During a story, the main character typically grows and learns over time and by the end, he/she has evolved in some way. Remember Star Wars? Luke goes from a kid who can't keep his mind on one thing and constantly has to be saved by his friends to the one who saves everybody (and also is a Jedi Knight, duh). Han Solo begins his story as an irreverent dickhead (still cool because he's Harrison Ford) who then becomes an important caretaker of Luke during his vulnerable periods and becomes less cynical about "The Force." Great stuff.
So how would that movie have been if Han Solo never learned anything but everything else still ended pretty much the same. The others keep hanging out with him because he's cool and he has a nice ship. He gets commended because he's still kind of involved with the Rebellion. That sucks! Nobody wants to see that shit.
When we think about the NBA, we think about Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James; the athletes that make the freak athletes that are average NBA players look like average people. Then, when we think about average NBA players, we still notice that they are freaks compared to us regular folk. We forget that most players in the league have to MASTER one or more skills just to get on the court for any team for a couple years. Shane Battier is big, strong and fast compared to most people, but in his environment, he isn't. Shane Battier destroys the average NBA player in book smarts and has figured out how to play great defense on the high scoring guards of his era. He's also toughened himself to take and make big threes in big games. He, and many others in the league, have maximized their potential and yet are still far from stars. But they are useful and good, and we like to see that.
Players like Shane don't have the natural ability of the stars but be that as it may, he still has to find a way to beat the stars and he does his best and sometimes succeeds. It's the beautiful thing about sports. This type of player CAN be championship caliber players, it just looks different. It looks like Manu Ginobili. But you know what? Whether it's fair or not, you don't make epic trilogies about Manu.
But you do make them about Michael Jordan. The narrative says he learned how to appreciate and play with his teammates and he got Scottie Pippen and the rest was history. Ehh, maybe kind of. Jordan ended his career as the best athlete ever, but he wasn't always "the best player." That helped him. Throughout his life, he learned to play as though he didn't have the advantages of being the best athlete in every game he played. Jordan played desperate as if his back were against the wall all the time. He did have to learn to control his emotions a little bit, which involves using his teammates of course. Jordan was also repeatedly beaten by a team in the Pistons who wouldn't let him through until he learned all of these things.
Even Scottie evolved. Another superior athlete, Scottie was a pushover early in his career and all the dogs of that NBA era knew it. He went through his evolution in the short time Jordan was gone in the mid nineties. The point is, this is the stuff they make not one but TWO trilogies about. Also known as "three-peats."
LeBron James is still the best player in the league like he was last year and the year before. I watched him in Cleveland for awhile. Watching his body mature was fun, watching him learn to play defense was awesome, watching him learn to shoot was pretty exciting. And watching his team improve around him as all of this might have been the best thing of all. And what greater place for the most gifted athlete to ever play to learn all the hard things about winning and being a leader than Cleveland? He was given a job only he could do. Perfect.
He was on his way, too. If anybody thinks this year's Bulls team has a chance at a title and the Cavs of the past two years didn't, that person needs to reevaluate. Saying that LeBron needed more help is not a real statement. Last year's Cavs were better than this year's Heat, I'm sure of it. Mainly because last year's LeBron is better than this year's LeBron. How could that be?
LeBron punched Cleveland's emotions in the crotch, he taught kids everywhere to give up and he ruined his reputation with a lot of people with "The Decision." But in my opinion, the worst thing the move from Cleveland to Miami did to him was stop his growth as a player.
One defense for paying professional athletes a ton of money is this. "Hey, you have no distractions if you don't want them. You don't have to worry about bills or anything. Just be the best you can be and see what happens!" The hope is that athletes will treat their craft as the most important thing in the world and us civilians are entertained and inspired by their greatness and competitiveness in whichever game they chose. That money though, is the same reason I will not hear the defense from Decision sympathizers that Cleveland was too hard. Too hard for $16 million plus endorsements? Some men might take that as a responsibility to at least try to do something great. The situation LeBron James was in in Cleveland required his full attention. That's what everyone who wishes these guys cared wants to see. We want this superdupertalent forced into maximizing his abilities.
What did he do instead? He gave up and went to a team with another superdupertalent who doesn't really want to develop a team from the ground up either. This Heat team, as you might have guessed, sickens me. They seem offended by hustle. When they dunk, they have a look that says, "Yeah. Running, jumping AND ball handling. Beat THAT." And as they are hopefully swallowed up by a team that gets it, I hope the Heat never do.
Kobe Bryant has reaped the benefits of having the best Center in the league in two different eras and having the best coach in the league but he never changed. He's a selfish, arrogant phony who can't stand up to any player at, above or even a little bit below his level as a player. He's always been that way and he remains that way. That's why it's so disgusting that he's won five championships. He hasn't learned a thing.
We can't see another movie end with our "hero" succeed without an evolution of some kind. It just doesn't seem right.
Go Bulls.
