LeBron James' Leadership Is the Final Step in His Superstar Evolution
LeBron James' return to the Cleveland Cavaliers was about unfinished business—both in terms of championship pursuits and personal growth.
The first bit of business will take time to tackle, but the second may already be complete. James has matured into the leader he couldn't be the first time around.
Narrative Perfection
James' career has had a storybook quality to it all along. The hometown kid stays put, becomes an immediate superstar who exceeds absurd expectations, rises to the top of the league and then falls short of his goal. Then came the heel turn, the shocking exit many viewed as an outright betrayal.
That's remarkably close to fiction.
So, of course James now gets to make the full pivot back to hero. Wiser for his experience away from home, he returns ready to pay those lessons forward.
The home he left, of course, welcomes him with open arms.
The overall narrative arc is perfect: A man previously incapable of leading—due to youth, emotional immaturity or unwillingness—is now in charge of the most promising young team in the league.
According to the lone holdover from James' first tour with the Cavs, Anderson Varejao, the younger version of James wasn't ready for the task at hand. The veteran center watched James explicitly tell every player on the roster what his demands were for the upcoming season during training camp.
His reaction, per Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports: "He used to talk individually to the players before, but not like that."
Practical Maturation
The "LBJ returns transformed as leader" angle isn't just the logical narrative completion to his story. It's also necessary for the Cavaliers' competitive goals.
Cleveland is young, and young teams generally need a strong veteran presence to keep priorities straight, agendas pure and goals in sight. But this particular Cavaliers team needed a leader more than most.
The infighting that plagued the locker room last year wasn't a major problem in isolation. That Cavs team wasn't talented enough to make any real noise. As composed heading into the summer, there wasn't a championship future in sight.
Writ larger, though, Cleveland was in danger of letting the alleged rift between Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters (not to mention the broader organizational disorder) define the club going forward, potentially letting the discord take deep root.
Irving was quickly developing a label as an exhibition game hero (see: All-Star MVP) who didn't possess the team-first attitude or commitment to lead his team anywhere worthwhile. Fair or not, labels like that have a way of sticking.
In a similar way, new arrival Kevin Love caught heat for putting up gaudy numbers that somehow didn't lead to team wins.
James can help his younger teammates shed those labels. He can show them the secrets, teach them what it takes to make personal success and team success the same thing. And his influence couldn't be coming at a better time or place.
Because Love and Irving will be a big part of the foundation after LBJ is gone—not just for the Cavaliers, but for the NBA as a whole.
Already in Action
James has always been polished beyond his years, but his demeanor during his first tour with the Cavs was more emotional and less considerate of how it affected teammates who, whether he wanted them to or not, looked up to him. They needed him to lead—even though he was an NBA infant at the time.
"Back then, I'm not saying he was a bad leader, but he had some ups and downs with that," Varejao said, per Spears.
Now, James is acutely aware of how his comments and conduct affect teammates.
Case in point: his shrewd sound bite leading up to an Oct. 20 preseason game against the Chicago Bulls.
Per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, James said: "[The Bulls] are a team that's much better than us right now just off chemistry. They've been together for a while; we've got a long way to go."
Though it's possible James genuinely believed in Chicago's superiority, the point of his pregame nod was clear: He was trying to motivate his teammates.
Success. Cleveland went on to win by a final score of 107-98, and Irving, in particular, looked like a player bent on proving who the better team really was.
James is now the team's resident sage, dispensing hard-won wisdom on the unavoidable adversity his Cavs will face and, more importantly, its value, per Windhorst:
"It has to happen. I know it is going to happen. A lot of guys don't see it, but I see it. That's the only way we're going to be able to grow. You don't define yourself during the good times, you define yourself through the bad times."
There's nothing magical about what James is doing. He's merely passing on the wisdom he earned the hard way with the Miami Heat. It took an uncomfortable stylistic overhaul and a loss in the 2011 NBA Finals for James to realize something: Struggle builds camaraderie and character.
That's an old lesson. Now that James is an old head, he's ready to teach it.
His Own Path
We shouldn't discount the novelty of LeBron embracing his role as a leader. It's not every day you see a transcendent, once-in-a-generation superstar who has the ability (and desire) to pass something on.
Kobe Bryant has always been brutal on his young teammates. Even now, as he takes Julius Randle under his wing, he's doing it in a way that packs on the pressure (and expletives).
And it's not like Michael Jordan did Kwame Brown any favors.
Being an MVP-caiber talent makes it hard to be a leader. You can't just tell your followers to "do it like I do." They can't; that's why you're you and they're them.
What James is doing now fits appropriately into his overall legacy. He's the unselfish alpha, the wholly unique megastar whose greatness is defined by his inherent desire to give rather than take. It makes sense that he'd be the guy to pull off the impossible task of passing on greatness while still in his dominant prime.
He's Kobe with a conscience. Jordan with a heart.
James' evolution is complete, and we've never seen a finished product like this before.
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