My last blog was about Hollywood being contagious. How narrow-minded of me! I'm constantly being reminded that all NBA players, not only those in Hollywood, feed off each other. And since the majority let money, fame, and popularity get the best of them, these players have come to one simple conclusion: I get what I want, I get it when I want it, and I get it the way I see it. I control the universe.
And I point the finger at three players. But before I do, on the subject of criticizing the inner-self of these professional athletes, I want to call out a group of players first - "contract" players. These are players who are on the last year of their contract and decide to play at an unbelievably high level that no one has ever seen for that particular "contract" season, so when the following off-season rolls around, their value goes up. And when their value goes up, the 0's in their contract go up. The NBA is full of these. Let's start with Eric Dampier. His contract year with the Golden State Warriors was in 2004. He averaged a double-double and was molding himself as one of the premier defensive forces in the paint, during a time when Shaquille O'Neal was the only big man anyone ever thought of. After that season, he earned himself a 7-year, $73 million contract, so now he could sit on his cash, miss a couple of games due to "injuries, and forget about life. His only accomplishment after his contract year was making this list. Maybe 2004 is a bit dated. Let's talk Hedo Turkoglu. He had incredible seasons with the Orlando Magic in the 2008 and 2009 NBA season. He won the NBA's Most Improved Player in 08 and was easily becoming the best small forwards in the game after his performance in the 2009 playoffs and Finals series against the Lakers, going toe-to-toe with the game's arguable best, Kobe Bryant. But his eyes were not fixed on his team's success, it was fixed on the cash-stuffed contract that he would receive after his contract year in 2009. Coming off a very positive season with Orlando, you would think Turkoglu would stay to ride the momentum into the following 2010 season, but he ditches Orlando and any chance of making a second Finals appearance to receive his 5-year, $50 million contract with Toronto. And then he dumps off - diminishes his level of play, decreases his motivation and enthusiasm level, and takes nights off.
Now let's turn our attention to the three players I had in mind - Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Carmelo Anthony. What's sad about this list is that these are probably the three best players in the game today, and our youth look up to them as role models, and they go out and act as young as the youth. Since 2007, NBA players have become more and more prone to demanding trades. We saw Kobe do it in the summer of 2007. He went on ESPN, talk shows, newspapers, almost every media outlet and vocalized to everybody that he wanted a trade from the Lakers because he felt the organization was going nowhere. He seemed to forget everything Dr. Buss and the Lakers front office did for Kobe during his early years in Los Angeles. He seemed to forget how crushed his fans in LA, who have stuck with him through all of his struggles (professionally and legally) if he had left. With all this in mind, Kobe still demanded a trade publicly, humiliating the Lakers and his supporters. Personally, I feel that Kobe really didn't want to get traded. He didn't want to leave LA. He publicly demanded a trade to spur action within the Lakers organization. Well, during that following season, Kobe got exactly what he wanted - he stayed in LA, and the LA front office beefed up the Lakers roster with the addition of All-Star power forward, Pau Gasol.
Kobe's action became contagious, and LeBron James was the next victim. He, like Kobe, wanted to contend for a championship. Although Cleveland did everything it could by bringing in a number of talented players, James wanted more, especially to play in a more exciting and historic city, like New York or Chicago. Everyone knew he would be a free agent in the summer of 2010. And instead of dismissing comments about leaving Cleveland during the 2008 and 2009 NBA season, he welcomed them. This proved to be a distraction to Cleveland, New York, almost everyone, and not many analysts and critics appreciated his childish antics. Why did he do this? Probably because he loved the attention. But it also could be because Kobe did the same and got everything he wanted. And what do you know? During the course of these seasons where LeBron flirted with these other NBA teams, Cleveland brought in emerging young guard, Mo Williams, and All-Star forward Antawn Jamison in hopes of keeping LeBron in Cleveland.
And now recently, Carmelo Anthony has picked up these bad habits from LeBron. Carmelo's doing exactly what Kobe and LeBron did - act like a kid. Demand a trade, flirt with other teams, while still being on his current team, the Denver Nuggets. How apathetic do you have to be to care so little about an organization that has matured you as a professional since you were a rookie? And what's worse? Obviously Denver needs to know what is going on in Anthony's head to please him or at least figure out what to do for the future of its organization. But if anyone approaches Anthony about the topic, he gets mad. First we know he acted childish. Now we know that he is a child.
And if history does repeat itself, you know Anthony's actions will bring him everything he wants.
We have great role models in the NBA.
- Leather Head
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