:::: HANDLE ISSUE 011 COVER STORY: Lebron James FEATURES: Greg Oden, Glen Saville & Matt Campbell, OJ Mayo & Kevin Love, Steve Nash PLUS: The Documentary, Shoenanigans and more!

LEBRON JAMES: EDITORIAL

WHY BASKETBALL NEEDS ITS KING…

We all know that Michael Jordan’s (second) retirement left a canyon-sized void. NBA fans of the late ‘90s saw their admiration for Mike reached fever pitch and Air Jordan’s departure left an unbridgeable gorge between market and product, creating a mad scramble to find the “next”.
This quest resulted in dozens of false swingman and two-guard messiahs. From Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway to Grant Hill, from T-Mac to The Answer, from Air Canada to Black Mamba: the tag of prodigal son simply wouldn’t stick. No matter how bright the star, they simply can’t fill the universe that Michael Jordan created, no matter the marketing millions behind each player’s pitch. This reality was further compromised by the global expansion of the NBA, and the influx of international stars that broke from tradition.

The iPod / YouTube generation are clearly no longer reliant on borrowed and worn out video tapes, to cherish the highlights of the players they love. In turn they no longer are beholden to a single basketball star. It was apparent that Jordan’s face – the one that could cut through race, class, gender and age – defined and epitomised the vision of basketball.
In its place now stands a motley crew of undeniably important players; superb and diverse, but more offsiders than front men. These names form a corporation rather than Jordan’s former proprietorship.

That was until LeBron James.
There is only room for one player per generation to transcend the game, and in that regard, LeBron is now just like Mike. Nike, Microsoft, Upper Deck, SLAM, Dime, Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Sprite, Gatorade, Coke, Bubblicious, the NBA, ESPN the network, businessmen, people ridding the bus, bloggers, internationalists, school children, old timers and those in the game agree – we need King James – not to be Jordan but to be the new global hero, the new embodiment, the new untouchable champ.

Thanks in large to Mike, we’re wide-eyed children thirsting for an American hero. Like Air Jordan before King James, this generation is watching the NBA solely to admire and emulate their favourite Cavalier. LeBron is the one mimicked when backyard and driveway hoops are lowered. LeBron has become the new sneaker endorsed saviour. Now we watch LeBron and wait; hoping and dreaming that his rise will elevate him to astronomical heights, justifying his currently overblown hype and exposure.

The King is already the most popular and most marketable player on the planet and this has occurred without him winning, just like Mike some twenty years earlier. The impression LeBron is leaving, in all facets of the game, may just see him surpass Mike after all is said and done – on and off the court.

RETURN TO BACK ISSUES