LeBron James' Job Search Résumé

At one second after midnight on July 1, the circus that will become the pursuit for the services of NBA free agent LeBron James will officially get underway. All of the speculation over which team he will play for in the 2010-11 season will come to an end while the teams can "officially" begin talking to him about playing for their clubs. While the teams will be informing LeBron what they have to offer him, there is another side to this exercise. James has to let the teams know what he brings to the table. LeBron must have his résumé ready because he is going to undergo several job interviews.

The beginning of LeBron´s résumé, right below his contact information, which the NBA franchises undoubtedly already have, will be the objective section. This is the section of the résumé where LeBron tells his potential employers what he is after or what he would like to achieve from working for a particular organization. In most situations, this is a small part of the résumé and can often be omitted, but in the case of LeBron, this is huge because this will tell the teams everything that they need to know about the man and the player. Usually, in this section, the standard wording is to obtain the job that is being applied for, but in this case, the wording would be a little different.

LeBron is interested in much more than just getting a job because he already has one. LeBron has intimated that he wants to win a championship and also wants to become the first billionaire athlete. However, the questions that are still looming are whether or not LeBron wants to instantly become the captain of his new team or, on a bigger scale, a cultural icon in his new city. Shaq was willing to accept that Dwayne Wade was the captain and the "man" in Miami and with that attitude, Shaq captured his fourth NBA title. Will LeBron take a backseat to a Derrick Rose in Chicago or even to Wade in Miami? Also, is it more important to build the LBJ brand in his new city than it is in winning a championship? That is a big question because it could negatively affect his legacy.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did a lot for the cities of Milwaukee and Los Angeles and has his jerseys retired in both cities. Wilt Chamberlain did a lot for the Warriors, the Lakers and the 76ers, and has his jerseys retired by all three cities. However, Shaq has won championships in Miami and Los Angeles, and has also taken Orlando to the NBA Finals, but some of the relationships in these cities, as well as Phoenix and possibly Cleveland have ended acrimoniously and it is possible that of his five, and possibly six with his next signing, addresses, Shaq might only get his jersey retired in one of his former NBA cities. This is a condition that LeBron faces. If Cleveland promises to give LeBron the whole world and he turns his back on them, his legacy might be permanently damaged.

As far as Lebron´s work experience, that is obvious. His entire career has been playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. His duties should have been to perform at or above his abilities, which he has, and to make his teammates better while leading them to a championship. This, he has not done. His outstanding achievements would include two MVP awards and one scoring title, but nothing that shows that he would be a good fit for a tem that needs someone to push them over the top. He has spent the last six consecutive finishing second in the league in points scored, so a potential employer knows that they will get points from James, but if they need leadership, then who knows?

His education will show that he did not attend college, so there will be a question about his maturity and his intelligence. These questions will be answered in the interview, provided the potential employer elects to call him in for one. Under the heading of "Other Information", LeBron could mention a single trip to the NBA Finals, amounting to four games worth of Finals experience, as the Cavs were swept in 2007 by the Spurs. As for making players better, LeBron´s time in Cleveland has accounted for one All-Star appearance from a player who had not previously appeared, as Ilgauskas´ 2005 selection came on the heels of a selection in 2003, the year before James arrived. Therefore Ilgauskas was already considered one of the best centers in the Eastern Conference.

One of the most important sections of James´ résumé will be the part where he lists references. Beyond his high school teammates and coaches, James has only worked with present and former members of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the three coaches that the team has gone through since his arrival. Currently he Cavs are searching for their fourth head coach, and whether it is Lakers´ Assistant Brian Shaw or someone else, they will not know about James internally, so his references will come mostly from players and coaches who were sent packing. One has to wonder what they might say about King James under a cloak of anonymity.

After reviewing the résumé of one LeBron Raymone James, one has to wonder, if this were the true process for being signed to a big money contract in the National Basketball Association, whether or not LeBron would even get an interview. With outstanding personal achievements but no true accomplishments, and nothing that shows that the organization will improve after his hire, other than an increase in ticket sales, which means an increase in parking revenue, concessions and television revenue from more televised games and higher ratings for games that are televised, it would be an interesting dilemma for a team to consider this potential employee when there are other players with similar résumés that might score better in certain areas. Like Dwayne Wade who is the same as James, except with one championship to his credit. Think about it.