See this is why I will always like Kobe way more than Lebron. Say what you will about Kobe's "selfishness" and "overrated clutch play" (both of which are pretty untrue, well especially him not being clutch), Kobe would never disrespect the game, his opponents and himself by doing those stupid little jigs on the sidelines.

He has something called an appreciation for the game and his predecessors, something Lebron quite obviously lacks.

I hope somebody punks him good this season to shut his stupid mouth.

Not surprising behavior by Lebron. It seems his initial dancing was before the game. Whatever with that, that's not disrespectful that's having fun. Dancing during a blowout game like that? Yeah. Disrespectful and assholish behavior. I can guarantee if the roles were reversed he'd have something to say about it. Also typical, he turns it around as an insult against Noah. "He's just mad cause he sucks and he lost."

And unless I'm wrong, and I'm fully willing to admit it since my frame of reference is much smaller here, this kind of "dancing" and "not showboating" didn't happen on the scale Lebron states it did in '08-'09. I didn't see it "all last year" but then I didn't see all 82 games. Opinions?

Jack tying his shoelaces was just... I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it and I doubt I ever will again.

Oh and back to King Crab, from a short article I read on ESPN about a woman possibly being the the NBA in the next 10 years, Lebron just can't resist mentioning himself almost immediately: "Ten years?" James asked. "That's, like, right around the corner. [In] 10 years, I'll be 34. I'll still be in the NBA. I think 10 years is pushing it, honestly."

To be fair, he does make other relevant comments after, but I just found it par for the course that he has to inject himself into it. What does his age and his playing status have to do with a woman playing in the NBA within 10 years? Unless he becomes commish or something, absolutely nothing.

He's not the only douchebag in the NBA and doubtfully the biggest, but he's certainly one of the most visible. Stay classy, Lebron.

Damnit, I was just coming here to post that exact Jarret Jack shoe video.

Josh - maybe it's relevant to LeBron because he will be that woman...you can see the story now...

"2018 - In an effort to remain ahead of the curve, James will fly to Thailand today to undergo a sex-change operation to make sure he is the first female in the NBA.

LeBia James as he/she will be now known said 'I don't need too much. Glamour and all that stuff don't excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball and some makeup in my life.'

Josh,

There was a fair amount of dancing on the Cavs sideline last year, and it annoyed some people then, too. I don't know that he (they) means any disrespect by it. Probably he's just having fun with his teammates. However, that's not the same as saying it isn't disrespectful. I think he's got a an ego, and I also think he doesn't realize how his actions or words will be taken, so he often is rather boorish.

As far as his comments on a woman in the NBA, I think you might be reaching there. First of all, ESPN has probably cut the interview, so who knows what was actually said. Second, he's probably just attaching a reference point to things to help him think about it. Everyone does this.

Lebron is a doucher.

I'm really starting to despise Lebron. At first, I figured it was just my own backlash against the hype machine. Then, the last year+ of douchery occurred, and I realized it was actually backlash against James for being an asshat.

Say what you will about Noah, (he's young, acts like an idiot from time to time, and is as dumb as a post, etc.), but one thing I do like about him is that he doesn't ever seem resigned to losing. It always seems to bug the crap out of him, which is less common than it should be in the NBA.

@PK "LeBia" is in fact the best tranny name for Lebron as it not only sounds like his old masculine name, but also sounds like "Labia". If that was your intent, bravo sir (or madam).

@DKH I did see it from the Cavs last year and figured it was just their team's thing, as a lot of other teams have their own little pre-game routines. Like I said, before games I don't care if they do the hokey-pokey, that's all in good fun. In fact, I like to see that. It shows they get along and don't take themselves too seriously and that should be encouraged. It loosens them up. You don't, however, do it *during* a game. That's when you become an asshole. In contrast, the Lakers had good chemistry in the finals last year. When game one ended in a blowout, not one Laker was doing a jig on the court. You sure as hell didn't see Kobe doing the Charleston (though that would be highly amusing to witness). Mind you, that was in the finals, not a regular season game against an admittedly inferior opponent.

