What is it about having LeBron James at your basketball tournament Bleacher's Report

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The coach was furious. It was, after all, impossible that any of the seventh-grade boys playing for his team – most of which lie between two and 12 inches above that writer's 5'8 "- could have made a mistake Almost all coaches and parents conscientiously observing their basketball kids playing at the national USBA championship, a tournament for amateur basketball teams on what is known as the AAU circuit, have expressed their consternation about a call or two.

Soon he got up, standing and screaming at the edge of one of the 18 temporary basketball courts laid out in the cavernous Charlotte Convention Center, even before He was unfolded from the small plastic chair next to which he was seated.The mark table, he stood out from all the other adults in the neighborhood.He was taller by a postman. at least a year and a half, and at lees u of a polo of the team, he wore a black snapback back, black shorts and a white t-shirt with the slogan of inspiration: Aim for greatness Although nestled in his collar, a chain of diamonds sometimes caught the light. His Nike sneakers were of a white color only possible when first used.

As they had done it at different times of this championship game – tournament highlight – despite the fact that there were also high school students, these sneakers were dangerously close to the official border of the court, who, if he had crossed, would have earned his team a technical foul. But he was furious, shouting at the referee as he made a move towards the scorecard in an instantly recognizable manner even for the more casual basketball fan. It was the same incredulous consternation, the tense forehead and the incredibly long outstretched arms, that he had directed to his then-teammate JR Smith at the end of the first game of the 2018 NBA Finals. when Smith wasted an opportunity for a winning shot-a reaction that became a meme in minutes.

The "coach", of course, was LeBron James. As he participates in this bbad advocacy ritual for his 13-year-old son, LeBron James Jr., and his son's team, the Blue Coast Blue Chips, a crowd of hundreds of scoffers in response, while documenting with phones in the air.

If James is still able to keep anonymous, it 's certainly not at an event with more than a thousand young social – savvy basketball players and their families. Overtime, Slam Ballislife.com and (obviously) Bleacher Report were there to cover the event; even though we had not been, much of the audience was trying to broadcast every game on the Congress Center's tenuous Wi-Fi, capturing everything from LeBron James Jr.'s pre-game stretching to the eventual exit of the royal basketball family. equivalent to a VIP door. When LeBron entered the bathroom after a match, no less than 25 phones were facing the door as their owners waited patiently for it to emerge after using the facilities. The one thing more inescapable than the camera's goals was the heckling – most often, a song sung "ov-er-ra-ted!" directed to young James

This love / hate reaction is not new to James, who has recently provoked emotional reactions across the sports landscape when he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. In the past month, attempts to commemorate his recent move with murals around the city were disfigured almost as soon as they were completed.

A close examination is not new to Bronny because James' eldest son is the best known. no more. Even though he is only 13 years old, he has been the subject of great moments since the age of nine; now, covering his college career is de rigueur for most sports sites. After unofficially visiting Duke earlier this week alongside his teammates, you can place wagers on where Bronny will go to college … in 2023.

"People want to see him play as LeBron," said Amaricko, 12-year-old McKenzie, who had arrived at court an hour earlier to see Bronny play in person for the first time and was still stuck several rows back. After watching so many Bronny highlights, McKenzie had thought that he might be able to take on new moves – he acknowledged, however, that the crowd would be intimidating to try to play in front. "He has to live up to those expectations at this point," McKenzie added

. The experience of being a famous child while coping with the pressure of living according to the larger-than-life inheritance of a parent is not new; Filling the name of LeBron James Jr., whether he's playing basketball or not, was already a sisyphean task. Bronny's path is unprecedented, however, because of the moment when he matures, and more specifically, because of the task he has to perform to become a professional basketball player – while trying to achieve the his father's dream they one day play on the same team in the NBA. It is the most visible face of a new generation of future professional athletes, one for whom tracking and highlighting are a way to attract the attention of a scout.

He watched his son Bronny's match (third from left) in Charlotte. From the first arrived, LeBron James finally made his way to the team bench to serve as an unofficial coach. Photo by Natalie Weiner

The craziest part of it all?

"I'm taking donations: for $ 20, I'm going to attack LeBron so that I can become viral," said a man standing next to a crowd control barricade an hour before the Blue Coast Blue Chips . face Connecticut Select on the third day of the five-day tournament, addressing a crowd packed to the point that only the smallest can cross. "Man LeBron Tackles," he continued, probably imagining the title of the potential YouTube clip. For others, the inevitability of the images is a source of consolation, no potential profit: "I'm just going to watch on YouTube," said a child who clearly did not reach his growth spurt, after having evaluated the challenge of seeing more than

LeBron finally enters with a police escort and a few futile gestures towards a disguise: a hood raised on a hat. Halfway through the game, though – which is too early in favor of the dominant Blue Chips – he gave up both to remain discreet and sit placidly behind the bench. "They probably had 15 points, and I hear him start calling plays, Yo, he's here coaching !" says Marcus Robinson, the Connecticut Select coach, laughing. "I was like, OK, he's really involved in this team. " According to Xavier Bowman, a sixth-year squad member of Blue Chips and a clbad 2024 attacker Naismith National Youth All American, this is not unusual. "The tournaments in which he participates are usually involved, especially in high-pressure games," said Bowman, age 12

. The final score could have been 89-32 Blue Chips, but the Select fervently followed Bronny's mistakes nonetheless. "He was crossed twice!" exclaimed a member of the Connecticut club, who could not be more than nine years old. Meanwhile, some members of an older team shouted: "Bronny, you only have two points, Bronny, you're worthless!"

