Anyone can be a hero. Raise a boy to become a man and he will always see you as not just his father, but his hero. Do your duty when called upon- rush into a burning building to save a life- and that person will feel forever indebted to you. Anytime you make a lasting impression on a child’s life, they forever look up to you. How is it, then, that so often our heroes are sports figures? Save for a select few who have the unique opportunity to be directly impacted by an athlete, most superstars become heroes simply by doing what they love. Entire cities worship at their feet because of their ability to play a game. 

Sports heroes come in two forms: those we revere and those we love. What causes this difference? The presence of flaws. It is much easier to love an athlete when we think of them as no different than ourselves. Sure, they are far superior physical specimens than we could ever dream of being; but take them out of their sphere of dominance- take them off of the basketball court- and they are just like everyone else. 

Larry Bird was one of the most loved athletes ever, but not just because of what he accomplished on the hardwood. What set Larry Legend apart was his vulnerability. When the season ended, he didn’t go to his mansion in the Hollywood Hills and party like a playboy. No, instead Larry simply went home. He went home to his farm in Indiana and returned to being the Hick from French Lick. He got on his tractor and mowed his lawn, like he was just a normal guy. People loved Larry’s game because of his sweet stroke and uncanny court vision. People loved Larry because they saw themselves in him. 

Magic Johnson didn’t go back to his home in Michigan. He went to those parties at the Playboy Mansion that Bird missed out on. Magic was the typical Hollywood star. Even with that great smile and love for the game, not everyone liked him- just ask any Boston fan in the ’80’s. And then he contracted the HIV virus. All of a sudden, Magic was human. He was normal, just as vulnerable as you and me. He was Magic, but he was also still Earvin. Now it is almost impossible to find a person who doesn’t like Earvin Magic Johnson. Before his mortality became evident he was revered, worshiped even. Once people realized he was mortal, he became loved by all. 

Sure, you say, everyone loved Bird and Magic- that’s because they never gave people a reason not to. Maybe they weren’t loved for their flaws, but just because of their greatness. Then take a look at the career path of LeBron James. LeBron was the first athlete to enter a professional sport already carrying the burden of being expected to become the greatest of all-time. Somehow, he rose to the challenge and became everything we expected and more. He was lovable, yet even he still had his doubters- people who simply didn’t want to see him reach Jordan’s level of immortality. Then he made ‘The Decision’, and he became the biggest villain in sports. He didn’t cheat on his wife, didn’t spit on a child in the stands, didn’t gamble on a game, didn’t get caught taking steroids, didn’t start a brawl. For all we know LeBron James has never even run a red light. Yet we hated him because he chose to do what anyone would have: leave his current job- when his contract ended, no less- for one with better co-workers, a higher upside, and a better climate (and you better believe anyone living in Cleveland would bolt for Miami faster than they could say “I’m taking my talents to South Beach” if they had that opportunity). 

LeBron went from savior to Satan, and he hated it. You could see it in his face and the way he played, there was a rage building inside him that was never there before. He struggled, and the world relished in it. His old team was terrible, so his hometown began adopting whoever was playing against as their new team. They went so far as to burn his jersey in the streets. It hurt him, and it showed. Yet he still fought through it all and led his new team to the NBA Finals in their first season together, and then the best thing that ever happened to him occurred: they lost. In the days and weeks after the Dallas Mavericks snatched the championship from his grasp one can only imagine what was going on in LeBron’s mind. Finally he emerged from his darkest days and he decided he had to change. Starting with those lockout mixtapes, you could see the difference- LeBron was having fun again. With a new mentality, LeBron led his team back to the Finals. This time, we wouldn’t be denied- he put in a performance for the ages, securing that elusive first title. Then he led his country into London and brought back a gold medal. Since then he hasn’t looked back, playing the best basketball of his life… and maybe the best we’ve ever seen. 

Can you guess what has happened since his rededication? Those haters, at once seemingly as numerous as fish off the Florida coast, began to disappear. Now even the fans in Cleveland, the very same ones who burned his jersey and cursed his name, are talking about the potential of the return of the King. After seeing him at his most vulnerable, just as miserable as any of us would be in his position, it became almost impossible not to feel for him. 

After all that has happened, no matter how many banners he raises, he will never be worshiped in Miami like he would have been in Cleveland. But he will be loved, and maybe that’s all he ever wanted. 