It's as simple as putting yourself in the other guy's shoes. As I said, if the roles were reversed and, say, Rajon Rondo or Paul Pierce did the two-step at the freethrow line in a Celtics blowout of the Cavs, you sure as hell know that Lebron would be mad and let everyone know (and he'd be justified). It's as easy as having a little respect, though, when you don't shake hands because that's "not what winners do" (even after they lose) I guess Lebron's level of regard for his opponents becomes pretty evident.

As for the interview, I fully concede to your point about the editing of the interview. It may have been quite chopped up, you're right. He may not have said that first and it was unfair of me to assume he did, so I'll give him the full benefit of the doubt there. However, it's not a reach to say that he still feels the need to mention himself. He doesn't need a reference point there. Look at it like this:

Reporter: Senator, do you think there will be a woman president in the next ten years?

Senator: Ten years? That's like, right around the corner. [In] 10 years I'll be 65. I'll still be in the US Senate. I think 10 years is pushing it, honestly.


You already know how old he'll be in ten years. You already know what he'll be doing in ten years. The reference point was already mentioned: ten years from now. Still doesn't fit in the context, at least not to me.

Jesus, I'm not even a Cleveland fan, but the excuse making for the loser Bulls is silly. Noah doesn't have an American street ball background and got his panties in a bunch. He's the real loser here. If you're getting killed, don't whine about how other team conducts itself.

Okay, you know what, enough is enough. I know you guys get a kick out of criticizing rich and successful people, but lay off.

I mean, seriously, in 7 comments about a merry little jig he did on the sidelines, you've already managed to mention that: Kobe is better, James is apparently the biggest douchebag in the universe and he'll do anything to get attention, because of his huge ego.

It's not like he threw an opponent's shoe into the sidelines, or dunked, while kneeing Noah in the balls, and flexing and staring menacingly afterwards. (Mind you, it took me two seconds to come up with those examples, because they are recent, as you guys very well know.) He didn't tell Noah to "suck his dick" in a foreign language (for you that don't know about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuSGt0kN6BU ), nor did he start a huge brawl, and try to beat up members of the auditorium.

He was having fun. He thinks that, because he is one the top 3 players in the league, he is entitled to a little fun'n'games on the sidelines. I agree, if you're the losing team (especially one that is so pathetic it can't fight back on the court), it seems very frustrating, and dickish. I agree that it is not very sportsmanlike. But, since you guys play a lot of pickup ball, tell me - how many times did you get so caught up in a game, that you said "In your face!" to the other guys, or did a little dance of your own. Of course, you'd say: since all the people at a game like that know each other, it's not a big deal. I think it's the same in the NBA. Also, LeBron was dancing to celebrate some nice moves (I think it was particularly because of a sweet alley-oop by Moon), not to rub in defeat in the other team's face. I see nothing wrong in that.

Finally, I'll point out that I watched this atrocity of a game from the beginning 'till the end, and I didn't enjoy it that much. The Cavs looked unconvincing to me, and the Bulls just plain sucked. Yeah, I think King James didn't need to dance (after all, apart from some nice plays, the rest of the game featured crappy play by his team), but I also think that you guys are just jumping on the bandwagon here, and blowing it out of proportion (about just as big as this post of mine).

On an unrelated note, what do we call it when a formerly decent or All-Star caliber player on a team with a superstar point guard puts up great stats, gets a contract based off of that, and then fails to live up to his monster contract?

I like Nash-and-Switch, or maybe Quentin Richardson'd.

I bring this up because I am deep in hate with Richard Jefferson right now.

That Bucks - Cavs game yesterday....when the Cavs went on something like a 25-0 run in 11 minutes and the Bucks couldn't score in a brothel.....a part of me died.

And I'm neither a Bucks fan nor a Cavs enthusiast. Andrew Bogut in particular was an abomination.

On LeBron, he seems to be genuinely enjoying himself, and I'm not fussed by it. On the court he's all business and I don't care what he does on the sidelines.

The "Jarrett" should be added to our bawful vocab. Bawful, just plain bawful.

Mladen:

All those examples were prominently reported on this very website, as I recall. This particular update was about Lebron being a dick, so you'll get posts from people who feel he is a dick. If the post had been about Kobe there would probably be three times as many comments of the same nature.

Personally, I think anyone who gets Chosen 1 tattooed across their back deserves a lifetime of basketbawful mockery. That goes beyond superstar athlete ego and into the realm of monstrous sense of entitlement.

