Lebron Wins Fourth MVP in Five Years

LeBron James was at his best this season, and the voters tasked with selecting the NBA's Most Valuable Player took notice.

During the 2012-2013 regular season, Lebron James clearly displayed why he is considered as the best player in the world and the voters tasked with selecting the NBA’s Most Valuable Player agreed. Lebron came within only one vote away from becoming the NBA’s first unanimous MVP in history. 

The official presentation of the award came Sunday May, 5 and Lebron was welcomed with a heartwarming introduction video of his family and closed showing their appreciation. He then accepted his award and gave a very genuine speech showing appreciation to all those who have helped him be the man he is today. He highlighted his speech by thanking his family and friends for being a great supporting cast, and paid homage to his teammates, stating that without them, none of his individual accolades would be possible.

Throughout this season, Lebron has accomplished some pretty amazing things that will probably never be done again. James was the only player in the NBA to lead his team in scoring, rebounding and assists per game this season, had a record six straight games of scoring at least 30 points while shooting at least 60 percent, became the youngest player in league history to break the 20,000-career-point plateau and won five of the six Eastern Conference player of the month awards. James has also became the second player in NBA history to post at least 2,000 points, 600 rebounds, 500 assists and 100 steals in a season twice, joining Larry Bird, who did it three times. The only other player to do it once was Jordan.

I mentioned in an earlier post, James for MVP that Lebron would win the MVP and now I’m ecstatic to see that the voters witnessed the same level of greatness that I witnessed from Lebron.

Around The NBA

Now that the regular has come to an end and the playoffs are just heating up, it’s time to take a look back at the most memorable plays of the 2012-2013 NBA season. This season has been filled with breath-taking phenomenal plays and I sincerely hope you enjoy this video:

The 2012-2013 was a great season; let’s hope this year’s playoffs bring the same excitement.

Hello Eastern Conference Semi-Finals

On Sunday, the Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks 88-77 to close out the first round series 4-0.  This has made it the third straight year the Miami has swept their first round opponent out of the playoffs. The Heat were without all-star guard Dwayne Wade, as he rested up a bruise right knee that has been giving him problems the entire series. The absent superstar did not worry the Heat, Lebron James picked up the slack by putting up great numbers in route to the victory. He finished the game with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists; veteran shooting guard Ray Allen also contributed 16 huge points off the bench. In the four games of the series the Heat was not really challenged as each game was a blowout. But that does not change the “Win All” mentality of the team. “Yeah, it was a great series and although we may have won it easily, that does not change the fact that every game and team is different and we approach each game that way”, Lebron James stated when ask about the relax environment of the Heat’s first round opponent.
 

The Heat now awaits the winner of the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls series. The Heat leads the season series between both of the teams 3-1.

Advertising in the NBA

Advertising today is all about enhancing a corporation’s image and positioning a corporation to stand behind a particular issue or promote a certain cause.  Advertising is not only about the positioning and selling of a product, corporate advertising goes beyond those realms. 

The corporate culture of the NBA is to solely make the best decisions regarding basketball that will make for the best experience for the fans and the communities in which the NBA serves. Being the largest basketball league in the world, the ideas and decisions the NBA makes to enhance or change the image, are images that have to be thoroughly thought out because of the global platform the NBA is on. It is important that the NBA holds all employees of franchises accountable for their actions and maintain the highest level of integrity throughout the entire league. The NBA is owner of its branch off leagues the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Basketball Association Development League (NBA-DL).  In 2007, there were rumors circulating of the NBA altering the outcome of games because of the FBI investigation of criminal acts of referee Tim Donaghy. Donaghy was convicted of providing insider tips on games and tax fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in a federal correctional facility. Donaghy never implicated the NBA with any of his wrong doings but that did not stop the rest of the world from raising doubts and be suspicious of the rest of the NBA’s involvement in this matter. This prompted immediate action from Commissioner David Stern.  He has been known to show that he understands the benefits of good public relations and developing and maintaining a positive global image. He has definitely gone to great lengths to clean up the image of the league and its players. "When we deal with our brand, there's no such thing as a minor issue with brand awareness and reputation. I am the protector of the brand and its integrity," stated Stern when he spoke on the rogue referee. "That's a job that every CEO has, and I consider it my job to be out there to be protective and to respond so I become the spokesperson in times of crisis." 

The NBA is one of the most trusted corporations in the world as it deals with fan’s emotional human sense as it provides of joy and entertainment. The NBA marketers are paying large amounts of money to ensure that fans are receiving the best real game experiences. Experiences of the actions of players and personnel on court and the not off court shenanigans of dishonest referees and misguided players.

