In the world according to LeBron, he holds the keys to the kingdom
His time, his team.
Of course, as the Cleveland Cavaliers keep trying to forget . . . and everyone else keeps trying to remind them . . . it won’t be long before LeBron James has his choice of teams, like President Lyndon Johnson looking for his helicopter on an airfield full of them during a tour of Vietnam in the 1960s.
“Mr. President, this is your helicopter,” offered a soldier, helpfully.
“Son,” LBJ announced, “they’re all my helicopters.”
King James is royalty, as opposed to a mere president, but the teams that want him in 2010 can just unload salary and take a number because that’s then and this is now.
Despite speculation about New York, Brooklyn, Jay-Z and package deals with Chris Bosh, James feels great about being where he is, with his best team and a record that suggests it’s as good as the lordly Lakers and Celtics.
But then, James always feels great about being wherever he is. Being LeBron means anything seems not only possible, but inevitable. It’s not even presumptuous to announce your goal as “global icon.”
It’s more like, what could go wrong?
Having won nothing in the NBA, he’s already so big, he isn’t merely known by a single name, like Michael, Magic or Kobe. They don’t have to use LeBron’s name at all.
State Farm just ran a series of “1.18.09” teasers, showing an unnamed celebrity, whose face you can’t see, that is nonetheless recognizable as James, telling a news conference he’s going to “my first love.”
It ended there, leaving viewers to guess what he’s about to say. The Cavaliers? The Knicks?
Sunday, the appointed day, the payoff ran -- LeBron announcing he was joining the Cleveland Browns.
It’s barely even fanciful. James was an all-state wide receiver as a high school sophomore in Ohio before giving up football. At 6 feet 8, 250, he might well be able to play several NFL positions too.
But the very best part of being LeBron is, he loves every minute of it.
While in high school, James told ESPN the Magazine, “LeBron stays humble just by being LeBron.” You may question how humble that is, but James is levelheaded far beyond his years.
In high school, James was the one having the time of his life while all the grown-ups jockeying for position around him stressed over the Hummer, the retro jerseys, the suspension, the lawsuit restoring his eligibility for the state tournament, which his team, of course, then won.
You could see the same sparkle in his eyes early this season, at the center of a feeding frenzy in New York, where the Knicks had just unloaded the contracts of Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford when the Cavaliers played there.
“If you guys want to sleep now and don’t wake up until July 1, 2010, then go ahead,” a merry LeBron told a huge Gotham press corps after the Cavaliers buried the Knicks.
“It’s going to be a big day.”
That prompted TNT’s Charles Barkley to suggest that James “shut the hell up,” and LeBron, unused to being questioned, to reply that Barkley was “stupid.”
On the issue, at least, James was right. If he kept his options open, he wasn’t the one keeping it in the news. Emblem of his time that LeBron is, the center of controversies since his midteens, he knew not talking would make it worse.
Thus, the Public LeBron. . . .
Before every game, James holds a brief news conference, a rarity for stars now. But the sessions are businesslike, with James revealing little personality.
In commercials, and the delight he takes in them, you can see his ham actor side, but those scripted pieces are the closest the public gets to the Real LeBron.
Actually, James isn’t a stone-faced Ambitiontron, but the life of the party, once the locker-room door closes.
In the U.S. team practices in China at the Beijing Olympics last summer, it was James’ voice that echoed throughout the gym, chirping nonstop, while the grown-ups, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, went quietly about their business.
In one of the highest compliments a Laker can give, Bryant later told Magic Johnson, interviewing him for ABC, that James “reminds me of you, to be honest with you, because he’s just so outgoing, he’s so gregarious, he embraces everyone. He’s got that energy about him that’s fun to be around.”
LeBron’s time may extend for a long time, but whether it’s his turn to win a title remains to be seen.
His Cavaliers almost took out Boston in last spring’s second round and are better now.
On the other hand, both the Cavaliers and Celtics have matchup problems with Orlando’s ever-more-dynamic inside-outside game.
Then, for whoever gets out of the East, there might be the Lakers waiting.
It’s what makes being LeBron so exciting. Something great always seems to be waiting, maybe even now.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
LeBron James at a glance
Born: Dec. 30, 1984.
Height: 6 feet 8.
Weight: 250.
High school: St. Vincent-St. Mary, Akron, Ohio.
Years pro: Sixth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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PRO HIGHLIGHTS
First-team All-NBA, 2005-06 and 2007-08
Second-team All-NBA, 2004-05 and 2006-07
Four-time NBA All-Star, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
NBA scoring champion, 2008
Two-time NBA All-Star game MVP, 2006 and 2008
The Sporting News NBA co-MVP, 2006
All-Rookie first team, 2003-04
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HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS
Consensus 2003 national player of the year.
Parade magazine national player of the year as a junior and senior, the first repeat winner in the 47-year history of the award.
USA Today and Gatorade national player of the year as a junior and senior.
Led St. Vincent-St. Mary to three state championships in four seasons.
Named Mr. Basketball for Ohio by the Associated Press for three straight seasons beginning with his sophomore year.
Selected to the USA Today All-USA first team for three consecutive seasons beginning with his sophomore season.
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OLYMPIC HIGHLIGHTS
In eight games for the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2008 Beijing Games, averaged 15.5 points on 60.2% shooting, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 assists.
Was a member of the bronze-medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
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Source: NBA.com
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Tonight’s game
Cleveland at Lakers
7:30, Staples Center, TNT
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