here’s what was surprising – even troubling – when the Heat talked on Monday before a victory over the Washington Wizards: In the blink of an eye, Dwyane Wade(notes) signed up with Team LeBron to scapegoat and sell out Spoelstra.

“I’m not going to say he’s ‘my guy,’ but he’s my coach,” Wade said.

Wade’s always been loyal, and that’s why it was so surprising to witness him bail this fast on Spoelstra, whom Wade knows too well. Spoelstra is a good NBA coach. Everyone knows that Wade isn’t a star who plays hard all the time, knows that he takes plays off on defense. They know that Spoelstra did a terrific job coaching 90 victories out of that flawed Miami roster the previous two seasons.

As much as ever, the Heat need Wade to influence James. Only now, it’s clear James is influencing Wade. With Udonis Haslem(notes) out for the regular season, the locker room misses one of its vital voices. Now, Wade is struggling on the floor and James is the devil on his shoulder, whispering that he doesn’t need to be accountable, that there’s an easy fall guy for everyone: Spoelstra.

Those who know Wade well, who care about him, were disappointed Monday. When Spoelstra needed Wade to stand up for him, Wade never shrunk so small. Spoelstra was Wade’s guy, but Wade’s finding it much easier to align himself with James’ coward act than do the right thing. This was something that you’d expect out of Chris Bosh(notes), who’s never been a leader, never a winner, but Wade?

“He knows better than this,” one of Wade’s former assistant coaches said. “I’m not saying he hasn’t changed some, but he knows right from wrong. And this is wrong.”

The fundamental problem for Spoelstra isn’t that James doesn’t respect coaches – he doesn’t respect people. Give LeBron this, though: He’s learned to live one way with the television light on, and another with it off. He treats everyone like a servant, because that’s what the system taught him as a teenage prodigy. To James, the coach isn’t there to mold him into the team dynamic. He’s there to serve him.

Wade was one of the Team USA players who’d watch incredulously as James would throw a bowl of fries back at a renowned chef and bark, “They’re cold!” Or throw his sweaty practice jersey across the court and command a team administrator to go pick it up. Everyone wants James to grow out of it, but he’s never showed much of an inclination for self-examination and improvement. And he’s never surrounded himself with people who’d push him to do so.

What’s more, the timing of this leak was no accident, because James and his business manager had to like the idea of someone else going on trial this week. When the public wanted to talk about James’ return to Cleveland, about the callous way with which he left, about the disjointed start in Miami, they thrust everything onto Spoelstra.

Part of them believed they could deflect Hell Week at home in Ohio, and part of them probably believed they could indeed align the public with them against Spoelstra.

After all, the coach had it coming to him. Of this, LeBron James was sure. Spoelstra had the audacity to do something that Mike Brown never had ownership’s backing to do in Cleveland: To push James, call him out, coach him.

The funniest part had to be how they leaked the idea that Erik Spoelstra was panicking now, behaving like he feared for his job. Truth be told, he’s been behaving in the opposite way. Spoelstra isn’t running from LeBron, but running at him.

Someone’s scared here, but it isn’t the coach.

[alexey]

Sure it is. Don't watch ESPN (or other news outlets) and it's really hard to know what goes on off the court. People hate on MJ, Tom Brady, Jeter, Tiger, Randy Moss, and on and on and on all for stuff that happens OFF the field.

MJ, Tom Brady and such do not act like whiny brats on the court.

[Elessar78]

Again, why do you care if they do?

Because you feel better about rooting for an athlete that conducts himself with class and dignity at all times?

[Chachie]

MJ, Tom Brady and such do not act like whiny brats on the court.

Wellll...

At least not before they won multiple titles.

Edit- And I don't think they ever physically imposed themselves on their coaches either. More than once. Oh, and they didn't crush their fanbase by taking their talents to South Beach. High seas douchebaggery.