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"Biography of LeBron James"
Everyone was looking forward to the arrival of LeBron James in the NBA, and they had been waiting for several years.
And if it werenot for the age restriction of the Association (a player canot submit his candidacy for the draft until he turns 18), then, undoubtedly, LeBron appeared in the NBA a year or even two earlier.
David Stern did not want to change the League's constitution for a basketball prodigy, so it remained only to watch James smash his school rivals on the playground.
But now the cherished moment has come: the Cleveland Cavaliers team, which launched a real battle with other outsiders for the last place in the NBA at the end of the regular season, selects LeBron at the first number in the draft.
Naturally, a recent student still needs to adapt to big basketball.
Naturally, he will not be able to perform at a high level right away, because it took Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Tracy McGrady 2-3 years to play in the NBA for real.
So many basketball experts said.
But the hero of the occasion himself had a different opinion on this matter, he decided to do without a grandmaster's pause and literally broke into the League.
He had to pass a strength test first, when in one of the preseason games he received a knockout elbow to the chest from Karl Malone.
James passed the test, and after the match he said: "Well, welcome to the League!
If I survived a blow from one of the strongest basketball players in the NBA, then I will be able to play at a decent level."
And he could.
Having scored 25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals in the first match, LeBron silenced the skeptics.
It didnot take him a season to "swing", because he had been preparing for the NBA all his life.
James was born on December 30, 1984 in the small city of Akron, located near Cleveland.
His mother, Gloria James, who was not even 17 years old at the time, was forced to take care of the child alone.
LeBron's childhood was spent in constant traveling from place to place, which greatly prevented him from studying at school and making friends.
The only thing that has always been with young James is basketball, which, like American football, showed itself quite early.
Subsequently, LeBron's football coach Frank Walker sheltered his ward at home, thereby ending his endless moves and skipping school.
LeBron became friends with Walker's son, Frankie Jr., and with other guys who loved basketball: Sian Cotton, Drew Joyce, Willie McGee and Romeo Travis.
Together, they made their school team one of the best in the state.
LeBron himself was head and shoulders above his partners, both literally and figuratively.
By the eighth grade, he had grown to 185 cm, could play in all five positions and, according to his coach, had a basketball sixth sense.
Less than a year later, LeBron's team reached the final of the national championship among eighth graders.
It was then that they first started talking about James as a future basketball star.
Some time later, LeBron and his colleagues in their favorite pastime decided to continue their ascent to the basketball Olympus together and moved all together to the school " St. Vincent St. Mary."
And immediately, the basketball team of this school, for the first time since 1984, became the state champion, winning in all 27 games of the season.
And our hero scored an average of almost 20 points and was in the leaders of the team in almost all statistical indicators.
Successfully playing for the football team, LeBron nevertheless did not forget his main purpose, and the rumor about the basketball phenomenon gradually spread in the district.
School games began to be moved to more spacious arenas, and if LeBron had not been so focused on the game, he would have been able to see the stares of NBA scouts directed at him from the hall.
Thanks to winning for the second time in a row the final match of the state championship, held at the arena, the capacity of which exceeds 17,000, LeBron was ranked among the cohort of All Americans (along with Eddie Curry, Quomi Brown and others).
In the summer, the basketball prodigy did not lie on the beach, drinking Martinis, but lit up in various camps.
He especially distinguished himself in the famous Adidas ABCD Camp, which opened the world to all the same Kobi, T Mac and many others.
After seeing what James is capable of, ESPN reporters, through screeching and sobbing, vied with each other to compare the schoolboy with Jordan, then with Magic Johnson.
Meanwhile, Jordan himself immediately invited LeBron to his private training sessions, and the schoolboy tried not to get lost between different Antoine Walkers, Michael Finley and Penny Hardway.
By the way, just here LeBron became good friends with Walker, who later often called him to find out how he was doing, how he was behaving, etc.
To take a break from the sudden fame that fell on him, LeBron switched to American football for a while.
However, even here he managed to distinguish himself and attract everyone's attention.
Some even claimed that LeBron would be able to play in the main US football league, the NFL.
The third basketball season for "SVSM" was less successful.
