This Week’s Issue: King James, Revised

Posted: June 27, 2012 | Author: sigroup | Filed under: Albert Chen, Austin Murphy, Jack McCallum, Lee Jenkins, Pablo Torre, Phil Taylor, S.L. Price, Sports Illustrated Cover, Weekly Press Release | Tags: dream team, Giancarlo Stanton, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Miami Heat, Miami Marlins, Michael Jordan, NBA Draft, NBA title, novak djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Royce White, Tour De France, Wimbledon | Comments Off

LeBron James Makes Good on His Promise to Deliver a Championship to South Beach

The Dream Team’s Legendary Scrimmage: Michael Jordan vs. Magic Johnson

Royce White’s Fear of Flying Makes Him the NBA Draft’s Mystery Pick

Giancarlo Stanton Leaves His Imprint on Outfield Walls and Scoreboards

Drug-Free Cyclists Prepare for the Tour De France and Olympics

(NEW YORK – June 28, 2012) – Twenty-nine teams should be very afraid, because LeBron James has breached the championship levee, just as Michael Jordan did in 1991. Jordan was 28, and he won five more titles in the next seven years, even with a break for baseball. James is 27, and for the first time, he will get to play, as Heat president Pat Riley acknowledged, “with freedom.” LeBron making good on his promise to bring an NBA Championship to South Beach is the cover story for the July 2, 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands now.

James punctuated one of the best regular seasons in the modern era with one of the best playoffs, leading the Heat with 30.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists, while shooting 50% and guarding everyone from Carmelo Anthony and Rajon Rondo to Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.  In the series clinching Game 5 versus the Thunder he scored 26 points with 11 rebounds and 13 assists, eight of which led to three-pointers by five different teammates, accounting for 60 points in a 121–106 throttling of the Thunder.

“It’s time to make a new challenge. I’ve got to figure out what that is. I know I can get better. And I know I’m not satisfied with one of these. That’s the next challenge to do it again.” said LeBron James.

Senior writer Lee Jenkins points out that the championship could not have been won without a change in philosophy from one of the team’s best players. LeBron couldn’t carry the Heat if Dwyane Wade was going to claim the load.

“He basically looked at me one day and told me, ‘I need you to lead this team now,’ ”James says. “And then he did it during games. He’d say, ‘I need you to lead us right here.’ ” By the time the playoffs began, roles were defined. James was the headliner. Wade, suffering from an injured left knee, was the sidekick. “It was hard for me to do it,” Wade admits, “but it was easy for me to do it for the team.”

THE GREATEST GAME NOBODY EVER SAW – JACK MCCALLUM (@JackMcCallum)

The Dream Team, arguably the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport, played 14 games 20 years ago, and their smallest margin of victory was 32 points.  The toughest competition faced by the best team in basketball history was at a closed scrimmage in Monaco between sides led by Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.  The details of the game remained a secret to the world for nearly 20 years, until now.

Most of the 12 names on the roster remain familiar to fans decades later, and all are members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.  The common matrices of statistical comparison are simply not relevant in the case of the Dream Team, whose members could be evaluated only when they played each other. The video of that scrimmage, therefore, is the holy grail of basketball.

“You have a tape? Of that game? Man, everybody asks me about that Game. It was the most fun I ever had on a basketball court,” said Michael Jordan.

THE MYSTERY PICK IS ROYCE WHITE – PABLO TORRE (@SIPabloTorre)

Iowa State’s Royce White was the only player in Division I to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. College coaches around the country praise his all-around game, but his spot in this Thursday’s NBA draft remains a mystery. He has been projected to be a lottery pick or end up in the second round. The main reason for this is that White has a generalized anxiety disorder and suffers from a severe fear of flying, which worries many NBA executives.

White was allowed to drive to a few games last season, but in sit-downs with White, NBA officials have warned him that the pros will be less accommodating. The Heat informed him that they won’t allow a player to drive from even Miami to Orlando. White said, “It’s understandable. But in my head, I’m going, you want me to drive. You’re paying me millions of dollars to perform … the point is, we’re not all alike.”

Royce’s talent is not lost on his contemporaries as none of the projected top 15 picks have agreed to work out against White for NBA teams. During the second round of the NCAA tournament against Kentucky, a game that was close into the second half, White had 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Projected No.1 pick Anthony Davis said after the game, “Royce was beating us by himself.”

