Credit: USA Today
With the NBA Finals only a couple of hours away, it may seem like we have forgotten about a certain someone. Everyone is talking about the Warriors and their Rocky’esque comeback heroics. About how they’ve given themselves the opportunity to go back-to-back and more importantly, to crown a historic regular season which made them the best team in NBA history. Statistically speaking – of course.
Ok, some consider the fact that we’ve got a rematch almost – if not quite – as noteworthy as this ridiculously triple shooting team from the Bay Area. It’s Warriors against Cavs, Ladies and Gentlemen. Again. So why don’t we lay our focus on the guy who many still consider the best player on the planet. Let’s switch to Mr. LeBron James. We’re not doing so to analyse his game, though. This is about his journey. About a journey that conincides with that of a whole city.
Credit: Stephen Dunn
It all Started in Akron, Ohio
It all started in December 1984 when then 16-year old Gloria James gave birth to little LeBron. Did she know whom she was holding in her arms that moment? Probably not. Or let’s rephrase that. Gloria probably didn’t know what kind of unique talent she had just given birth to. She probably didn’t even care. Raising this little kid was the bigger issue.
Labor wasn’t a sure thing. Mostly living in the seedier areas of a city not necessarily famous for their shiny appearance, the little family jumped from apartment to apartment. Life was far from steady. Conditions were far from perfect for a boy growing up. But thanks to sports, things changed. It wasn’t basketball, though. Football kind of gave LeBron his first two steady homes. Living with his coaches, LeBron got his first glimpse at family life. He also got his first glimpse at how to play basketball. The rest – as they say – is history. First Akron, Ohio, started taking notice. The whole US of A followed. LeBron rocked St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and showed what should later make his game so unique. He showed incredible versatility. And people in Ohio loved it. During LeBron’s sophomore season, his team played some of its games in the University of Akron’s 5.492-seat Rhodes Arena.
A Cursed City in Need for a Savior
Everyone wanted to see LeBron. He started becoming “The Chosen One”, “King James”. He became Ohio’s Mr. Basketball, and when he finally declared eligible, he was sure to become the number-1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft. But who should he become then? Where would he end up? Which team would win the prize? Maybe the Cavaliers. That team only a 50-minute drive away from LeBron’s hometown Akron. Wouldn’t that be too sweet to be true? A hometown savior for a franchise that was so desperate for an NBA championship. For a city so cursed that none if its pro teams had brought a title to the streets of Cleveland since the Browns had won the NFL Championship Game in 1964.
Well, it happened. The Cavs got the first pick and chose… Carmelo Anthony. Just kidding. Of course it was LeBron James who that night had found his destiny. He was the one who should finally bring a championship to his home state. The hopes of a whole city lasted on the – granted – pretty broad shoulders of a then 18-year old. LeBron should, had to bring a championship to Cleveland. If he wasn’t able to do it, who else would? Destiny had made its choice.
Destiny Has to Wait
So let’s fast forward a couple of years. Finally destiny got its first chance to be fulfilled. LeBron and the Cavs had made it to finals. Only 5 years after his name had been called by then commissioner David Stern, James had led his team, his franchise, HIS CITY to the NBA Finals. And he had done so in pretty impressive fashion. In game 5 of the conference finals against Detroit for example, James scored 29 of the Cavs’ last 30 points, including the game-winning layup. So there he was. Facing the San Antonio Spurs in his first ever finals. The problem: neither were the Cavs ready nor were they good enough. After only four games their hopes had been thrashed by a Spurs team much more experienced, much better than them.
Yet it was only beginning. A first step on a long journey to success. That’s what many thought. LeBron was still young. The Cavs were still young. They’d take the loss as a lesson. What should stop them from one day winning the championship? Well, probably a force awakening 640 miles west in Boston. Or a well functioning unit around a gigantic center 1.038 miles south in Orlando.
Whatever LeBron tried, whichever game winner he hit, how many points, rebounds or assists he pilled up, until his contract expired in 2010, the Cavs never made the finals again. Never. Time to think. Time to evaluate things. Was he really the savior? Was he really destined to bring a championship to Ohio? Was it even his duty? Or should he try to find happiness – read: a title – elsewhere?
Taking Talents to Southbeach and Back
What ever process LeBron went through, it ended up letting him take his talents to Southbeach. And Cleveland? Cleveland felt betrayed! Their savior had left them without bringing them what they had been waiting for for so many years. Jerseys were burned. Posters ripped apart. Curses were uttered.
And LeBron? LeBron probably never forgot about his destiny. That’s why four years, four finals appearances and two titles later, he wrote a letter. He wrote about his relationship to Northeast Ohio which, to him, is bigger than basketball. Something that he just hadn’t realized four years prior. As LeBron went on, he said how he would do things differently today, how he would have left Cleveland anyways though, how he needed those four years in Miami to become the person he was that day. Granted, it sounded a bit cheesy.
But it was important to LeBron to share his thoughts without being interrupted, he said. He wanted to explain himself. He wanted to tell people why he had chosen to come back home. He admitted seeing his jersey being burnt, hurt. Yet he offered understanding.
Shortcuts
And then, LeBron started talking about the Cavs. About a young team he wanted to support and lead to places they had never been before. Not anytime soon though. „It will be a long process“, he wrote.
Apparently, LeBron was wrong. Maybe he wanted to prove himself wrong. By trading then number-one pick Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota for Kevin Love, James and the Cavs kind of took a short cut. Instead of trying to develop a possibly unique talent, they wanted a player that was ready to compete. Maybe they also felt that Love fitted LeBron’s game better than Wiggins. Who knows. Let’s just say that the Love experiment hasn’t turned out perfectly so far.
Anyways, not even a year passed between the letter and the 2015 NBA Finals. And now guess who showed up. Of course LeBron was there. And of course he had brought his Cavs along. Again, a whole franchise, a whole city, a whole state hoped to finally end the drought. Again, hope was everything that remained. Again, the Cavs fell short. This time to the Warriors.
The End of a Journey?
So here we go again. The rematch is on. Yet, this year things are a little different. Kevin Love who had missed most of last year’s playoffs due to a shoulder injury suffered against Boston, will be playing. Kyrie Irving who had missed most of last year’s finals due to a knee injury suffered in game 1, will be playing. Going into this year’s showdown, the Cavs seem a lot more frightening than in June 2015. This time LeBron doesn’t have to try to single-handedly lead his team to the title. This time, the Cavs appear to be a well functioning unit that can compete with just anybody.
Will it be enough? Will LeBron finally help to make a whole franchise, a whole city, a whole state happy? Will he finally deliver a championship to his home state? No one knows. Talking about the Warriors and their incredible season is great. But talking about LeBron probably, maybe ending a long and rocky journey isn’t too bad either. Let the games begin …