Seriously, who actually believes this guy pushes himself during practice? He doesn’t have to do shit! Kid’s a physical marvel, almost as much of a douchebag marvel.

Dude, that’s up there with the most biased and naive things I’ve ever heard. I am not LeBron lover, nor do I disagree that his actions imply his douchebaggery. Actually, if hard-pressed, I’d lean much more toward LeBron hater than lover.

But I know how to respect and separate people’s talents and personalities. Yes, he may have done some overtly offensive things, and yes, it was because he is thinking of himself first, and everything else second. But I don’t think he’s arrogant, just selfish.

In basketball, confidence is thinking you can still win, even when you haven’t. Arrogance is thinking you were never at fault for your teams losing. Selfishness is looking elsewhere to win at all costs. LeBron has been selfish, but he’s never, ever blamed his teammates for losing it for him. He’s not arrogant on the court. Zeke was arrogant. Shaq is arrogant. Hell, even Monta Ellis is arrogant (that was hard)…

But LeBron? I don’t think so. He’s not arrogant enough not to push “himself during practice.” Yes, the “kid [is] a physical marvel,” but not because he was born with rippling muscles. He didn’t come out of his mom’s womb with a 7 foot wingspan, weighing 260 pounds. He was certainly given some great talents, but do you want to know how he maximized his athletic ability? How he turned his body into a basketball playing machine, an athletic anomaly, and (for better or for worse) thrust himself as one of the greatest players of all-time within 7 years of playing in the NBA?

I’ll tell you how. He worked. He fucking worked his ass off on the court. Perhaps he should have spent more time off it to learn common courtesy and loyalty, but you cannot deny that utilizing given potential requires work.

So for once, I’d like his naysayers to continue saying nay, but also to acknowledge that his polarizing decision (that’s a nice way of putting it), has only been so grand in scope, so controversial, because it is directly proportional to his phenomenal skill. If he wasn’t so great, so freakin’ amazing at basketball, I wouldn’t need to defend him from naive criticism.

Please, have some respect for the man, and give him credit when it’s due. Nothing less, and definitely nothing more.