LeBron James: Why All NBA Fans Should Root for Him Next Year

The 2010 NBA season came to a close two nights ago. The Dallas Mavericks lifted the Larry O' Brien trophy after defeating the Miami Heat in Game 6 by a score of 105-95.

Their victory, the intrepid play of Dirk Nowitzki and company, and the Mavericks' dogged determination should be all that history remembers about this series. But if the last two days are any indication, these facts will be but trivial footnotes in what was one of the greatest and most significant NBA finals of all time.

No, instead the focus has been on LeBron James and the Miami Heat, marking perhaps the first time in sports history that the losing team has garnered more attention than the victors. Sure the media is partly to blame, but most of the blame falls on the fans. On you.

Let's be honest, unless you live in Florida, you were most likely rooting for the Mavericks. And unless you live in Texas, chances are you weren't so much rooting for the Mavericks as you were against LeBron James.

From on-camera interviews with fans to Internet message boards to conversations with friends and co-workers, the enmity against James (but not always the Heat) was palpable. I wonder if anything short of al-Qaeda fielding a team could have provoked so much animosity. 

And why?

All because of one supremely talented, albeit arrogant, player. But is James really that bad? Yes, the Decision was a showcase of narcissism the likes of which we have rarely witnessed. And yes, James does have a habit of making himself the center of attention through controversial and arrogant remarks.

But compared to sport's other villains, James is relatively tame.

We've forgotten about Todd Bertuzzi's dirty punch from behind that ended the career of Steve Moore. We've become bored with the scandalous and admitted steroid user Alex Rodriguez. And some of us have forgiven Michael Vick, while most of us have at least begrudgingly accepted that he's paid his debt to society.

Though we make James out to be Lex Luther, these players, though forever linked with their actions, are no longer defined by their serious transgressions. 

Which is as it should be. Professional athletes are human. They make mistakes and they say dumb things, some more than others. But inevitably we forget about their mistakes and move on.

Except for James. 

LeBron has been in the league for eight years, and still we can't overcome our love of hating him. If this was all there was to the story, then there wouldn't be a problem. Constant media scrutiny comes with the territory of being a professional athlete, and James is being paid more than enough to take the pressure.

But there's a bigger problem: We've let our obsession with LeBron hijack the NBA.

The Mavericks' victory should be one of the most memorable and defining championships in recent NBA history. It has potentially changed the course of the league.

The 2010-2011 NBA season began with a prolific free agent class that signalled the NBA was headed towards a new era. An era in which small and mid-size market teams would inevitably lose their franchise player or be forced to trade him. An era in which superstar players and their agents colluded with one another in the back of limousines or VIP rooms.

An era in which the fan was forgotten.

But Dallas' victory has changed that. Dallas didn't win by purchasing a big name free agent like Carlos Boozer, Amar'e Stoudemire, Lebron James, Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson. They did it with respected and ring-less veterans whose careers were said to be all but done (Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion) and with an undrafted "nobody" who persevered against all odds (Jose Barea).

When things got tough, Dirk didn't demand a trade to a team with a bigger market and stronger supporting cast, a la Carmelo Anthony. Instead he stepped up his game and demanded the best of himself and his team. And he got it. The Mavericks season was a classic Cinderella story and an example of players' drive and selflessness in an age of greed. 

And nobody's noticed because we're too busy smugly laughing at James, wondering how it feels for him to lose yet again. And so long as we remain obsessed with James, we'll continue to overlook even the greatest of NBA storylines. 

So let's root for James in 2011. Let's hope he wins the championship so we can stop wondering if he ever will. Most of all, let's root for James so that we can pay more attention to the other 449 players and 29 teams in the league.

Because, like Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, they deserve it.