Lebron James was a natural athlete and took part in football and basketball. It was during his years in school that the most important man came into his life. Frankie Walker was the basketball coach in school. He not only coached Lebron James but also invited him to stay with his family. He wanted to give Lebron James a chance to live a normal life without the specter of violence and drugs hanging over his head. He taught the young Lebron how to shoot with his left hand. By the eighth grade he was six feet tall, could play all five positions and had a sixth sense for the game.
It was time for Lebron James to show off his skills on court. He went to the USA Basketball Development Festival. He was the first underclassman ever invited to the camp. Lebron James’s performance justified the invitation; he broke the festival scoring record. News of his talent began to spread far and wide. While he was a sophomore in high school he led the team to two consecutive championships. After his junior year, Lebron James was offered a nine million dollar contract to play basketball in Italy. Michael Jordan invited him for a workout at his private court with Antoine Walker, Michael Finley, Juwan Howard and Penny Hardaway. Lebron ended forming an enduring bond with Antoine Walker. He had already begun to make covers of basketball magazines. It was only NBA rules that stopped him from joining the 2002 draft.
Lebron James had become one of the best all round basketball players the world had ever seen. He is one of the best passers in the history of the game. Lebron James seems to have the ability to carry a blueprint of the court in his head, his speed and strength are above average. The only weak link in his game is the outside jumper but a couple of years in the NBA and that too will be taken care off.
When the nation is in such a frenzy over an individual, it is not possible that the corporates would be far behind. Nike and Adidas were in a battle royal to sign up Lebron James. Adidas even deployed Kobe Bryant to ensnare Lebron. He was eventually signed up by Nike for close to U.S. $90 million. All this before Lebron joined the NBA. Lebron James was the obvious first pick during the draft, he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers who dealt Andre Mills in the process. In order to test the hype surrounding him, Cavaliers coach broke NBA rules and invited Lebron James to practice with the team before the NBA draft. Lebron James wowed all his future teammates with his dunks over the heads of seasoned pros such as Jumaine Jones and Chris Mihm. His passes were better than anyone on the regular Cleveland Cavaliers team.
The 6’8 Lebron James plays as a guard on the team. He was selected in the U.S.A. basketball team that eventually won the bronze medal. Lebron James was the youngest male basketball player to play for U.S.A. He won all the Rookie of the month awards in the Eastern Conference. Lebron James is the youngest player in NBA history to capture Rookie of the Year honors. He was embroiled in little bit of controversy when his mother bought him a fully loaded Hummer with a bank loan. He also got into trouble for accepting free basketball jersey’s at a sports shop. Lebron James wears the same number as his idol Michael Jordan – 23. he recently became a father when his girlfriend delivered a baby boy. Lebron has his mom's name, Gloria, tattooed on his biceps. His mom wears a school basketball jersey to games with the words, "Lebron's Mom" on the back.
The Cleveland Cavaliers Small Forward and number 1 ranked SF NBA Player for the 2006 season has certainly lived up to the expectations that were placed upon him by the media in his junior high school year as a future NBA star. Drafted into the Cavaliers in 2003 at only 18 he has grown into one of the most dominant characters in the NBA League acquiring appropriate nicknames like "The Chosen One". His supporters compare his on-court magic to that of two Basketball giants - Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson who LeBron had admired as a child. His story is a great one in which he dreamt as a boy and has reached as a man the dizzy heights of Basketball stardom. Born December 30th 1984 in Akron, Ohio to Gloria James, his unwed mother who was only sixteen at the time, LeBron had a tough childhood as an only child in this low-income neighborhood. He had no contact with his biological father and stability didn't really arrive until his mother met a new man by the name of Eddie Jackson.
Basketball, however, began to feature early in his life and by his junior year in high school he was confidently proclaiming his ambition to pursue an NBA career post graduation. In his Freshman and Sophomore year he began to make his mark averaging 18.2 points and 6 rebounds per game in his first year and improving upon this in his second year when he took lead of the team and averaged 27.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
His junior year was his most successful to date, in which he was named Mr Basketball Ohio, appeared in Slam Magazine and was featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated under the title: "The Chosen One". He won his second spot on the All-USA First Team, was named the 2001-02 Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year and improved his previous year player averages to 29.7 points and 8.4 rebounds. His journey onto the main stage had commenced and this early hysteria of "King James" was lighting the way for what was to come...Basketball superstars like Shaquille O'neal even attended some of his games to get a glimpse of this rising star in action. Symbolic of his level of supreme confidence he petitioned the NBA to make modifications to their draft rules so that he could declare for the draft without having to finish High School as the rules stipulated. He was unsuccessful but he was literally knocking on their door.
His Senior year cemented his Sophomore year achievements. He was once again (and for the first time in history) named Mr. Basketball Ohio and won another place on the All-USA First Team but what everyone was really waiting for including LeBron himself was the 2003 NBA draft for which he was now eligible.
