Why All The Fuss Over Where LeBron Ends Up?

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I’m guessing there are only a handful of people like me who could care less which team signs NBA free agent LeBron James, especially since they guy has accomplished nothing so far in his career.

Don’t get me wrong, I recognize James’ immense talent. His presence alone can fill arenas around the NBA and that might be reason enough to sign him.

But somebody will have to explain to me why a team should pay James millions of dollars when he’s yet to prove he has the right stuff to lead a team to an NBA championship.

If popularity contests determined someone’s proportionate worth in the market place, there are a lot of us who would benefit financially.

In the real world though most of us are compensated based upon a number of factors, and popularity isn’t one of them.

Putting things into perspective, James is the second best basketball player in the NBA behind Kobe Bryant, a man who’s won five NBA titles and an MVP award.

Had James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA championship, I could understand all the fuss. But he’s not even in the same league with great athletes in other sports.

In James’ defense, he never had a strong supporting cast in Cleveland, and he didn’t enjoy the luxury of having a particularly good head coach either.

Taking into account where James’ stands among the great players in the NBA is like comparing Charles Barkley to Michael Jordan.

Barkley is one of the greatest players to ever don an NBA uniform, but we don’t speak of him in the same breath as we do Jordan.

And there’s a reason for that. Jordan has six NBA titles and five MVP awards. Barkley never won an NBA championship and has one league MVP award.

The same objectivity should apply to James.

The media and fans are guilty of placing James’ potential above his actual accomplishments, and for a guy that’s done nothing of note to this point in his career, wherever he lands and whatever amount of money he gets will focus the spotlight on him even more intensely.

There’s no question James has the physical tools to lead a team to an NBA title, but what remains unanswered is whether he possesses the mental toughness to achieve that goal.

And regardless of where James plays or how much money he makes isn’t going to change that.