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I hope you enjoyed reading! If you have any questions, comments, or other suggestions on how to improve the column or any other topic feel free to contact me at my email address [email protected], on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adam.colman.9 or on Twitter @AdamRColman. 

Thanks for the support! 

When you see it, you just know. Greatness is sometimes that simple, because it comes in so many different forms. Wilt’s greatness looked a lot different than Magic’s greatness, just as Bird’s looked so different from Michael’s. We as a society have a tendency to compare the latest form of greatness with those from the past. In the midst of LeBron’s latest historic stretch of play, we need not try to compare it to Jordan’s best stretch, or Kobe’s, or Magic’s. Instead, take a breath, sit back, and enjoy a form of greatness we have never before seen.

Late in their game Tuesday night against the Blazers, James sized up his man at the top of the key, jabbed left, drove right, rose up amongst three defenders and… passed. At first glance, there was nothing great about this play. Jordan would’ve switched hands mid-air and kissed the ball off the glass. Kobe would’ve drawn a foul and thrown up a shot no one else would dare attempt, and it would go in half the time. But this is what makes James’ greatness so unique. Instead of shooting, James floated in the air a second longer than anyone else and flung the ball over his head to the corner just before his feet returned to the ground. Standing in the corner all alone, Ray Allen caught the pass, rose up, and drained it from behind the arc for the 2,793rd time in his career. We’ve seen this sequence so many times that it no longer seems special. But that overlooks the placement of LeBron’s pass. James placed the ball in between the ‘E’ and ‘A’ on Allen’s jersey, allowing him to catch and shoot in one motion just before the defender, who was drawn off of Allen by James’ drive, was able to contest. 

We often hear how great players make their teammates better. Often, this is by demanding more of them, making them raise their play to reach the star’s level. LeBron makes his teammates better by making the game easier for them. In Boston, Allen won a championship by running around screens, catching passes in awkward positions, and hitting contested threes. Now? He stands in a corner and shoots wide-open threes like it’s pregame shoot around. This is not to diminish the greatness of Allen’s teammates in Boston like KG, Paul Pierce, or Rondo. Rather, this sequence illustrates the uniqueness of what makes James great. 

Minutes after Allen’s corner three, James made another greatness-defining play. As the game approached its climax, the Heat were clinging to a two possession lead when a Blazer player broke down the defense and seemed poised to finish an easy lay-in. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere (and from out of the picture for those watching on TV), LeBron soared over and thwarted the shot attempt, sparking a fast break that would seal the Heat victory. It is widely known by now that LeBron is one of the best defenders this league has ever seen, possessing otherworldly size and speed that allows him to guard virtually anyone on the court. What seems to fly under the radar is James’ clutch play on this end of the floor. Too often he is criticized for his lack of a clutch gene on the offensive end without anyone addressing his ability to shut down the opposing team’s best player in these crucial situations. Anyone remember the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals? That was when he locked down MVP Derrick Rose in the fourth quarter for four straight games as the Heat cruised to a 4-1 series victory. Of course this was quickly forgotten by his lack of game-winners on the offensive side of the ball against the Mavs in the Finals. But who is to say that scoring points is more important than stopping the opponent from doing so? We give it more value because our heroes’ (Magic, Bird, MJ, Shaq, Kobe, Dirk, etc.) have been defined by their accolades on the offensive end. James accomplishments are no less great; he is simply redefining our idea of greatness. 

But the spectrum of LeBron’s greatness does not stop with his passing skills and defensive ability, lest we forget that he is now in the midst of a six game stretch of scoring 30+ points on 60% shooting, after finishing 11-for-15 with 30 points Tuesday night in Miami.  James is redefining greatness, but that hasn’t stopped him from being incredible in all the traditional ways as well. So for now, let’s not keep comparing LeBron to the greats of the past and analyzing where he will stand among them when his career comes to an end. Instead, sit back, relax, and enjoy all the nuances of LeBron’s unique form of greatness. 

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I hope you enjoyed reading! If you have any questions, comments, or other suggestions on how to improve the column or any other topic feel free to contact me at my email address [email protected], on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adam.colman.9 or on Twitter @AdamRColman. 

Thanks for the support! 

