By David Aldridge Special to ESPN.com <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A fortnight into the LeBron James Era, the Cavaliers' results have been about the same as last season -- an occasional win at home, no success at all on the road. So what are we to make of the young phenom? Has he performed as expected? More importantly, what should he expect as he continues to make the adjustment to playing point guard against the world's best? Should he worry about his shot? Or passing? Who should he pass to, Ricky Davis or Big Z? Well, how the hell should I know what it takes to play the point? So let's ask people who do know. "His level of understanding is off the charts," Isiah Thomas said. "When the other players on his team figure out how good he really is? It's a new day." "It takes certain God-given skills, but also a certain personality," Bob Cousy said. "LeBron has been so high profile, you wonder if he'd be satisfied with creating and developing for the other four people and not being the man. If you're going to be a Jason Kidd type or a John Stockton, you have to be prepared. But believe me, if I did all those wonderful things, if the guy blew the layup, I was all over his case. My ego would be affected if there wasn't a spectacular finish to all the great things that I'd done." "I came in and I was probably more of a scorer than a point guard when I first came in the league," Mark Price said. "It's a fine balance, especially when you can score the ball. It's hard to do that as well as keep everybody happy, and be in charge and run the show. A lot of it is getting used to the part teammates you're playing with at the time, learning their strengths and weaknesses, where you want to pass them the ball and where you don't. When you're running the point, you're more or less the coach. It's a lot of responsibility." So far, to my untrained eye, James has been more than willing to pass. In that vein, with his size, he reminds me of Magic. Thomas, with his trained eyes, sees someone else. "To me, he's more like Michael Ray (Richardson) than Magic," Thomas said. "People don't remember Sugar. I think he's more like Sugar than Magic because Sugar could score. He could shoot it, take it to the cup, a lot of other stuff. Magic just beat you with his brain. He was so damned smart. But LeBron reminds me of Michael Ray Richardson ... and he's a better athlete." Cousy, who gets his first in-person glance of James on Friday night when Cleveland visits the Celtics, obviously knows that James and the Cavaliers would be best in an up-tempo game ("It makes the big guys work harder defensively, makes them work harder and bust their ass getting down the floor, because they know they're going to get some of that sugar, you know?"). And he's read about how unselfish James is. But sometimes, Cousy says, a point guard has to choose. "The defender tells you what to do," he said. "You've got to react and adjust constantly and it takes some assimilation. I'm going to do everything I can to create something for one of the (other) four, and if it doesn't work out, I'm going to do my thing. Look at the Nets. They had Stephon (Marbury), and he scored a lot of points, but they finished in last place. Jason Kidd takes the same group of players, and they've been in the NBA Finals the last two years." Price was also once a young guard with a lot of attention on him trying to learn the point in Cleveland (or don't you remember that the Cavaliers had both Price and Kevin Johnson on their squad, and sent Johnson packing?). James's adjustment, Price says, will depend partly on how quickly he develops a bond with his teammates. "Some guys, you just tend to get a rapport with real quickly," Price said. "That was the case with me and Brad Daugherty, and Larry Nance. We all came from the ACC and we all came from a similar style of basketball. That made the transition a little quicker. It's something you really have to strive to make an effort to do, really study your own teammates. More or less, that's something that has to happen on the floor. You just have to play games together. When you're a young team like we all were, you're going to take some lumps." Price believes Cleveland fans will be patient. "We won 31 games our first year," he said. "I think people really got a sense that this was something that was buildable. I think it's a different situation (now). The last few years it's been rotating guys in and out and there's been no real strategy moving forward. When you have a player as talented as LeBron, and you start adding some pieces -- and they already have some good pieces -- guys that are going to fit around him, I think that's something people will be patient about." Thomas saw greatness in James's first week. "They were running a 1-4 set, and the guard has to get the ball to the guy at the top of the key, and for a lot of guys that's a really hard pass," Thomas said. "They try to throw it over the guy (guarding them). But LeBron, he took a little step to the left ... and passed the ball right. He went to the right ... and dropped the ball off to the left. A lot of guys who play in this league for years never make that play." But, I wondered, how hard will it be for James to play the ultimate team position when so much attention is, and will be, focused on his individual skills? "If you're a point guard, you don't have to be concerned about that," Cousy said. "I'm the original socially retarded ghetto kid who didn't want anybody to point at him ... I was about as shy about those things as anybody. But everybody has an ego and wants to do well at what they do. When you're the point guard, you're the man. You start with the ball. You orchestrate everything out there. That should be enough to satisfy your ego ... and when you're LeBron, you're going to get even more attention. I think it's the most rewarding position, for obvious reasons." "The selflessness part, I don't think it's going to be a problem for him," Price said. "He enjoys passing the ball and he likes to win. You've got a guy who's willing to play with his teammates." How about that, LeBron? How do you think it's gone so far? It took a while to track him down, but finally, there were a few stolen moments last week while he waited to take part in a local Cleveland fundraiser for the public schools. "I think I performed well," James said. "I think as an individual and as a team, I think I really gained some respect from my opponents." I wondered if there have been times when he felt playing on this level was easy. "I just felt I was able to attack better," he said. "Keep my focus and be able to outperform some of the other guys on the court. But at the same time, I was able to contribute to my team. And that's my main concern. Am I able to contribute as much as I can to my team?" But how can he handle all the hoopla? Does he have any time to himself? "No. But I don't like being by myself," he said. "I love to amuse people, you know, my family. I love being around my family. I won't be able to amuse them if I'm by myself. Then they think I'm crazy." But isn't there a time when he needs to close the door and be alone? "That's when I fall asleep." And then he went to hang out with his pals, kids his age, and as I watched them laugh and joke about things that 18-year-old boys laugh and joke about, in the basement of a sporting goods store, with adults forming a perimeter around him, he looked nothing more like a kid who had nowhere to go in particular, and had no doubt he'd be able to handle what occurred when he got there. He's going to be fine, I think.</div> Full Story
I would have to say from that article and lebrons stats so far on the year, which u could check out at www.nba.com/- is that he is the best rookie who has ever came straight out of high school to play in the nba because his stats are proving it.
