Grow Up, LeBron

LeBron James got boomed on. There, I said it. Is it such a big deal? I say no. Everybody gets dunked on from time to time (except for myself, of course), and there's nothing humiliating about it after twenty minutes or so. The big deal is that LeBron had supposedly had officials from Nike confiscate the tapes of the event.

Really?

LeBron, you're one of the best players in the world. Jordan Crawford, who dunked on you, is getting ready to start his sophomore year at Xavier. I doubt anyone thinks he's better than you, or thinks it's a huge deal that he dunked on you. The kid's athletic, got in the right situation during the game, and finished with a slam. No biggie. What's funny is that by attempting to hide the evidence, you have made it a newsworthy story. Heck, they even ran 30-second segment on Wednesday night's SportsCenter about it. Do you think they'd have reported about the dunk had the buzz surrounding the confiscation not been such a big deal? Me neither.

After shunning the Orlando Magic after getting beat in Game 6, I was worried that baby LeBron was coming back out to play. He has a history of dogging it when his team gets down by big margins, controlling all of the content in his interviews, and stringing along Cleveland's fans with subtle comments about whether or not he'll return after the 2009-2010 season (just don't say anything). The fact that he attempted to hide a story about him getting dunked on only adds fuel to the fire. Obviously, a man in his position has a lot to lose in terms of image and publicity if something damaging happens to him. The only problem is that someone dunking on him (in a pickup game at his Skills Camp, no less) is far from damaging.

The best move for LeBron now? Come out, explain to everyone what happened that day, and then release the tapes to YouTube. He saves face, the video gets out, and after we all realize that him getting jammed on isn't such a big deal, we go back to wondering if he'll ever win a title.

That, LeBron, is where your focus should be.

~~ Lank