The draft turned out to be as exciting as everyone had anticipated it to be and LeBron ended up as the first overall pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers and signed a major endorsement deal with Nike to the tune of $90 million before he even played his first NBA game.
His rookie season went well...The Cavaliers improved upon their previous season by 18 wins, LeBron averaged 20.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game (an average only ever equaled by Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson) and he took the title of Rookie of the year.
The 2004 - 2005 season saw more records made with LeBron becoming the youngest player ever to register a triple-double and score 50 points in one game. His statistical averages improved to 27.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game and he made his first All-Star team. However, despite his individual achievements the Cavaliers still failed to reach the playoffs.
This all changed as the team attained their first playoff spot in 7 years in the 2005 - 2006 season. A large part of this transformation is attributed to LeBron who made his playoff debut against the Washington Wizards with an incredible triple-double - the third time this has ever happened in a playoff debut. In his third playoff game (again against the Wizards) he became the first player to score over 40 points and although the Cavaliers eventually fell to the Detroit Pistons the seasons successes bode well for the 2006 - 2007 season.
As for James - at 22 he's already a definite for the NBA's 50 all time greatest list....watch this space!
Two nights before 1985 became official, LeBron James was born in Akron, Ohio. There was no silver spoon in his mouth when he entered the world on December 30, 1984. James grew up without a father. The lone dominant figurehead in his family was, and still is to this day, his mother, Gloria. As a child, LeBron and Gloria were always on the move, forced to depart one dwelling for another due to financial troubles.
It was not uncommon for Gloria, who was 16 when her son was born, to leave her young boy with other families. She has admitted that LeBron saw things as a child that children should never see, like living in a condemned home for a while when LeBron was 4 or 5 years of age. When Gloria's parents and grandparents died, LeBron and his mother had nowhere else to turn.
But people stepped in to help. Gloria and LeBron met the Walker family in West Akron, Ohio, and every Thanksgiving -- even today, when money is no longer a major issue -- James and his mother spend the holiday there.
After all, the Walkers took a fifth-grade LeBron in when he needed it the most. Living with the family of five became a pivotal time in James' rearing from child to young man, while his mother was trying to get her life together.
The day that changed LeBron James' life forever came in the fall of 1994. One afternoon, Frank Walker, the patriarch of the family, put a basketball in the hands of a then 9-year-old LeBron James for the first time. Walker spent his time teaching the youngster the game during the next three years.
The next step in James' basketball training arrived when he met Dru Joyce II, who coached the youngster to an amateur national championship at the age of 14 -- the same year he dunked with two hands for the first time. Joyce II became James' basketball mentor and coach from then on.
Dru Joyce II and the Walkers enforced the importance of school to LeBron, and amid all the glitz and glamour during his junior and senior years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James still held a solid 3.5 grade point average.
By high school, James was the real thing. Three state championships and a silver medal in four years with the Irish. National television. Big-time deals. And big-time money.
Aside from his mother and uncles, James is close to those who have helped him along the way: the Walkers, Joyce II, Lee and Debra Cotton, former teammate Maverick Carter, as well as some other teammates from the 2003 campaign.
"I've got this inner circle," James said. "I've had it for years. And if you haven't been in the circle since Day One, you're never going to be in it. There are always people who want to get in the circle, and if you let them, they will break it up."
How important is this group, and more importantly, James' relationship with his mother? She wears a jersey with the words "LeBron's Mom" on its back. He has her name tattooed on his biceps. She still refers to him as "my baby" or "Bron-Bron." He calls her the most significant person in his life.
Gloria was there when James won Ohio state championships as a freshman, junior and senior. She was there when James scored 52 points, in a stunning effort against Westchester (of Los Angeles, California) on February 8, 2003 -- his highest point total ever.
For his 18th birthday, Gloria bought LeBron a Hummer -- one of many amazing rides James will be driving throughout his career. All of these influences helped James become the future legend that the basketball world is raving about today.
May 2003 was a crucial month for LeBron James and his burgeoning professional career. With Aaron Goodwin as his agent, LeBron's endorsement deal with Nike (to the tune of seven years and $90 million US) was inked on May 22, 2003, adding to his card deal with Upper Deck, making James a $100 million man before graduation.
Also on May 22, it was announced that the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA draft lottery, meaning the boy who grew up mere miles from Gund Arena will begin his pro career playing in his home state.
"I'm now in Cleveland and I'm real excited," he said after the Cavs won the No. 1 pick, the same night he promised to buy his mother a new house and was sure not to promise a championship early on in his stint with Cleveland; the Cavaliers, after all, are hoping for a revitalization to their basketball franchise after earning the right to draft James.
"It's a big day in Cleveland sports," Cavaliers chairman Gordon Gund said.
A big day -- and a big arrival -- for the biggest thing to hit basketball in years.
"I will guarantee we'll get better every day," James has assured Cavaliers fans, which celebrated James coming to their city as if they had just won a championship. "I just want to win."
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