RRR3's Incredibly Long Rant on LeBron, "Clutchness", and Being a fan of an Athlete

[RRR3]

When LeBron James is discussed these days, his alleged lack of "killer instinct" (a term that is, in my opinion, a euphemism for "we can't define X, so we will use a vague term as a cop out when discussing X") is often brought up. "Killer instinct" or the "Clutch Gene", to quote noted buffoon Skip Bayless, can generally be said to be "the ability, and desire, to improve one's performance at a pivotal, pressure-packed point in time", i.e. "rising to the occasion", or at least that is my understanding of it. Anyways, the following long-winded essay by me is basically me showing the puzzling, almost Jekyl and Hyde nature of LeBron James's play in "clutch" situations throughout his NBA career. While he has had many great moments, he has had his share of stinkers as well (most infamously the 2011 NBA finals). I am a LeBron James fan, so make of what I say as you will, but I do not think the things I am going to write about are all that ludicrous.

From his rookie year through his penultimate season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron seemed to fit the definition of clutch fairly well.
In the 2006 playoffs, the first playoffs of his career, LeBron displayed "clutchness" against the Washington Wizards (yes, they weren't a good team, that's not the point, he still "rose to the occasion"). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd0lqbXVRyQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AwnU...eature=related. I realize that LeBron travels on at least one of these plays, but superstars have long gotten away with traveling, and the point is that LeBron in these cases showed that he was not afraid of the moment and was willing to take and make big shots.
At age 22 in the 2007 season, he led a ragtag group of players to the NBA finals, along the way putting up one of the most incredible peformances in NBA history, scoring 29 of his team's last 30 points, including the game winner in OT, in game 5 of the ECF against the Pistons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Px-jPm_TU It certainly seemed LeBron was displaying a "killer instinct" here. LeBron helped the Cavs reach the finals against the San Antonio Spurs dynasty later this postseason, but struggled mightily against the Spurs, shooting just 36 percent while the Cavs were swept in 4 games. In LeBron's defense, no one expected him to get the Cavaliers (who at this time were really a poor team outside of LBJ) to the finals, and no one expected him to defeat the Spurs once he had gotten there. While LeBron's performance was certainly underwhelming, he could not be accused of "giving up" or "being scared" (which are more recent criticisms of him), because he certainly wasn't taking too few shots. He was also a young and still very raw player at this time, and was nowhere near the shooter or defender he is today.

A quick break from old video clips to show some "clutch stats". Now, I realize many will argue that you cannot define "clutch" as it is an intangible, but here are the "clutch" stats from LeBron's last three seasons as a Cavalier in the regular season...
2007-08: http://www.82games.com/CSORT11.HTM
2008-09: http://www.82games.com/0809/CSORT11.HTM
2009-10: http://www.82games.com/0910/CSORT11.HTM
Now, I would like to point out that in each of these three seasons, the top two players on these rankings of "clutchness" are LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Kobe has a great reputation as being a clutch player, and in this case, the stats would seem to support that claim. Keeping that in mind, consider that LeBron is right there with Kobe in each of these three years. Because of this, I think it is fairly hard to argue that these stats are biased towards LeBron and against Kobe (which, I assume, many were ready to scream out as soon as they read the last few sentences), or that they are necessarily untrue, because these stats do support the claim that Kobe is a great "clutch" player. Perhaps, then, at least in the seasons the data was compiled from, LeBron was a great clutch player as well.

Moving on to 2008-09, the first year LeBron won MVP and the year many consider his best to this day. LeBron not only was superb in the regular season, he was brilliant in the playoffs as well, averaging 35/9/7 and shooting 51% over the course of 14 games. In the ECF against the Magic, LeBron was simply dominant, averaging 38/8/8 and shooting nearly 50% (these numbers are IIRC, if I erred please let me know) and hitting a shot that was the very definition of "clutch": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fD1MNjkPFs The Cavaliers were eventually defeated in 6 games, but no one could fault LeBron, who did everything in his power to get his team to the finals. Some have theorized that this caused the first seeds of doubt to creep into LeBron's mind (although this is armchair psychology).

In 2009-10, LeBron repeated as MVP, and Led the Cavaliers to their best record ever (IIRC) in the regular season, helping them gain the number one seed for the playoffs. Although many expected the Cavaliers to make the Finals (this Cavs team was much better than the ones earlier in LBJ's career, although I personally do not believe they were really championship caliber) they lost in the ECSF to the Boston Celtics. Unlike his incredible performance against the Magic in 2009, LeBron's performance in this series disappointed many and caused many to question his commitment to the Cavaliers franchise (he was an upcoming FA at the time). This was when LeBron being a "quitter and a choker" and "scared of the moment" first became more popular sentiments.

