Writing Two

Marquez Foster
Today we are talking about an extraordinary basketball player who skipped college and went straight to the pros. That’s right I’m talking about LeBron James. While there have been other greats to make the jump from high school to the NBA like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Amare Stoudemire he stands alone in several categories.

LeBron was the nations top basketball recruit coming out of high school, although he had hundreds of colleges throwing themselves at his feet, he chose to make millions at an early age. James was a three year high school All-American and player of the year so who wouldn’t want him. At 6 tall feet and weighing over 200 pounds he, was not the average size of an18 year old and many NBA teams noticed that. As a matter of fact the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers was so obsessed with getting him on his team that he took a $150,000 fine by the NBA and was suspended for two games for allowing LeBron to come and work out with the team.

After this he was still a high school student LeBron led his team to another state championship in his senior season and was named Cleveland’s Mr.Basketball. Next on his list of achievements was the McDonalds All-American game. This was another time for LeBron to showcase his skills to the world. First he captured the slam dunk contest crown then he led his team in points and a victory. This made him a nationwide house- hold name. People who had never even heard of him knew his name. This made teams more willing to do almost anything to get him. Some even suggested that Cleveland traded Andre Miller knowing this would make their roster weak just to get a chance at having the number one overall pick. If they did, then it worked and LeBron was the first pick in the 2004 NBA draft.

People were excited to see what this beast of a kid was able to do in the NBA. Not only was he the youngest player to start a NBA game, he was also being paid mega millions of dollars. Although he was only allowed to make so much because of the leagues rookie salary rule, he was still making $100 million in endorsements from Nike, Coca-Cola, and Upper Deck. Some thought that this type of money would give a teenager the so called “BIG HEAD” but not LeBron, while in training camp LeBron showed off his athletic ability averaging 21 points a game, six assists, and five boards a game. Talk about making a statement to the ones who doubted his ability. In the regular season he found his rhythm and in November he had 11 straight games with double digit points, and finished the month with a 33-point, 16-rebound effort against the Memphis Grizzlies
When the 2004 season started to drawn to an end most expected him to sort of die down like most rookies. But not this guy he kept on going. In March LeBron had his first “BREAK OUT GAME” against the New Jersey Nets. Scoring 41 points and dishing out 13 assists LeBron had arrived in the NBA. Throughout the month of April he recorded two more double-doubles and silicified himself as one of the NBA’s future icons. When you think about performances like this it’s obvious who won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award. That’s right LeBron did beating out Carmelo Anthony and Dewayne Wade, and was also invited to play on the Olympic team making him the youngest player on the team.

The next season for him was no problem. He had no problem improving on his skills in all areas. Nobody in the league played more minutes than him, and he ranked third in the league in scoring. He averaged 27.2 points a game, 2.2 steals a game, and was sixth in passing with 7.2 assists a game. That year he was named to the East All-Star team and led the team in scoring and took home the MVP. That same year he led the Cavs all the way to the NBA finals where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs 3-1. A horrible ending to such a great season but look out for him to take the crown home to Cleveland sometime in the near future, because he is one of the most athletic players this league has ever seen disregarding Michael Jordan.