Is this the year of LeBron? I hope not

LeBron James is the most talked about player in the National Basketball Association. He is the most gifted player, the most marketable individual and the most celebrated superstar. Currently, he has the eyes of the sports world on him as he pursues that elusive first championship. There’s the obvious question that we’ve all debated: “Will he make it this year?” I won’t bore you with those details. Instead, I’m going to ask a different question: “Do I want him to get it this year?”

In short, no.

Hate LeBron James? Absolutely not. While he’s not one of my favorite players in the league, I have no reason not to like him. My Sixers are too incapable and confused for LeBron to fall into the “hated rival” category, so no disdain there. He seems to be an excellent teammate and ambassador for the league. Both are positive traits. To top it off he puts on incredible and amazing athletics demonstrations that I have only seen once before in my life and that was in nba jam. So yeah, I don’t hate LeBron. I have no reason to.

That said, I don’t want him to win the title this year. This is why.

First of all, I can’t stand the Cleveland Cavaliers. From top to bottom, they repel me. Their uniforms suck, they’re a seventh or eighth seed (at best) without LeBron, and the team is downright annoying. We understand. Everyone loves to play on the same team. You are true heroes. I’m pretty sure if you were to gather 11 basketball players from anywhere in the world and combine them with LeBron, they’d tickle them too. Instead of taking fake photos and kissing the LeBron, maybe they could help carry the load? How many times is Mo Williams going to disappear in a critical playoff series before LeBron takes him off the floor?

This is exactly why I can’t root for LeBron to win a title this year. It would show that a single player, surrounded by average talent, could win a championship. Jordan never did. Kobe tried and failed. Iverson made a valiant effort but also fell short. This golden rule must not be broken. Even NBA superstars need a second (and possibly third) fiddle.

This year, LeBron is again flanked by a group of out-of-tune cellos that he’ll need to lug to get deep into the postseason, something he’s been doing every postseason since 2006. Cleveland’s front office has yet to give him a legitimate team to win. That is in them. If LeBron doesn’t have a title in July, there’s a real chance he’ll look at Cleveland’s roster and say goodbye. No one could blame him either. Year after year, he has been sent to war with water pistols and a few paintball guns, while Kobe and Paul Pierce have been wielding automatic rifles and missiles. The Cavaliers as a team don’t deserve a title. It’s not LeBron’s fault, but I can’t endorse his efforts to deliver a championship to a group that has seen him do all the hard work for the last four years.

The second reason I don’t want LeBron to win this year is because of the biased media coverage of what they call “King James.” Again, this isn’t entirely LeBron’s fault, but it’s painful nonetheless. Everything LeBron does is glorified on another level. There are no metaphors too strong for journalists and no hyperboles too extreme for broadcasters. On Monday night in game two against the Celtics, LeBron played a mediocre game (by his standards). The TNT broadcast duo of Marv Albert and Reggie Miller never said that LeBron was having a bad night. Instead, it was his elbow this, his elbow that. Every mistake he made was due to his elbow. If he threw the ball far, it was the elbow. If he missed a wide open shot, it was the elbow. I understand that LeBron’s soreness and elbow are a problem, but in the first quarter Miller stated that the “gate-elbow” stopped and LeBron was fine. Then LeBron starts making bad decisions and suddenly his elbow is the problem again. Hey?

Yes, it’s LeBron James and yes, he’s incredibly talented. Although he is human. If you cut him, I’m sure he’ll bleed. It’s also likely that he has a bad game from time to time. Everybody does. I wish the media would tell it like it is. Not everything has to be so complicated. KISS Keep it simple, stupid. Please?

And finally, I love the other remaining teams more. If you haven’t noticed, there’s a trend here. None of my reasons for not wanting LeBron to win are his fault (and yes, I just used a double negative). I know it sounds unfair, but life sucks sometimes. I’m sure LeBron will survive. Seriously, you can’t expect him to root for a team like Cleveland when there are so many better “teams,” can you?

Take the Boston Celtics as an example. People love to hate the Celtics. They are cocky, tough and show no fear of mixing it up on the court. Guess what? I love his style. Do you think they care that LeBron is the best player in the league? Unlucky. Here’s how I’d break it down: Boston is a bunch of feisty sharks. In the distance is a giant whale that no shark could conquer. Only that whale is surrounded by guppies. Where a shark can fail, a group can succeed. LeBron is that whale among the guppies. The Celtics have already intimidated the guppies enough to isolate the whale. Now it is only a matter of time before the whale cannot survive on its own. It may not be the Boston Sharks that finish the job, but it will certainly be done before a Cleveland title.

Remember, I like LeBron James and I want him to win an NBA title. I just don’t want it to be this year.