Mladen said: But, since you guys play a lot of pickup ball, tell me - how many times did you get so caught up in a game, that you said "In your face!" to the other guys, or did a little dance of your own.

I've played pickup ball in a lot of different places, and that type of behavior would get you punched in pretty much all of those places. Or, at the very least, on the verge of an ass-kicking. This wasn't a simple "in your face" or Antoine Walker shimmy. Dude was dancing all over the place during the game.

That kind of thing wouldn't earned James a knock-down foul in any era other than this one, if only because David Stern has steralized the league to the point where players can't even stand up off the bench without getting suspended.

But I've played enough basketball to understand how my actions effect the people I'm playing against. LeBron has too.

I never mentionned anything about Kobe being a better player, I just think he is a less of a dick.

And since you went there, yes I do believe Kobe is a better player.

I guess they'll be changing his nick from "The King" to "Dancing Queen"

"I've played pickup ball in a lot of different places, and that type of behavior would get you punched in pretty much all of those places."

That's a bit extreme but at any rate my personal opinion is that James is still a fruitcake.

You're playing the Bulls asshole, they aren't very good in the first place so what the fuck has you so giddy that you feel the need to dance and prance around like a ballerina anyway?

In my opinion, the best thing to do is act as if it is standard practice to beat an inferior opponent.

"David Stern has steralized the league to the point where players can't even stand up off the bench without getting suspended."

Thank Zeus for that!

Even with his tomfoolery, the best way to get "revenge" is to get fired up for the next time you play his team and beat the shit out them on the court.

"Personally, I think anyone who gets Chosen 1 tattooed across their back deserves a lifetime of basketbawful mockery."

Indeed. Chosen for what exactly? You play a game for a large fee. Congrats silly bastard. Now set your "chosen one" standards a bit higher.

"And since you went there, yes I do believe Kobe is a better player."

Amen brother!

Greg -

Come on, Q-Rich? Kenyon Martin was sucking up his max contract on the Nuggets post J-Kidd while Q-Rich was still bombing away with Nash in Phoenix.

Really, the question is whether Kenyon and Jefferson give Kidd a cut of their earnings.

Oh lord, first off, "The Chosen One" is a nickname given to him by Sports Illustrated when he first appeared on their cover when he was 16. It's a reference to that. If Kobe (or any other player for that matter) wants to tattoo "Black Mamba" (a nickname he invented for himself) on themselves, they can do that too.

Secondly, most of Lebron's dancing and over-the-top celebrations over the last year were celebrations of his TEAMMATES accomplishments. I remember watching a game last year when Wally effin' Sczerbiak thunderously denied (I think) Ray Allen and LeBron and. co. lost their damn mind on the bench. Douchebag behavior or not, you cannot argue that the guy is not the one of the best teammates in the entire league. Which is more than you can say about Kobe Bryant.

And in regards to Lebron refusing to shake hands with the Magic last year, I didn't realize that NBA had a grand tradition of lining up for post-game handshakes like it was the NHL. Something like that happens in every damn playoff series.

The "Ball Don't Lie" blog at Yahoo! Sports had a post on the shoelace-tying incident:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Jack-ties-shoelace-during-live-play-Bulls-watch

Its last line, replying to a disgusted Sham of ShamSports.com, instantly reminded me of your Basketbawesome style of humor: "Try and look on the bright side of things, Sham; at least none of the Bulls players offered to tie Jack's laces for him."

LOL Deng is a bum. Vinny should have him running stairs until he pukes after that display.

"Oh lord, first off, "The Chosen One" is a nickname given to him by Sports Illustrated when he first appeared on their cover when he was 16."

That rational is worse than if he had simply chosen the name himself.

A homage to a magazine article? Oh Lord is right!

"Douchebag behavior or not, you cannot argue that the guy is not the one of the best teammates in the entire league."

So what? Why would anyone argue that in the first place? At any rate, I think his standing as a top flight performer superceeds his dancing as far as rating his teammate Q rating.

"Which is more than you can say about Kobe Bryant."

Really? Have you seen a Laker's game? Those guys seem to love him.

Good for them.

I wonder, if anyone defending this nonsense has a kid who participates in sports, what they would say if their kid was performing chicken dances because they were in the midst thrashing an overmatched opponent?

