#6 LeBron James

[King Taharqa]

KT is gonna choke himself to death on LeBron's man juice after tonight.

[JGib23]

I was pulling for the Thunder and I'm not a LeBron fan (although he has repaired his image and admitted some mistakes, so I warming up to him)

I wish he would have stayed loyal to his hometown (Akron/Cleveland) and won his ring there but, he's the best player in the world right now and proved it with his play in the playoffs.

Incredible performance.

[Panther_Brotherhood]

I respect Bron more now just for the way he held himself throughout the series, game 5 and the celebration. He seems to have matured all around

[King Taharqa]

LeBron's 2012 playoff averages

30.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 5.6 APG, 50% FG

LeBron's 2012 Finals averages

28.6 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 7.4 APG

LeBron's triple double in Game 5 was the first of the season for him, in perhaps the biggest game of the season. He becomes the first player since Tim Duncan in 2003 to be MVP of the league and Finals MVP in the same season. LeBron now rests at #16 on the all time playoff scoring list directly ahead of HOFers Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Dr. J, James Worthy, Reggie Miller, and Charles Barkley. The scary thing is, he's just now coming into his prime at 27 and has a lot of basketball left in that body.

[SOJA]

LeBron's 2012 playoff averages

30.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 5.6 APG, 50% FG

LeBron's 2012 Finals averages

28.6 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 7.4 APG

LeBron's triple double in Game 5 was the first of the season for him, in perhaps the biggest game of the season. He becomes the first player since Tim Duncan in 2003 to be MVP of the league and Finals MVP in the same season. LeBron now rests at #16 on the all time playoff scoring list directly ahead of HOFers Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Dr. J, James Worthy, Reggie Miller, and Charles Barkley. The scary thing is, he's just now coming into his prime at 27 and has a lot of basketball left in that body.

not doubting you but are you sure about that? seems unlikely

[King Taharqa]

He didnt have a single one all season. He flirted with it numerous times, but not 1 all year. Insane right?

[Porn Shop Clerk]

i can't believe he's already outscored reggie miller in the playoffs. that's crazy.

[Sapper]

Congrats to Lebron and The Heat. I was always apathetic to the man to be honest, but I am sure he feels happy to have that weight off of his legacy today.

The Decision was in poor taste, but he assuaged and I respect him for that.

Of course, he goes out and does this afterward lol:

[B.B.S]

4-5 more years before his body starts to break down. Should be fun to see if he can reel off consecutive titles.

[SOJA]

He didnt have a single one all season. He flirted with it numerous times, but not 1 all year. Insane right?

that is a crazy statistic

[King Taharqa]

Dwyane Wade isn’t sure whether he will need off-season knee surgery that could knock him out of this summer’s London Olympics but will consider hiring a shooting coach regardless. Meanwhile, LeBron James plans to add another element to his game, even after another MVP season.

The Heat’s two biggest stars shared those and other nuggets after the team’s championship parade Monday.

For Wade, a decision on his troublesome left knee will be made shortly.

“When everything dies down this week, I will sit down with doctors — those that I trust — and make the best decision for me and my career,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I won’t know until I sit down with [the doctors] and have an MRI and see what’s wrong with my knee and what I have to get done.”

Wade said he would not be inclined to go to the Olympics if he cannot play.

Wade said the knee caused him discomfort throughout the postseason and, “I had to go through a lot to play. If people knew what I had to go through just to play, it was crazy. The biggest thing was I had a lot of swelling.

“My left knee is my power knee. It’s my explosion knee. When you are dealing with knee issues, you are dealing with lateral quickness [issues]. I dealt with it. At times, I did great with it. At other times, I didn’t do great with it.”

He said he had his knee drained before Game 3 against Indiana, when he scored five points on 2-for-13 shooting. “Very sore,” he said. “It was so much swelling, and I wanted some relief.”

Wade said he might work with a shooting coach “for the first time ever” after a postseason in which he shot 31 percent on mid-range jumpers (50 for 163) and 29 percent on three-pointers (10 for 34).

The goal, he said, “is to try to do more in the sense of my three-point game and midrange game, getting that back. My mechanics aren’t that bad. I don’t have an ugly shot, not one of those Shawn Marion shots. There are certain things in my shot I can change.”

Wade said a shooting coach could “give me a different look and [suggest] where I can get better.” He said he also wants “to continue to get better in the post.”

James also has “thought about what I’m going to do personally to improve my game. I always love the offseason. I’ll have an opportunity to come back with something new. There is more to add. Not telling you guys what yet.”

James offered more self-analysis Monday, noting: “I always wanted to be one of the greats. I knew I couldn’t be one of the greats until I entered that championship room. It’s a relief. I feel happy today to be a champion.”

After losing in last year’s Finals, James did not leave his home for two weeks. Since winning the championship Thursday, he has gone home only “to shower and get changed again. That’s all.”

Winning a title has renewed his faith in some of life’s lessons.

“There are sayings you hear and you start to wonder if they’re actually true,” he said. “Hard work pays off. Good things come to people who are patient. And patience is a virtue.

“Sometimes you question if it’s actually true, but there’s truth to it. I was very patient; I tried to work on my game as hard as I could and tried to be more of a leader.”

In the aftermath of a title, Wade said James “is more relaxed. Like they say, the monkey is off your back. It didn’t get off by him riding a coattail. It came off by him going to get it. Losing last year humbled him so much and made him grow up.”

Looking back, James said “the best thing that happened to our team, which was the worst at the time, was Chris Bosh getting hurt because it gave [Erik Spoelstra] a lineup change we didn’t know was possible, with Shane Battier starting at the 4.

