would he get more press? be considered higher on the all-time great list? or is all that moot because he plays for the mavs and not LA, Boston, Chicago or NY?

White players dont sell shoes. Foreigners are even harder to market to the highest consuming country in the world (US).

He's not a human highlight reel, he doesn't have eye-opening athleticism, he's not a prima donna, and he's foreign.

He's just humble and hardworking. You'll get more stories out of guys like Lebron and Kobe.

I think he would get more press if he was American born.

For all of the greatness of Hakeem Olajuwon, he didn't get as much press as he could have because he was a foreigner and his English wasn't the best (then again his English was better than Shaq's circa 1995).

Mike and Mike, as a quick note in between talking about Lebron, said that it was not one of the great sickness performances of all-time. Can someone more resourceful than me give a list of the all time best sick games? 21/11 and the game winning shot is just average and not worth discussing

Game 5 of the 1997 Finals

Jordan went for 38/7/5 with 3 steals and a block in a Bulls 90-88 win at Utah. He had 17 points in the 2nd quarter alone and added another 15 in the 4th. He played 44 minutes that game.

No **** everyone remembers the Flu game. Looking for the rest of the list of all time great games

Emmitt had about 220 yards with a separated shoulder, I think.

Kerry Strug winning gold with a broken leg. Tiger Woods with a broken leg winning a major.

They went over sick games in all sports on their show...but it begins and ends with jordan.

That said...you won the game. Who cares if the media doesn't want to give you credit.

Mentioned tom brady was sick before afc cham against pitt.

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He's just humble and hardworking. You'll get more stories out of guys like Lebron and Kobe.

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Kobe I get, but I'm starting to wonder why people hate Lebron so much now. The guy could have been "the man" at Cleveland or several other destinations and could have been in the "is he the next Jordan" discussion for the rest of his career. However, he left to go play 2nd fiddle to try and win some rings. Guys like Kobe aren't going to do that. Not to mention that last night when Chalmers was talking trash to Terry, Lebron got in his face and told him to shut the hell up. I just don't see the hatred for Lebron that a lot of others have, but maybe that's just me. I'd say that Lebron works pretty hard on his game, just like Dirk does.

I was a Lebron fan until LeDecision. I really don't have a problem with him now, I think he's a great player.

I guess for me I'm just disappointed that someone who has the potential to be a transcendent player instead decided to take the easy road to a championship (and Miami is going to win plenty in the coming years) and let someone else be alpha dog. In the past, Lebron embraced those moments of greatness, now it looks like he's just watching DWade do the same things he used to do.

Is there anything wrong with that? No - he made the decision he thought was best for him. I don't hate him for it, just disappointed that he decided to pass up greatness for the path of least resistance.

Who knows, in seasons to come he might prove me wrong.

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I just don't see the hatred for Lebron that a lot of others have, but maybe that's just me. I'd say that Lebron works pretty hard on his game, just like Dirk does.

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Because people don't like MJ comparisons. When MJ is no longer the best ever (which he is by a mile still) I will feel old and feel like my claim to fame (growing up watching MJ in his prime) was taken from me.

Lebron is one of the "better guys" in the NBA. He is a team player and doesn't really care about his stats, etc. He has some flaws but nothing major.

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I'd say that Lebron works pretty hard on his game, just like Dirk does

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Ignorant statement. I don't know about Lebrons work habits and won't disparage that but I know that Dirks work ethic is legendary. It's usually the first thing his teammates mention as to what makes him great. But throwing lavish parties and being a global icon is more flashy than shooting jumpshots after practice with your elderly German coach/handler

I you want the love and noteriety you need to get covered with tatoos and/or go rape somebody. Dirk just isn't gangsta enough.