Going off on another tangent before I discuss LeBron's play with the Miami Heat the past season and a half:
LeBron was one of the NBA's most popular and well-liked players for many years. However, this all changed completely when he announced, on a television special, that he would be "taking his talents to south beach", which lost him many of his fans and made him public enemy number one in Cleveland. While LeBron's actions in regards to his free agency and the Cavaliers were certainly tactless, thoughtless, and displayed a lack of consideration of how his decision might affect people, I was still surprised at the amount of vitriol he received (and continues to receive), even outside of Cleveland. I myself was disappointed in LeBron's actions, and was unsure of whether to still cheer for him (obviously, I eventually choose to continue being a fan). Even so, I was not completely able to understand the emotions of Cavaliers fans until a recent event in St. Louis (my home) Sports allowed me, in my opinion at least, to be able to empathize in some ways with Cleveland fans. This event was the departure of our baseball teams' superstar, Albert Pujols.

(continued)

[G-Funk]

I didn't read

[RRR3]

(continued)

A bit of background about me as a baseball fan and on Pujols:
My family and I first moved to STL when I was nearly six years old. I attended a few baseball games then (at the time a roided-up McGwire was hitting 70 homeruns) but was not a real fan then. I liked Ray Lankford, a star outfielder, but did not follow him or the Cardinals particularly closely. When I was around 8 or 9 is when I really started to get into baseball, a passion that remained strong until recently (more on that in a bit). Jim Edmonds, the Cardinals Center fielder, became my idol, and he remains my favorite athlete of all time to this day. At this time, Pujols was a rookie sensation, seemingly coming out of nowhere and becoming a superstar right from day 1. At the time, I resented the attention Pujols got, as being an immature 3rd or 4th grader, I was unhappy that Edmonds was often overshadowed by Pujols, who at the time was also an outfielder (but a poor one, which frustrated me because Edmonds was a great CF). As time went on (and Pujols moved to first base, where he became excellent at defense) I came to realize how transcendent a talent he was. To this day, he is the best player I have ever seen, and he is truly worthy of comparisons to the most revered legends in baseball history. anyways...I became a fan of Pujols, realizing how lucky we were to have him. When an old and declining Edmonds was traded to San Diego, Pujols became my favorite player on the Cardinals (Edmonds remained my favorite in the MLB, of course), and remained so until he left as a free agent. So, when a classmate told me that Pujols had signed with the Angels as a free agent, I was stunned and almost incapable of believing it. Pujols, like LeBron w/ the Cavs, had led the Cardinals fans to believe he would remain here for his entire career, often mentioning how he was "not about the money" and would give STL a "hometown discount". Being a "Cardinal for life" was something he greatly desired, he said. So, despite all the uncertainty I assumed Pujols would sign with the Cardinals until the end. He of course did not, and while St. Louis did not, I think, react quite like Cleveland did, do not think that Pujols is not hated by a fair deal of fans here--->
Pujols' departure made me understand how Cavs fans felt when LeBron left, and I was angry at Pujols for what I felt was a betrayal of sorts. I am no longer a fan of his, and cannot say I have the same respect I once did for him as a person, BUT-I still recognize his greatness on the playing field, respect him for his ability, and am appreciative for the great things he did while with the Cardinals. Perhaps my feelings may change when I see the Cardinals play w/o him this year, and when I see him playing in an LA uniform, but I cannot say yet. My point is that, at that moment, I am still kind of in disbelief that he left, but that I do not hate him, nor do I wish him misfortune, and that I do not and will try hard not to let my anger at his leaving influence my opinion of him as a player. I think that LeBron is deserving of the same, but by no means do I blame Cavs fans for hating him, this is just my opinion from experiencing a similar situation (it IS similar, Cavs fans, sorry. You like to tell us how we don't understand cause we're not from Cleveland, well it works both ways...you're not from St. Louis!). LeBron and Pujols are both human beings, and like all of us make mistakes, and we do not have to like them or respect their personalities, but they are not criminals, and have not done anything that I believe warrants such longlasting hatred, people who were not fans of them in the first place. I will never be a fan of Pujols the way I once was (I can't say I'll never be a fan again, though it doesn't look good right now), but I have mostly moved on from what happened and do not intend to continue to focus on it too much. I think it is somewhat irrational that we revere athletes so much in the first place, when it is in fact a business, although I admittedly am guilty of doing this in regards to Pujols.