Kobe Bean Bryant is, without a doubt, one of the top-10 players in the history of the National Basketball Association. Even his most vehement haters must concede this point. There is a very real possibility that he will end his career in the top-5 of this list. Hell, if things fall into place for him and his Laker teammates the next couple of years (a possibility that seems less and less likely by the day, unfortunately) he could have a legitimate claim to MJ’s throne as the greatest player of all-time. Now this may seem sacrilegious (it sure does seem wrong to type that), but the stats don’t lie. Kobe and Michael already have the same number of All-Star appearances (13), and Kobe will surely pass MJ Thursday when this year’s All-Star starters are announced. Kobe has more All-Star game MVP’s than Jordan (4 for Kobe, 3 for MJ). Now many will dismiss that stat, claiming All-Star games are simply exhibitions for the fans that don’t matter, and this may be true to the majority of players and fans. However, that overlooks the competitive nature of both Jordan and Kobe that makes them who they are. Sure, guys like LeBron, Dwight Howard, and Blake Griffin might treat these games like a show more than an actual competition, but that doesn’t mean that Kobe does. If you think Jordan, Kobe, and other players wired like them (Magic Johnson) don’t go into each of those games with the intention of being the best player on the court and taking home the MVP, then you simply do not understand just how much winning matters to them. The All-Star game is a dick-swinging contest to these guys (the best players in the world at the same place showing off just how good they are), and you better believe Kobe and Jordan both want everyone to know that theirs is the biggest. As far as All-NBA selections, a slightly more reliable measurement of a player’s performance, Kobe already has as many first-team selections (10) as MJ, and one more second-team selection than Jordan. And Kobe is still going!

Statistically, Kobe is closing in on Jordan’s career numbers as well. He is within two-thousand points of Jordan’s career total now (that works out to 25 points per game, for 80 games. That means he can take the rest of this year off, come back next year and put up 25 a night- something he’s done every year since ’03-’04- then retire and still pass MJ. So I’d say there’s a pretty good chance of that happening). In terms of playoff numbers, he needs just one or two decent playoff series to pass Jordan in career playoff points and rebounds and, get this, he already has more playoff assists than MJ! (Not too shabby for a guy widely regarded as a ball-hog) Lastly, as everyone knows by now, Kobe needs just one more NBA championship to tie Jordan, and that’s where the rest of his legacy remains to be written in the next few years.

(To be fair to his Airness, Jordan’s career averages in points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage, and total Finals and regular season MVP awards are significantly greater than Bryant’s. Will Kobe surpass MJ for the G.O.A.T. title? Highly doubtful, but he has a chance to join the conversation at least.)

(There can only be one G.O.A.T. Does Kobe have what it takes to challenge Jordan for the throne?
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Now that I’ve thrown a ton of stats at you, it is important to remember that stats don’t always tell the entire story. Wilt Chamberlain was statistically far superior to Bill Russell, yet every time they met in the playoffs Russell seemed to have Chamberlain’s number. That’s why Russell has eleven championships to Wilt’s two. As far as Kobe’s image is concerned, he has both positive and negative feats going for him. First, he is unquestionably the most competitive player since Jordan. No player dedicates his entire life to the game of basketball as much as Kobe Bryant. He is, almost literally, psychotic in his approach to the game. I am fairly certain he would dunk on his own mother if it meant he could win another championship (this is where Kobe and MJ differ, as I believe that is as far as Kobe would go, while I think Jordan might have at least considered slitting someone’s throat in order to win- and if that someone was Isiah Thomas I think he would’ve done it in a heartbeat). Maybe as a result of this competitiveness, and maybe completely unrelated, is the fact that Kobe has hit more clutch shots than I can count. Again, he is definitely the most clutch player since MJ. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, Kobe wants the ball in his hands, and he’s going to shoot it. Here’s the thing about Kobe’s clutch factor: it doesn’t matter that he’ll miss it as much as he makes it. When the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Finals two years ago, they faced Kobe and the Lakers in the second round. The series turned into a sweep, but early on it was a tightly contested match-up. I vividly remember Game 1 coming down to the final seconds, with the Mavs up by 2 and possession belonging to the Lakers. The Lakers ran an inbounds play setting up Kobe for a fade-away, contested 3-pointer. It was defended well and the shot ended up missing- as it probably would have nine times out of ten due to the degree of difficulty. As a Mavs fan, I had never been so relieved in my life.  This is what makes Kobe so incredible- no matter how many times he misses, when he’s playing your team you are always sure it’s going to go in. I remember talking myself into the game being a moral victory for the Mavs- a close loss on the road, it’s only Game 1, etc.- before they even inbounded the ball! Other players might have better percentages or even be more ‘clutch’ than Kobe based on someone’s definition of the word. But there is one fact that I think we can all agree on: no one else is as FEARED in the final seconds with the game on the line as Kobe Bryant. He is the first and only player that I can think of since Jordan to have this effect. Durant is on his way, and may well get there one day, but as of right now Kobe is in a class of his own. 