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Ignorant statement. I don't know about Lebrons work habits and won't disparage that but I know that Dirks work ethic is legendary. It's usually the first thing his teammates mention as to what makes him great. But throwing lavish parties and being a global icon is more flashy than shooting jumpshots after practice with your elderly German coach/handler

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Ignorant statement to say that Lebron works hard on his game huh? Good God man, take off the f'ing Mav glasses for once in your life. You're an absolute buffoon if you don't think Lebron is in the gym working on his game both during the season and in the offseason. Throwing lavish parties? Got a link to any of this? I've seen plenty of "party" pics of Dirk. Just because he may not be hosting said parties doesn't mean he isn't partying.

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Because people don't like MJ comparisons. When MJ is no longer the best ever (which he is by a mile still) I will feel old and feel like my claim to fame (growing up watching MJ in his prime) was taken from me.

Lebron is one of the "better guys" in the NBA. He is a team player and doesn't really care about his stats, etc. He has some flaws but nothing major.

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I agree with that, but I don't think that is his fault. Not like he is going around comparing himself to MJ, it's the media and fans that try and do that. I'd say that after this year those comparisons are gonna stop. Lebron isn't in MJ's league and his teammate is more closer to MJ than he is at this point.

Ignorant to say Lebron works as hard as Dirk on his game. He may be a hard worker but should not be mentioned in the same breath. And Lebrons big parties on road trips are well documented

In 2009 Lebron had better stats than MJ. The comparison wrote itself.

Why is that ignorant? You have absolutely no f'ing clue as to how hard each player works on their games. To claim that you do just further proves how big of a Mav homer that you are. You're talking as if Lebron just shows up an hour before the game and trots out on the court, which is ridiculously stupid. His jump shot has greatly improved since he came in the league and that just doesn't happen magically. He has improved his FG% over the previous season in every year but one.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lebron_james/career_stats.html

If these parties are well documented, surely you've got a few links to post then.

I put Kobe in another class because Coach K said, after the 2008 Olympics, in all his years of coaching he has never seen a better preparer and leader than Kobe Bryant.

I will stand behind Coach Ks ethos.

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Not like he is going around comparing himself to MJ, it's the media and fans that try and do that.

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Rookie year.

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I put Kobe in another class because Coach K said, after the 2008 Olympics, in all his years of coaching he has never seen a better preparer and leader than Kobe Bryant.

I will stand behind Coach Ks ethos.

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Coach K (and Colangelo) had seriously considered kicking LeBron James off of that very same team.

As far as off-season work, it's been noted that no one works harder than Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. There's a reason why those guys don't really have too many friends around the league. Their lives revolve around basketball.

Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose are also starting to get that gym rat rep.

HNIC, I don't see anything referring to MJ on there. Have you seen Deshawn Stevenson? Guarantee he has at least 15 tats that say something ridiculous like that somewhere on his body and the guy is a role player.

Re the OP: Its not just that he's foreign. He's white, foreign, plays the game in a manner percieved as "soft", isn't glamorous, isn't in a major market, hasn't won the big one, etc.

Look, to be a player of LeBron's stature, you have to have some sort of ego or else you'd be DeShawn Stevenson. I get that. But to think that this guy doesn't see himself in that light is ridiculous. LeBron is very, very aware of legacy and his place in not only the league, but in sports AND celebrity history.

His global icon comments, the Decision, everything. I posted a thread a while back with some quotes from him that don't exactly paint him as the victim-of-media-expectations-Mother-Theresa you're trying to make him out to be. I'll up it when I can find it.

I said twice that I can't speak for Lebrons work ethic but I am very confident that he's not in the same league as Dirk

Here's a part of spiteful biased article on lebron by a national writer, but it does contain facts about Lebrons brand image as an elite party host.

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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebronknicks121810

As it turns out, the Heat were the perfect choice for James. It combines what he wanted (an unlimited party portfolio and a loaded lineup) with what he needed: an owner, GM and coach to stand up to his personal insurrection. Cleveland could never undo its enabling of him, and New York would’ve bent the franchise too far. Chicago would’ve been interesting, but Derrick Rose(notes) never wanted to play with him, making an unholy and unhappy alliance.

