Sport
LeBron James looking to play in 2016 Olympics
In doing so, he silenced those critics who wondered if he could ever win the big one. James is on top, and he plans to stay there.
“I want that feeling again,” he said of winning his first title.
James doesn’t know if being a champion, and the only player other than Michael Jordan to win an MVP, an NBA title and Olympic gold in the same year, will change the way he’s viewed. Since announcing his decision to leave Cleveland as a free agent two years ago, he has been cast as the villain, reviled outside South Florida perhaps more than any athlete in memory.
Some fans have moved on. Some can’t. Some never will.
James once succumbed to the pressure produced by the constant condemnation. He’s not bothered by it any longer.
Love him or hate him, James is only going to be himself.
“I don’t even get involved with that anymore,” he said. “I don’t look for it. I don’t shy away from it. I just kind of roll with what’s going on. For me, and it started before last season, I came in with a different mindset and a different attitude and it didn’t matter if you believed in me or not, I was still going to be how I was and stay true to who I was and who I am.
“And that’s all that matters.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
