Parente’s Wrong! LeBron Deserves the Criticism
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I like Michael Parente. I really do! But when a man’s wrong, he needs to be called out.
In Parente’s column entitled “Zip it, Michael: LeBron’s no you, and you’re no LeBron either,” he took the greatest NBA player dead, alive and yet to be born – Michael Jordan – to task for his take on LeBron James decision to join forces with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade in Miami.
Parente did make some good points in his column (that’s why we’ve decided to keep him at GoLocalProv.com),but his coddling of James was sickening. He also criticized Jordan’s ability as a GM which is totally unrelated to the subject.
The bottom line is that Michael Jordan was right when he said, “there’s no way, in hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team.’”
Parente correctly pointed out that Jordan wasn’t a free agent when Bird and Magic and Bird were in their primes but that’s not the point. Jordan made it clear that had that opportunity presented itself, he never would have considered calling the two to try to create a dream team that would have had an easy time competing for championships.
Parente doesn’t believe Michael. I do. So does Magic Johnson who said the same thing the other day. “We didn’t think about it because that’s not what we were about,” Magic said. “From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”
What’s so hard to understand with those comments? Michael, Magic and, in my opinion, Larry would not have ever considered doing what the Miami trio did even if they had the opportunity to do so. Why? Because they were old school. They were fierce competitors who didn’t believe in the old adage, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” They were driven by a competitive fire that would only allow them to work harder and figure out a way to “beat ‘em.”
I understand and accept the fact that today’s pro athlete is different from 20-30 years ago but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it. The same goes for society in general. Today kids wear their pants half way down their butts and sport sideways baseball caps in school. Pardon me for thinking that the old way of wearing your pants around your waist and taking your hat off once you enter a building is the better way of doing things. But I digress.
Back to LeBron. His defenders can cry all they want about all of the pressure he’s had on his shoulders at such an early age and the fact that he wasn’t surrounded with good players in Cleveland (which is debatable). But they can’t deny one thing. That James is trying to take the easy way out.
LeBron James can win ten NBA titles in Miami but the accomplishment will be cheapened by his decision to get together with Bosh and Wade to put together this “dream team.”
As I have said in past columns on this subject, LeBron James isn’t a bad guy, he’s just looking for the easy way out. And that’s not something you expect from an athlete and a competitor who is considered one of the all-time greats in his sport.
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It