        

The NBA recognizes the importance of properly enhancing an image and devotes millions of dollars and countless amounts of hours to do such. The NBA uses common corporate advertising strategies but with a slightly different twist to them. For many of the strategies, such as Goodwill Advertising and Green Initiative, the NBA launched its own programs that have successfully operating for over five years. The NBACares and the NBAGreen Week are the two programs launched and each serves a vital role in enhancing the image of the company and the sustainability because they cater directly to the public.  The NBA also successfully partnered with State Farm introducing their joint campaign of the high school dropout rate. This is a huge issue in America and the efforts from the two major corporations and having All-star Lebron James as the spokesperson will hopefully bring more attention and awareness to the issue. The NBAFit program is also a fantastic approach at addressing advertisements. In efforts to combat the United States’ obesity issue, the NBA has created a program where the athletically built players of the NBA educate the families of America on ways to stay active and live healthy.

Since the NBA sells a service and not a product it was interesting to see their efforts on Market Prep advertising. The league does a phenomenal job at advertising for the NBA playoffs as each year they will be different because there is no guarantee on the seeding for which teams will play each other and who will win the championship. Each year the NBA adds more suspense to get intrigue the viewers to want to watch again or to see what will be different.  The overall objectives of creating a positive image and communicating the corporation’s viewpoints on particular issues are both obtained from the advertising of the NBA. The idea of putting corporate sponsoring on the Jerseys of NBA players is very important addition to the NBA, not only will it increase advertising for the other corporation but still increase the numbers of those who are unaware of the NBA but have knowledge of the partnering company.

Overall, the reputation of the NBA will continue to positively expand because of the efforts they put forth in advertising. Commissioner David Stern, has created an identity for the NBA that the corporation goes beyond providing a basketball game for entertainment, the NBA is here to service the world in every way it possibly can. This culture feeds off to the employees of the NBA /players as many develop into philanthropist of their own. This culture will help continue to the NBA continue to grow and reach heights they haven’t reached before.

Never Give Up!

As a hobby of mine, I enjoy creative writing and the art of expressing one’s imagination.  The other day I sat down and began to think back on my childhood and I used a little bit of my imagination to create a short story, part fact, part fiction. This story was created as a “bedtime” story for my nephews in hopes that they’ll get the message of “Never Giving Up”. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. The life behind bars is a very hard life, a life majority of people will never live but for my brother Kendal Mclaurin, this proved to be the only life he knew. Growing up in the inner city of Newark we all had it rough but my mother Ms.Ligon did her best had making life for her three sons a little easier.  Working two and three jobs for years and years, my mother really never had a lot of time to spend quality time with us but her hard work, effort and dedication made up for the missed time. With the absence of a father figure life seemed to become pretty lonely for us but we each found solace in different things. My little brother found his in sports and being an athletic freak of nature. I myself found solace in school and becoming a scholar, unfortunately Kendal leaned to the streets and the violence and negativity that come along with being into the streets. At the age of thirteen Kendal entered into the street life and since that day, nothing has been the same with him.

Kendal ran into his first serious issue as a junior in High school. Kendal was caught breaking into a teacher’s car which was parked directly in front of the school. The immediate reaction to hearing this news was, “Wow how can this dude be so dumb?”. Because it was his first offense as a Juvenile Kendal only served a few weeks in the Essex County Juvenile House then was released on house arrest. Although Kendal was confined to the house because of the house arrest monitor locked on his ankle, he still managed to find his way into even more trouble.

He would sneak outside to be with his friends, as they smoke marijuana and drank liquor while they were all under age. My mother would never know this because she worked from the sun up to the sun down. All of Kendal’s late night rendezvous came to a halt, when he was arrested with two of his friends for breaking and entering into a local grocery store.  After being arrested, Kendal realized that he had really messed up and there was no turning back from that point. He knew that he had disappointed my mother yet again and this time there was no making up he could do. Because he was 17 and this had been his third arrest in two months, Kendal was waived up as an adult and he was sentenced to three years in Northern State Correctional facility. This was a huge blow to my family because although he was committing these criminal acts, he was still my older brother and he was going to be missing from my life at a time when I needed an older male guidance the most.

While incarcerated, Kendal began to think about life very differently. He realized that the things he was doing out in the streets were either going to get him locked away for the rest of his life or murdered. He began to read the autobiography of Malcolm X and from our weekly phone conversations I noticed the change in his mindset right away. Instead of asking me about the girls at my school, he began to ask me about the professors I had and the subjects we covered in classes. It was very strange at first but I was excited to know that my brother cared for what I loved. He also shared with me the fact that he had began to work out and play basketball again. “ I talked to Coach Mo(his high school coach) today, I let him know I was back in the gym getting shots up and that I’m going to college when I get out of here”, he playfully said to me one day as we spoke.  Although I knew he was playing, I still encouraged him to chase his dreams and never give up hope.  He took heed to the things I said and he worked his tail off while incarcerated; he obtained his GED and was a three time MVP of the inmate basketball league which was ran every winter. His statistics in the league was phenomenal he averaged 45 points per game, 12 rebounds and 14 assists while leading his team to a championship each year he was there.