"That's okay sweetie pie! Just havin' a litte fun."
~Dipshit parent #1

"You're playing the Bulls asshole, they aren't very good in the first place so what the fuck has you so giddy that you feel the need to dance and prance around like a ballerina anyway?"

BINGO. Also add to it that the dance, preceding noah's name calling, was a celebration of assCrab driving to the basket and drawing a foul from aaron gray. seriously WTF?

"That rational is worse than if he had simply chosen the name himself."

I'd be inclined to agree with you if "The Chosen One" isn't such an awesome nickname. As it stands, I don't really care.

"I wonder, if anyone defending this nonsense has a kid who participates in sports, what they would say if their kid was performing chicken dances because they were in the midst thrashing an overmatched opponent?"


LeBron James is not in charge of raising your child. The less the world has to listen to the insane whims of parents the better off it will be.

For the record, as somebody who does not have a child, I would relish the kid who is awesome enough to pull these routines in a kids sports arena with reckless abandon. Society needs people to have their feelings hurt at young age.

In fact, I encourage everybody to start randomly insulting kids at wanton discretion.

I'm actually surprised LeBron wasn't called for a technical for taunting, since that's basically what all that dancing was. Yes, I know he got T'd up for leaving the free throw line to walk over to Noah, but if the refs had just given him a technical for all the dancing prior to that then Noah wouldn't have had to say anything.

Honestly I think the biggest issue I have with LeBron's dancing is that he's trying to play it off like he's such a fun-loving, jovial guy who's just having fun with his teammates, but it's not hard to look at how he acts when his team gets the crap kicked out of them to see what a hypocrite he is. Just look at the pseudo-meltdown he had in that last game against the Wizards. Taken together with this game against Chicago he begins to look like someone who's both a poor winner and a poor loser.

"You're playing the Bulls asshole"

It took me a while to figure out that there was a punctuation problem going on.

Until then, I was trying to figure out what the heck the OP meant. I mean, no matter how hard I tried to parse that, it just wasn't working.

"I'd be inclined to agree with you if "The Chosen One" isn't such an awesome nickname."

That nickname ain't shit.

Besides, Jesus Shuttlesworth (via Spike Lee) called and said give him his name back.

"LeBron James is not in charge of raising your child. The less the world has to listen to the insane whims of parents the better off it will be."

At no point was I making a silly ass "role model" argument. I questioned his bitch-like actions as a reflection of his persona.

If James (or any other unknown athlete) is a kid's role model then all that means is that kid has shitty parents.

"I would relish the kid who is awesome enough to pull these routines in a kids sports arena with reckless abandon."

It looks as if you and Mrs. James have something is common (besides the potential for raising dancing fruitcake kids.)

Plus, I relish the look on your face when someone beats the shit out of said kid.

"Honestly I think the biggest issue I have with LeBron's dancing is that he's trying to play it off like he's such a fun-loving, jovial guy who's just having fun with his teammates, but it's not hard to look at how he acts when his team gets the crap kicked out of them to see what a hypocrite he is."

Get this man a prize.

Like I said, he's acting like a attention starved princess.

"Until then, I was trying to figure out what the heck the OP meant. I mean, no matter how hard I tried to parse that, it just wasn't working."

If you know the teams ahead of time that sentence work well with or without the possessive form!

Or as Noah put it, a bitch.

Gotta love the haters. And the Kobe-lovers. Or are they all the same folks? Gimme a break. The posters here pretend they want opinions, but what they really want is to eat celebrity. Criticize. Make themselves big. Whoopdedoo.

Gotta love the haters. And the Kobe-lovers. Or are they all the same folks? Gimme a break. The posters here pretend they want opinions, but what they really want is to eat celebrity. Criticize. Make themselves big. Whoopdedoo.

Or maybe people are just discussing issues and events within a sport they feel very passionate about? I'm just saying...in general dismissing criticisms as hate versus celebrity has become a rather generic argument.

I actually think LeBron's career to date has a lot of parallels to the first 7 or 8 years of Shaq's career. Think about it:

- both came into the league as man-child physical prodigies with formerly nondescript franchises
- and put up incredible numbers
- while projecting a "goofy, fun-loving" persona
- but managed only one trip to the Finals, & got swept decisively.

