Walt Frazier shocks the NBA world with questioning LeBron James’ commitment
Walt Frazier has been doing color commentary for the New York Knicks since 1987. The language he uses to call the games is about as colorful and different as the outfits that he wears to the game. I mean sometimes you need a dictionary and a thesaurus to figure out some of the words that come out of his mouth.
After watching a couple of hours of Knicks telecasts his commentary can have you thinking you’re in a Rush Hour movie with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.
Well everyone heard this statement. It was clear and to the point.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1107320952755548162
The important words that set everything off…
"“When you’re the face of the NBA, you should be more a part of your team… And right now you see he doesn’t really care.”"
Most paid attention to the words “doesn’t really care”. The important words for the NBA is “face of the NBA”.
You see, LeBron James is connected to the NBA in many aspects that transcend past the Lakers. The NBA financial spreadsheet is connected to him as well. Casual fans are very important to the NBA. It’s not a good look for the face of the league not to care.
Then in the next broadcast, while the Knicks were getting destroyed by the Toronto Raptors, Walt Frazier clarified his remarks about the remarks that sparked the media firestorm.
Bring your thesaurus folks, there are some big words in here.
"“You’re above that, you’re better than that. You can’t be like the proletariat, you’re The King,” Frazier said during Monday’s MSG telecast of Knicks against Toronto. “That’s the title he wanted. People say he’s like our Muhammad Ali. He speaks for black people. He has a school where he’s teaching kids to do the right thing.” “My thing is the NBA is like the Olympics, there’s a torch that is passed,” Frazier said. “From Russell to Chamberlain to… So when you’re the King and LeBron is the King and the best player in the game, you can’t be like a common player. Like if that was some other player I wouldn’t have said anything. But when you’re the face of the league man, you can’t do what other people do. You have to do the right thing. And millions of kids that saw that will say, well if LeBron did that it’s okay for me to do that. I don’t think that’s the right thing to do.”"
This shows how much times have changed over the landscape of the NBA. Number one, this really shouldn’t shock Walt Frazier. LeBron James has other memorable bench moments in Madison Square Garden.
Remember the infamous water bottle flipping contest with Kyrie Irving back in the day playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers when things were good?
Number two, how the media took this statement and ran with it. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, former NBA player Stephen Jackson, Ice Cube and other NBA analysts were all over the networks with their opinion. LeBron James is experiencing the other end of the spectrum when it comes to the superstar spotlight.
Let’s start with a figure of LeBron James past.