On the court, James is still trying to find his way with the Miami Heat, but off the court he's looking for his footing as well.
View full sizeLeBron James' reputation has been going in the wrong direction since his infamous "decision" in July. After initially remaining defiant when he was criticized, James is beginning to show signs of contrition.MIAMI — It is long way from an outright apology, but four months after his well-chronicled decision, LeBron James is offering some contrition.
On the court, James is still attempting to find his way with the Miami Heat. His minutes are down and so are his statistics. He's playing point guard more than small forward. He's not the leading scorer and he's not the captain; both those mantles belong to teammate Dwyane Wade.
All of that is understandable and expected. But there are some uncharted matters he's dealing with as well.
Those challenges come off of the court, where James is also looking for his footing. It is in these times, at least while under the glare of the spotlight that searches for him relentlessly, James is the most subdued he has been since he was a rookie attempting to fit in with the veterans.
James seems to have begun a subtle process of reaching out to his fans and his ex-fans. There was no news release and no television special but also no missing the shift.
The most salient moment came nearly two weeks ago when James admitted that his handling of his departure from the Cavaliers was a mistake.
"If I had to go back on it, I probably would do it a little bit different," James said. "There's always going to be a misunderstanding. I don't know what I would [have done], but I definitely would have changed it."
Those comments got a lot of reaction and seemed like they were a bit of declaration, but actually it was just the next step in a trend.
James has been expressing pieces of regret -- not at his choice to sign with the Heat, but the process he and his self-dubbed "team" used -- over the last month.
Whether it is believed or not likely depends on the audience, but James has also attempted to get the message out that the summer did not play out the way he thought it would.
"At that time I didn't think it would be the last time I would wear a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform," James said of the night the Cavs were eliminated in Boston last May. "It was disappointing. I never thought in the back of my mind that I would be somewhere else."
That statement 'is a departure from back in the summer when he was giving interviews and issuing Tweets that were sniping at people in Cleveland and detractors.
Much of it has been shown in James' attempts to make public the backlash he suffered over the summer following his infamous July 8 television show.
During training camp, James began revealing some hateful and racist messages that were being sent to him via Twitter. He said he wanted to show people the kind of hatred he was dealing with daily.
Then James released a commercial for his new Nike shoe that also focused on answering detractors. Not with anger but with a plea wrapped in the form of "what should I do."
"None of [the scenes] were jokes, I wasn't in a joking mood," James said of the much spoofed Nike ad. "I just wanted to get it out. . . . It was me just hearing a lot of people saying some of the things I've done -- have I ruined what I've done over the years?"
If nothing else, James' admits that what he has heard and read has had an effect on him.''
With his return to Cleveland less than a month away, there may be more of these actions from James. Not that anything he could say, directly or indirectly, could save him the grief he's expected to get.
"I'm happy I made the decision to come to Miami," James said. "It is an exciting new start for me."