On to LeBron's tenure with the Heat:
When the Heat's "Big 3" came together last season, they were routinely booed vociferously in every arena they visited. The media scrutiny towards them was at an unprecedented level, particularly on LeBron James. Perhaps affected by the constant rebukes, LeBron made some ill-advised comments throughout the season. His play was also possibly affected, as he experienced a lot of trouble in games that went down to the wire (IIRC he was 1-8 on game winners). At this point in time, at least, LeBron could'nt be accused of not taking the shots, although he was slammed for not converting. Anyways, after the Heat defeated the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs, they met the Boston Celtics, a team LeBron had had his fair share of problems with in the playoffs, to say the least. Both LeBron and Wade were superb in this ECSF, though, with Wade simply dominating the Celtics at times. It was LeBron, however to the shock of many, who stepped up in "crunch time", most notably in game 5 where he closed out the Celtics in decisive fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pjqDKoZohI The Heat then played the first-seeded Chicago Bulls in the ECF, and many thought LeBron's run was over after the Bulls trounced the Heat in the opener. However, LeBron then took over the series, while Dwyane Wade struggled mightily, routinely dominating the 4th quarters with his scoring and playing admirable defense on the MVP Derrick Rose. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEstWozRQp0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW8UFPd99B0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb8S50fndPs. The Heat advanced to the NBA finals against the Mavericks, and many believed LeBron had overcome his struggles for good. However, after a game 1 victory, LeBron severely underperformed against the Mavs, playing much too passively, and deferring to Wade all too often. In "crunch time" against the Mavs, he was practically invisible in games 2-5, and when he finally had a decent 4th quarter in game 6, it was too little, too late. LeBron's play in the finals, which can only be described as awful (by his standards) led many to write him off as a "choker" who had always been such (which I hope I have shown is not the case). His play was definitely puzzling, to say the least, and is something which he needs to atone for this season by having a dominant finals performance, but it was not an instance that was a microcosm of his entire career. This current NBA season, LeBron has been great once again, although he has looked too tentative and indecisive in close games at times. It is possible that the constant criticism has gotten to him, and he has begun to doubt his own abilities to an extent where he struggles mightily to step up (or attempt to step up, I guess) in the "clutch". He did have a clutch game against the Detroit Pistons this year, but that has been ignored or dismissed by most, and admittedly the Pistons aren't exactly stiff competition. Nonetheless, he was at least aggressive in that game. LeBron's recent admission that he should have taken the last shot in the All-Star Game, is, I hope, a sign that he is working to overcome his "handicap", if you will.

So that's all I have to say, I'm sure most of you won't read it or will just say something ignorant and make hasty generalizations, but I had a lot to say and I hope that some people will at least read part of this.



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[dunksby]

[Droid101]

[LBJMVP]

[SpecialQue]

I actually did read some of it though.

[bleedinpurpleTwo]

won't read the OP, but the gifs were funny!

[RRR3]

I actually did read some of it though.

Also, in keeping up with our earlier discussion

[SpecialQue]

Also, in keeping up with our earlier discussion

Fine. I'll read the fvcking thing after I eat dinner.

[Tenchi Ryu]

Yea...I didn't read all of that....

Killing me with all that text bruh.

[chazzy]

Read the Heat part. He really hasn't been very clutch since joining Miami. Can't drive to the basket against a set defense the way he used to and doesn't trust his improved jumper enough. When he DOES trust it, he's still deadly.. just in a different way than before (middle two rounds of the playoffs). I think the accumulated flack he gets for his misses are getting to him, to the point where he's had two games in this season alone where he missed at least two consecutive clutch FTs. That's when you know it's partly mental. And lately, the running narrative hasn't been his misses (like it was last regular season), it's been his eagerness to give up the ball in these situations.

[bagelred]

well said. couldn't agree more.









[COLOR="Silver"]did not read[/COLOR]

[Tenchi Ryu]

well said. couldn't agree more.









[COLOR="Silver"]did not read[/COLOR]

[RRR3]

well said. couldn't agree more.









[COLOR="Silver"]did not read[/COLOR]

You always make me laugh even if you didn't read my post