Should LeBron James be training with Kevin Durant?
The two players held their third session of “Hell Week” Tuesday, Sept.11, 2012. They began holding training session on and off the basketball court last off-season during the NBA lockout. James and Durant did workouts in swimming pools, on football fields, and then ended with basketball shooting sessions. The workouts were two-a-days held in James’s hometown Akron, Ohio.
But after a overreaction on behalf of both Skip Bayless and Durant via Twitter, many may question if Durant should train with his arch-nemesis on the basketball court who just led the Miami Heat pass his Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals.
“Wake up, KD: LeBron is keeping his friends close and his enemy closer. You’re letting him OWN you,” is what Bayless tweeted.
Is Bayless right?
Well yes and no.
When Michael Jordan loss to the Detroit Pistons he hated them and they all hated him. Jordan would not even play on the 1992 Dream Team with Isaiah Thomas. The New York Knicks loss to Jordan and they all hated him and he and Scottie Pippen hated them. The Utah Jazz loss to Jordan and hated him and he hated them.
The Los Angeles Lakers led by Magic Johnson hated the Boston Celtics led by Larry Bird but Johnson and Bird later in their careers were quite fond of each other and became close friends. The same could be said about Johnson and Thomas.
The point is that the best players on each team hated the best player on the other team for beating them and preventing them from winning an NBA championship.
So shouldn’t Durant hate James?
No.
Durant and James both understand that their measuring stick is not with Jordan, Johnson, or Bird. It is with each other. They are clearly the two best basketball players in the world. They are the main competition. They should be trying to make themselves better and the only way to make one’s self better is to compete against the best.
Johnson and Bird’s friendship and rivalry took the game to new heights. The James-Durant friendship is the only other time the two best players were also close friends, who through friendship make the game, the league, and themselves that much better.
