The NBA's All Star Weekend is rapidly approaching, and once again, the subject of Lebron James and the Slam Dunk Contest is heating up. LeBron, a ferocious in game dunker, has repeatedly turned down the opportunity to take his talents to the contest itself, electing to enjoy a front row seat with his peers instead.
You can't blame the NBA, and it's sponsors, for desperately wanting LeBron to compete. After all, the Slam Dunk contest has become a shell of itself lately...and public interest is continuing to plummet. When asked about why he doesn't want to compete, James usually offers up some carefully crafted PR line, embracing the past and praising the current participants....all while avoiding to answer the question directly. The real reasons that LeBron doesn't want to compete are the very reasons he shouldn't.
For starters, he has absolutely nothing to gain, in any area, by competing. When MJ competed, he was using the contest to build his brand, to show the world what he could do. There was no YouTube or Twitter, there was no world wide web to the masses yet. Jordan was on the ascent at the time, and the great participants that followed him (Kobe, Vince Carter) used that same format to boost their marketability at an early stage of their careers.
LeBron signed several endorsement deals in excess of 100 million dollars....before he ever scored a point in the NBA. By the time he finished his rookie deal, he was a global icon. LeBron doesn't need a Saturday night slam dunk contest to build his brand. And that's no shot at the above mentioned participants, they just came along in a different era. Besides, he would have to do something insane, dangerous, or both to impress today's "seen it all" audience. After all, you sposed' to be King James!
And let's talk about the fall out if LeBron tanks it and fails miserably.
No...wait...let's not...you're an intelligent audience.
Ever the opportunist, James released a video last night of him reeling off some grown man dunks after practice. The kind that would make me break my plans that Saturday night to watch it live. But no worries, I should be safe on those plans.
At least for another year. follow @plcolter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment