From opening tip it has been about the city has lacked a le for 50 years.
Tiger certainly had his burden, namely racial in a white sport, so I won't diminish, but most black people weren't watching golf early on in his career to expect greatness. By the time they expected it, Tiger was already great.
LeBron was "The Chosen One" on Sports Illustrated at 16.
Some of it's his own fault, allowing it, cultivating it.
But he was equal parts Magic and Michael as a prep player. There was never a question of whether he'd be great, but rather exactly what great would be defined as once he was through raising the bar. He wasn't allowed to develop. He had to carry the entire city/region as a dominant star. His first commercial was a his "frozen, deer in headlights" commercial where announcers wondered if the game was too big for him. His second commercial was him onstage being named King James with his own gospel of "pass, pass, pass..."
He was never allowed to just be what he could grow into naturally.
Jordan got that. Kobe got it.
This isn't an excuse. He's had every opportunity and he's choked on several, run from others, and played Beta-Alpha in Miami.
He's made his bed.
But what if he was like Steph Curry's ascension? What if he had the time to develop rather unassumingly, as just another talented player?
For better or worse or for the good, the bad, and the ugly, James mirrors Cleveland: had great potential at one time, but a lack of vision has seen its best potential maximized elsewhere and squandered there.
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