Stop talking so much. That’s all LeBron James has to do.
The four-time MVP has turned the last couple of days into a referendum on online content, rather than a place to talk about basketball. Is who LeBron follows, or doesn’t follow, a story? Most NBA fans, even the die-hard variety, would say no. But then they click on that story anyway because we wanna know why the hell LeBron stopped following the Cavs — but then re-followed them on Instagram? James exacerbated the situation with the loudest next question in regular season NBA history. So, that was another 12 hours of news cycle coverage, which we basketbloggers lapped up like a particularly atavistic quote about Steph from a 1980s All-Star.
Except, it gets worse.
Now LeBron is wearing headphones in the locker room rather than continuing to act as the unofficial pre-game DJ. He’s also warning the rest of the NBA to respect the Cavs.
“They better, or they’ll lose,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer‘s Joe Vardon.
Why the hell would anyone respect this team right now? Because they’re the No. 1 seed in the East? Because LeBron is close to putting up a PER above 25 for the eleventh-consecutive season, something only MJ And Shaq have done?
Those are actually great reasons to take the Cavs seriously, so why do they — and specifically James — sound like moody children throwing a temper tantrum?
James offered up a weak explanation for unfollowing the Cavs after it spiraled into a bigger story than any one of us in the media wanted (we hate it more than you, even with the page views). He’s supposedly going into playoff mode earlier than usual. But then he went right back on Twitter yesterday to share this little gem of getting down to the business of basketball:
Think I just may join the Snap this week. Another way for my fans to ride with me throughout my journey
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 22, 2016
What about that is going dark?
The best part was James’ publicist Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com offering up this morsel to explain Snapchat and why it’ll actually allow James to share moments with his fans without explicitly being on social media.
Snapchat is a temporary picture-sharing service that’s different than Twitter or Facebook in that there’s much less opportunity for a user – James – to be inundated with the opinion and vitriol of those two mediums.
A source close to James said Snapchat would be a non-intrusive way for James to occasionally post a short video of a workout or pre-game car ride without truly engaging on social media.
In the parlance of James’ time in the NBA, that’s some ROFL ish right there — and not just LOL. You know how you go dark on social media? Live your life like it’s 1990. Remember 1990? Remember calling people? Remember that funny joke you made that only your significant other or coworker got to hear instead of your stupid Twitter followers? Basically, James needs to take a cue from the Spurs and just stay away from a computer or a smart phone. He needs to shut up and play.
We know that doesn’t align with James’ global #brand these days, but there’s no way a few months of radio silence will actually hurt him on Madison Avenue. If anything, it’ll make him more mysterious.
The best part of all this dumb Cavs crap we have to write about is that the Spurs and Warriors are just going about the business of finishing the best two simultaneous regular seasons in NBA history. Once they’ve either made history or not, they’ll start making the micro and macro adjustments they’ll need to get through the playoff gauntlet they’ll face in the West. Possible second-round series against the Clippers or Thunder throws the whole the East is good this year chorus out the window, and offers a challenge for both juggernauts regardless of how healthy Blake Griffin becomes or whether the Thunder can figure out their wing situation or someone other than KD or Russ who can take a shot in the last five minutes of a game.
Teddy Roosevelt famously said of his American foreign policy mantra to “speak softly, and carry a big stick.” (God, remember when politicians actually inspired you?) Right now, as April looms just a week away, you can barely hear the Warriors and you can’t hear the Spurs at all. That’s not an accident. They’re too busy preparing to beat each other up in — hopefully — a seven-game Western Conference Finals epic. That’s before they throttle whichever team comes out of the East.
James better stop with this nonsense before it’s too late. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving aren’t the answer; Channing Frye certainly ain’t the answer. The Cavs are a mass of moving parts that haven’t figured out how to march in lock-step. They’re LeBron’s for the leading, and they’ll only go as far as he can take them. Basically, the same as always for the Akron-born star.
LeBron’s got a long road ahead of him, so why doesn’t he take a page from that Nike slogan he’s supposed to represent and stop telling us all about it.
