LeBron and Dwight: Closer Than You May Think

The world of social media has changed sports forever.  Athletes have more leverage than ever before, dangling all of their demands in front of their owner while fans have a front row seat for everything.  Unlike any other time in history, Twitter and other social media sites have changed the way athletes bargain for what they feel they deserve.  After the Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs, rumors began circling through NBA circles that Dwight Howard could be the next big name moving to Los Angeles.  Howard decided to take it into his own hands tweeting, “Y does it seem like the writers of Orlando sentinel are tryna push me out of Orlando with dumb articles. It's annoying. Can I enjoy my summer and get ready for next season in Orlando. Pls. Same thing u guys did to Shaq.”  

            The fact that Dwight Howard is tweeting something like that shows that his mind is already at the point where he is looking for negativity instead of concentrating on what he needs to do to further his career.  In addition, making a reference to the fact that he sees himself getting pushed out of Orlando shows that he has already bought into the thought that he will not be playing for the Magic much longer.  Even if it is part of his unconscious process, Howard has already made the decision to leave.  And here’s the thing with Howard: He’s now in the process of trying to make his situation appear to be different that the debacle that surrounded LeBron taking his talents to South Beach.

            If Howard has not yet made up his mind, his so-called frustration would not be broadcast to the world.  He would have gone about his off-season training and dismissed all of the criticisms, both within his own mind and publicly.  Even after The Decision that turned off so many fans, LeBron seemed to play the entire 2011 playoffs with an attitude that made it seem like he wasn’t ready to lead with the killer instinct required to be one of the game’s all-time best.  After a subpar performance throughout the Finals James stated:

"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. So they can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they got to get back to the real world at some point."

            Perhaps LeBron simply does not have the killer instinct that propelled elite players throughout their careers.  There never would have been a peep from Jordan or Bird regarding their detractors.  Instead, they would have gone to the gym and made sure every person that said something negative about them saw them dominate on the court.  With James and Howard, there seems to be an unconscious aspect of their mental makeup that suggests that they are more comfortable pointing to circumstances beyond their control instead of taking the risk that it takes to be comfortable with the possible failure that comes with being great.  After all, being the alpha dog on a team comes with considerable risk and it seems as if both Howard and James aren’t quite willing to take that risk.    

            So what does this mean for Orlando and Howard as his career goes forward?  Sadly for Magic fans, it most likely means that Howard will either be traded after a so-so first half of the season or his Orlando career will end like LeBron’s fateful end in Boston when many criticized him for giving up on the Cavaliers franchise.  Howard is already resigned to the fact that he will not be in Orlando long-term.  Even if his play doesn’t suggest a drop-off, there will be a difference in mentality and intensity that will likely only be changed when he puts on a different uniform.  

How the pressure of greatness will affect John Wall

Last week at the NBA Draft in the World’s Most Famous Arena, Commissioner David Stern stepped to the podium and surprised exactly no one when he announced that the Wizards with the first pick took John Wall, the 19-year-old sensation from Kentucky. Wall will be following in another teenager’s footsteps when he steps on the court for the Wizards as the number one overall pick, as Kwame Brown did almost a decade ago alongside Michael Jordan during his second farewell tour.

Wall, the Wizards and basketball fans in general hope that this time is different and that Wall blossoms into the superstar that the Wizards front office at the time thought would happen with Brown. So how do players with arguably equal athletic gifts become a bust, an average professional or a star? What is it about a player’s mental make-up that allows them to strive to reach another level and become great?

Players like Wall, Evan Turner and Derrick Favors have to have the belief that they can be great but also want to put in the effort to become a great player, not just tell the media that they want to be a star. In a recent interview, John Brenkus from ESPN’s Sport Science told me that athletes all have unbelievable physical talent but it’s those that truly want to be great that are more likely to achieve it. “You have to have a certain amount of belief that you are better,” Brenkus said. “The question is do you actually buy into it or are you aspiring to be it?”

Even though Kwame Brown had the athletic tools to be a great professional, it is often difficult for a kid who has been told they were great their entire life to buy into the fact that it takes work to go beyond potential. Elite athletes realize early in their career that the mental aspect of the sport is as important as the physical aspect in terms of reaching their full potential.

“People look at Kwame Brown and they say ‘Why did Kwame Brown not turn out to be amazing?’” said Brenkus. “He was 19, he got a ton of money, he was playing with Michael Jordan. If you’re 19 years old and you have more money than everybody in your family combined will ever make in their entire lives and you haven’t really accomplished anything, it’s hard to say that you’ve done something wrong,” Brenkus continued. “You’re like, ‘wow, I’ve done something right’.”

In terms of John Wall, it was obvious over the past season at Kentucky that he could become the best point guard in the NBA but the question remains: Will his cognitive process push himself to reach his full potential or settle for being a decent NBA floor general? For many years, Wall, like those who have come before him, have had people telling them they are the best for most of their athletic lives. However, there will inevitably come a time when the pressure is on and the body doesn’t react in ways that it has in the past. The mental side of the game is much more grueling the higher a player goes in the professional ranks and a player’s ability to adapt to the stress and pressure will play a large role in how good they can become. As Brenkus stated, “It goes back to, ‘do you buy into it or do aspire to be it?’ If you hear it and are able to say, ‘I want to prove that people are correct, then it’s okay to be told that. If you just simply believe it, then you’re setting yourself up ultimately for failure.”

“It’s that balance of aspiration versus just buying into it,” Brenkus continued. “It takes an exceptional human being to be able to differentiate between the two.”

Will John Wall be the next NBA superstar? The Wizards certainly hope so.