Lebron James: American Professional Basketball Player

The first few seconds of your first earthquake are disconcerting. You don’t know what’s happening. The undulation, the noise, the inability to focus -- it’s all disconcerting. But once you’ve been in a few, you know the feeling. You don’t relax, but you don’t panic, either.

Who is Lebron James you say? Lebron James is a professional basketball player. In 2003, Lebron got drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. In round 1 on the NBA Draft Lebron James was the first pick in 2003 [landofbasketball.com]. Lebron James should win the Greatest Player of the Year Award.

My topic is about the full impact LeBron James has had on the NBA and society. He is known as a modern-athlete activist, he has never been shy to express his thoughts on social issues outside and inside of the NBA. LeBron James has played such a major role in the Black Lives Matter movement. For example, in the opening of the 2016 ESPYs, LeBron mentioned all the recent police shootings that have been occurring, and expresses his feelings on how he wants change. My topic will also talk about the impact he’s had on the economy, not only the impact inside of the NBA but thing’s he’s done outside of the league. Overall, I’ll explain the overall impact that he’s had on the world, and how much of an influence he has been in the African American community.

Today in Soledad we mourn the murder of Helen Smith and Lennie Small. Lennie who worked at Ben’s Smith Ranch was known to have some type of mental disability. He was also known to get along with everyone and he did have a strong love for animals. He accidently killed his puppy by petting him too hard and that caused Lennie to panic. Similarly, while stroking Helen’s hair, he also accidentally broke her neck. This caused Lennie to lose control and worry about the consequences that George is going to put on him.

During the season, of 2003-2004, history was made when James became the first member of the Cavalier franchise to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. James made part of the U.S Olympics, in the summer of 2004. His team, including him, won bronze medals after defeating Lithuania. As he excelled professionally in the NBA, he upped his points to about 27.2 per game. As James got better and more known, he receive special recognition for his great abilities in basketball. In this time, James in already a father to one child. During the finals, for the Cavaliers, against the San Antonio Spurs, the Cavaliers lost their championship. As James was playing in the finals, he became a father to his second child.

Michael Jordan is considered to be the most iconic person in sports history. Since 2002, Lebron James has been compared not only to be the next Michael Jordan but also having the potential of being a better basketball player than him. Some basketball fans might agree and some might disagree, but at the end of the day everyone will have their own opinion of who is better than whom. Lebron James and Michael Jordan do have many things in common even though they play different positions in the national basketball association. They both can dominate the court with their leadership, their skills, and their strength. Surprisingly, there are just as many differences as there are similarities between the

“Because of you Pops! Thanks all along I could have said, ‘Why me?’ With you not being there but look what I made of myself” (thepostgame.com). Lebron explains of his struggles in an interview and how it has become his motivation. Due to his rough childhood, high school years, NBA career, and his impact off the court LeBron has rightly earned his name “King James”.

Lebron had a tough childhood growing up with very little. His mother battled many personal problems while raising Lebron. Some of these problems were brought from her mothers death. His mother could never keep a job so they bounced from apartment to apartment. Despite his mothers struggles she worked hard to shield Lebron from poverty, violence and the streets. This was very tough for his mother so sometime it made it puzzling for her to find a boyfriend. When Lebron was two she started dating Eddie Jackson who was in and out of trouble. Lebron liked having a father figure around but Jackson was sent to jail for drug trafficking and mortgage fraud. Lebron's brothers Terry and Curt had to step up and fill in and help out. Lebron played wide

Michael Jordan, in his prime, was thought of as one of the greatest basketball champions of all time. A shooting guard, standing at six-six, Jordan was able to out play anyone in his position. He started his career at the University of North Carolina, where he helped his team win a national championship. He then was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984-85 season. While playing for the Bulls, Jordan received many awards such as, MVP, five championships, Olympic gold medals, slam dunk contests, and many more defensive and offensive awards. Jordan simply dominated the nineties and left the game as a NBA Finals winner in 1998.

Lebron James, the first pick taken in this year’s draft, may be the prototype for an athlete having immediate fame and wealth by jumping straight to the NBA. Almost undoubtedly, he has set the bar for years to come. Before he even played in an actual NBA game, he already had his own commercial and shoe deals. When he was a senior in high school, ESPN and ESPN2 were already publicizing his regular season games whenever they had the chance. Amazingly, as a junior in high school, he was already being considered the next Michael Jordan (Broussard).

While James was in high school he excelled in two sports, football and his more known sport, basketball. LeBron excelled greatly in football, he was named All-State wide receiver in his sophmore year (Smithwick 10). His mom was worried about James and wanted him to quit football, so he wouldn’t get hurt. Later he broke his finger in a football game and his mother made him quit. When he was in high school, James made the rounds of the postseason all-star games, and he earned most valuable player of the year award at the McDonald’s High School All-American Game (Newsmakers B2). LeBron wanted to skip his senior year to enter into the NBA draft, but was against NBA rules, so he returned to high school now the most famous high school player. Even before James entered the NBA draft he had already signed a $90 million contract with the brand Nike (Contemporary C4). LeBron James entered the NBA draft in the summer of 2003, and was selected by the "struggling to make it in the NBA" Cleveland Cavaliers (Smithwick 14). The three year contract that James signed with the Cavaliers amounted to nothing beside the more than $100 million in endorsement contracts he has signed with Nike, Sprite, Powerade, Upper Deck Cards, and Bubblicious bubble gum. If it was anybody's guess, they would have said that James was going to play poorly in his first year, but he proved them wrong, everybody wrong. He was named rookie

LeBron James is similar to Magic Johnson. He did want to be a football player but he found something new.He wanted to play basketball. He used to make free throws by dunking them, causing the NCAA to make them change the rules.

Throughout time many authors have used fairy tales to get hidden life lessons across. In the told fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel written by Brothers Grimm, has the important lesson of having to realize appearance against the reality of things in life, which helps open our eyes make sense of the world around us.

Central Idea: LeBron James is the best basketball player by his scoring ability, his athleticism, and his world-class defense.

This essay will compare and contrast the thoughts of two great activists for women’s rights, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Their perspectives on women, class, and race were in opposition to one another, yet they both share some common views on white male dominance of 19th century America.