No, the Heat are perfect. James needed structure, and Pat Riley has given him parameters with which he needs to fit. He tried to fire a coach demanding discipline out of him, and it didn’t work. This has allowed the Heat to push through the uneasy and uneven first few weeks of the season and allowed them to find a balance where James, Wade and Bosh could flourish together.

Perhaps Riley doesn’t love that James has let his marketing geniuses use the MVP’s likeness to sell “sponsorships” for parties on South Beach and across the NBA travel schedule. Of course, they don’t have to twist James’ arm. Before the two games with the New Orleans Hornets this season, James and Chris Paul(notes) co-hosted parties on Bourbon Street and South Beach. Once, Paul had such big national endorsements with big national products. And now he has “Rich Paul Productions” – one of LeBron’s Akron acolytes – spitting out posters for the party like the ones Turtle left on car windshields for Vince in “Entourage.”

Whatever disdain some of the public has for James, it isn’t shared among most of the NBA’s young stars. James has 11 “LeBron James Dinner Party Tour Dates” on tap over the next several months, from New York to Chicago, Atlanta to Los Angeles. He gets to town, and they’re hitting the town to make a few dollars off the lure of King James. They’ve got a South Florida company selling “sponsorships” to the parties, which is essentially treating the NBA’s MVP like a hotel lobby ATM machine.

What’s more, there’s a big LeBron James’ 26th birthday party on South Beach on Dec. 30, and James’ marketing arm insists the event is “royal themed fitting for a birthday celebration of a king, channeling an ambiance of extravagant court life.”

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As far as Dirk, his game doesn't translate well into marketing. His Euro background and soft rep have a little to do with it, but it's moreso his game.

Big men don't sell shoes. Shaq was the biggest star in the NBA for 10 years, but nobody wants to be Shaq. Everyone wants to play like Jordan, Kobe, LeBron. Even Allen Iverson sold more shoes than most and he wore Reeboks! But his little man game was very admirable because guess what? Most of us driveway ballers aren't 7-feet tall, so we don't look up to those players like that.

That's why Kevin Durant's hype got worked over after Blake Griffin came in. His game has a lot of similarities to Dirk. Durant had all the hype in the world coming into this season. But Durant is a finesse/shooter. Blake Griffin came in and was the biggest story of the season because of his dunks. Keep in mind that Griffin has zero personality.

I also don't believe in the small market thing. This isn't the 80's. The internet, ESPN, TNT, media coverage, etc. has exploded over the past ten years. Every player gets exposure no matter where he plays these days. There's a reason why that white kid from DIII got petitioned in to the NCAA dunk contest this year.

Yea that writer sure doesn't sound like he has an agenda. Didn't Dirk after the 2006 or 2007 season take a 2 month hiatus to go back to Germany specifically to forget about the pressure and losing?

Feel free to study up on all those verifiable facts presented by the yahoo sports columnist if you are so concerned

Dirk goes back to Germany every year and stays at his parents house and works on improving his game when he isn't busy carrying Team Germany around.

Your continued ignorance on Dirks work ethic is actually a nice fitting for the OP. It's not reported on as much as someone like Kobe

[This message has been edited by InternetFan02 (edited 6/8/2011 12:05p).]

I'll say that I question LeBron's work ethic after he he says he needs to stay off his feet for as much time as he can before the next game and that there's not much time to get to the gym in a 48 hour window.

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InternetFan02 11:58a
Dirk goes back to Germany every year and stays at his parents house and works on improving his game when he isn't busy carrying Team Germany around.

Your continued ignorance on Dirks work ethic is actually a nice fitting for the OP. It's not reported on as much as someone like Kobe

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My continued ignorance huh? You're sitting there speaking as if you're Dirk's assistant and that you know FOR A FACT that he works on his game way more than Lebron does. That is incredibly foolish and more proof that you can't take a step back and remove Dirk's schlong from your mouth for one second to make a logical post.

There are plenty of stories of MJ's boozing, partying, and gambling until wee hours of the morning. Did he also not work on his game? Because that is exactly what you're saying about Lebron. Again, I use this example because of your ignorant statement.