LeBron in Chi Promoting More than a Game
Also talked about Derrick Rose and taxi fightin’ Blackhawk Patrick Kane
via the Chicago-Sun-Times:
LeBron has switched to the iPhone
After all, few understand what it’s like to be the face of a franchise at 20 better than James.
”I wish him the best,” he said of Kane. ”I wish him and his family the best, and hopefully they can get through this tough time.”
When asked if it was difficult to live such a public life at such a young age, James said: ”It’s not difficult at all. You have a responsibility as a professional to be professional all the time, on the court or off the court.”
He also was asked to comment on Chicago’s other 20-year-old star, the Bulls’ Derrick Rose.
”He’s really good, really talented,” James said. ”He will be one of the better point guards we have in our league in the near future. They have a good one. They picked the right player.”
For someone who has lived a very public life since his junior year of high school, James has remarkably few blemishes on his resume. The closest thing he has had to a brush with the law is a speeding ticket for reaching triple digits a couple of years ago, and he was criticized this spring for walking off the court and blowing off the interview session after the Cavs were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the NBA playoffs.
”I apologized for not talking to the media because I should have done that; that’s a responsibility of mine,” he said. ”But shaking hands, it’s not done in the NBA.”
No one ever has accused James of being a bad teammate. He was in Chicago for a youth event at Seward Park in River North as the first stop on a tour to promote the movie ”More Than a Game,” a documentary on the relationship between James and his high school teammates at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron, Ohio.
”Sometimes a movie makes you feel like you’ve been out of high school that much longer, but we graduated in ’03,” he said. ”Not a long time, but to see it makes it feel like a long time ago.
”To see what I’ve been able to do and what some of my friends have been able to do since we graduated high school, it’s remarkable. The fact that we’re still together and we still talk on a day-to-day basis, that’s even more moving to me.”
About his current team, which added Shaquille O’Neal this summer, James said: ”Our expectations are to compete for a championship. That’s the only expectation I have going into the season. I’m at a point in my career where if I’m not competing for a championship, it’s a failure.”
Tags: LeBron, Off Season
| dcass | 
August 12, 2009 12:34 pm