Lebron James Network

Apparently, Kobe Bryant isn't the only one. In a recent interview with ABC anchor Cynthia McFadden , Team USA small forward LeBron James expressed his opinion that the 2012 version of the American Olympic basketball team would beat the 1992 team, dubbed the "Dream Team": "The '92 Dream Team paved the way for all of us ... We understand what they did for our game, but we also are big-time competitors as well, so if we got the opportunity to play them in a game we feel like we would win, too." These comments came just days after Bryant, James' teammate and USA's starting shooting guard, made a similar proclamation by saying that people who said the 2012 squad couldn't beat the '92 team were "crazy". LeBron's declaration, as gutsy as it already is, is only magnified by Michael Jordan's response to Bryant's statement. Jordan reportedly laughed at the thought and said, "For [Kobe] to compare those two team...

LeBron James has eight assists yesterday and Kevin Durant scored 22 points as the US defeated France, 98-71, in each team's first basketball contest of the 2012 Olympic Games. LeBron James has established his NBA career by being one of the most versatile and athletic performers. Skip to next paragraph In Pictures: Today at the Olympics Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition Sunday, James added to his illustrious credentials by subjugating his own offensive tendencies in favor of assisting others â€" eight, with Team USA getting 25 total in demolishing France , 98-71 at London ’s Olympic Park Basketball Arena in their opening Olympic contest. On one play in particular, a long pass from James, following a Tyson Chandler rebound of a Tony Parker shot, fell in the hands of a perfectly synchronized Kevin Durant for a massive dunk. It was the firs...

By Tom Ziller - NBA Editor LeBron James was inordinately dominant for Team USA in its opening blowout against France. Plus: Michelle Obama makes everyone nervous and giddy, and Carmelo Anthony is the one true gunner. Follow , and Like SBNation.com on Facebook. Jul 30, 2012 - We've been calling LeBron James the best player in the world for a few years now. (By "we" I mean those of us not blinded by all of Kobe Bryant's rings/z.) But no, really: he's the best player in the world . All of the posing about whose game best fits the international style, one traditionally dependent on shooting and physicality, is irrelevant when you're as good as the American team since 2006. The talent is just too good to require qualifiers. That goes treble for LeBron, who isn't a great shooter from beyond 18 feet, and isn't always the most physical player (though that changed this past NBA season). LeBron isn't styled in the traditional...

LONDON â€"â€" Go ahead, admit it. You like this LeBron James . You like our country's best basketball ambassador at the Olympics, the greatest all-around player in the world already proving it at these Games. You like how James defers to elder statesman Kobe Bryant out of respect and connects with Coach K well enough to talk to Mike Krzyzewski about everything from leadership styles to tattoo designs. Download The Baltimore Sun's new iPhone app. You like how James facilitates Team USA's offense to involve everybody on a team full of stars, as he did selflessly in Sunday's 98-71 rout of France in an Olympic opener. You like the newfound maturity James showed afterward when remembering this trip across the Atlantic offered more than an opportunity to sell shoes and expand his brand globally. "You're representing more than just your state or your city. You're representing all of America, and you've got to understand that e...

LeBron James claims that losing the 2011 NBA Finals was the best thing that's ever happened to him. Why not go a little further and attribute the overall change in his all-around game to leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers ? Then again, the public's response to that would be slightly overwhelming to say the least. Even with a championship, a Finals MVP, and yet another league MVP earned over the past season, James still has an image to repair and protect. Hell, James could probably sweep the next decade's worth of titles, and he'd still receive some sort of scrutiny. I'm not one to go into the "could've, should've, would've" scenarios, but you do have to wonder what type of player James would be after another two seasons in Clevelandâ€"or anywhere else for that matter. Does he lose the NBA Finals in his first year, which exploits a significant weakness in his game? This is a weakness that is immediately strengthened over the course ...

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images It is so easy for USA Basketball, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James (l. to r.) look as bored as spectators. LONDON â€" What is the sound of one team playing basketball? A familiar one at the Olympics, and not very compelling. By midway through the second quarter on Sunday, France was merely France and the Americans were only competing against themselves, against their 1992 ancestors and against a set of refs who whistled practically everything. “We try to keep our foot on the pedal,” said Carmelo Anthony, who drew three personals in just 8:12 of playing time during the first half. “If we’re up 15, we want to take it to 20. If we’re up 20, take it to 25.” PHOTOS FROM DAY 2 OF THE LONDON OLYMPICS Eventually, the U.S. took it to 29 points in a 98-71 win that wasn’t very pretty or entertaining. That is the irony, the no-win-despite-always-winning situation faced by the U.S. men’s (and women’s) national team. The better t...

LONDON (AP) â€" The shrill of whistles came fast and furious. For a stretch in the first half, it seemed the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team was having more trouble with the referees than with France. "There were calls being called that didn't seem right," said forward Carmelo Anthony . "One time down the floor they called it this way, and one time they called it that way." This squad of Americans will have to make some adjustments as the competition continues, but Sunday they overcame their own sloppiness, the refs and a sluggish start to beat France 98-71 in their tournament opener. Kevin Durant scored 22 points in his Olympic debut, Kevin Love had 14 and LeBron James added nine points, five rebounds and eight assists. As openers go, however, the U.S. wasn't dreamy, but still dominant. The U.S. only led by one point after the first quarter but outscored a France team featuring Tony Parker and five other NBA players 76-50 over...

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LARRY W. SMITH/EPA With Kobe Bryant (c.), Carmelo Anthony (r.) and Kevin Durant wearing red, white and blue this summer, the NBA gains added international exposure in London. Let the Summer Games begin â€" and let the NBA brand dominate the scene in London, as it is almost guaranteed to do. Or to put it another way, the summer of 2012 for the NBA sure beats the summer of 2011. Just a year ago, the NBA was in total lockdown mode, with its players entering the second month of a contentious and costly five-month lockout. The only talk about the NBA was the sleep-inducing arguments over the split of revenues, competitive balance and future luxury-tax levels, along with the possibility of losing a big chunk of the 2011-12 season. Once the two sides reached an agreement on a new labor deal, the latter was realized with the loss of 20 percent of the season, costing owners and players about $400 million. But this summer couldn't be going any better for David Stern, his 30 ...

July 28, 2012 | By Mike Bresnahan, Tribune Olympic Bureau Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook at practice. (AFP PHOTO…) LONDON â€" This is serious stuff, as per Kobe Bryant. "We probably won't be allowed back in the country if we don't win," he said Friday. He was smiling, but he better not misplace his passport just in case the unthinkable happens. The U.S. men's basketball program got shook into its current meet-every-summer state of being after a 5-3 skid at the 2004 Olympics that left them crawling out of Athens with a bronze medal. It was completely unacceptable to so many people that it set up a dominant 2008 gold-medal effort that will surely be matched again. Won't it? The U.S. is handily favored to win the two-week tournament it begins Sunday against France. Who would bet against Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, even if Team USA has exactly one seven-footer? So much has been w...