In current statistics in the professional basketball league and

In the sports world today, LeBron James is easily considered
one of the greatest professional athletes to ever not only play the game of
basketball, but change it and evolve it completely. Having highly devote fans for
most of LeBron’s life, a lot of people wonder how did he do it? How did he get
the world to remember his name and what makes him the greatest player? LeBron
James started into the professional league soon after high school with his
unparalleled performance and skills, he was quickly characterized as the next
Michael Jordan. Through his career he has won multiple championships,
prestige’s awards and set league records. Through this essay it will be proven
how even in his childhood he was built for greatness, his impressive start and
current statistics in the professional basketball league and how he uses his
success to build the character of others and give back to communities.

For people who are bound to be great, it shows very early in
life and as a child Lebron was already showing signs of strong athleticism,
determination and a passion for sport. Born December 30, 1984, Lebron Raymone
James was born in Akron, Ohio and was raised alone by his mother Gloria James
as his father unfortunately spent time in prison. Mrs.James’ primary goal for
young LeBron was to keep him away from the detrimental influences of inner-city
life. In his early life as a child, James displayed his natural athletic
ability, exceeding on the football field and the basketball court. On his youth
football team his talent was clear when he scored nineteen touchdowns as a wide
receiver in his first season. His mother Gloria had a tight work schedule to
provide a stable home for her son, which left him home alone frequently. This
led him to lack focus in school, he started to skip classes and was falling
behind in is studies. Frankie Walker, his youth football coach offered him his
home as a place for LeBron to live temporarily. This favor went a long way as
it helped LeBron with his studies as his grades showed improvement and so did
his skills on the basketball court. (Information Retrieved from Rager, C. 2015. LeBron James.
Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) James had a recognizable growth spurt,
by the time he was in eighth grade he was six feet tall. He developed his
skills on the basketball court by playing Sunday night games at a local
community center, which prepared him to gain immediate attention at his high
school, St Vincent-St.Mary in Akron. Despite his age, sports media were quick
to acknowledge his talent and declare him the upcoming greatest basketball
star, frequently being compared to Michael Jordan. This was a large shadow to
cast over him, a heavy burden especially for a teenager. Beginning as a
freshman, James led as the best on his team in several categories such as
rebounds and assists, and he averaged 19 points per game. His team went
undefeated and won the state championship. In his sophomore year, they won the
state championships again and James was now averaging 25 points per game.
(Information Retrieved from
Rager, C. 2015. LeBron James. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) Through
his junior year, James continued to increase his points per game, now he was averaging
30. The Gatorade franchise named him the national high school player of the
year, and people across the country started to take notice of the newest
basketball prodigy. At the end of this year, after he had appeared on the cover
of Sports illustrated. He was named the most valuable player (MVP) of an event
in which the top high school basketball players in the United States compete
against one another. The slow improving professional basketball team the
Cleveland Cavaliers, won the first draft pick in 2003 and selected LeBron
James. He made an instant impact on the team making 25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds
and 6 steals in his first professional match. He averaged 21 points per game
for the season and was named the rookie of the year in 2004. In 2005, James
continued to get better, he made his first All-Star team and became the
youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game. In the next season,
he won the All-Star game MVP award and helped lead the Cavalier’s to their
first play-off appearance in eight years. (Information Retrieved from Rager, C. 2015. LeBron James.
Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) Growing up, LeBron had shown great
potential, and through his teenage to young adult years, his skills were
developed, and his talent was known by many. He was just 20 by the time he had
earned all these esteemed accomplishments, but this was just the beginning of
his career.

