On Tuesday morningSports Illustrated released a long (but not crazy long) piece on what LeBron James has been up to over the past month since winning an NBA title with the Cavaliers.
As expected there are some interesting nuggets in it, though perhaps the most interesting nugget is James telling a prospect at the Nike Skills Academy what who keeps him motivated, even after 13 seasons and three NBA titles. Though he didn't mention him by name, it's unlikely he was talking about Ron Harper or Toni Kukoc when he told the high schooler "My motivation is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago."
Later he clarified to the story's writer, Lee Jenkins, "My career is totally different than Michael Jordan’s. What I’ve gone through is totally different than what he went through. What he did was unbelievable, and I watched it unfold. I looked up to him so much. I think it’s cool to put myself in position to be one of those great players, but if I can ever put myself in position to be the greatest player, that would be something extraordinary.”
In the story LeBron also talks about getting his nads whacked by Draymond Green where he admitted, likely to the delight of conspiracy theorists, "I didn’t think he’d be suspended."
Furthermore he revealed what wisdom he imparted on his teammates as the final minutes ticked down in Game 7, advising them in the team huddle to "Chill the f--- out and let's get a bucket."
Also no story about his offseason would be complete without mentioning the news that bumped the Cavs from the front pages, Kevin Durant signing with the Warriors.
While LeBron told Jenkins that his current schedule of waking up at 5 a.m. to be in the gym by 6 had nothing to do with Golden State, he also acknowledged that he doesn't usually push it this hard in July/August.
Maybe read between the lines on that one.
Also check out the rest of the piece over at SI, even if we did just spoil some of it for you.
