Former Iowa defensive back Amari Spievey hates LeBron James. The hate runs deep, too.
I am not sure I have hated something as much as he appears to hate LBJ. And I still don’t get it.
I grew up a huge Michael Jordan fan. I could be seen regularly shooting fadeaway jumpers in my driveway trying to “be like Mike” as they used to say.
But as much as I love Jordan, I understand that LeBron James is great. There is not much to hate really.
The money he donates in his hometown and the number of scholarships he gives to under-privileged children in his city are well documented. Off the court, James is a superstar.
On the court, he’s either loved or hated. And that’s fine.
Now back to Spievey. I am Facebook “friends” with a lot of former Hawkeyes. And I started paying attention recently to his activity, and 60 percent of it are posts bashing LBJ.
After Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, he posted “ya’ll goat had 15 points tonight.”
After Game 2, and following LeBron’s triple-double, his post read “all stats no wins.”
So no matter what LBJ does, he finds a way to criticize. And it seems like the Cavaliers’ future Hall of Famer is not allowed to have a bad game. It happens. Jordan had bad games, too.
It doesn’t mean LBJ stinks. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be in the conversation of greatest of all time.
For my money, Jordan will always be No. 1. And I don’t think I will ever change my mind on that.
But LeBron James is at least top five all-time. He’s one of the few great players to ever be able to guard all five positions in his prime. His defense has fallen off as he approaches 20 years in the league. But his offensive game is better today than it was 15 years ago.
I had a conversation with a co-worker about LeBron James recently. He told me he thought he was overrated and maybe a top 25 player all-time.
If you think he’s not at least a top 10 player all-time, then you are either delusional, not watching regularly or just being a hater.
If you are one of those folks who does not enjoy watching him play or does not like his game, that is one thing. But to say he’s not one of the all-time greats is just silly.
If LBJ and the Cavs lose to Boston or lose to whoever comes out of the Western Conference, the blame will get put on one guy.
The truth is, this may be LeBron’s worse team since his first few years in Cleveland. They have no business winning a title.
I believe he leaves after this year to play somewhere else. I don’t think it will be in the West, but he could surprise me. I was surprised with the his decision to go to Miami.
I don’t root for the Cavs in general. I am a Timberwolves fan. But I do want success for LBJ. They are down 0-2 right now. They may not rally to win the series. I won’t lose any sleep over that either.
Moving to high school football news, Baxter junior Will Clapper got his first FCS offer this week. South Dakota State is now on board for Clapper’s services. Clapper also has an offer to play football for Iowa Western Community College.
I spoke with Baxter football coach Rob Luther on Wednesday. He told me that there have been about 12 coaches in the school in the last month, including Iowa and Nebraska.
Clapper will have a busy summer. He’s attending plenty of camps and may even make a decision before the Bolts kick off their season in August.
Contact Troy Hyde
at thyde@newtondailynews.com