Baby-face LeBron back when he was in HS
The second annual LeBron James Nike Skills Academy kicked off in ‘Bron’s hometown of Akron, Ohio yesterday. The stands were packed with high-major coaches and some of the top minds in the game today - Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Bilas, Fran Fraschilla, and many more. They all came to participate in this skills camp for top rising seniors in high school ball, with a smattering of college players mixed in. It was an action packed day never with “a dull moment,” as the NY Times’ Pete Thamel reports…
* O.J. Mayo and LeBron played with the college guys in drills. The two former child prodigies share the same agent, Leon Rose of C.A.A.
* Among the folks running drills with the college players were ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla and Jay Bilas. The highlight quote goes to the former Bobby Knight assistant Tates Locke who yelled at the players for not listening: “I’m 70 and retarded and I could do it better.”
* It’s funny to see the coaches socialize. I walked in to see Coach K talking with his old nemesis Billy Hahn, the former Maryland assistant now with West Virginia. Later in the day, LeBron plopped down on the bleachers next to Coach K for a chat. [Elsewhere, we read that LeBron dropped a “Hey, Coach” when he sat down - like a high school kid would say to his coach.]
* It’s impressive to see LeBron in action. He stopped the camp several times to give pointed constructive criticism to the college players during drills. He gave a long lecture to the high school players this morning.
* We’ve had our first sighting of the ubiquitous power broker William Wesley. He just hugged the the new Memphis assistant Josh Pastner.
Be on the lookout for the next installment this week of our basketball training blog with Skills Academy insider Alan Stein, who has already filed reports from the Paul Pierce and Steve Nash Skills Academies.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:40 am
hoty says:
too bad lebron cant dribble or pass well
July 8th, 2008 at 9:41 am
bucklout says:
everyone please please stop riding LeBron’s dick or he will have no jam left by the time he’s a free agent.
“impressive to see lebron in action?” all he did was say hello to his coach and give “pointed constructive criticism” to some scrubs. what exactly did he say that was so impressive? please give specifics, like with the Steve Nash entry to this series, rather than propagating more empty hype around this dude.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:49 am
shake&bake says:
Lebron deserves all the attention and praise that he gets. He came in out of high school and tore the league up right away. He’s 23 and already single-handedly led his team to the Finals and led the league in scoring. He’s going to be one of the greatest players to ever play.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:59 am
bucklout says:
hahahahahahaha post #3 nice sarcasm.
no one doubts lebron is a great player, but hype can’t be empty. if you praise someone, at least be specific.
also dude hasn’t won shit yet, and yes that does count if you want to put him up with the greatest to ever play.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Damon says:
don’t think that was sarcasm…
July 8th, 2008 at 10:25 am
shake&bake says:
It wasn’t sarcasm. He has about 10-12 years left in the NBA so he has plenty of time to win. If you put any other player on the Cavs team, who would do as well as him and who would get to the Finals? What 23 year old has been this good in NBA history? The only one I can think of is Magic. You can’t judge one player on winning if they have never had a team around them that gave them a chance.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Andrei says:
No 4 you are either stupid or stupid. Or both.
No 1, you 2
How the hell would you not put LeBron on the best ever players list? The guy is by far the best overall player in the league. Stats don’t lie. And don’t bullshit me with Kobe. The guy coulnd’t handle Boston with supporting cast and stuff; Lebron was one shot away from wining the decisive game with those guys….with wally and company beside him..damn idiots.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
word says:
whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
braids? really?
damn
July 8th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
doc says:
Yeah them 1rst 2 people in the hate whoever on top club.They was probaly Knick fans from the 90’s or something thats still traumatized from them dicks Mike used to put in they ass.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
lebron had cornrows and tatoos already in high school?
July 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
hahns says:
I THOUGHT THAT WAS SMUSH PARKER!!
July 8th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Dagomar says:
“too bad lebron cant dribble or pass well”
My God.