So what’s the knock on Kobe that the stats don’t show? Many people would say his defense, and if I had to answer in one word that is what I would say, too. But this answer is far too simple, I believe, because the fact is Kobe is not a bad defender, necessarily. He made multiple All-Defensive Teams earlier in his career (even though some of those may not have been warranted, you can’t get on those teams as a truly bad defender). No, it has never been his ability on that end that has held him back. Instead, it is Kobe’s approach that limits him. Kobe decided, pretty early on, that he was going to do what he does (score points) at an elite level and that it was up to his teammates to do the rest of the things that good teams need to win games and championships (i.e. rebound, pass, play defense, etc.). This is not to say that Kobe doesn’t do any of these things (he is actually a fairly good rebounder for his position, a better-than-advertised passer, and an above-average defender [for most of his career]), but he has seemed resistant to sacrifice his scoring in order to put extra effort into any of these other areas. This is what makes guys like Jordan and LeBron so special: they have the ability to be the best player on BOTH ends of the floor, every night. When they need to score 30 to get the victory they can. If they need to lock down the opponent’s best player the next night, they can do that too! Kobe has never been this player; every night his goal is to score as many points as it takes for his team to win. This has been his tendency for his entire career. This season is the perfect example of this tendency: Kobe decided he was going to go out and drop 30 a night, and if they lost, well, you couldn’t say he wasn’t doing his part. Classic Kobe. 

Then, less than a week ago, something miraculous happened: Kobe decided to take it upon himself to guard the other teams best player, regardless of position.  He limited Kyrie Irving to 15 points and 7 assists in his first game as a defensive specialist. Then, he held Brandon Jennings to 12 points, on 4 of 14 shooting, with just one assist. Meanwhile, Kobe still managed to score 23 on 9 of 14 shooting against the Cavs and 31 on 12 of 19 versus the Bucks. Oh, and the Lakers won both of those games by double figures (not a small feat as they were on a 6-game losing streak heading into the Cavs game). This marked, as far as I can tell, the first time Kobe has sacrificed shots in favor of playing defense. And guess what?! He still put up 54 points in two games! And he made over two-thirds of his shots! By sacrificing his offensive game, he made his team better defensively (much needed) AND allowed his teammates to become more involved on offense. All of a sudden, we are seeing the Steve Nash we saw in Phoenix and the Dwight Howard from Orlando. This takes the pressure off Kobe on the offensive end and has allowed him to get more open looks and score at a frighteningly efficient rate. 

This change in mentality has opened the door for Kobe to climb the ranks on the All-time list. Playing the way he always had would have allowed him to be a top-5 player ever. He could’ve won a scoring title at 34 years old (insane) and maybe lead this Laker team to a first round upset, if they made the playoffs. But that was about their peak if they stayed the course. By making this little sacrifice, he has made the Lakers a dangerous team again. Am I overreacting to a two game stretch against bad teams? Possibly. But I know one thing: they weren’t winning a title the way things were going. Now, I’m scared of them again, and that starts with Kobe Bryant. 

At his age, with as many miles as his body has on it already, can he keep this up night after night? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But if he can, the Lakers can contend. That’s the only way they can win a title this year, with this roster. Kobe knows this. He also knows that if he wants to challenge Michael, he needs at least one more ‘ship. And as competitive as he is, you can bet he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. If I know one thing about number 24 it is this: never count out Kobe Bean Bryant.

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I hope you enjoyed reading! If you have any questions, comments, or other suggestions on how to improve the column or any other topic feel free to contact me at my email address [email protected], on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adam.colman.9 or on Twitter @AdamRColman. 

Thanks for the support!