“We always envisioned Shane being a backup 3. When I went out, he would come in. When he started at the 4 and guarded [indiana’s] David West and takes one of the bigs out of the paint and opened up the floor for me and D-Wade and gave us a lineup we so needed, gave us space we needed and also an unbelievable defensive lineup.”

James, happy to have been joined in celebrations by a few of his high school teammates in recent days, will spend the next week appearing on David Letterman’s CBS show on Tuesday and with Wade and Chris Bosh on The View (undetermined day) and with Oprah Winfrey (on her OWN network at 8 p.m. Sunday).

“After the Olympics, I will take some time off and try to get my legs back under me,” James said. “Hopefully, it’s another long season for us next year. I’ll be ready.”

http://www.miamihera...ade-lebron.html

[King Taharqa]

AKRON, Ohio (AP) – LeBron James squeezed his mom's hands, the way he did as a kid.

Moments before being honored again in his hometown, where they still love him and always will, James stood among family members and friends. With the days in this summer of summers dwindling quickly, this was another moment to savor. So as he waited to be introduced, James hugged his mom, Gloria, around the neck, took out his phone and snapped their picture.

He was home.

"I know this place," he said, "and it knows me."

Fresh off leading the U.S. men's team to a gold medal at the London Olympics, James was praised Sunday during a minor league game for his recent basketball accomplishments — an MVP award, NBA title and the gold — and for giving back to Akron, where his "Wheels For Education" initiative has provided inner-city kids with supplies, programs, mentors, and above all, hope.

"I was one of these kids," James said. "It means everything to me to be able to give back. I have a passion for it. I love seeing kids smile, and for them to have someone who can lead them. For me to be in this position and being able to help and give back, means a lot."

James received a warm ovation from the crowd of 3,843 — more than double the average attendance — when he walked onto the infield at Canal Park, home of the Double-A Akron Aeros, during the middle of the eighth inning escorted by Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic.

As James reached the area in front of the pitcher's mound, infielders for the Reading Phillies lined up on the grass between first and second base and gawked at the superstar.

It was also all going according to plan before a malfunctioning microphone caused several anxious and awkward moments.

Plusquellic's comments kept cutting out over the ballpark's speaker system, allowing two anti-James fans, one of them wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey, sitting a few rows behind Akron's dugout to shout "traitor" and other insults at James, who seemed unsure of what to do as the delay dragged on and stadium personnel scrambled to find a new microphone.

When it became apparent James would not be able to address the crowd, he posed for pictures and then left the field, slapping hands with a few Reading players who leaned over their dugout railing to greet the All-Star, who was mobbed by fans as he made his way up the aisle.

It was somewhat poetic, James going in one week from stepping onto a gold-medal podium with his teammates on the world's largest stage to a mix-up inside a minor league ballpark where he grew up and where Thursday's postgame entertainment will include midget wrestling.

Before taking the field, James retreated to a dusty stairwell corner with large rakes leaning on one cinder-block wall and reflected on his spectacular summer, a three-month whirlwind of awards that began with his third MVP trophy and was capped by a second gold medal.

James told the Associated Press he would like to play in a fourth Olympics. He has not yet informed USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo of his intentions, but the 27-year-old said he'd like to step inside the five rings one more time.

"We haven't had that conversation," James said. "But if I'm healthy, I did the math and I'll be 31, and if I have the opportunity to be out there, I will do it. I love it. I love being a part of it and representing my country. I don't know what may happen in four years, but it would be great to be back out there again. Definitely."

Since winning gold, James said he hasn't heard from any members of the immortalized 1992 Dream Team, which scoffed at the idea that this year's U.S. Olympic team could beat them.

"Nah," he said. "I don't expect to hear from any of them."

James was the U.S. team's best all-around player in London, doing whatever coach Mike Krzyzewski needed while leading the Americans to their second straight gold. He was virtually unstoppable, just as he was in carrying the Miami Heat to an NBA championship in June.

In doing so, he silenced those critics who wondered if he could ever win the big one. James is on top, and he plans to stay there.

"I want that feeling again," he said of winning his first title.

James doesn't know if being a champion — and the only player other than Michael Jordan to win an MVP, an NBA title and Olympic gold in the same year — will change the way he's viewed. Since announcing his decision to leave Cleveland as a free agent two years ago, he has been cast as the villain, reviled outside South Florida perhaps more than any athlete in memory.

Some fans have moved on. Some can't. Some never will.

James once succumbed to the pressure produced by the constant condemnation. He's not bothered by it any longer.

Love him or hate him, James is only going to be himself.

"I don't even get involved with that anymore," he said. "I don't look for it. I don't shy away from it. I just kind of roll with what's going on. For me, and it started before last season, I came in with a different mindset and a different attitude and it didn't matter if you believed in me or not, I was still going to be how I was and stay true to who I was and who I am.

"And that's all that matters."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/story/2012-08-19/LeBron-James-awkward-moment-honored-Akron-Ohio/57150700/1

[nickzz]

only read a few posts in here but King Taharqa is subtly the most racist person i've ever encountered

[King Taharqa]

only read a few posts in here but King Taharqa is subtly the most racist person i've ever encountered

This has nothing to do with LeBron James. You actually used to post about basketball.

And me acknowledging white racism exists (ex: dumbasses who wanted us to change our name to erase the memory of the black man who started the team) doesnt make me the most racist person you've ever encountered. It just makes me hip to how weak some folks can be. Ive never met someone so willing to deflect and defend white racism as much as you. You keep it safe and protected.