Despite the excellent game of James, his team could not defend the championship title and lost in the final.
But Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal personally came to look at LeBron, and this could not but please the young rising star.
In addition, he was again awarded in various nominations for the best basketball player.
Ignoring the rules of the NBA, the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, John Lucas, invited the 17 year old phenomenon to train with the team before the start of the 2002-03 season.
And Lucas was not even confused by the fine of 150 thousand dollars and the suspension for two games.
After all, he got acquainted with the possible future of his team!
This future has butchered some negligent Cleveland players, scoring a couple of times from above through the hands of Chris Meem and Jumaine Jones, as well as distributing several mind boggling "blind" passes.
One day, LeBron was training in one of the Ohio school halls and almost got a dangerous injury.
When he scored another powerful dunk, the ring could not withstand the pressure and broke, and LeBron collapsed with him on the floor.
His school coach ran up to James in an instant, and the school's physical education director rushed to the ring lying next to him.
The ring that LeBron broke is money, it's thousands of dollars lying at his feet!
Knowing this very well, James ' foster father, Eddie Jackson, also ran to the ring.
There was almost a scuffle between him and the director, and the following dialogue took place:
- Give me the ring, please.
— I wonot give it back!
- Give me the ring!
- No!
It's mine!
- Yes, we will sue you!
— I wonot give it back...
- It will be a merry Christmas!
Let's be nice.
- Well, only in exchange for the six goals signed by LeBron.
- Okay…
That's what "LeBron fever" does to people.
And it's better for James to insure his health well, because no one guarantees that the next time a basketball rack will not fall on him.
LeBron's fourth and final season on the school team has started.
He had to appear on the TV screens of the residents of Ohio 10 times, that's how many games with the participation of King James it was decided to broadcast on the local channel.
In addition, ESPN2 has agreed to broadcast the game "SVSM" against "Oak Hill".
Everyone already knew LeBron and everyone wanted to see the gifted basketball player firsthand.
The largest sports firms "Nike" and "Adidas" launched a battle for him, offering more than $ 20 million for the contract.
LeBron took a year to think about it, but he did not refuse gifts from the companies.
On December 30, 2002, James turned 18, and Allen Iverson himself congratulated him on this significant date.
LeBron's mother prepared a truly royal gift for him: taking a bank loan of more than 50 thousand dollars, she bought her son a Hummer car.
The School Physical Education Association of the State of Ohio (Ohio High School Athletic Association, OHSAA) portrayed dissatisfaction with such a gift, but did not take any action.
However, when LeBron was given another gift, two rare jerseys from a sports store in the amount of$ 875, the OHSAA suspended James from participating in school competitions (the fact is that the Association prohibits students from taking advantage of their sporting success to accept gifts worth more than$100).
However, then the suspension was lifted, and after a short absence, LeBron immediately reminded himself of himself, scoring 52 points in one of the games — the same as the entire opposing team.
Then James performed in the McDonald's All American and EA Sports Roundball Classic All Star Matches.
Having already refused to enter the university in advance, LeBron made it clear to everyone that he would put up his candidacy for the next draft.
He told about his decision as follows: "I made much more difficult decisions in my life.
For example, quitting smoking or going to school regularly was much more difficult to choose between the NBA and university."
In this regard, several NBA teams launched a serious struggle for the worst result in the League, but Cleveland succeeded the most, which eventually got the right to choose first.
By the way, most likely, the club's management deliberately gave away its main point guard Andre Miller in the middle of the season in order to worsen the team.
If this is the case, then it is worth applauding the managers of the Cavaliers for such a radical step, because it is obvious that LeBron James will bring a huge profit to the owners of the club.
"50 posters of Jordan in my room, posters of Iverson, Kobe, Magic and McGrady, and a poster of myself on it — that's all you need to know about me," says LeBron.
"I want as few people as possible to know what LeBron James really is.
I'm a superhero.
Call me the Basketball Man."
It seems that the phenomenal basketball player does not suffer from an inferiority complex.
And, I must say, he has every right to make such statements.
Because he is "the best high school student who has ever played basketball."