NAME CHANGER, GAME CHANGER – ALBERT CHEN

Long before he became Giancarlo Stanton, the young Marlins slugger left an unmistakable imprint – on scouts, not to mention countless outfield walls and scoreboards. The outfielder was called up to the big leagues as a 20-year old along with the legend of having bludgeoned baseballs out of ballparks and into parking lots, golf courses and lakes. Before games opposing players and coaches linger to watch Stanton take batting practice. This past May, Stanton had historic month, hitting .343 with 12 home runs and 30 RBIs to become the youngest player since Joe DiMaggio to reach those totals in any month.

Stanton mashed 56 home runs after his first two seasons in the majors, only Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez had as many before age 22 in the last 45 years. His teammates call him by his nickname: Bigfoot.

“He does things no human should be able to do. The only guy I have ever heard players talk about like they talk about [Stanton] is Darryl Strawberry,” said teammate Randy Choate.

“People have said that homegrown power arms is the most important commodity in the game, but the middle-of-the-order, 30-home-run guy is becoming almost as valuable, given how few of them there are now,” said an American League G.M.

I SEE LONDON, I SEE FRANCE – AUSTIN MURPHY (@si_AustinMurphy)

Cycling has been plagued by doping scandals for years, but recent USADA regulations have made cheating much more difficult.  Today’s top cyclists are minutes slower than athletes in EPO’s heyday.  And with the 99thTour de France and 2012 London Olympics quickly approaching, spectators are bound to see a more authentic competition than in previous Games.

“Performances are less predictable, more human and, – as a result, more exciting,” write Austin Murphy.

In this article, Austin Murphy evaluates the top Olympic and Tour riders. Despite injuries and training challenges, Brad Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, two Brits on a British-based squad called Team Sky should dominate the field at both major events.

“Ten days after the Tour, Wiggins will roll down the ramp at Hampton Court Palace, hard by the Thames, as one of the favorites in the Olympic 44-km time trial around London,” writes Murphy.

SCORECARD: RINGING MOMENT ON CENTRE COURT – S.L. PRICE

It can be argued that tennis at the Olympics holds little weight in the game. Majors aside, there are 10 other tournaments this year that count more in the rankings than the London Games. This time however, the normal math can’t apply, because the Olympics will be held at Wimbledon and Wimbledon is where tennis gods are made.  It’s no accident that Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Rafael Nadal of Spain will serve as their nations’ flag bearers in the opening ceremony—and that Roger Federer is an odds-on favorite to do likewise for Switzerland.

If the Olympics are indeed the showcase for the planet’s best athletes, it’s only right that the three who’ve pushed the men’s game to unprecedented heights will be out front.

POINT AFTER: LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS – PHIL TAYLOR (@SI_PhilTaylor)

Last week, Jerry Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of sexual abuse, the two-week trial reminded us all of over again of the revolting nature of his crimes.  But from that darkness came some light.  A groundswell at the legislative level, university level and the grassroots level has emerged to fight back against pedophiles.  Victims have been emboldened to come forward.

Dan Rost, a sophomore from Franklin County, Pa., along with three other students founded the One Heart Campaign to raise money and awareness to help fight child abuse.  Rost said, “I had no clue how prevalent an issue this was until then. Then I did some research and realized this was not just a Sandusky issue, not just a Penn State issue, but a national issue. I decided I didn’t want to live in a culture in which this was such a widespread problem, so I decided to see what could be done about it.”

INSIDE THE WEEK IN SPORTS

• NHL (page 31): Value Added – NHL free agency begins this Sunday and some big names could be changing teams.  But the player most likely to reap the richest rewards is a defenseman many hockey fans have never heard of.  (@MichaelFarber3)
• MLB (page 30) East or Famine – With interleague play done for the year, the game’s balance of power tilts decidedly to the right side of the map. (@joe_sheenhan)
• Soccer (page 32) The Case for Cristiano – Lionel Messi may be more beloved, but the Euros confirm the claim of his rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, to the title of 2012 world player of the year.  (@GrantWahl)

THIS WEEK’S FACES IN THE CROWD (page 22)

• Matt Nesmith (North Augusta, S.C./North Augusta High) – Golf
• Danielle Aragon (Billings, Mont./Billings High) –Track and Field
• Bakawsu Kinteh (Suwanee, Ga./Lambert High) – Soccer
• Gina Medina Van Arsdall (Glendale, Ariz./Phoenix College) – Softball
• Dayton Silva (Manhattan Beach, Calif./MiraCosta College) – Surfing
• Gabrielle Clark (Chicago, Ill./Emory University) – Tennis
• Dillon Pottish (East Quogue, N.Y./Emory University) – Tennis

To submit a candidate for Faces in the Crowd, go to SI.com/faces. Follow on Twitter @SI_Faces.

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