Maintaining a Hype Profile

The LeBron James what? Eras come and eras go but, despite what you’re told by cable networks, magazines and companies that are similarly obsessed with the youth demographic, this one isn’t actually here yet.

Nor will it be soon. It took Michael Jordan, who played three years for Dean Smith at North Carolina, seven more to win his first NBA title and convince people that he wasn’t a no-conscience scorer, so who’s to say a kid just out of high school will get there faster?

Oh yeah, them.

We’re used to exaggeration in the media and more in advertising but seldom have hype and reality diverged to the degree seen today, when we’re offered enough ready-made icons to proclaim a new age.

Yes, the league that gave you Wilt Chamberlain vs. Bill Russell and Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird now proudly presents ...

LeBron James vs. Carmelo Anthony?

With the 18-year-old James appearing simultaneously on the covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN magazine, the madness crescendoed (one hopes) in last week’s “shootout” in Cleveland, where the Denver Nuggets’ just-turned-19 Anthony prevailed by scoring 14 points, shooting six for 17 and playing on the winning team.

James, meanwhile, disappeared from his own offense in his own home debut, missing eight of 11 shot attempts en route to an inglorious seven-point night.

In other words, be careful what you televise, buy commercial time on or tune in to, you just might get it.

Of course, this was still a treat for the Cavaliers, who were 0-3, and the Nuggets, who were 2-2. Before this season, neither could have gotten on national TV without taking over a studio, like the rockers in “Airheads.”

It was also memorable for ESPN, the lucky network that got to carry the game and hyperventilated all through it.

Talk about your Big Treatment. There were two sideline reporters, “SportsCenter” anchor Stuart Scott, himself, joining Michelle Tafoya to interview celebrities (Ken Griffey Jr., Jay-Z, James’ mom, Anthony’s mom).

There were debuts of commercial spots, as at the Super Bowl, such as the Nike ad in which Jordan morphs into Anthony (the Nuggets and Phil Knight only wish).

There was the Goodyear blimp beaming, “The Future is Now ... LeBron vs. Melo,” and providing shots of the glittering Cleveland skyline.

This was unusual for an indoor event but the blimp had a nice view of the adjacent baseball stadium as well as the Gund Arena roof, under which James and Anthony dueled to see whose future this was.

And the answer ... Earl Boykins?

Yes, a 5-foot-5 Smurf, who had actually done something in this league, became, improbably but fittingly, the game’s star, with 18 points off the bench in the second half.

Not that the kids didn’t have their moments.

Anthony, who’d shot one for 13 the night before in a rookie special at Indiana, no doubt sending a host of ESPN VPs out for Prozac refills, scored 12 points in the first half. James made the usual nice passes and two tomahawk dunks.

Unfortunately, they collapsed in the second half, scoring two points between them, and a Nugget-Cavalier game broke out.

Not that there weren’t more highlights. Jay-Z, asked by Scott whether he was pro-James because he was wearing LeBron’s “King James” Nike sneakers, got in a Reebok plug.

James’ mom, Gloria, told Scott the problem was that her son “needs the ball more.”

Darius Miles told Scott the Cavaliers didn’t know how to win because they all wanted the ball in crunch time. Out of good manners, Scott didn’t ask Miles, whose shooting range still doesn’t stretch to the free throw line, what he would do with it if he got it.

ESPN cameras caught James and Anthony hugging in the hallway, on the floor in warmups, on the floor before the opening tip and on the floor after the game.

Bron and Melo (I feel as if I know them now) wanted to go out to eat but the Nuggets flew out right afterward and it didn’t happen, or someone undoubtedly would have filmed that too.

Before James’ debut in Sacramento, he had lunch with Moses Malone, the first player to go from high school to the pros. Nike set it up, flying in Malone, so don’t be surprised if you see footage of that one soon.

Doesn’t this stuff ever end?

The problem isn’t with James and Anthony, who have nice personalities and unselfish games that make them welcome additions, even if Anthony doesn’t have the same all-time-great potential of James, with his extraordinary floor game.

James is so poised -- so far -- that he can enjoy his celebrity without swallowing any. Anthony, however, is young enough to repeat some of the nonsense he hears.

“A lot of people were saying the NBA was down,” Anthony said last week. “With me and [James] coming in, maybe we can bring the NBA back. You aren’t ever going to hear my name without hearing his name. For our whole careers, it’ll be like that. Same way with Magic and Bird.”

Of course, some grown-up came up with that one and thousands more have repeated it, but there’s no comparison.

Johnson joined a Laker team that had gone 47-35 with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon, helped them improve to 60-22 and won a title as a rookie.

Meanwhile, Bird joined a 29-53 Celtic team, improved it to 61-21 as a rookie and won a title the next season. In their first nine seasons, Magic’s Lakers won five titles, Bird’s Celtics three and the rest of the league had one.

It will take awhile for the Cavaliers and Nuggets just to make the playoffs, so you can still go out for a sandwich without missing the resurrection.

Faces and Figures

It was just one of those nights in Orlando, where the Knicks, offended by Tracy McGrady’s comments about their inclination to fold, won, 75-68, as the home fans booed.

Afterward, team managers turned over the towel cart, flooding the entrance to the Magic’s locker room with hot water, a fire alarm went off and Coach Doc Rivers announced, “We’re not that good.”

Adios, little guy: Not that the decision to wear white sneakers at home is going down hard in Boston, where the current Celtics have already destroyed the other traditions, but announcer Tommy Heinsohn said he told Paul Pierce, “Paul, the leprechaun wears black. The leprechaun has been part of this thing forever. We don’t want to lose the leprechaun.”

At least hype isn’t a problem: Darko Milicic, the No. 2 overall pick, played one minute in the Pistons’ first four games.

“Carmelo is a better player than Darko right now,” Piston Vice President John Hammond said of Anthony, whom they passed up. “We know that. He was a better player on draft night. We knew that then and we know it today.”

Showing how much he had to learn, after his first practice, Milicic, a Serbian, gasped, “We don’t run this much at home.”

Seattle Coach Nate McMillan on Gary Payton: “I think you’re going to see some stuff from him that people have never seen before. Now he has a group of guys who are younger, they are the stars, he’s the veteran who’s coming in, playing with those young superstars. He had to carry his team here. He doesn’t have to carry his team down there in Los Angeles. Up here, he saw a young group that was in the transition period and he still wanted to win. He trusted the ball in his hands as opposed to someone else’s hands.”

In case you’re wondering what’s holding the Bulls back: New General Manager John Paxson suggested Eddy Curry was lazy and threatened to fine him if he kept wearing shorts that were so roomy, they slid down.

Showing there was tangible reason for concern, the 6-11, 275-pound Curry averaged 4.2 rebounds in the first four games, an effort one local pundit labeled “Duckworthian,” an allusion to large and long-since-forgotten Kevin Duckworth.

Meanwhile, point guard Jamal Crawford went after Coach Bill Cartwright, who benched him.

“I’ve been through so much ... since I’ve been here, it doesn’t even faze me anymore,” said Crawford. “He did the same thing in the preseason. Whatever. Defensive thing, huh? Well, that’s on him.”