Because he appeared twice on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, and books are written about him and TV shows are filmed.
Because in a single month, he earned ten times more than Michael Jordan in the first years of his career.
Because, according to the number of requests on the Internet, his name stands above all the NBA stars, above even M. J. himself, and there is already talk about including LeBron in the American Dream Team for the 2004 Olympics.
He says this because he was always better than the others, he scored more, saw the court better than anyone, jumped higher than everyone, he always had the 23rd number on his jersey.
LeBron "reads" the game a few steps ahead and distributes the most beautiful passes, without looking like Magic, like Mike, he attacks the ring and hangs in the air for seconds, as Tracy deals with the entire opposing team, as Ivy bursts into the three second zone with a pass.
His athleticism and outstanding physical qualities are amazing.
James wins rebounds from powerful centers, but at the same time likes to act as a point guard.
He could have won the NBA slam dunk contest right now.
It is worth remembering how he repeated the famous trick of Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter and some others, scoring in one of the school championship matches from above, having previously passed the ball under his foot from one hand to the other in the air.
And when LeBron soars up in a quick break, it seems that just a little more and he will hit his head on the ring.
But most of all among the others, he stands out for his extremely high basketball IQ and a certain flair for the Game.
In general, a miracle, not a player!
Reflecting on the question of what is more in LeBron James — commerce or talent from God, it is impossible to come to a categorical answer.
On the one hand, after three months of the regular season, there is no reason to doubt the incredible talent of a rookie: no school graduate in the entire history of the NBA has ever started his career like this.
Kevin Garnett scored 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in his debut season, Kobe Bryant scored about 8 points per game, Tracy McGrady even less.
LeBron's stats: 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
These figures alone speak volumes.
But the game of James itself speaks about more.
On the other hand, we can safely say that LeBron James is already a hyped brand.
Before playing a single game in the NBA, "golden boy" James has already earned more than $ 100 million on advertising contracts with "Niki", "Coca Cola" and several smaller companies.
T shirts with the name James are sold out instantly, his personal sneakers, which went on sale shortly before the Catholic Christmas, are even faster.
Before the arrival of James, the games of "Cleveland" were shown quite rarely by American TV companies.
This season, the US national television has included as many as 13 matches in the broadcast schedule!
Obviously, this is not an idea of some big uncle to "promote" LeBron and force the audience to watch his matches.
The demand is growing — at the same time the supply is growing.
This simple economic formula is very well shown in the situation with all this marketing fuss around James.
At first, some journalist was lucky enough to write first about a talented schoolboy who lives and plays basketball somewhere in Ohio, in some local small circulation newspaper.
The audience became animated, there was interest.
The publications appeared in larger newspapers.
Gradually, readers wanted to learn more about the young guy who is being read the laurels of Michael Jordan.
And off she went.
More and more people were learning about LeBron, more and more people were talking about him.
Scouts from universities, managers and coaches of NBA teams became interested in him.
Michael Jordan heard about him and invited him to his training.
The Cavaliers coach also invited him to watch.
The companies "Nike" and "Adidas" offered him contracts.
The smiling schoolboy appeared on the covers of "ESPN" and "Sports Illustrated".
In two or three years, LeBron James has turned from a schoolboy unknown to the general basketball public into a machine for earning millions and the main newsmaker of American sports.
Everything went as if according to a pre developed scenario.
The leadership of the Association was already eagerly rubbing their hands in anticipation of the loot that was coming right into their hands.
America was swept by a wave of "lebronomania".
The hysteria around James has reached incredible heights.
What if LeBron couldnot perform at a good level?
If, after several unsuccessful attempts by the club to pull the reputation of a player by the ears, James would not have played in the League?
LeBron's failure in the NBA would be the failure of the Nike company, the failure of Cleveland, the failure of the Association, the failure of the TV companies, the failure of all those who lifted the unknown schoolboy above the heavens.
Basketball fans would come to the conclusion that they were deceived, and LeBron is not a second Jordan at all.
Accordingly, the reputation of the NBA would be damaged.
However, LeBron started playing, and immediately became the leader of the team.
And everyone who bet on an unknown schoolboy, remained the winner.
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