Hero to Villain Yet Still a Leader: Lebron James

Hero to villain in a matter of months.  

"He's overrated."
 
"I asked Lebron for a dollar and he couldn't give me the fourth quarter." Good one.

Lebron's one of the best in the game, hands down. For most of the playoffs he led his team in points, assists, and was a close second to Chris Bosh in rebounds. I'll make the excuse for him: he's 26 years old. He probably ran out of steam. 28 other NBA cities could only dream and wish that they ended their seasons two wins away from a world championship. Kobe, Durant, Carmelo, and a slew of other NBA stars were left at home watching one of the best and closest NBA Finals in league history.

Is Lebron arrogant? No doubt. I've never met a great player that wasn't, who didn't have that confidence in himself. Labeled as the next coming and the King since middle school, I think you'd be somewhat full of yourself too. With little guidance from adults, he had no role models to look up to. He had nobody tell him, "The Decision" was a bad idea. Maybe he should've stayed in Cleveland. But, in LBJ's defense, the Cavaliers' owner wasn't shelling out money like George Steinbrenner either. Little help from role players, and tired of mediocrity will get to people who want to look for better. Why wouldn't you want to form a legendary trio with two of the other top players in the league, be in a great city, and play somewhere else than Ohio for the first time in your life? It's like the way a father feels the first time his son leaves home for college. People will certainly feel a sense of despair, except in Lebron's case - a little hatred too.

Lebron is an icon. He is seen everywhere by young kids. He's what every kid on the blacktop at their local park wants to be - a high flying, Nike wearing, jump shooting stud. Is he Derek Jeter? No. I wish Lebron would say the right things or handled himself better.

Will he be as good as Michael Jordan? That's unfair. No one ever will. Lebron James will be as good as Lebron James is. He'll be as good as he wants to be. For probably the first time in his young life, he has failed and most of America loved to see it. LBJ didn't handle it all that well either.

Adversity. Lebron's going to grow up. As outsiders we can only hope he'll work on his jump-shot and low-post game this summer. Lebron is a leader in the NBA and in professional sports. All great leaders have failed, but all great leaders have that drive and determination to be the best at what they do. It is how people come back from adversity to achieve the goals they set out to that makes them leaders. Sylvestor Stallone said it best: "It's not how hard you can hit -- it's how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."

I read about how Jack Nicklaus offered advice to Rory McIlroy at the U.S. Open. Nicklaus said that he always put a lot of pressure on himself. He expected himself to play well. He expected himself to be [on the leader board] all the time. It's the same with Lebron. We can only hope he does.