Come to Think of It: Clueless LeBron Shows Lack of Judgement and Remorse

Hey, Detroit and Atlanta both shook hands with Cleveland following those series, yet LeBron James displays his immaturity by walking off the court, refusing to shake hands or talk to reporters?

And, to add insult to injury, his statements the day after the event only made me realize that LeBron doesn't really have a clue about professionalism and good sportsmanship.

Or marketing.

Apparently LeBron is too much of a competitor to shake hands with someone who just beat him up.  What?

Is he implying those other teams weren't competing?

Look, refusing to shake hands and then not admitting you were wrong after the fact is bad public relations, if nothing else. Of all modern athletes, LeBron and his handlers should understand marketing and PR, right?

Instead of coming out and making the statements he did, he should have come out and said, "I'm sorry, I was wrong, but in the heart of the moment I was upset at losing and acted with a lack of maturity. I want to apologize to the players and coaching staff of the Orlando Magic and congratulate them on a great victory. It won't happen again."

How hard would that have been? In fact, the whole thing would have gone away a lot quicker and we wouldn't be writing and hearing about it as much.

But no. Instead, here were LeBron's comments on the incident:

"It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them," he said. "I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

LeBron, like it or not, but it's an NBA tradition, just like in hockey. They don't do it in some other sports, but they do it in basketball, so deal with it. Plus, you were perfectly willing to shake hands after you won.

Cavs GM Danny Ferry doesn't think James acted inappropriately.

"I feel strongly that LeBron would never intentionally disrespect another NBA player," he said. "It was a situation where he was pretty disappointed. We just loss a tough series. He has always conducted himself in a pretty high level both on the court and off the court."

Well, of course Ferry would stand by a player who means so much to the franchise. After all, they're trying to ensure that he signs with them for the long haul.

Meanwhile, intentionally or not, the fact remains that he did disrespect another team and their players. Above all, it has made LeBron look bad.

The NBA announced that it won't fine James for refusing to talk to reporters. Well, of course not. He is their knight in shining armour, and the marketing arm of the NBA wouldn't allow such negativity.

You know, it isn't such a big deal, relatively speaking. It's not as if LeBron beat his wife, or fathered a child out of wedlock, or went into the stands after a fan.

But it was childish and unprofessional. King James has a thorny crown, come to think of it. And he blew his chance to try and make things better.