Monday, December 7, 2009
LeBron Develops Kevin Garnett Syndrome
Two things happened this week in the NBA that I didn't think we'd see this season: Someone stood up to LeBron, and Joakim Noah did something that wasn't really irritating.
Don't believe me? Here's video of Joakim Noah calling out LeBron James for dancing while he was at the free throw line.
Let's make one thing clear; I'm not a Joakim Noah guy. For as annoying as LeBron's dancing antics are, Joakim Noah's over-the-top theatrics are just as bad.
But in this case, Noah was absolutely right to call LeBron out. Someone needed to. It might as well be someone who knows a little something about bad dancing.
There's a fine line between being a fun-loving team and being disrespectful. This season, LeBron and the Cavs have really blurred the line between being entertaining and being obnoxious.
It you want to dance in the hallway before you take the floor to get yourself pumped up, or during the introductions of the starting lineups to get the crowd into a frenzy, I'm all for it.
If you want to celebrate after a good play, or cheer like Mark Madsen on the bench after your team scores, be my guest.
But there has to be has to be some common sense involved.
Come on, LeBron. You're at home, up 20 points against a struggling Bulls team, is it really necessary to dance on the sidelines and rub it in? Did you really need to shimmy before you took those dagger free throws?
I know, I know. There's a simple solution for the Bulls: don't suck. If the game had been close, LeBron would have had no reason to celebrate and everyone would have lived happily ever after. I get that.
But that still doesn't excuse LeBron for acting like a clown all game.
Ask yourself this: if the Cavs were up 20 on the Lakers, Celtics, or Magic, do you think LeBron would still be dancing like that? Absolutely not.
It's called Kevin Garnett Syndrome, or KGS.
In case you're not familiar with KGS, here's its entry on Dictionary.com:
Main Entry: Kevin Garnett Syndrome
Function: noun
: a condition that that effects NBA superstars in a way in which they feel that they need to assert their dominance over inferior, lesser, smaller, or weaker opponents by showboating and/or instigating a conflict during an NBA game.
As you can see, Kevin Garnett is at the forefront of NBA players with KGS. After all, since he went to Boston, he's become the biggest bully in the NBA. Look at some of his KGS episodes in the past few seasons.
There was the "finger wag at you because I've played in All-star Games and you haven't" move that he pulled on Jose Calderon last season.
Then there was the always classic "I'm going to push you because you're European, and I assume all Europeans are soft" move K.G. applied to ZaZa Pachulia.
As the second video demonstrates, there is a very easy way to tell if a player is just in the heat of the moment or if he suffers from KGS. A fiery player will need to be restrained because he has lost his cool.
A player with KGS makes sure that there are a large number of people (teammates, officials, coaches, ect.) between he and the victim before he continues his antics, as seen at the 0:23 second mark of LeBron vs. Noah and the 0:10 second mark of Garnett vs. Pachulia.
LeBron and Garnett may have the most severe cases of KGS in the league, but there are plenty of other suffers.
LeBron's new teammate, Shaq, was diagnosed with KGS earlier this decade, as seen here in his freestyle rap about the fourth-best player on the rival Sacramento Kings, Vlade Divac.
Sometimes, a player's emotions get the best of him, and the KGS doesn't kick in until it's too late, as seen here by Carmelo Anthony's punch/80-foot retreat on the great Mardy Collins.
By the time Melo's KGS kicked in, it was too late. It wasn't until after he sucker-punched Mardy Collins that Carmelo realized that there wasn't a large group of people (teammates, officials, coaches, ect.) to keep him out of harm's way. The result was a 15-game suspension for Carmelo.
Had his KGS kicked in in time, 'Melo could have saved himself 15 games and a whole lot of money.
Of course, much like there is a difference between having the flu and having flulike symptoms, there is a difference between having KGS and having KGS symptoms.
Michael Jordan has been involved in some epic trash talk battles in his day, and some of the most memorable have been against very worthy adversaries.
However, even the G.O.A.T. suffered from bouts of KGS in his career, and we need to look no further than his Hall of Fame induction speech as proof.
Back to LeBron. I never thought I'd say this, but Joakim Noah is right. LeBron's act is old.
LeBron is, and has been for a few years, the best player in the NBA; at worst, he ranks at 1B behind Kobe Bryant. His game more than speaks for itself. It's time to put the Brett Favre look-at-how-much-fun-I'm-having act out to pasture.
When you flirt with a triple-double every night, all eyes are going to be on you. There's no need to bring more attention to yourself by dancing and carrying on on the sidelines during a blowout.
No one is saying that LeBron should play a joyless brand of basketball. After all, it's a game; games are supposed to be fun.
But there's also an issue of sportsmanship, an issue LeBron is well aware of after "handshake-gate" that occurred at the conclusion of the Orlando series last season.
I have no problem with LeBron not shaking hands after a devastating loss. To me, that was no big deal.
But to kick a bad team while they are down 20 points on your own home floor, well, that just reeks of KGS.
It's time for LeBron to grow up. Or, at worst, pick on someone his own size.
Scott Shepherd writes about the NBA every Monday for Sports Central. His blog, Diary of an NBA Junkie, is updated several times a week.