LeBron James' Haters and Owner-Backers Are Nearly One in the Same

For those that hate LeBron James, ask yourself, why? For those that back the owners in the NBA Labor dispute, outside of their family members, ask yourself why?

I’m willing to bet, if you hate LBJ and back the owners, your honest reasoning behind your feelings are probably very similar.

In a discussion with a respected basketball friend of mine, he had this to say:

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"The owners are trying to run a business. They're like, hey, we're losing money on our investment, we need y'all to take a pay cut for the betterment of the game. People like LeBron James messed things up for the smaller market teams when they started building these alliances. They are only interested in money, that is the problem, that is all they are concerned with."

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This was the headline from a fellow B/R Featured Columnist named Avi Scher "NBA Players Are Getting Greedy, They've Forgotten Where They Came from."

Among several things I disagreed with, these quotes stood out:

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"The NBA players these days who don't have what it takes to lead a team on their own (not including Kobe Bryant), are joining forces. The Cleveland Cavaliers were a profitable team before LeBron moved to Miami to join Wade, and the Denver Nuggets had Carmelo Anthony who joined Amare Stoudemire and the New York Knicks."

"Players, think what's going on in the world, think about the parents who were not able to be a professional athlete and make millions, and are still able to provide for their four kids and keep a roof over their heads."

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Both of these individuals are sharp, bright people. One, I can personally vouch for. But there is one common undertone in both of their opinions: It seems that the onus for producing basketball and accountability to the fans falls solely on the players in their opinions.

Avi even goes as far as saddling the players with the responsibility to think of other families who aren't blessed enough to be provided for by a professional athlete. That simply isn't fair, not for either side and especially not the less wealthy side.

One reason people feel so comfortable in criticizing players is because their salaries are the ones that are made public. Most basketball fans can tell you within a million dollar range, how much LeBron James makes from the Heat per year. How many can tell you what Micky Arison's annual income is?

The public report of the salaries creates an unwritten responsibility to the fans and that is disjointed. It effectively paints the players as the haves, while the fans, of course are the have nots. Most fans are ok with that until the moment the have doesn't perform or behave the way they want them to.

Limited public knowledge of the owners wealth, allows the owners to hide the specifics of their premium baller status. Consider this, If you can afford to pay one employee/contractor $16 million dollars, how much must you be pulling in? Also, to even be considered for team ownership, you have to be beyond financially stable to even apply.

In short, no owners are spending their last on a NBA franchise. Take a look at this chart. It compares NBA owners net worth to their franchise' worth.

What causes these types of opinions and stances on these issues? Surely, these two are not the only ones that think this way. There is a poll in Avi Scher's article that asks "are the players greedy?" The overwhelming response was yes.

I believe there are three major motives:

Tradition

We are used to players being second class to the owners. Being employees, residing in a spot in the workplace we can most closely relate to. That is why so many people reference their own jobs when attacking the players.

It isn't the same.

What athletes do, like it or not, is highly specialized work. There is less than two percent of the population that can do what they do. It is just entertainment, but it is big business.

LeBron James and others broke tradition. Since when can a player control his destiny like that?

People were more comfortable with the old school athlete who had to toll in the city that drafted him until that team built a strong enough contender or saw fit to trade him and his family across the country.

Fans respect the long-suffering athlete. So do I, but lets not confuse that with the right to chose where you want to work. Making tons of cash shouldn't forfeit that right.

Long ago, there was no free-agency, Curt Flood and others blazed a trail in that direction. LeBron and others are doing the same.

Media Monster

Many point out The Decision as the single event that turned them against LeBron. I view that as an entertainer using the media as a platform to further market himself and expand popularity.

We can criticize it all we want and say it humiliated Cleveland fans, but consider this, is there not a press-conference called to announce signings and high-profile firings in sports?

What is the difference? The difference is the press conferences are initiated by the teams, not the players and that falls more perfectly in line with what fans are comfortable with.

ESPN sets this up, cooperated with James to broadcast, and then tore him down at every opportunity after it aired.

Racism

There is that nasty word nobody wants to admit still exists. Some people will even say, "I was with you until you played the race card." That is part of the problem. Perhaps it isn't you that is guilty of this nasty emotion, but it still exists and it isn't reserved to people in white sheets.

Today, this manifests itself in different, more subtle and often sub-conscious ways. 

The NBA is of course, a predominantly African-American sports league. It is the sport that is most star driven of any team sport in the world.

Primarily because, the on-court number is among the lowest at five. One player or one superstar impacts the game more in basketball, than in any other.

I believe many fans are angered by Lebron's "audacity" to pick his team, especially in such a high-profile manner. I feel that anger towards him is intensified because he's black. Another thing about it is, it isn't just non-black LeBron haters that are driven by this; I believe it is black LeBron haters as well.

We as a society are not used to seeing athletes, especially black athletes wield this much power within their own sports, while they are still players.

Steve Nash is one of the most outspoken players in regards to this labor dispute. I haven't seen one bad press release concerning Nash or anyone calling him greedy.

LeBron James and the NBA players are stepping out of the box fans have them in.

Our biggest point of reference is Michael Jordan. MJ played his entire career with the Chicago Bulls. He was grossly underpaid through most of his career if you consider his greatness and franchise worth. That was OK with Michael; he had other endorsements as do today's players.

But MJ's iconic status is what has given today's players the inspiration to reach higher. They realize that this sport, because of everything about it, is more of a partnership than a boss-subordinate relationship.

Fans should be championing the labor stance the players are making. Athletes jobs are not like most people's nine to fives, but it sure as hell is more similar than what the owners do on a daily.