LeBron James Needs to Use the Offseason to Find His Inner Kobe

From the eyeballs down, LeBron James has all the tools necessary not only to win a championship, but also to be one of the five greatest basketball players in the history of the game. Feasibly, he could even supplant Michael Jordan at the top spot. 

His court vision, his athleticism, his speed, his size and his explosiveness are such a unique combination that it's almost as though he were designed by a basketball engineer to play the game. Something went wrong with the software though. 

It's the eyebrows up that have kept James from winning so far, and I don't think even the most die-hard Heat fan would argue that, but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

I'll grant you, I'm not a qualified therapist. I don't know him. I could be completely in the wrong here. Of course, people who hate on him aren't therapists either, nor do they know him. These are just my observations, which could be completely off—or might be spot on. 

I don't think LeBron is a bad person. I don't think he has the ego that some suggest. In fact, if he did, I think he would have won by now. I think that LeBron's problem might be something else. He's a child star who has suffered from what that brings with it. 

He was elevated into national prominence when he was just 14 years old. Some hold that against him, as though somehow the 14-year-old kid should be held responsible for the actions of the entire US sports media. 

That elevation carries with it the same pitfalls that any other child star has to contend with, particularly when it comes without a father. At times James reminds me of Michael Jackson, a grown man who never had a childhood—and now seems to constantly be thriving for one.

It's why I believe that The Decision really was about the children. James spends most of his offseason every summer trying to work with kids and help them. He's penned out million-dollar checks of his own money to help them. Anyone who wants to say it's all a front needs to charter a flight off of Hate Island. 

LeBron James is not evil. He's not a narcissist. He's just a messed up 26-year-old man who's trying to navigate his way through a very weird life. For him, a large part of that trying is measured out in winning approval.

While most of us were getting the "attaboys" from our fathers, his was nowhere to be found, so he turned to the national media and the American public for approval. It seems that there's a built-in need for that approval that drives him.   

Particularly on the court that translates into a man trying to please people. Whether it's the chalk show, playing up the villain role or trying to take over at the end of the game, it seems he's trying to do what he needs to do to gain approval. He needs that. 

When he was announcing his decision and saw the Cleveland fans burning his jersey, it really struck me the way his face fell. He really didn't seem to understand and it really did seem to hurt him. It was like that kind of disapproval was something he didn't know. 

This is the crux of things as it appears to me. Approval, not winning, is the most important thing to LeBron. It's not about "selling his brand;" that's Maverick Carter. James just goes along with it because he needs Carter's approval too.

He not trying to do what he needs to do to win, he's doing what he needs to win approval.

That's why when the pressure is really on instead of being the best basketball player in the world today, he looks like a man trying to be the best basketball player in the world toady. 

With Kobe Bryant you never get the impression that he is trying to be something. He simply is the Black Mamba. He is who he is. Kobe's not trying to find approval from without, but he finds it from within. He plays based on what he needs to be, not what he thinks he needs to be.

I remember Bryant's second start in the All-Star Game in 2002. At just 23 he didn't "defer" to anyone. Like it or not, there was an inherent belief in himself there. Whether you call it confidence or arrogance or both, there was no doubt in Kobe's mind that while he was on the court with the best in the world, he was the best of the best. 

Long story short, he scored 31 points and won the All-Star Game MVP. 

Kobe never gives you the impression that he's trying to be Kobe. If you want to know the difference between genuine arrogance and compensating for a lack of genuine confidence, watch the difference between LeBron and Kobe in the last minute of a game. 

LeBron's problem isn't arrogance, it's a lack of it.

With James, there were flashes last year. Against Boston and Chicago, he was an immortal beast in the last two minutes of the game. Then he started trying to be what he was instead of being who he was against Dallas and as a result he couldn't do it. 

It's impossible to impersonate yourself. Try it. As long as LeBron is trying to be LeBron, he can't be LeBron. When he simply is LeBron, he's the best in the world. 

Whether he needs to dial up Dani Santino, go on a walk-about or climb a mountain to do it, LeBron James needs to have some sort of existential epiphany this summer. He needs to reach deep into his soul and find his inner Kobe, that fundamental unconquerable belief in who he is that will make him a champion. 

Once he stops worrying about who else believes in him and starts being who he is, watch out. Once he does that, the Kraken will be released and there will simply be no stopping the Heat.