Never before has an entire nation rallied around the miserable defeat of a team like we all did watching the Miami Heat fall to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. We cheered and jumped for joy at the sight of LeBron James and company walking off the court in utter disgrace: another moment of coming up short for the King.
It’s unlikely that the hatred surrounding James will have dissipated in just a year. And we are all still quick to point out his shortcomings: he has no fourth quarter; he never comes up clutch, etc. And it’s undeniable that he stood no chance of winning the league MVP this past year (he was the bad mouthing pariah who ditched his home team for warmer weather and super friends going against a young and humble hometown hero in Derrick Rose). But now, one year removed from everything, can LeBron James carry the Miami Heat to where they need to be?
He can only if he does carry them, like he carried the Cavaliers for seven years. He’s no longer on a team of nobodies, and if free agency ever begins the Heat can only improve. They’re still weak at the point and center positions, but James has consistently made up for that. He has the sheer power of any center in the league and the passing skills of any point guard (he often runs the point, as a matter of fact). He’s a rock on defense (have you seen the chase down block from behind?) and a stone cold killer on offense. Except for his less than average performance in the Finals, James put up astounding numbers in the playoffs, knocking out the Sixers, Celtics and Bulls. It wasn’t that he lacks the ability. Most likely, the hatred and loathing finally caught up with him. It’s his misfortune that it caught up then.
This season, James should be able to get past all that. Up until last year, he was adored worldwide. He was idolized by a legion of fans who all wanted to “Believe.” He was 250 pounds of sheer God-given talent who could not be stopped. He wasn’t human. He was Jordan incarnate. Then he made the move to South Beach, and all that glory went out the window. He was no longer adored. He was no longer a hometown hero. He became an outcast, and thieving freak who deserved nothing more than to be beaten and ridiculed. And so he was.
James has a sterling opportunity now to get past all that. The hatred will be slow to disappear, but James and Heat can now begin to really take off. It’s unlikely that they’ll stumble out of the gates again whenever this season kicks off. Assuming they make at least a few decent free agency signings, the Heat will still be heads and shoulders above everyone in the league. James can begin to ignore all those hateful wishes of failure he hears day in and day out. Because by now he’s heard them all, and they’ve already become reality. He can now begin to play basketball the way he was born to play and without distraction.
James has been beaten twice in the playoffs now. He’s constantly put himself in the shadow of Michael Jordan, and that may have lead to his failures. But now that all his enemies have wished him beaten and seen it happen, James can begin to move past it. He doesn’t have to care what any fan (or anti-fan) thinks of him anymore, because they’ve got what they wanted. And the player who doesn’t care, who is immune to the outside world, is 100% lethal in the NBA.
I’ve tried my hardest to hate LeBron James. But try as I might, I cannot hate the player the way I hate the individual. He is simply too good to hate forever. I’ve never been able to take down the number 23 Cavs jersey that hangs in my bedroom because that is the LeBron James I remember; the inhuman being that defied all conventions. The Decision is over, and James can finally begin to get back to the way things used to be. He is honestly too good for American sports fans to despise him forever. Even Kobe could get past the rape allegations because he was the best at the time and figured out that people love a winner. And that’s LeBron right now. He may be a bad person, but he’s too goddamn good at basketball to be hated forever. And as much as it pains me to say it, he’s still the best player on the best team. Someday, maybe in 2012, the Heat will win the Finals. And if LeBron plays the way he’s meant to, he’ll win league and Finals MVP. But first he has to stop worrying.
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