This guy should transpose the same argument to being about money.
I didn't need to like LeBron off the court because I appreciated his capability (a word LeBron is annoyingly fond of— we get it, you can do anything, please do it) to be uniquely great. He possesses a combination of physical ability and mental acuity that only a handful of players have ever approached. He's set individual records and a new pace for career achievement. I expected excellence from him in the Finals not because I think he's a great guy, or made the right decision about where to work, or respects the history of the game. I expected him to kick ass against Dallas because since I started watching ball with a critical eye, he's the best I've ever seen.
But LeBron James failed. He went limp before the submission hold was ever applied. I watched him give in, but to what I'm not sure. That's what makes his precipitous fall so hard to accept. James was defended by utterly conventional means and struggled to stay with a smallish, older shooting guard who boasts an even more absurd forehead-to-headband ratio than his own. He had ample opportunities to assert himself—in the words of Nuke Laloosh, to announce his presence with authority. Weren't these the moments James had relished his whole career?
