LEBRON JAMES: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY ... A REMINDER

"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility." -- Sigmund Freud

One can't count LeBron James among the afraid. 

Since his transition back to Cleveland from Miami in the summer of 2014, James transitioned from egomaniacal ring-chaser to a genuine leader, one who had to reintegrate himself to his hometown team and the community that burned his jersey four years earlier.

In the four and a half year since, I - who had been one of his toughest critics before - began to watch the caterpillar evolve into the butterfly. Sounds a little soft for a metaphor? If you've ever watched that transition from start to finish, it's a truly magnificent and beautiful transition.

The same can be said of James, who - without skipping a beat - continued to go to the NBA Finals four more times in Cleveland after winning two rings in four consecutive years in Miami.

In his NBA career, James has gone from talented rookie with high, yet undeliverable expectations to carrying a team to the NBA Finals where he was swept by the juggernaut that was the San Antonio Spurs.

Some saw his departure to Miami as egomaniacal, but in retrospect, it sparked and fueled his growth process. Despite being the focal point and the self-anointed leader of the Heat, he learned from players like Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem, and coaches like former Miami assistant David Fizdale, how to become a winner - not just how to score more points than the opposition.

As mentioned, and witnessed, James got two championship rings in Miami and made the decision to come back home to Cleveland - an uncertain environment, given how incensed and dispassionate Cavaliers fans became when he bolted for Miami. Well-received, James began his evolution into the man we see today.

James has given back to his community not only by providing scholarships to inner city youth, but has also partnered in and opened up the Promise School in his hometown.

With his stature head an shoulders among most all of his predecessors, James has taken the stage as an unofficial spokesperson with regard not only to his sport, but to sports overall, politics, social issues, and of course, race relations.

As if he ever needed a podium, James has partnered with his childhood friend and longtime confidant Maverick Carter to produce sports documentaries, television programming, he's gotten involved in movies as a bit actor as well as contributing producer, and launched a new show on HBO called 'The Shop,' where he airs his thoughts and concerns without a filter. He has been openly critical of President Trump and seeks to correct prejudicial perspective and inspire others to right some wrongs that have beset society as a whole, not just sectors that are dear to him.

However, sometimes that filter needs to be in place when you are on such a stage.

The latest incident came with his Twitter post quoting the lyrics from a Lil' Savage ditty, "We've been getting that Jewish money ... everything is kosher."

A lot of people have disagreed with James' social media post, saying he should be as accountable for what could be perceived as incendiary comments as racist or race-baiting. Personally, there are many more things I've seen and heard over my 18 years in NBA locker rooms that could be misinterpreted, misconstrued and seen as double standard, so a rap lyric or two doesn't rattle me.

Apparently, it hasn't rattled the league offices either as, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the league offices have already had dialogue with James and accepted his explanation, that he made a mistake and no action will be taken.

"I actually thought is was a compliment," explained James. "Obviously it wasn't through the lens of a lot of people."

It's human error in judgment from my perspective, but a lot of people see it as problematic and don't understand why James doesn't see it through their eyes, their prejudices, their oppressions, and/or at least their expectations of a leader in the sport community. In their opinion(s), he's perpetuating the oldest Jewish stereotype there is.

(Technically, he'd have probably been more accurate if he'd called out the Rothschild family).

This in an era when the girlfriend of an (now ex-)NBA owner tapes him making his own set of racist comments, loses his NBA team, all the while with James pushing the issue against Donald Sterling at the time.

Of course, perhaps James' perception of sports franchise ownership may have blossomed from the Sterling expose.
 
Factor in the fact that James has also recently compared NFL ownership to that of slave owners, though he stopped short of calling out NBA owners and leadership, in fact has high praise for Adam Silver (partly of Jewish heritage).

(That perspective is something I've alluded to in some of my on-air conversation about professional sports as a whole earlier this year with InTheZone Sports).

While the slaves that both James and I have alluded to never had the luxury of eating at the same table, using the same houses, bedding, front door, kitchen, or food (to name a few) as today's professional athlete - not to mention the millions of dollars that they are afforded for playing a game - it is fair to at least acknowledge that athletes today are still moved around for their ability to get things done with little loyalty from the men and women making billions from their talents on the daily.

Safe move using the NFL as an example, LeBron.

Players are oft-times told one thing, then moved in the middle of the night with nothing more than a text message or a phone call, if they're lucky. Few are treated with the loyalty that is afforded to a Tim Duncan, a David Robinson, a Dirk Nowitzki, or a Kobe Bryant.

The NBA Players Association moved on from former executive director Billy Hunter, and under the leadership of Michelle Roberts and President Chris Paul, have made strides with regard to players' interests and distribution of basketball-related income. The league has not had an opt-out labor dispute under Roberts' tenure.

James hopes to close out his career in Los Angeles with the love, adoration and affinity afforded Bryant, who many may not remember actually asked then-General Manager Mitch Kupchak to trade him in the summer of 2006 after the Lakers were ousted by the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Playoffs.

That may require some help in the summer of 2019, expected to be among one of the most feverish of free agency derbies in recent memory. 

Lately, it's been thrown around that James is tampering when it comes to New Orleans center Anthony Davis. When the Pelicans were in town, reporters spotted and then spread it around social media that James and Davis were spotted dining together in L.A. Somehow, that evolved into a tampering insinuation (not charge) against James, even though no one was privy to the conversation that took place.

But the league office cannot be naive that all players in the NBA talk with one another. On game night. In between games during the season. On the Banana Boat Crew during the summer. All of which could be considered 'tampering' if you want to be hardline about it.

This is a different NBA than the one in which former commissioner David Stern blocked the trade of Paul to the Lakers, and forced Royce White out of the league because he had mental health issues when it came to flying.

Current commissioner Adam Silver is more open-minded and is evolving the league, even toward the longtime taboo of legalized sports betting. (So will Las Vegas finally get a team?)

So let me clear a few things up for readers, haters, and - I doubt it, but for good measure - LeBron James:
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• Every player in the NBA talks to one another at any given time; one man's tampering is another man's recruiting. You're going to tell me the same guy that told Kevin Durant that they can win without him isn't the same guy who helped recruit him long before the Hamptons?
• The people that came over on the Amistad never got $37,457,154 (Stephen Curry, the NBA's highest paid player at $6,975.90 a minute) to do manual labor in the fields, much less that kind of cash for leisure activities. However, today's professional athlete should get a bigger piece of the pie when it comes to the apparel and brand(s) they help build; they should also have a little more loyalty than to be shuttled around from 'old white man' to 'old white man' without much notice or participation in the conversation.
• And lastly, LeBron James needs to do his homework: he's not getting 'Jewish money, he's getting his $35,654,150 from a white, English woman. However, LeBron, the etymology of the  Buss family name was a nickname (busse) for an 'old ... white ... fat ... man."

So you're half right, LeBron ...

In the meantime, keep doing you.

However, always remember that a great leader takes more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.

Leadership is not a position. It consists of action with transparency and setting a high example of integrity, honesty and to strive for the welfare of all. James is in the middle of that transition, minus the controversial statements.

It's a learning process. A journey, not a destination.

A leader does not care of his rank and role, but always remains responsive to lead, to shoulder responsibility, and achieve the goal in such a way that everyone, whether on the team or in society as a whole, respects him for touching their souls.

In that, LeBron James will not only be the G.O.A.T. of his generation, but the greatest of all time in his sports and sports overall. In the end, James could become an ambassador for humanity if he continues to evolve as he has the last four years.

The Lakers are banking on it. His young fans are as well.

Speak up and dribble, my friend.