LeBron James Biography

 

LeBron Raymone James is a renowned NBA superstar and widely considered the greatest of all time. Born in Akron, Ohio, on December 30, 1984, to a single mother, LeBron never knew his father. Born into a poor family, LeBron considered sports as the only way out of their penury. He worked hard every single day, honing his skills at basketball and football, playing both sports at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School for four years before dropping out early to play in the NBA.

 

LeBron made it to the NBA but was drafted by a bad franchise – the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron was enormously successful on an individual level within the first eight years of his NBA career, winning two MVP Awards and making five All-Star teams; however, he had no team success. He then had to decide between staying loyal to his home team or moving on to a better one. In 2010, his decision to leave the Cavaliers and join Miami Heat fostered an immense amount of hatred toward him in his hometown: his jerseys were burnt and everyone prayed for his downfall. LeBron was motivated to win his first title, but performed poorly in the Finals. He played dreadfully throughout the series and the team ended up losing. His critics enjoyed his downfall.

 

However, during the next season, LeBron was more motivated than ever, reaching the NBA Finals again and dominating. This led to his first Finals MVP Award. The critics had been silenced, but LeBron was not done. In the next season, LeBron won the MVP Award and another Finals MVP Award. However, he failed to achieve a three-peat. LeBron then returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers and promised them a championship. In the first season of his return, LeBron played worse than usual. In spite of that, he reached the NBA Finals again. Even though LeBron put in an all-time performance in the Finals series, he couldn’t lead his team to a win, and the critics started talking about his many losses in the Finals.

 

In the 2016 NBA season, the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, were enjoying one of the most dominant seasons of all time, having won 73 games out of 82, with Stephen Curry leading the way. There was talk of Curry being the best player in the league. Meanwhile, LeBron led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals to face the Golden State Warriors. In the first four games, the Warriors were up 3-1, dominating LeBron and the Cavaliers. No team in the history of the NBA had lost a series in the NBA Finals after being up 3-1. LeBron changed that, as his incredible performances in the next three games resulted in the Cleveland Cavaliers becoming the NBA champions, with LeBron being awarded his third NBA ring and his third Finals MVP Award. Over the next two years, most players but LeBron had left, resulting in the Cavaliers becoming one of the weakest teams. Although LeBron would lead the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in the next two years, they were unable to win more championships.

 

In 2018, LeBron decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers. The move was questionable, as the Lakers were rebuilding and not contending, and although he was a fantastic player, LeBron had aged over 16 seasons. Unfortunately, he suffered a groin strain mid-season and sat out for most of the season. Critics resumed claiming that LeBron was not the best player in the world. The Lakers made several trades during the off-season, including signing one of the best players in the league. LeBron’s motivation had never been higher, and he performed very well, placing second in the MVP Awards that season and winning the Finals and the Finals MVP Award, becoming the first player in NBA history to win the Finals MVP Award with three different teams.

 

LeBron boasts one of the greatest, if not the greatest, basketball careers of all time, with four NBA championships, four Finals MVP Awards, four regular-season MVP awards, and 16 times All-Star, amongst other accomplishments.   

 

LeBron is more than a basketball player – he is also a kind and caring man. He founded a school for children unable to afford tuition. He also donates to numerous charities such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, After-School All-Stars, the Children’s Defense Fund, Gabriel’s Angle Foundation, and ONEXONE. LeBron has always cared for his mother and credited her. “My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.” LeBron met his future wife, Savannah James, at a basketball game between his and Savannah’s high schools. They got married in 2013 and now have three children – LeBron Jr. (15), Bryce (13), and Zhuri (5). Both LeBron Jr. and Bryce play basketball while Zhuri does gymnastics.

He is my favorite athlete and a major inspiration. He worked hard and get where he is today, working his way up from nothing. He is also one of the most criticized athletes in the world and his ability to ignore these criticisms is a great quality. He taught me that anything is possible because he was down 3-1 to one of the greatest teams of all time and still won that series, demonstrating his grit and determination to achieve the impossible.

My Reflection of the Last Dance

 My Reflection of the Last Dance

Last Dance is a 10 part documentary made by ESPN. The 97-98 Chicago Bulls team allowed cameramen from ESPN to record them so they could make a documentary in the future. This documentary was about the 97-98 Bulls mindset in this season and how hard it was for them to win one last championship ring. Before the start of this season, the Bulls had won 5 championships and were eyeing their 6th.

Last Dance premiered on ESPN on April 19, 2020, and ran for 5 weeks with 2 episodes per week. This blog is my first attempt at a documentary review.

Episode 1-3:

In the first three episodes, Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman talk about their journey in basketball and the adversity they faced to get to the superstar level. For Dennis Rodman, he was always short so he wasn’t that good at basketball, but at age 21 Dennis Rodman hit a growth spurt that no one could’ve expected. So with his new height, he started going to the basketball gym every day and he learned how he had to hustle for everything so he used that to get to the pros. Scottie Pippen, he was always underlooked and he had to struggle with that in his early basketball career and his NBA career. When Scottie was in his prime, he was one of the best players in the league, but was not getting the money he deserved. He was one of the least paid players on the team. This led to Scottie Pippen demanding more money or he won’t play. But Scottie ended up playing. Michael Jordan was very athletically gifted but in high school, he didn’t make the team so he used that as motivation and worked harder than ever. The next year he was able to make the team and in the future, he became the greatest basketball player of all time. These three episodes were really interesting because everyone knows these star players when they succeeded but they don’t know how hard it took them to get to the place they are in today. Also, it is also very compelling to know what they’re mindset was when they faced these adversities.

