The Strange Case of King Nothing's "Legacy"

And So It Begins..

We knew this day was coming, sure in the beginning we thought it would be in the ECF's but it didnt work out that way. Are we to worry? Nah. We're Celtcs fans, our team's been here before, maybe not THESE GUYS, but the Celtics have been in this situation before, the old, worn out guys facing insurmountable odds between them and yet another title- and we won. (Say Sam what DID L.A. do with all them ballons?). But today it begins. Boston vs Cav's. In a few hours we will begin to see wether the Celtics have enough left in the tank for a title run..

Well thats how the local Cav's commercial sort of put it, well actualy the commercial implied that the aging Celtics will make a last dicth effort to continue pursuing yet another title while Lebron James seeks to add to his legacy.

Ah, so there we have it, this game is really about Lebron James and a bunch of long toothed Celtics who apparently are in need of some sort of basketball players answer to Viagra, Lebron James, "King James". King Nothing. And here i was hoping for so much more. A Celtics VS Cav's series is what i had been hoping for, but naw, we get King Nothing vs the Celtics.

If it were true, I'd be down with that. Go ahead, stick Lebron out on the court all by himself against 5 Celtics. I wanna see how well his legacy does there. Go ahead, do it. C'mon, its all about King Nothing anyways right? The Celtics are old, worn out "actresses" Surely the reigning MVP could do what the media describes him as doing- adding to his legacy by singlehandedly beating everyone.

Only, is that the true Legacy King Nothing has?

OK, what exactly is King Nothing's "legacy"?

Well... he was part of that National team that failed epically in the olympics, securing a broze metal to the U.S. Though they did redeem themselves 4 yrs later with the Gold. He is a 6 time All Star, He was Rookie of the year on a team that failed to make the playoffs. He is a 2 time MVP. Scoring Champ, all NBA teams.

He is in his 7th NBA season however. Seven seasons and he now has a "legacy" Lets examine that Legacy. 7 seasons, 5 trips to the playoffs, 1 trip to the finals and 0 Finals MVP awards- sort of like the number of NBA titles his "legacy" has accumulated over the past 7 seasons-O.

Some other names passed threw my mind when i thought of players with "legacy's" and winning NBA titles- ya know, all the other guys who could have an argument made that they are the greatest of all time. Russel, Bird, Magic, Wilt, Jordan, Ko-me, Shaq. Otis Birdsong (ok, just kidding)- King Nothing's legacy is in peril. This season he MUST win a title to at least tie with Jordan the number of yrs in the league it took before he won a title- 7, after that the only guy's he could beat to winning a title is Shaq who took 8 yrs and Wilt, who had a certian William F. Russel fella in his way making him wait an agonizing 9 seasons before acheiving Championshipdom.

By way of comparison, Russel had 6 titles and 1 finals MVP , Bird has 3 titles as well as 2 finals MVP's at this point. Magic also had 3 titles and 2 finals MVP awards, Ko-Me even had 3 titles at this point in his career. Yes King Nothing's legacy has time chasing him snipping at his heels if he doesnt want to take longer than these other greats of the NBA to win a title.

There is another aspect of King Nothing's legacy i'd like to mention. Last season the underdog Magic not only defeated our beloved Celtics in 7 games, but also took out King James in 6 games (I dont think the Magic beat the Cav's in 6 games, according to the media, its all Lebron, maybe if he'd had 4 other guys on the court with him???) afterwards King Nothing did two things that caused a bit of an uproar. Secondly he brushed off the media and refused to do the post game interveiw after HE (not the Cav's- but King Nothing himself)lost to the Magic. BUT!!! Firstly he refused to shake hands with the Magic who'd just beaten him- robbing him of the chance to beat Jordan, Shaq and Wilt to titles quicker.

Since we're speacking of King Nothing's "legacy" here, legend has it when asked by a reporter later about the incident King Nothing had this to say, after being told most times players shake hands following a playoff series, "‘No you don’t, no you don’t"
James went on to say this, "No one shakes hands at the end of series all the time. No one does that. No one does that at all."

Well.. thats true i suppose, not everyone does it all the time- remember whent he Bulls overcame the Pistons after the Pistons little title run and the "bad boys" walked off the court without ackowledging them? "poor sportsmanship" was the label of the day for them

"I’m not a poor sport at all" King Nothing contended and the day after the series with Orlando had this to say ""It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them.. I'm a winner. It's not about being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

Well.. I'm wondering, does this whole not shaking hands thing only apply to King Nothing- and only when he losses? To me, this is a part of King Nothing's legacy. My reason for this curiosity stems from King Nothing's actions following the winning of the Cav's/Bulls series. "Would there be hand shaking going on if the Cav's - I mean if lebron won this series?" an enquiring mind had to know.

And suddenly, there it was, I dunno, maybe King Nothing has diffrent standards for other people who are lesser than "Kings" or maybe Lebron and the Bulls dont consider themselves " a winner" or "a competitor" terms King Nothing used to describe himself following his loss to the Magic as he described the sort of people who dont "congradulate" the team which beats them.

You see, I watched the postgame and clearly saw James, not just shaking hands with the Bulls players- but making the effort to reach out to shake hands- they wern't just going to him- he walked towards them as well.

How should this be taken? Are the Bulls lesser beings than King Nothing? Does a diffrent set of standards apply to King Nothing and everyone else? Is King Nothing a hypocrite, or did he mature over the past 12 months?

