The constant chatter about LeBron James’ body has been overblown for years which set up Bucher’s narratives!
Stop for a second and think about how often the media brings up these narratives about LeBron James’ body and the mileage.
- LeBron James is 35 years old. Can you believe he’s still playing at this level?
- The number of minutes that he’s played in his career. Believe it folks, they keep count and compare it to every other NBA player in history.
- The number of times that he has carried the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers teams to the NBA Finals. Eight straight.
- The amount of effort he has to exert to make his lesser talented players better.
Blah, Blah, Blah.
Now the narrative is about the positives that will come with extra rest for LeBron James.
Oh really? It seems that LeBron has a different way of looking at the situation according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
"“When you’ve been building six months of conditioning and preparation and then (it’s gone), the narrative that I don’t like (is), ‘Well, now guys get so much rest.’ Or, like, ‘LeBron, he’s 35, he’s got so many minutes on his body, now he gets so much rest,’” he said. “It’s actually the opposite for me because my body, when we stopped playing, was asking me, like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ “My body was like, ‘Hey man, what the hell is going on? It’s March 13th, you’re getting ready for the playoffs, why are you shutting down right now?’ And I was right there turning the corner, like, I felt like I was rounding third base, getting ready for the postseason. “So the rest factor, I think it’s a little bit [overblown]. Especially when you’re in the full swing of things.”"
The most irritating thing for a basketball purist to hear is about the age of a player. Can the man play or not? Period. Okay LeBron James is 35 years old and he’s playing great. This has been done before. There’s this dude named Michael Jordan that played without an oxygen tank attached to his body when he played.
Jordan was at the TOP of the NBA with an NBA title and Finals MVP number six at age 35. The Bulls achieved a 62-20 record and managed to reach the NBA Finals where they won it all. Jordan got his sixth and final ring and his second 3-peat in over the Utah Jazz.
Then there was this shot that ended the dynasty. It must have been something cool for ESPN to do a documentary on him that airs on April 19th that LeBron himself pushed for last week.
Look James’ comments are spot on considering he has spent the bulk of his 16-year career preparing for a deep playoff push around this time. This is a rhythm sport. Before the suspension, he was playing his best ball of the season while outplaying the Greek Freak and Kawhi Leonard in less than 72 hours in Lakers wins.
The fact that he is now forced to take all this time off will affect him mentally and physically based on rhythm. Not because the man is too old to play NBA basketball.
Ric Bucher talked about the Lakers being the oldest team in the NBA.
Let’s talk about Anthony Davis real quick.