Episode 4: 

This episode shows how the Bulls were doing good but they were always one step short of making the NBA Finals. So the Bulls fired their head coach Doug Collins and Phil Jackson, who was the assistant coach, got promoted to head coach. Michael Jordan and Doug Collins' relationship was very good but when he got fired Michael Jordan was very mad. So, Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson’s relationship started out very rocky. But Phil Jackson was the missing piece for the whole puzzle and everything started to click for the Bulls. They started winning championships, and Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson’s relationship became very strong. 

Episode 5:

Since Michael Jordan is starting to win rings, his popularity is starting to grow and Michael Jordan’s shoes and ads are starting to gain recognition around the globe. But with his popularity, there are some problems. People are following him everywhere and he is starting to become tired of his popularity. But this doesn’t stop him from winning the Olympics gold medal and Jordan getting his second NBA ring. 

Episode 6: 

Sam Smith wrote The Jordan Rules, which exposed Michael Jordan’s gambling problem and how bad of a teammate he is. This book creates a wave of problems, Michael Jordan is blaming Horace Grant for telling Sam Smith about these things and their relationship gets broken. Also, his reputation is damaged. But this doesn’t stop Michael Jordan's main goal; three-peating. Michael Jordan ended up three-peating but he is exhausted-physically and mentally.

Episode 7:

Michael Jordan has just three-peated, but after a couple of weeks, terrible news comes out. Michael Jordan’s dad has passed away due to murder. This takes a huge toll on Michael Jordan since he and his dad were like best friends. This causes Michael Jordan to retire from basketball since his father always wanted him to play baseball. This causes the Bulls to move on from Jordan and make Scottie the leader of the Bulls. He does really well but no one could replace Michael Jordan so they get a second-round exit. Michael Jordan starts his baseball very well but he can’t hit sliders. This causes him to get struck out a lot and a lot of people start to criticize him. 

Episode 8:

Michael Jordan comes back to basketball which energizes the Bulls, but Michael Jordan is extremely rusty since he hasn’t played basketball for a year. They end up losing to the younger Orlando Magic’s team in 6 games. Michael Jordan has more motivation than ever to be the best player in the world so he works extremely hard. 

Episode 9:

The Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz to win the 1997 championship. Steve Kerr was a big piece for them to win that year. But those teams are more motivated than ever to beat the Bulls. 

Episode 10: 

The Pacers are giving the Bulls an extremely hard time in the Eastern Conference Championship and the Pacers think they can beat the Bulls. But the Bulls end up winning the series in 7 games. They have to play one more series to three-peat the second time, but they are extremely exhausted. The Jazz however is extremely hungry to win their first championship. But the Bulls end up winning the championship in 6 games. This was the end of a dynasty and perhaps the greatest dynasty in basketball history.

In conclusion, I would rate this documentary a 10/10 because I got to hear what the players thought of other players and their mindset. In addition, everyone including myself thought it was easy to win multiple championships since these great players made it seem like that. But we were totally wrong and this documentary shows that. After every game, players are exhausted but their 82 games in a season plus the playoffs so it’s extremely hard to make it out of the regular season. But for this Bulls dynasty to win six championships is truly incredible and we might never see anything like that happen again.

Watch Last Dance on Netflix.com.

My Book Reflection: The Mamba Mentality

The Mamba Mentality is an exceptional book to read. This book was written by Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant was a former NBA basketball player and was one of the greatest players to ever step on the court. Kobe Bryant has many accolades throughout his career such as a 5-time NBA Champion and an 18-time all-star. His jerseys (#24 and #8) were retired by the Lakers.

This book teaches the readers how to play the game at your absolute best. In the book, Kobe shared many of his life stories, and how he always wanted to be the best basketball player in the world. Also, he tells you that if you want to be great at something you have to prioritize that above everything else.

Kobe Bryant states, "If you really want to be great at something, you have to truly care about it. If you want to be great in a particular area, you have to obsess over it. A lot of people want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness.”. This quote has really inspired me. I want to be great at basketball, but it doesn’t happen easily. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be truly great at it, and if you want to be the best at something you have to work harder than everyone else.

At first, this book seems like a book for basketball enthusiasts, but that's not true! Most of his examples are about his basketball career which one can apply to anything in life. For example, if you want to get a good score on a test, you must take extra time studying even though it might be boring. I consider that to be the main message of The Mamba Mentality. You should always try to be the best in what you do even if it takes more effort. This book has inspired me a lot and it was cool to know Kobe’s mindset in his games.

I would rate The Mamba Mentality a 10/10 and I would recommend that any reader in any age group read this book.

7/14/20

 

Make sure to check out the book @  The Mamba Mentality