No Respect

Cleveland – and its teams and athletes – is used to getting disrespected. It’s part of our charm.

But that all seemed to change when the Wine and Gold won the NBA Draft Lottery in 2003 and a kid from Akron named LeBron James came to town. The young King represented Northeast Ohio like no other athlete in the city’s history. He was a superstar before he ever stepped on an NBA floor. And it seemed like the days of disrespect were over.

Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

On Thursday, the league announced its All-NBA Teams and after cracking the First Team in 2005-06, James found himself on the Second Team in 2006-07. The First Team not only didn’t include James, but didn’t feature a single player from the Eastern Conference.

Obviously, there’s no shame in being named Second Team, but most people – including myself – feel that he was slighted. Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash are inarguable. Amare Stoudemire is there as the figurative center. Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki are superstars, but they didn’t do the things that LeBron does.

Duncan is surrounded by great, complimentary players and Dirk has limitations, as Golden State proved not long ago.

“The guys that are there – they’re all terrific players – and with LeBron being our guy, I’m a little biased, too,” said Head Coach Mike Brown. “But I don’t understand some things. I mean the guy goes 26, 6 and 6 – (only one other guy has ever done that for three years in a row) – and we won 50 games. I guess I just don’t understand.”

“For us, he’s our MVP and that’s all that matters,” said center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. “As far as I’m concerned, watching him play for the last four years, there’s not a lot of guys better than him, period.

“There’s nobody I’d rather have than him. I’m sure it doesn’t matter to LeBron. He wants to win.”

LeBron didn’t have the season statistically that he had in 2005-06. And it also became vogue for national pundits to pile on him for not coming out of the gate as strongly as he did last year. The main complaint among critics was that he was spreading himself too thin – citing the FIBA World Championships and his numerous endorsements.

But James still averaged 27.3 points, 6.7 boards and 6.0 assists per game in 78 starts. The only other player in history to average those numbers for three straight seasons is Oscar Robertson. He was the East’s leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game in Vegas and responded by scoring 28 points.

LeBron went on a monster tear after the All-Star Game and was second to only Kobe Bryant in scoring during the stretch run, averaging 29.2 ppg through the final 27 games. And most importantly, he was the undeniable impetus behind the Cavaliers’ second straight 50-win season.

“Aside from the fact that he’s one of the top overall talents in the NBA, we’ve also won 50 games,” added Larry Hughes. “(Finishing Second Team) is definitely a knock on us and it’s a knock on him because he’s done everything that’s asked of him – especially for our team – to help us be one of the best teams in the league. And I definitely think he should have been rewarded.”

In essence, LeBron is a victim of his own greatness. He is, and will be measured against himself because, frankly, there’s nobody in today’s game quite like him.

Of course, in true LeBron fashion, he downplayed an individual achievement.

“It doesn’t matter to me at all,” said a stone-faced James. “I’m just happy I’m part of the elite group. It doesn’t matter if I’m First Team or Second Team or anything like that. I just have to continue to play well for my teammates and continue to get better.”

But perhaps a better barometer of how he truly feels will be seen on Saturday afternoon and beyond. He won’t show his frustrations to the media, but he might take them out on the Nets.

And if he does intend to use it as motivation, he won’t admit as much.

“We’ve got enough motivation,” said James. “We want to win a Championship.”

But perhaps it was Hughes who succinctly summed up the First Team snub best.

“He knows and we know; the league knows,” said Hughes. “It’s not hard to figure out.”