Shaq was fortunate to team up with another basketball prodigy, who happened to be much more driven than him (or just about anybody), plus the winningest coach of all time, and that got him in a groove towards 3 titles. He got his 4th paired up with another competitive maniac and HOF coach. We all (rightfully) give Shaq his due as a champion, now, but he used to be mocked for his "I've won everywhere but college & the pros" line. Shaq was fortunate he got his career arc turned around - who knows what's gonna happen with LeBron's?

The hype machine is a lot more ridiculous than it was a decade ago, but it's really just a matter of degrees. Remember, Shaq was in a commercial with Kareem, Wilt, Russell, & Walton before he played an NBA minute.

Interesting that those two are teammates now.

Oh, and LeBron's dancing is really lame, by the way.

To whoever it was that said Lebron was only dancing on the sidelines (I'm too lazy of a bum to scroll back up) keep in mind my issue is not with dancing at the bench in response to what your teammates are doing. That I don't give two shits about. You're on the bench, not actively in the game with 20,000 eyes on you in the arena alone. Every single team - *every* *single* *team* - jumps around at the bench on great plays. It's because something awesome happened and they react.

Again, they're not IN the game and I couldn't care less if they tango. Dancing after getting an and-1? Dancing at the free throw line in front of the other team's bench? You KNOW you're being seen. I am NOT saying Lebron's light loafers were put on with the full intent of being insulting. If fact, I seriously doubt he thought "Hey, I'm gonna dance! That'll really embarrass them!". But Lebron isn't stupid. There's no possible way he can't understand that what he did was asshole behavior and him trying to pass it off as anything but is insulting to the fans watching his immature shimmying.

So let's not use Kobe as a contrast then. When the Celtics blew out the Lakers two years ago in the finals, I remember their bench was nonstop motion. I don't, however, recall anyone on the court shuffling, dancing, doing the worm (some fist-pumping, chest-pounding, and primal-screaming notwithstanding). I HATE the Celtics. In my opinion KG is now a bit of a thug and Pierce has my eternal hatred, but they didn't dance. The Celtics. Against their rivals the Lakers. At home. In the FINALS having not been there in how long? With a massacre of 39 points. No dancing on the court. Hm.

Could I possibly be wrong in saying Lebron is one of the many bullies in the league? Look at his behavior. He doesn't respect his opponents, he's not a gracious winner, he's not a gracious loser, and he handled his most recent criticism by, you guessed it, being insulting again: "Noah's a whiny cry baby who can't win. Shucks, I was just having fun!"

Oh and yeah. Kobe is better.

WV: Dingl - The source from which dingleberries come.

Lebron's dancing during the squashing of a mediocre team cements his status as a full flowered dingl.

Lebron has seemed like a douche to me for a while now. I didn't get the whole "Man Kobe is a dick, but Lebron seems like a cool guy" thing that was going around for a while. Both of them are egomaniacal assholes. But I find Kobe a bit less annoying, because he seems to be an intelligent fellow... whereas James seems to be both a jerk and an idiot.

BTW, WTF happened to my other comment? I mean, I know it was probably even longer than the first one, but I think it gave a perspective 90% of people here are refusing to see...

Ah, fuck it, it's too late here, anyway, and I'm only posting 'cause I'm sick, and can't go anywhere. Good night, you princes of New England.

P.S.: Gotta agree with ChilliCon.

Josh, you're right, the Celtics didn't dance. But in the 4th quarter of that Game 6 blowout, when individual Lakers went to congratulate individual Celtics as they were being taken out of the game, the Celtic players noticeably dissed the Laker players. Definite douchey behavior.

Of course in Lebron's case, the other night he was playing against a team that the Crabs should beat in their sleep. He was being an uberdouche.

@The Dude Abides

Ah, thank you, I didn't know that. At the one minute mark or so in that final game, having thrown my hat at the TV, I went to calm myself down with the time-tested tradition of any angry man: I bought candy.

I was also attempting to stay impartial since I won't hide my hatred of the Celtics, but, and I'm loathe to say this, I can almost accept their behavior in that situation, given the magnitude of the events. Still, douchey nonetheless.

Why is Noah so mad? I mean, look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ3y5hTHuP4

@anon

Different situations by far, my friend.

Nice try, though.