Upon his release for prison, Kendal enrolled into our local community college Essex County College (ECC) with aspirations of one day joining the basketball team they had.  All it took was for one practice and the coach instantly fell in love with my brother’s abilities. My brother became the starter for ECC that season leading the school to its very first conference championship. Kendal averages for the year were 36 points per game, 11 rebounds and seven assists. These fantastic numbers gained the attention of major Division 1 programs across the nation but when Hall of fame Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski sat in my living room in hopes of recruiting my brother, I knew he had found his “calling card”.  The look on my mother’s face was priceless and I was proud that it was because of my brother, who had caused so much hurt in heart before.

Kendal enrolled into Duke University in the fall of 2005 and became the starter there as well. He led the Duke Blue Devils to the national championship game where they unfortunately lost to their in-state rivals the North Carolina Tar Heels. Despite losing in the Final game, Kendal had a stellar year. He averaged 28 points per game, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, which are unheard of numbers for a transfer recruit to the Duke program. His play throughout the year was so dominant, that many mock draft boards had him projected in the top 5 picks in that year’s NBA Draft. Coming from the inner city of Newark New Jersey, Kendal did not think twice about entering into the draft, all he wanted to do was take his family out of the projects. Before draft night, Kendal and I had a very deep conversation and out of his 22 years of living I can honestly admit I’ve never seen him cry up into this point. “You made it Big brother, you really made it”, I said in a very joyous state. “No Bro, We made it. If it wasn’t for you I probably wouldn’t have strived to be as great as I am now, you mom and Z are my motivation and diving force. Thank you little brother.” he replied back. But when I looked up I noticed it was tears falling from his cheek as he hugged me and from that point on I knew he finally realized that no matter how rough life may seem, just keep fighting and never give up and you’ll see a brighter future.

The next day was the Draft and we were all nervous as if we were getting drafted. Kendal was the calmest out of us all, as if he knew the outcome of that day. “ With the Number one pick in 2005 NBA Draft, the Milwaukee Bucks have selected, 6’4 Shooting Guard, out of Duke University, Kendal Mclaurin”, the commissioner read. As my brother went up to the podium to receive his Team hat and jersey, I sat there emotionless. I couldn’t believe that my brother really was the number one overall draft pick, from three time felon to NBA star were the thoughts circulating in my brain. As I watched the smile on his face as he took his picture with the commissioner, I realized that dreams do come true and with hard work and dedication you can turn any nightmare situation to a dream/fantasy. My brother is living proof of that.

 

Lebron James leads Heat to a win in Game 1

In what many believed would be an intriguing series, Miami ousted the Milwaukee Bucks 110-87 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series. Lebron James led the way with 27 points on 9-for 11 shooting (81%) with 10 rebounds and 8 assists, finishing two assists shy of a triple double. James has never taken fewer shots in a playoff game than he did on Sunday night. But still being able to finish with the most points in the game shows the complete dominance James has on the NBA today. Ray Allen also contributed with 20 points off the bench and the defending champion Heat picked up where they left off in the NBA playoffs a year ago. Although the Heat may end up sweeping the Bucks out of the playoffs, the series will be a good one because the Bucks play unafraid of the defending champions and give their all each game. 

Below you can find the tentative schedule for the remainder of the games in the series.

 

•        4/23 Game 2 @Miami 7:30pm (ET)
•        4/25 Game 3 @Milwaukee 7:00pm (ET)
•        4/28 Game 4 @Milwaukee 3:30pm (ET)
•        4/29 Game 5 @Miami TBD
•        5/1 Game 6 @Milwaukee TBD
•        5/3 Game 7 @Miami TBD

I predict a 4-0 sweep but I would not be surprised if the Bucks manage to pull of one upset in the seven game series.

Here come the Playoffs!!!

The regular season is over and the Miami Heat finished with the best record in the NBA at 66-16. That is the best record in franchise history. The Heat will face number eight seed Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat controlled the season series 3-1 with their only loss to the Bucks coming when their star players Lebron and Dwayne Wade sat out due to injuries. This should be a very intriguing match up but fairly easy for the Heat to move past.

Here is a highlight clip of amazing plays that the Miami Heat was able to provide for the fans:

Follow along as the Heat intend to repeat as World Champions!!!