Is LeBron James the new Allen Iverson? Sure sounds crazy at first.
When people think of The Answer they think of the cornrows, his ‘practice’ rant, his crossover, and the turbulent tail end of his career that’s left him playing in Turkey this season.
When people think of The Chosen One they think of The Decision, his Chosen One tattoo, the comparisons to Michael Jordan and of course, his Nike commercials.
The newest Nike commercial does an amazing job of capturing LeBron in his current mindset. That is, comfortable with his decision, determined to win, happy in South Beach playing his friends, but still fun-loving in his wink-of-the-eye I know something you don’t know manner.
While this will never be confused with any sort of apology for the way The Decision was handled, and I’m sure no one in Cleveland feels any better about how it all went down, this is the first true proof that LeBron has been listening and has heard every one of his critics. Sure, he’s offered a few cryptic tweets and retweeted comments by some of his haters, but this takes it a few steps further:
· He says ‘This went well’ as he drives by the Witnesses banner being taken down
· He asks us if he should have his Chosen One tattoo removed
· He pokes fun at MJ’s legacy by asking if he should just sell shoes
· He gives a wink and a shout out to Charles Barkley’s criticism by proclaiming he is not a role model and taking a bite of a donut
· He asks if he should be a championship chaser – likely a shot at Kobe Bryant
· He wants to know if he should stop listening to those closest to him
· And most powerfully, he asks us if he should be the villain
This spot shows us that contrary to how we felt in early July, LeBron does indeed get it. He understands what he did, he knows how it came off, but he’s still okay with his decision. It also tells us that while he may not care what we think, he has listened and heard the public outcries over his decision and The Decision.
For his entire career we have indeed wanted LeBron to be who WE wanted him to be. The next Airness, the next MJ, the next ‘Best Ever.’ These projections left most of us confused, angry, and disappointed by LeBron’s decision to ‘take his talents to South Beach.’ Clevelanders especially will never forget the way he left them for dead by mailing in the middle games of the Celtics series and then hanging them out to dry until he announced The Decision on national television. I touched on this in my previous post. Perhaps we never should’ve expected so much in this day and age. Maybe we should have seen him all along as a happy-go-lucky Magic Johnson 2.0 that wants to win, but wants to have fun doing so. Surely, the responsibility and anointing wasn’t done solely by the fans, as the media and James himself fed into the machine. It wasn’t the fans who proclaimed that the #23 should be retired by the league and then announced we were switching to a #6 jersey (that was oh-by-the-way worn by the greatest champion in the history of the sport, Bill Russell). It wasn’t the fans that urged him to get CHOSEN ONE tattooed across his back. And it wasn’t the fans that put him on a Sports Illustrated cover while he was still in high school. Everything converged in a relatively short amount of time and had all of us wondering when he would win his sixth and eventually seventh NBA title.
Allen Iverson came in to the league as the ‘new breed’ with his cornrows, tattoos, and take no prisoners attitude. He was never the next Jordan, he was the guy that crossed Jordan over his rookie year with a ‘take-that’ attitude to the stars of the late 80’s and early 90’s. But again the questions must be asked. Did Allen Iverson want to be the outcast? Did he want to be confused? Time and again in the twilight of his NBA career he professed to being misunderstood and only wanted to be remembered for giving his all every time he stepped on the basketball court (for a game that is). Yet, the same confusion, anger, and disappointment that has recently been projected toward LeBron was at one time put on The Answer. We loved how he competed, how he was the biggest small man on the court every night, and how he recklessly crossed over foes and took hit after hit getting to the rim. Yet, the mainstream media and fans never really accepted Iverson. I’m sure race played a role in much of this as it had throughout Iverson’s life, as the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Iverson’s infamous bowling alley brawl excellently soportrayed. But without focusing on that, consider again the way he felt he was misunderstood. Perhaps we projected unfair negative characteristics toward Iverson in the same way we projected positive ones on LeBron. Consider how AI’s interviews, the practice rant, his off the court domestic troubles, and refusal to accept a minor role in his later years all fueled this criticism the same way the media and LeBron himself contributed to his ‘Next Michael Jordan’ image.
In the end, I believe LeBron will win most of us back over, and the new Nike commercial is the first step toward doing that. Much like a bad break up and despite the way it was handled, LeBron made the best decision for him. Eventually, once the winning starts, we’ll re-anoint him and begin counting championships. Maybe that will happen as soon as this season, maybe it will take a couple years for the talent to mesh in Miami. Until then, though, we’ll continue to feel mystified, slighted, and disappointed – the same way we once felt or maybe still feel about Allen Iverson.
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