MIAMI -- Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson were just a couple of high school basketball stars the first time they met LeBron James.
Thompson attended the Nike skills academy in Akron, Ohio, before his senior year and Irving was even younger the first time James showed interest in him.
When one of the greatest players on the planet starts calling high school kids, they generally embrace the opportunity. Only now it has evolved into something a little more complicated.
As the Cavaliers prepare to face James and the Miami Heat for the first time tonight at American Airlines Arena, Irving and Thompson have been thrust into a fragile predicament. James remains the despised villain in the eyes of many Cavs fans, who never forgave him for leaving town, while Irving and Thompson are the future stars destined to replace him.
The dichotomy requires a careful balance between business in the NBA and sensitivity toward Cleveland fans, but both Irving and Thompson approach it as two kids with no ties to the past.
"I just got to the Cleveland Cavaliers," Irving said. "I was at Duke last year. I'm just coming in as a rookie trying to play well."
Added Thompson: "I wasn't around in Cleveland when LeBron played there. ... Most fans understand you can't fault a kid that wasn't here at that time."
Thompson's ties run a little deeper. He is part of Creative Artists Agency, the same superpower agency that handles James' affairs. Thompson is represented by Rich Paul, one of James' inner-circle figures and the man who ultimately called the Cavs to tell them James wasn't returning to their organization.
Through all the bluster of James' departure, Paul maintained a very good working relationship with the Cavaliers. Thompson, meanwhile, was ready to participate in James' Homecoming Tour in Akron last month, but it was ultimately postponed when the NBA lockout was lifted.
"He's like a brother to me," Thompson said of James. "But at the same time, it's a business. We're trying to go to Miami and win the game. That whole friendship feeling is out the window when we get on the court, and I think he has the same mind-set, too."
Since early in his career, James has taken an interest in the top high school players. Whether it's merely an effort to coax them into signing with his fledgling LRMR marketing firm or sincere interest in the league's future stars remains up for debate, but James' track record is consistent. He forged the same type of relationship with John Wall and Tyreke Evans when they were about the same age.
Irving said before the Cavs drafted him, James was talking to him at least once a week during his toe injury, keeping his spirits up. James told the Beacon Journal last summer neither he nor Irving can worry about how the relationship is portrayed.
"We can't control our relationship with them," James said, referring to Cavs fans. "I've been mentoring him since he was in high school. He's continuing to get better, and he's going to go out there and make Cavs fans proud."
It's just that Cavs fans would probably be prouder if he severed ties with James, but that isn't happening anytime soon. The NBA is a fraternity, and Irving and Thompson are the freshman pledges.
"Whatever me and him have going on is between us," Thompson said. "The main thing is playing basketball and that's what we're here to do."
Asked whether he was concerned at all how fans would react to his relationship with James, Irving had a simple response Saturday: "No, not at all."
No comments:
Post a Comment