Champion in the Making
Kyrie Irving has been a star for the Cleveland Cavaliers for 5 years and was the number one draft pick in 2011(Kyrie). Irving is very well known for his unbelievable ball handling skills. Irving and the Cavaliers are in the middle of the Western Conference Finals. Although Irving is known for being a star everyone starts from a beginning, not all of them favorable. Why did Kyrie Irving start playing basketball and where did he get his interest to play from? This essay will explain how Kyrie Irving became the world known star he is today.
Kyrie Irving didn’t have his path paved for him, he had to work work everything he wanted to accomplish. As a young child Irving endured hardships that would lead him to becoming who
The source that I used, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Biography” by Biography.com no authors are listed is a great source that gave me a lot of information that will help me with my reader response essay. I came across this website by entering my search question into Google. After looking through a dozen of articles “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Biography” had the most detailed information of all the links. This article gave me a lot of information that will be correlating to my search question which is this: What major influences did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have in his basketball career? The “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Biography” article had three sections that broke
Steve Nash is considered one of the greatest point guards in the first decade of NBA, and he already became a national hero in Canada based on his tremendous achievement as a professional basketball player. However, according to his interview, Nash was considered a player without sufficient talent to be even a good college player in the United States. No college was willing to offer him a scholarship initially, because he was a Caucasian player from Canada. Caucasian players were widely considered as athletic inferior to African players, and Canada was also considered a country that has few talented basketball players. This is a typical stereotype about Caucasian basketball players in NBA, and usually
David Robinson watches the final seconds tick off the clock of the 2003 NBA finals. It was his second championship, and his last as he retired the following summer. He had a stellar career, putting up huge numbers and making a few appearances in the Olympics. Even through all of the fame he received from being a star basketball player, he remained humble, donating millions of dollars to charity. His arsenal of different dunks and post moves were definitely missed on the basketball court, but nowhere near as much as his leadership ability. After all, it wasn’t jump shot that he taught to all of his teammates, nor was it his crossover that he shared with his wife, and it certainly was not the proper rebounding form that he felt would be most important to pass on to his son, David Jr. Of course not. Beyond the championships and the double-doubles was his leadership, and that is what would define him as a father, a basketball player, and a United States Navy Veteran.
Jason Kidd is a retired American professional basketball player and current coach for the NBA team Milwaukee Bucks.
Lebron James, born in Akron Ohio, lived his life as a basketball star excelling past many of his teammates and opponents. Being raised by a single mother, he often moved very frequently and was even put into a foster home for two years (Meyer). Lebron started playing basketball when he entered middle school and started playing competitively. Soon he became known as one of the top players in his age group. Leading his Athletic Union team to the National Championship, and then as a freshman at St.Vincent-St. Mary High School, he averaged eighteen points per game and he led the Fighting Irish to an undefeated season and the state title. The following season, he raised his scoring average to 25.2 points per game, and his senior year he scored 31.6 points per game and took St. Vincent-St. Mary to its third state championship (Meyer). Lebron grew as a star through his childhood and has proven to be one of the most gifted players in the NBA.
Born on September 29, 1988 in Suitland, Maryland, Kevin Wayne Durant is a high profile basketball player who has a stellar history playing for the Seattle Supersonics, Oklahoma City, and currently, as of 2016, the Golden State Warriors. Durant is an eight time National Basketball Association (NBA) All Star and all time NBA scoring champion (kevindurant.com). Durant has also claimed the NBA rookie of the year award, and two Olympic medals. Amazingly, at just 28 years old, Durant seems to get better and better in every aspect of his game. As a result, Durant has risen to be one of the top players of the NBA in only few years, and is known as “a nightmare” to his opponents. However, Durant is also one of the most liked players of the NBA because of his general humbleness and his seemingly unreal athletic ability on the court (Savage).
An accomplished NBA (National basketball association) starter and father, Kobe Bryant. Possible the greatest NBA star since Michael Jordan. A loving father and sponsored by nike to come out with an annual shoe. He is a very successful man and he has had deals with Nike, Adidas, and Gatorade. He is estimated at $360 million dollars according to Forbes magazine.
LOS ANGELES, California (Achieve3000, February 23, 2010). It was the game that decided which of the men's basketball teams would capture the 2008 Olympic gold medal. Near the end of the fourth quarter, the team from the USA was up by only five points. Their opponent, Spain, could still defeat them. Team USA, made up entirely of NBA superstars, was supposed to be the best in the world, yet its players were struggling to stay ahead.
