LeBron and Howard Can't Get over the Hump: What's Missing from Today's Stars?

In the waning minutes of Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals, with The Magic down 1-0 in the series and down a point in the game, Dwight Howard apparently decided it was a good time to mess around with the crowd. He began by pointing and bouncing around with the crowd, before dancing like a guy who's had one too many at the club.

It got so bad that Rashard Lewis (who's been a no-show for the two games thus far and has never been known as a pressure player) had to come over and pull Dwight away and back into the game.

My buddy Cam sent me the following texts:

"Did I See It? I'd NEVER seen anything like that!"

"My jaw dropped. I re-winded & watched that 6 times."

As Bill Simmons has pointed out, this year more than ever we have seen the teams that dance around, have great "Chemistry," and seem to really like each other, cannot compete with teams like the Lakers and Celtics, who know how to win and are above anything else:

PROFESSIONAL basketball players.

Which got me thinking about this new generation of NBA players. In our rush to anoint the next great superstar (LeBron) or the next great center (Howard), we've neglected to see that the last generation of NBA superstars, the guys who played against true all-timers like Jordan, Duncan, Stockton/Malone, and Pippen, are still very much alive and kicking, but more importantly possess two distinct advantages over the latest generation of stars.

The first advantage is work ethic. I'm not sure we're going to see an NBA player work as hard as Kobe Bryant ever again. Back in the day NBA players would add something to their game every summer. It was always cool to see what Bird, Magic, MJ, or Hakeem would come back with.

Nowadays, LeBron is seven years into his career and still has no semblance of a post game. This was evidenced earlier in the year during a game against the Hornets, when he tried to take 6'1" Chris Paul off the dribble, instead of, you know, posting him up. 

Dwight Howard still looks like he's pitching a baseball when he shoots his jump hooks, despite "working" with Patrick Ewing for the past three seasons.

Yet every year we're treated to a ton of Dwight and Lebron in TV commercials, features, and guest spots. The new generation of players are celebrities first, and basketball players second.

Guys like Josh Smith and Amar'e Stoudemire can become All-Stars without ever working on their actual basketball skills. This leads to more and more of our stars failing to reach their potential.

The second advantage the elders have over this new generation is competitiveness. One of the underrated aspects of Kobe's competitiveness is that he grew up in Italy, so he wasn't exposed to the AAU scene, where all the supremely gifted players get to know each other and become friends.

In fact I've heard that it's not uncommon for players on other teams to stay at each others' houses even while they're playing a game against each other.

The players just don't dislike each other as much as they used to because they've all known each other since they were 13. The older guys weren't exposed as much to the traveling team system and thus know and like each other less.

Eventually we have to stop waiting for the light switch to go off for the LeBrons and Howards and accept that they're just a different breed.

Unfortunately for them, as we're seeing in the Conference Finals, the old generation is not ready to give up control of the NBA yet.

JL