Was LeBron James justified in confronting Stephen A. Smith over comments made about Bronny James playing for the Los Angeles Lakers? Doug Gottlieb says no.
Citing not only James confronting Smith but also mocking Gottlieb’s own struggles as a first-year coach of University of Wisconsin–Green Bay’s men’s college basketball team, Gottlieb said to LeBron, “you are definitely not over yourself.”
“There’s 450 jobs,” Gottlieb continued. “Those are the best in the world. What are we doing? But if you can’t take that criticism ’cause it’s your son, so we’re supposed to not be honest about our portrayal of Bronny James? Is that what we’re supposed to do? So again, do I think LeBron James is a bad person? No. Do I think this is who he really is? Yes. And look, I get it, it doesn’t feel good when people make comments about you, especially when they don’t really know. And I’m sure LeBron’s thing is like, ‘Hey, my kid, he wasn’t on a very good team at SC last year, he had the heart attack. That stuff was scary. I’m with him every day. He wants it really bad.’ It’s very personal to him. I get it.
“But once you’re in the NBA, like, sorry man. This is the NBA. This ain’t show friends, this is show business. Stephen A. is saying the quiet part out loud. He’s saying what all reasonable and reputable people say. And LeBron, if you’re going to go and confront everybody who has that belief in your son and again, the only way from Bronny to do it is to overcome and to make the league and to look like a valuable commodity. He hasn’t looked like that.”
“There is no world in which a dad (LeBron), who single-handedly makes it so that his son is on an NBA team that he plays on, can accost the biggest name in sports about the analysis of his son…Stephen A. felt the wrath of what it’s like to be an AAU coach.”
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Gottlieb continued, acknowledging that Bronny is not the first person to get an opportunity because of his family. But once that opportunity is granted, he should be subjected to the same criticisms as everyone else. He then once again compared the criticism of Bronny to the criticism he received throughout the college basketball season (including from LeBron), that ended with Green Bay going 4-28.
“And again, no one understands more than me, how people who don’t pay attention can make comments about things they have zero idea about — even LeBron,” Gottlieb said. “He made a comment about my team. Do you think he had any idea? All of the injuries and misfortune that we had. The youth that we had? He didn’t care. ‘Cause all he sees is the final record and he thinks it’s funny. OK. But the point is, if you want your son to be in the NBA, you have to be willing to be criticized. There is no world in which a dad who single-handedly makes it so that his son is on an NBA team that he plays on, can accost the biggest name in sports about the analysis of his son.
Gottlieb then noted that throughout his career in sports talk, Smith has had consistently harsh criticisms for players that were more proven in the NBA than Bronny.
“He’s a sports talker — but his opinion does matter,” Gottlieb said of Smith. “Like, it’s OK for him to call, ‘Rasho Nesterović is terrible.’ Rasho Nesterović was a hell of a player overseas and at times a decent NBA player. That’s OK, but commenting on Bronny James lack of readiness for the NBA is not? Get over yourself. Which he’s not. Which is why he would never be a Spur. Yeah, honestly. Stephen A. felt the wrath of what it’s like to be an AAU coach. What it’s like to be a college coach.
“And LeBron James, as amazing a basketball player as he is, he’s cashing in the equity that he has. And all the LeBron sycophants are gonna be like, ‘Yeah, you tell him LeBron. Bronny’s off limits.’ Why? He’s not a child. He’s a professional basketball player. And if you’re gonna be a professional basketball player, you have to be better, or you’re going to go through that level of criticism. Time and again. That’s how it works. I guess I should be surprised, but I’m not. That LeBron, who coached AAU last year, is handling it just like an AAU parent would.”