On Sunday, The Plain Dealer published a four-page special section that looks at the life of LeBron James from being an Akron native to a Cleveland Cavalier.
1999-2003 Just a little kid from Akron
LeBron James was the most hyped high school basketball player to enter the NBA Draft in 2003. Heading into his junior year, James became one of the first prepsters to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.
He led his school to three state titles. James, who averaged 31.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.4 steals his senior year, won Mr. Basketball three years in a row and was All-USA First Team for an unprecedented third time.
But his career in high school was not without controversy. Going into his junior year, then-Cavaliers coach John Lucas conducted open scrimmages on the practice courts at then-Gund Arena. James, along with several college players, Cavaliers players and free agents, participated in a scrimmage, which violated league rules prohibiting contact between NBA teams and players not yet eligible for the NBA Draft.
The NBA fined the Cavaliers $150,000 and suspended Lucas for two games.
Also while at St. V, James was suspended for two games by the Ohio High School Athletic Association when he accepted two throwback jerseys from a store in Shaker Heights.
2003-2008 LeBron gets a rousing start
LeBron James found some inspiration in the second half of only his second NBA All-Star Game in Feburary 2006.
“Charles Barkley kick-started us because I heard at halftime he said the game was over,” James said of the TNT analyst. “I’d like to thank Charles for kick-starting us.”
The East trailed by 21 points in the second half, but James fueled a comeback with jumpers and slashing moves to the basket that helped the East squeak out to a 122-120 win in the 55th All-Star Game in Houston.
James, at 21 years, 55 days, was exactly a year younger than Oscar Robertson was when he won the same award as a rookie in 1961.
James finished with 29 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Two years later, James won his second All-Star MVP behind 27 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, as he led the East to a 134-128 victory.
LeBron had the play of the night when he dribbled past Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire and up and over several outstretched arms, including Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki’s, for an incredible dunk that brought a roar from the crowd.
“LeBron is a freight train when he goes to the basket,” said then-West coach Byron Scott of New Orleans, now the coach of the Cavaliers. “He’s so big and so strong, and so quick and powerful. It’s hard to stop him when he gets momentum like that.”
2008-2010 The King wins back-to-back MVPs
LeBron James became the 10th player to win back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player Awards this past season. But James and Steve Nash are the only back-to-back winners never to have won an NBA title.
“To be in that class with guys who won it back-to-back or won it period, and to be in those books is great,” said James following his second award.
James won his first MVP following the 2008-09 season. James led the Cavaliers to their most regular-season wins (66) and most wins at home (39) in franchise history.
James was so good (28.4 points per game, 7.2 assists, 7.6 rebounds) that he became the fourth player in NBA history to lead his team in all five major statistical categories (total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) in one season.
James led the league in scoring (29.7 points) and finished with a career-high 8.6 rebounds per game to become the obvious choice for the 2009-10 MVP award.
He led the Cavs to the best record in the league for the second straight year, but they fell short in the postseason again.