The person speaking today is a professional NBA player who is currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. He was born in Athens Greece and is the son of Nigerian immigrants. He would scavenge for items around the city along with his brother to sell and provide some type of support for his family after they struggled to find work in Greece. He touched his first basketball in 2007 and knew this is what could get him and his family out of their situations. With hard work and dedication he made the youth team for a Greek team and by 2012 he was able to start for the senior team and days after turning eighteen many professional Spanish teams were interested in him. He was able to make himself eligible for the NBA draft in 2013 with a dream to become
Throughout his career in NBA, lots of sports reporters have complained about him for he always ignores them and acting individually. He refuses to do the interview even from his cities’ TV broadcasting team. This might be due to the notion of superiority he has as well as his obsession of leadership. Accordingly, in his mind, everyone should admit his leadership, admire his basketball skill and follow his instructions. Therefore, whether or not to give an interview is his own business. Even if he’s obsession of leadership is very strong, he is not a good leader since he does not have the social concern, which is the element of charisma. As a Cleveland player, “he supported New York Yankees instead of the team from Cleveland and [wear] a Yankees baseball cap” at a playoff baseball game that was held in Cleveland. Frankly, there is nothing wrong about which team LeBron is supporting. Nevertheless, as a public figure in Cleveland, wearing a Yankee’s cap at Cleveland’s home game can be understood as a provocation and disrespect to all the locals. It means he only cares about himself and does not care the bad influence or bad image he will give to the local fans. This can all be included as a fact that he is self-centered and solipsistic, which are characteristics that a
First, we will celebrate LeBron James’s accomplishments in the NBA. There are over 400 players in the NBA. These players are on the battlefield, fighting day after day because they all know only one can become the Most Valuable Player. LeBron James rose above all, claiming the MVP award, not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 times. Not only is LeBron James an MVP, but he is also a 13-time All-Star player. LeBron James garnered enough votes from the fans, the players, and the media to become an All-Star like a presidential candidate getting enough votes from the voters to become the President.
This was an amazing day for the city of Cleveland. It was LeBron James’ first official regular season game back with the Cleveland Cavalier after leaving for four full seasons to play with the Miami Heat. While he won two championships in four tries with the Miami Heat (which at the time was more than the zero he had with his first tenure with the Cavs) LeBron apparently had a burning desire in his heart to return home. I had the amazing opportunity to attend this game, which was an absolute blessing, looking back at it today I didn’t truly understand the impact this game had on the city of Cleveland as a whole. When they announced the starting lineups excitement began to fill the arena, and when LeBron’s name was announced the whole arena, filled by 20,562 Cleveland Cavalier fans, exploded into roars and cheers. This truly was a moment that defines sports, LeBron returning home to try and win a championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that drafted him 1st overall all the way back in 2003, the team that always believed in him and his leadership ability from the very beginning. It didn’t matter who else was on the floor with him, he was a fierce competitor back then and still is to this day. As a leader on the floor we all know LeBron has absolutely no weakness in his game, he does everything great, but what most people don’t know is LeBron is a true leader off the court too. He
	The L.A. Lakers in the 1980’s were a basketball powerhouse with household names such as James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kurt Rambis who would doubt it. They had class and displayed it on the court. Kareem could pull up for his patented sky hook, they could dish to Worthy for the dunk and Rambis could pull down a rebound, but without a certain Magic there would be no showtime in L.A. A certain young player who had it all, a flashy smile and a great no look pass. That certain player was a true point guard, Earvin Johnson Jr. There are five magic parts to Earvin Johnson Jr.’s life.
Shaq is one of my favorite players to ever play. It was fun to watch him because he was such a dominant player. He has four championship rings, three Finals MVP, and league MVP in 2000. He was a fifteen time All-Star and was on All-NBA first team eight times in his amazing career. His number was also retired on two teams. His number thirty-four was retired on the Los Angeles Lakers and his number thirty-two was retired on the Miami Heat. He is also eighth all-time in scoring, fourteenth all-time in rebounding, and eighth all-time in blocks in NBA history. Shaquille inspires me to do the best I can, even if you don’t have a lot of money. Shaq managed to become a superstar even though he grew up poor and didn’t have many friends. He went through many injuries in his life, such as his knee injury in 2006. He was also the worst free-throw shooter in NBA history. He was so bad that players fouled him on purpose just to send him to the free-throw line. They called it Hack-A-Shaq. He is one of my idols that I look up to and I give him all the respect in the
One of the toughest times in Magic’s life was coming to grips with his diagnosis and then eventually having to announce it to the public. It all started one day when the Lakers had an exhibition game against the Utah Jazz. The team’s doctor Dr. Mellman called Johnson and told him he needed to get back to Los Angeles right that moment(Weinburg). Little did Johnson know that that his life was about to be altered forever. When he arrived back Mellman then told Magic that he had been tested HIV positive(Weinburg). Magic then showed his first signs of mental toughness and ability to overcome when he got over his diagnosis, and began to think to the future and letting all of the public know why o...