This is something I will be watching for in the series, the Celtics/Cav's matchup is one of two teams who "do not like each other". How will King Nothing react if the Celtics do beat them in the series? The same as he did with the Magic? Will he expect the Celtics to bow before him and admit they are no longer winners and competitors if He beats the Celtics?

Lebron James "legacy" is in the mind of this basketball fan a weak one. While the league and media often try to claim it's HIS Court and he's King. Last seasons actions left him looking more like the Court Jestor than a King. Before I consider Lebron as having a true "legacy" two things must happen, and both cannot take place this season. First, untill James finds himself on a team claiming the NBA title he is, and will be "King Nothing" in the NBA titles are what matter the most and James has none. Untill that changes, everything else he has done to further his "legacy" accounts as Nothing. Secondly, James needs to readjust his thinking from last season- a lesson can be learned from the fans of the Greatest Sports Team Ever's fans.

Back in yesteryear the Celtics postseason was ending after losing the series to their Eastern Conference opponets, the fans accepting their teams loss not only ackowledged the opponet was, for the time, the better team, but cheared them on VS their opponets for the NBA finals as a chear rose from the stands, "Beat L.A.!! Beat L.A.!!" was the battle cry. The fans of the greatest winners of all time gave the ultimete sign of respect by ackowleding what the Celtics opponets had done.

Respect. King Nothing will have to learn to respect his opponets, and even congradulate them following defeat. Even IF He does win an NBA championship this season, Untill that happens King Nothing it will be. Even being given a NBA crown this season James will still wear the stench of being a poor loser, despite what he's claimed. A true champion would wear the Crown with humilty, for the time being Lebron is cloaked in the stench of being a poor loser. Giving a Court Jester a crown makes him a King of nothing. For me, Lebron James legacy needs not just the title, but also a healthy dose of humility.

As I watch this series, I'm hoping the Celtics are going to be able to help provide Lebron James with some of that humility.

Rosalie

Whom on here would give you a tongue lashing?

NOT me.
HR hit the nail on the head.

It's all about Bron from alpha to omega................

I always respected the stamley cup playoffs....

Hockey is a tough sport, ask any hockey player to give you a smile.
At the end of each series in the quest for Lord Stanley cup the teams line up at centre (the spelling is for the canadian fans) ice and shake hands.

Do they all want too? Probably not but they respect the game and the tradition and do it.

Bron

couldn't lower himself.

Actually he couldn't RAISE himself to be a man for once in his adult life.

I've always been a believer that in the end things even out and good wins out over bad. Not saying the C's are good and the cavs are evil but in the FINAL judgement good prevails.

Too bad Bron couldn't go explain to a kids cancer clinic why he couldn't shake hands when he lost. He has no respect from this quarter and perhaps never will.

beat

Hooter,

To answer your questions, I believe I read that the Lakers donated the balloons to an orphanage. I don't know whether what I read was tongue-in-cheek or not.

Sam

beat wrote:Rosalie

Whom on here would give you a tongue lashing?

NOT me.
HR hit the nail on the head.

It's all about Bron from alpha to omega................

I always respected the stamley cup playoffs....

Hockey is a tough sport, ask any hockey player to give you a smile.
At the end of each series in the quest for Lord Stanley cup the teams line up at centre (the spelling is for the canadian fans) ice and shake hands.

Do they all want too? Probably not but they respect the game and the tradition and do it.

Bron

couldn't lower himself.

Actually he couldn't RAISE himself to be a man for once in his adult life.

I've always been a believer that in the end things even out and good wins out over bad. Not saying the C's are good and the cavs are evil but in the FINAL judgement good prevails.

Too bad Bron couldn't go explain to a kids cancer clinic why he couldn't shake hands when he lost. He has no respect from this quarter and perhaps never will.

beat

beat-

my feelings exactly. The more I see of him, the more entitled and arrogant he comes across, and the less I like him. The failure to shake hands (and then the attempt to justify it afterwards) were the straws that broke the camel's back. But he has no problem shaking the BUlls' hands after beating them.

What a joke.

I can't wait to see his reaction if the Cs bounce this guy. Hopefully for his sake he will man up and shake hands.

I just read the cleve plain dealer sports page and they are using the word elbow quite a bit...they dont seem very happy.

LeBron is simply the product of all that surround him. I'm sure he is a very charitable person in the Cleveland community. I always liked the way Shaq immediately volunteered to pay for George Mikan's funeral, was it? Maybe some of Shaq can rub off on LeBron.

He is surrounded by people that are pumping him up all the time telling him he's great. For the most part they are right. There are some real annoying things about him, though. I call this the American Idol Phenomenon I've mentioned before. This is why you hear those complete losers early on in the audition process that have no business singing. But they are surrounded by people who keep telling them they are great. Now this is a rather extreme comparison because LeBron is a great basketball player. He doesn't have many flaws. Lord knows, we keep looking for them on the court but can't find any. But his attitude of entitlement is particularly irksome. We've had this discussion before where he needs someone to slap him around a little bit. I'm sure there is a great person and ambassador for the NBA inside him. He's not complete. He's just trying to win whatever way he can.

He needs someone from his past that dont care about money or fame to tell him "you are so full of shit right now" when he is.

Instead yes men and toadies including most of all his coach.

The results are predictable.

An article by an ESPN writer about "The King" after Tuesday's debacle.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebroncavs051210