Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Obviously they did enough to keep him there.

  • And, you know, I think it's great that he, uh, he stand there.

  • He's committed to that franchise and, you know, that's what it's all about.

  • So, um, but I don't think, um, my situation, his situation.

  • We have no similarities, and it's just it's totally different.

  • All right, let's welcome in NBA champion Kendrick Perkins.

  • Perk.

  • Always good to see you.

  • I will get to you in just a moment, sir.

  • Right?

  • He does.

  • It looks like a young pup.

  • I like that he's protecting himself.

  • Taking things seriously.

  • Stephen A.

  • What do you think LeBron's really saying here in terms of Yannis contract that the situations were different?

  • And it's not just about basketball?

  • I mean, I think you have to remember, Um, there was a lot of stuff going on in Cleveland before LeBron departed.

  • Uh, there were teammates who betrayed him.

  • There were people who were chirping and talking behind his back all the time.

  • He didn't feel like he had a true brotherhood on because of that, that had a lot to do with why he left.

  • Obviously, the one would anticipate he was going to leave anyway because being in his hometown, having never departed from that area, being born and raised in Akron, Ohio, playing in Cleveland, he might have wanted, you know, new horizons and experience, different things.

  • But it was certainly made easier for him because of some of that chirping that was taken place and it was witnessed.

  • It was evidenced.

  • But once he arrived in Miami, if you recall, it wasn't just because he was a pariah.

  • And what have you because of how he had departed Cleveland and sort of ravaged the local economy and everything else because he was that significant to them.

  • You saw people crying in the streets and different things like that.

  • But when he got to Miami, Dwyane Wade didn't leave his side.

  • He did every press conference.

  • Kendrick Perkins.

  • You remember this?

  • You know he did every press conference with Dwyane Wade.

  • Uh, Dwyane Wade was by his side all the time because there was this need for our brotherhood and Dwyane Wade.

  • Being a big brother to him really, really had to go about the business of showing him that he was that he had somebody by his side that had his back on at all times that he never had to worry about compromising that level of loyalty, that LeBron was lacking at that particular moment in time.

  • And that was the difference.

  • When you look at ya honest Milwaukee thes guys love him.

  • Uh, they wear it on their sleeve.

  • They don't just marvel at his greatness as an athlete and a player, but they marvel at him as a person.

  • They love Yanis on and they wanted him there, and he feels like it's a family.

  • It's his home.

  • LeBron did not feel that way about Cleveland.

  • So when he says it was a completely different between him and Yonas, he's not really just talking about basketball.

  • He's talking about things on the outside as well.

  • That's what I took from it.

  • Yeah, that that's interesting, Um, and you know, good background about what was happening at the time.

  • Let me tell you what I heard LeBron saying.

  • Not not obviously dismissing.

  • That's what that what's underneath it or the relationships.

  • But I remember at the time in Cleveland, when LeBron was pushing them, too, make the team better to give him a realistic shot.

  • I'm forgetting who it was there was a trade that people wanted for Amar E.

  • Stoudemire, remember?

  • And the Cavs?

  • We're gonna have to give up some stuff that they didn't want to give up.

  • I remember thinking Amar E.

  • Stoudemire Time was a scoring machine and LeBron wasn't playing with any other All Stars.

  • And it's not like Stoudemire was an M v P.

  • He was just, you know, he's an all star and I remember thinking they won't give up what for?

  • An All Star for LeBron.

  • He like Michael Jordan.

  • Whatever you want to say about him, it took him.

  • They took a while, but they eventually put a team around him and you could see it building right, the right coach and Scottie Pippen and Grant.

  • And it was building.

  • LeBron was sitting there waiting, like you guys aren't getting this done.

  • Understand?

  • Magic Johnson's born into a league with Kareem Abdul Jabbar, good for him, and Kobe Bryant gets Shaquille O Neal good for him, and at least they built around doing What are you doing for me?

  • So LeBron took matters into his own hands, from which he was vilified, and he said, Okay, if they're not gonna build a team around me.

  • I'll go build a team, right?

  • I think that's what that's what I heard him saying.

  • Yanis is in a situation where, whether they're trying the best way or not, they are trying.

  • They are bringing him in help.

  • Whether it's enough help or not, we will see.

  • But they're trying to build and keep him and LeBron's like they weren't doing that for me.

  • Well, Stephen A.

  • Max, I feel like both of you guys came up with some great points, but this is what I think LeBron James was saying when LeBron James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, they handed him the keys to the Mercedes Benz and he had to just drive the organization, meaning he had to teach himself how the uh how do you know how toe how toe park?

  • He had to teach himself how toe get on the highway and use his blinkers.

  • When the Bucks drafted Yanis, Yanis got the opportunity to go to drivers head.

  • He got the chance to learn how to use the windshield wipers and the left signal and learn how toe you know he's on his break.

  • When he was coming up on the stop sign.

  • So with that being said is one word that comes to mind.

  • Expectations, expectations LeBron James expectations were greater than probably any other player in NBA history.

  • Yanni's didn't have the same expectations as LeBron James.

  • So when you look at LeBron situation and when he chose to go to Miami, he went there for one reason.

  • One reason alone.

  • And that was to try to win championships.

  • Because LeBron knew that if he didn't win championships early in his career, despite all the individual accolades that he would achieve that he would be considered a failure.

  • And so he knew that he had to put himself in the best position possible toe win, the championship or too early or at that stage of his career.

  • Yon is, on the other hand, is not having that much pressure that much expectations you're talking about a guy that went that was drafted number 15.

  • Ah, guy that was had timeto to grow and develop, uh, turned out to be a awesome player.

  • LeBron James was drafted number one, called the Chosen one since Day one.

  • He stepped foot into the door.

  • The expectations were high on him toe win and not just winning regular seasons and win 60 plus games, but to deliver championships.

  • And when I hear LeBron say those words about the situation was different, that's what I took from it.

  • It is different because of the expectations.

  • Thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.

  • Subscribe to ESPN plus.

Obviously they did enough to keep him there.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it