Battier, Love, Ham highlight LeBron's Miami, Cleveland and LA stints

With LeBron James breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-timescoring record, the Associated Press sought out three perspectivesfrom Miami, Cleveland and Los Angeles to sum up hisaccomplishments.

SHANE BATTIER

(Editor’s Note: Shane Battier is a former Miami Heatteammate of LeBron James. Battier played in the NBA for 13 seasons,the last three of them with James in Miami. He shared somememorable moments with The Associated Press of what he witnessedduring their time together with the Heat.)

There was a night that I’ll never forget as long as I live, andit made me have just such a deeper appreciation for who LeBronJames was as a person, as a man, as a player.

We were in Boston in 2012, during the playoffs, no love lostfrom Boston fans. We’re walking to dinner and a car slows down nextto us. A guy said, “Hey LeBron, I hate you, you suck.” He rolls upthe window and proceeds down the street.

As players we’re used to being called names and whatnot. But atthat moment I understood all the stuff he had to deal with from Day1 and being on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16 and being No.1 in the draft and being the most hyped athlete maybe ever, themost famous athlete maybe ever at every step of the way. Therewasn’t a moment where he could hide behind a teammate, hide behinda coach.

He’s always proven he can handle it. He handled it that time,too.

KEVIN LOVE

(Editor’s Note: Kevin Love is a five-time All-Star andformer Cleveland teammate with LeBron. Love played four seasonswith James and won the title with him in 2016, when the Cavaliersovercame a 3-1 deficit in the Finals to win Cleveland’s firstprofessional sports championship since 1964. Love reflected on histime with James for The Associated Press.)

Those years LeBron had here in Cleveland, capped by a winning achampionship, cemented his legacy. Naturally, the first one he gotin Miami was a weight off his shoulders. The back-to-back titlessolidified him and the Heat. It showed they were a dynasty beforewe saw those guys out in San Francisco, that’s a real powerfulteam. I feel that, and I think he would say the same, that 2016,especially in the manner that we won, and against the 73-9 team webeat and him being from Akron, it was definitely the most importantone for him.

What always impressed me about my time with LeBron is theprecision of his life. He’s a man with a plan. He’s become largerthan the game.

It will be very tough to eclipse or surpass him as a better facefor the NBA and what he has meant for the league. He had all thepressure in the world on him and people were touting him andprojecting him to be Jordan-esque or the next Jordan. The man has“Chosen One” tattooed across his back and he goes out and exceedsexpectations. And at every juncture, every fork in the road,anything that came up — adversity, any lump that he took. Peoplewanted to tear him down, buy he always found a way. Like he says,strive for greatness.

He’s found a way to achieve a level of greatness that very fewin this world have touched or seen. He’s on the Mount Rushmore ofthe greatest athletes of all time. And when you consider what he’sdone away from basketball with the I Promise School or the peoplehe has impacted over the course of his career or what he’ll doafter basketball, it’s a pretty incredible story about who he isand what he’s about.

It’s not just his body. It’s not just his process. It’s not justhis intention. It’s his brain.

I feel so fortunate my career intersected with LeBron’s.Everybody that he touches, especially if you have that opportunityto be within his orbit or his gravitational pull, whether it’scovering him as a media member or me playing with him in veryspecial years, especially here and because of what he means toNortheast Ohio, that is definitely something that is not lost onme.

For when it happened at the point it did in my life, it couldnot have been better for me. It really helped me grow up and becomea man and understand sacrifice and become a better teammate whilealso allowing me to be my authentic self and unapologeticallymyself, 100%. As a fan, a friend, a teammate, to be part of thebrotherhood, it’s special to have him be within our family. It’spretty amazing.

DARVIN HAM

(Editors’ Note: Darvin Ham is in his first season as coachof the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a longtime NBA assistant coachand as a player helped the Detroit Pistons win the NBA title in2004.)

When I got hired to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, one of thefirst things that I saw was the tweet where LeBron Jamescongratulated me.

I’m not on social media myself, but people I know who are, andthey saw it and screen-shotted it and sent it to me. All the majorplatforms were showing the tweet, so I got his number and calledhim and just had a lot of laughs.

That’s when I started to learn what he’s all about. There was alot of excitement on that call. There was energy both ways. We wereready to get started, ready to get going. He was verbalizing it,that I have his full support and that we were going to figure thisthing out, to right the ship, so to speak. He said we’re going toget back to the way we should be performing and what we’rerepresenting in terms of the Lakers. And he’s lived up to thatevery step of the way.

I waited a long time for a job like this. And working withLeBron, it’s an interactive type of relationship. He has awillingness to be coached. I’ll just start there. That’s the mostawesome thing about ’Bron. He allows himself to be coached. You canget on him in a film session. You can point out mistakes. He’lleither admit it — “my bad” — or if he disagrees, he’ll disagree.And we figure it out. But it’s never anything malicious. It’s neveranything personal. It’s not about his way or my way. We’re tryingto figure out the best way.

That’s who he is. Everything has to be the best way. He’s one ofone. His size, his athleticism, his shooting capabilities, hisplaymaking capabilities ... we haven’t seen anything like himbefore.

I don’t think he’s ever wanted the scoring record. He’s aboutteam. He wants the team to do well. That’s the thing that shinesthrough. He’s everything that he’s been advertised to be and muchmore. But just being around him and seeing him, I know he reallyenjoys his teammates. I’d even go as far as to say all thisattention embarrasses him a little. When everybody’s trying toshine a light on him individually, he handles it with grace, don’tget me wrong, but he would much rather be a part of a groupcelebration than everyone talking about how great he is.

And we all know he’s great. Arguably the greatest. But he wouldprefer that everything be group focused. He’s about “How can myteam and my teammates be put in the best position to be successful,not just me?” It’s a beautiful thing to see. It’s a beautiful thingto live every day and witness firsthand.