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What came next is the years of his professional career where
James faced many competitors and challenges from critics, but still managed to
statistically prove he is the best player in the professional basketball
league. There were many experts predicting that James would eventually lead his
team to the NBA finals, but very few thought it would happen as soon as it did.
It was his fourth season with the team in 2006-2007 when James led the Cavilers
to a fifty-win season and an Eastern Conference championship over the heavily
favored of the league that year, the Detroit Pistons. In the finals, the Cavs
were defeated in 4 games by the chemically stronger team, the San Antonio
Spurs, but again there were more predictions that the team would have their
time as champions. LeBron won another All-Star game MVP in 2008 and before the
play-offs, James had become the first African American to be featured on the
cover of Vogue magazine. In 2008-2009, the Cavaliers earned the best record in
the league, losing only twice at home. After an impressive season in which he
averaged more than 35 points per game, LeBron was voted and won by a large
margin to be the MVP of the league. (Information Retrieved from Rager, C. 2015. LeBron James.
Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) As a strategized choice, the Cavaliers
signed a veteran center and four-time NBA championship winner Shaquille O’Neal
to provide guidance and assistance to James in his quest to bring home a
championship title to Cleveland. The Cavs had another great season, they
finished first in the Eastern Conference and won 61 games. James averaged
nearly 30 points and 8.6 assists per game. Sadly, their season ended in another
disappointment as they were defeated by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern
Conference semi-finals. On July 10th, 2010, ESPN had a special
broadcast titled The Decision, this
was when James announced his intentions to leave Cleveland and join the Miami
Heat, which held two other strong players, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
Regardless of harsh opinions and after a gradual start, the revamped Heat
became one of the top teams in the NBA throughout the 2010-2011 NBA season.
They secured a number 2 seat in the Eastern Conference play-offs and made it to
the finals, but unfortunately lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games. During
his off-season, James worked to change his style of play, a smart move that
immediately changed the game for the Heat in the following season. The team had
its best start to the season yet and James was averaging 30 points a game. He
also received his third MVP award and the Heat entered the 2012 play-offs. Miami
reached the finals for the second time, this time against Oklahoma City
Thunder. The Heat prevailed and won in five games, giving James the finals MVP
award with 28.6 points per game and his first championship. (Information Retrieved from Rager, C.
2015. LeBron James. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) The next year,
James helped lead his team to the finals and faced the Spurs. The Heat won the
series in seven games; James scored 37 points in the final game and won the
finals MVP award for the second year in a row. In 2013-2014, LeBron scored 61
points in a single game, his career high, as he and the Heat attempted a third
championship in a row. They made it to the finals once again, against the Spurs
but lost in five games. After this, he authored an essay in Sports Illustrated where he announced
that he would be returning the Cleveland Cavaliers and signing a two-year
contract with the team. In his returning year, the team made it into the finals
again against the Golden State Warriors. Although James averaged 36 points per
game in the series, the Cavs lost to Golden State in 6 games. In the following
season, they proceeded to the finals again against the Golden State Warriors,
who had an impressive season where they set an NBA record with 73 wins in the
regular season. This time the Cavaliers won in seven games. LeBron averaged
29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists and became the third NBA player to
achieve a triple-double (reaching double digits in three of the five main
statistical categories; points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks) in game
seven of the finals. He was unanimously voted MVP of the NBA finals that year.
The Cavs were expected to do exceptionally well in the Eastern Conference again
in the 2016-2017 season. However, there were several injuries and tension
throughout the team which led to hectic play. Cleveland wanted to defeat the
Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference championship, in which James
surpassed the great Michael Jordan as the league’s top all-time play-off
scoring leader. This led too the Cavs third consecutive finals contest against
Golden State, which was also James’ seventh straight finals appearance. The
Cavaliers lost, but James set a record as the first player in NBA history to
average a triple-double in the finals, with statistics of 33.6 points, 12
rebounds and 10 assists for the entire series. (Information Retrieved from Rager, C. 2015. LeBron
James. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) Clearly, LeBron James has an
enormous list of accomplishments and acknowledgments as a professional athlete.
The things he has accomplished have become monumental and bars that have been
set for upcoming start, but he remains the best and will until he retires.

There are more things to be said about LeBron James as to why
he has become the best and remains to be, he has done much charity work, he has
highly comparable stats to the father of the sport Michael Jordan and experts
have proven why he is so great. Before entering the NBA draft, James started a
charitable organization with his mother Gloria called, The LeBron James Family
Foundation. It is staffed by volunteers, and the foundation’s mission is to
support the community of Akron by helping children’s development with
cocurricular and educational initiatives. Also, he supports the local Boys and
Girls Club of America branch and after-school programs, this foundation began a
bikeathon within the first year that ended up becoming the Wheels for Education
mentoring program. With this initiative, mentors begin working with at-risk
kids in the third grade to ensure they make it through to graduation. Although
the program is still in it’s early years, analysis have found that students who
were involved had shown much improvement. In 2015, another goal of his was to
help kids thrive who share a common background, James and the foundation
announced that they would be giving more than one thousand kids financial
assistance taking part in the “I Promise” initiative, which is the chance to
attend University of Akron without having to pay tuition.(Information Retrieved
from Rager, C. 2015. LeBron James. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia.) There
was a study comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James in their beginning years
in the league. “MJ outperformed LJ regarding average and median points per year
during their first 10 years of basketball. However, LJ was more consistent in
his first 10 years with respect to points compared with MJ because LJ standard
deviation for points is lower than MJ. MJ had a greater number of steals
compared to LJ every year except for years 2 and 10. Lastly, LeBron obtained
more rebounds per year compared with Michael.”(Williams, I. J., & Williams,
K.K. 2016. Understanding Summary Statistics and Graphical Techniques to Compare
Michael Jordan versus LeBron James). Considering the comparisons, LeBron was
one of the closest to ever reach or defeat Michael Jordan’s legendary
statistics. NBA managers believe that LeBron James is the best basketball
player on the planet. “In an annual survey from that queried all 30 GMs
of the pro league, LeBron gathered 89.7 per cent of the votes as the player who
GMs will sign, “if they were starting a franchise today.” James was named MVP
in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 and led the Miami Heat to 2 NBA championships. In
the same survey, James also finished first in the question, “Which player
forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments.” The Gms were also asked
as well on which players are the finest in their respective positions, James
won the small forwards with 86.7 per cent.”(International Business, T. 2013, October
22. NBA GM’s Agree: LeBron James is Best Player in the World.)

Undoubtedly, LeBron James has used his success to give back,
be named one of the greats and can be argued this title through statistics and
surveys from experts. Beloved as a basketball prodigy, James became one of the most
diverse figures in American sports. He became one of the most popular athletes
in the world, one of the top players of his era and can be considered among the
all-time greats of the game. Throughout this essay, the fact has been supported
that from childhood to manhood LeBron James became greater than anyone could
have imagined and just how he did it. His childhood proved his high amounts of
potential, his career showed his greatness and he has left his mark on his
community and those who know him. With LeBron’s contributions to the NBA, an
astonishing high school career and getting the attention that no other teenager
has had, he became influential by establishing his own charities, while using
his celebrity status to give his words on social issues, politics and many
controversial topics.