I have typed everything in this message (other than the content in that link in the bottom) and would appreciate if you read the entire thing and not leave off in the middle. Thanks! Hello all,
I am writing today because there are many of us Celtic fans that absolutely hate LeBron James. I'll be honest. I used to like him as a player and I supported him in his decision to leave Cleveland even though he was one of the biggest rivals of my team. I supported him in discussions with my friends, some who were Heat fans too. I cheered for him up until his dunk on Jason Terry. I had no opinion until what he said afterwards (something along the lines of "He deserved it.") I started to dislike him after that and have since put down everything that he has accomplished. Today I read an article (I will share the link below) which made me think to myself, is criticizing him for everything he has done correct? We are all witnessing a legend, who the future generations will look back in the same way like we do for Bill Russel, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Julius Erving and many others. These are all known as very good players and as legends and 10-20 years from now, when the future generations look back, they will see LeBron as one of the greatest to ever play. People will wish they could see him play, just like we wish we could see players like Bill Russel, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and others play.
This was more than enough for me to let go of my dislike embrace him for how good of a player he is. He will always be our rival and when the C's play him, we don't have to support him and cheer for him, but we can appreciate him for who he is.
LeBron has grown up a ton before our eyes. We saw him giving into the pressure against the Spurs in 2007 Finals. We saw him carrying his team and taking us to 7 games all by himself in 2008. We saw him giving up in 2010 against us. We saw him being fed up and eventually teaming up with Wade and Bosh to win a championship. We saw him making a big mistake of doing the whole "The Decision" saga on live TV. Many people blamed him and put him down for it, but they completely ignored that he raised around $2 million out of it, all for charity. We then saw him have that collapse again in the 2011 Finals as well as make fun of Dirk by coughing in front of a camera.
After that came the big thing, we saw LeBron take everything much more seriously. He had a ton of refball support, but he carried the team to the Finals. On the way, we witnessed LeBron get over the pressure and post a historic performance in Game 6 against us to keep his team from eliminating. He was able to handle the pressure yet again and carry the team past OKC (who made major mistakes, making it very easy for Heat to beat them). LeBron won his first title.
We all thought that while he had developed the mental strength to handle the pressure and that no one would be able to stop him now, him as well as the team wouldn't have that fire under them again to win another championship. What did we see? LeBron posted a historical season with outstanding numbers. He broke all sorts of records on the way. He went on to sweep the Bucks, had great performance against Chicago and gave his all to beat the Pacers. We are now standing in the Finals, watching LeBron have a not-so-great Finals performance yet again. To many it seems that he doesn't have that will to win again or that his failure to live up to the pressureis coming back, but we all forgetting his all around performance. Game 1: 18 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists. He had a triple double and grabbed EIGHTEEN boards. Game 2: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists. He didn't have numbers that popped out, but had a plus-minus of +29 for the game. Game 3: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists. He didn't have a very good performance in Game 3, but no one else did either.
The point is that we are watching a legend in his prime. Whether he is better than Kobe or Jordan is a different topic, but we are watching a great player in his prime.
I don't think this is the time to hate, at least hate someone who is that good. When you're the best, you have haters, that's true. But think about it logically. We should appreciate this guy and his talent.
At the end of the day, I can't change any of your opinions, but I can give you a reason for you to change them and I truly think that we should appreciate this guy while we have the privilege to. I can almost guarantee that long after he retires and you hear people wonder how good he was when they read about him and watch his highlights from his prime, that you would wish that you appreciated a legend more in his prime.
Just like Jordan had many haters in his prime, but many people wish today that they could see Jordan play in his prime.
Remember, don't let the situation come to a point where you have to say to yourself: I had the chance, LeBron was in his prime, but I didn't appreciate.
If for nothing else, you can at least brag and tell stories about how you were his fan in his prime and watched every one of his greatest and historic moves in games that people will see on youtube videos a long time from now.
Also, Jordan had a ton of haters, but a ton of fans too. Those fans would be proud to say today that they were fans of Jordan in his prime and watched him as well as got to cheer for him. You wouldn't find many Jordan haters today who would be proud to say that they hated Jordan in his prime and when he did some very amazing things.
I truly hope you guys understood my message.
The link that initially provoked me to appreciate LeBron once again:
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/9379958/nba-finals-appreciating-lebron-james-now-future