Once LeBron embraces the Villain role, life will be so much better

By: Pedro Heizer

LeBron is trying so hard to embrace his new role as the villain of the NBA, but it’s not working.

LeBron enjoys going on the road and getting booed. In fact, he is actually playing better on the road than he is at home.

After the Lakers 112-57 debacle of the Cavaliers, LeBron tweeted: “Crazy. Karma is a b****. Gets you every time. It’s not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!”

Once I read that, the first thing I thought of was Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers owner who posted an open-letter on the Cavaliers website within minutes of LeBron’s decision to leave chilly Cleveland for sunny Miami.

In the letter, Gilbert called James the “former hero;” he called LeBron’s decision a “cowardly act of betrayal” and vowed that the city of Cleveland will win an NBA championship before the “self-titled former King” won one.

In the tweet, it seemed as if James was taking a jab at Gilbert and all the Cavaliers’ players who talked bad about him after his decision. But when asked about the tweet by reporters, James backed away from his tweet and said, “It’s just how I was feeling at the time. It wasn’t even a comment from me, it was someone who sent it to me and I sent it out. It wasn’t toward that team. It definitely wasn’t a good showing by that team last night; I know they wish they would’ve played better.”

When asked to clarify his confusing comments, James and the questions were cut off by a member of the Heat public relations staff.

LeBron, if you are going to be the villain of the NBA, you need to embrace it. You need to own up to your “tweets” and man up and say, “Yes, I wrote that. It was directed towards that Cavaliers and most importantly Dan Gilbert.” But you won’t see Lebron saying that, and you know why? Because he’s too worried about what people think about him.

LeBron is being booed in cities that never had a chance to sign him (New Jersey and Memphis to be exact). LeBron is playing better on the road than he is at home. I think that the boos ignite his fire, and he cranks it up from there. LeBron is averaging nearly 28 points per game on the road, compared to his 22 points he drops at the American Airlines Arena.

Although some people believe that LeBron has already embraced his “inner Anakin” and is the official villain of the NBA, I see it otherwise.

I see a player who really is trying to enjoy being the villain; you saw it in a couple of occasions already this season: When he pulled a “DeSean Jackson” after sinking a 3-point dagger in OT of the Portland game, and he cruised the opposite end of the court with arms raised, motioning his fingers to the crowd to elevate their hate. And his “my own greatness” comment he made after his “Return to Cleveland” game. And of course, the whole “Heatles” nickname that seemed to upset everyone who’s ever heard “Abbey Road.”

LeBron is trying to be a villain, but when it came time for him to officially be known as the “bad guy” and own up to his tweet, what does LeBron do? He takes the easy way out and says he “re-tweeted” from another friend. Villains don’t do that, LeBron.

LeBron, as the great philosopher Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you find that you get what you need.”