In truth, Bronny is not yet the dominant star of his father before entering the NBA: He is not the tallest (he is currently listed at 5 & # 39; 39; 10 ", according to ESPN) or the fastest member of the seventh-year Blue Chips team, but he is capable of types of pieces from another world that invoke pictures of father – qu & & They are made, the three rivals who finish with him flat on their backs, the exit pbades that extend along the length of the yard or the fancy footwork that helps to cut off traffic for graceful layups … they went wrong: behind-the-back dribbles that turn into turnovers, deep shots that become air balls … those moments, when Bronny fell or was badly missed, are those that the crowd appreciates most … caught in the emotion of wanting to go to LeBron's son against just playing the game, "his Charlotte native, Ryan L utz, who watched the team he coached: CP3, the team of Chris Paul, who would face the Blue Chips in the tournament championship game. "Do you want to be able to tell your friends," Yo, I hit a three on LeBron's son, "or do you really want to win?"

Two days later, the Blue Chips played a team from Arkansas in a Despite their size and reputation significantly lower than those of the Blue Chips, the Rising Stars remained determined to stay close . In the second half, Bronny was scratching for the ball when suddenly he grabbed his knee in pain. LeBron immediately jumped to his feet and watched regularly from afar. After his teammates helped young James sit on the bench, LeBron leaned over and started scrubbing Bronny's knee as he wiped his eyes with the top of his jersey. A moment of tenderness quickly dissolved, leaving room for concentration on the game: LeBron was back to training (note that the Blue Chips have two official coaches, both of whom seemed to want give in to James), and after Walking, Bronny was back, just like his father. All the while, fans chanted, "Ov-er-ra-ted! Ov-er-ra-ted!"

"LeBron is on another platform," said former NBA leader T.J. Ford, who was at the tournament as a coach of his Houston-based AAU team. Later in the tournament, the T.J. The Ford team beat the Blue Chips for the title of this category. "He has had all this criticism and expectation in his life since he's 16, so he knows how to prepare his son to handle that." Most people can not. "

Indeed, while the Blue Chips are referred to as" LeBron's Team "- whether it belongs to the eldest or a young LeBron has never been clear – the badumptions Surrounding the team are not easy to manage, even for other members of the same club. "These are the chips, not the Bronny team," said a sixth-grade student of Blue Chips. Do you see Bronny on their jerseys? We can call him Bronny's team when he scores more than four points. "

But the James are the draw," With a father like LeBron, wherever he goes, people will know, and they encourage or encourage it, "said Melvin Phifer, 72, a native of Charlotte, whose grandson was playing in the tournament.The former coach had arrived at the Courts almost three hours earlier to watch Bronny play, and he was standing in the front row, leaning against the barricade with all the kids.Phifer had attended the three USBA tournaments that the James family had participated in, explaining that it gave him something exciting to chat with people at his job in Charlotte's public school system.

The Blue Chips won the tournament title in overtime match against Paul's team, CP3 (Paul was not present at the tournament, although he had been at Peach Jam the previous week). Less than a week later, the highlights already have more than a million views on YouTube. Of course, many parents were convinced that a favorable whistle had been given to the Bronny tournament and his brother, Bryce, who had not played because of a fracture in his hand, but whose fifth team had won the tournament.

For their part, tournament officials recognize that an already difficult job is complicated by the introduction of a global superstar. "It's a different field when LeBron is out there," said Brian Woodyard, a referee who called several Blue Chips games. "You can not win: LeBron says it's wrong and [the other parents] says it's just, and vice versa, that's how it will be."

When LeBron tried to argue over a fault, Woodyard did only one thing he could: say nothing. The first few times, it was a mission that he looked forward to – but now? He is happy to go to a fourth-grade court. "I think it's more personal for parents and coaches than for kids," he said. "They want to beat LeBron more than the kids."

This fervor, however, is inevitably balanced with the fact that facing LeBrons Jr. and Sr. is – for the most part participating families – once in a life experience. This is an opportunity that could become increasingly rare given the speed with which the Bronny star goes up: On Wednesday, a Blue Chips match in Las Vegas was canceled for security reasons. And it was after a game earlier in the day that saw former LeBron coach, Tyronn Lue, and Paul briefly join LeBron in the stands.

In Charlotte, despite a little chaos, the show continued. At the beginning of the tournament, a team called Atlanta Nets lost to the Blue Chips, 66-28, although you had a hard time seeing her on the faces of parents and coaches of the team. "They thought it was going to be a rash, but we participated, and I think we surprised them," said Bobby Hart, whose 13-year-old son, Jai, was one of the best Nets. players. "He had LeBron James Jr. on his butt out there, so I'm happy, I've been waiting for this for three years."

LeBron gave the crowd to his son's match against the Atlanta Nets an unexpected shooting show during half-time at Charlotte. ] Photo by Natalie Weiner

But I've been sympathetic to Bronny, even though he had been beaten by him. "He has a lot of enemies, and he has a lot of pressure on him because his father is so big," he said.

These enemies are likely to take the "under" on the question that will continue to haunt LeBron James Jr: How good can it be? As ubiquitous as the songs "ov-er-ra-ted" is the story of LeBron Sr. Compared to a childhood pbaded on the verge of homelessness and without a father, Bronny's path seems perfectly free of charge. [Obstacles]

LeBron stands on the sidelines to encourage Bronny to greatness as he would have liked. . "When I was younger, I did not have a father," James said in a preview of his upcoming HBO show The Shop . "So all my stuff, when I have a child, not only is he going to be a junior, I'm going to do everything this man did not do."

But while LeBron broke into the national spotlight at the top of the school, while his granular highlights were becoming available on desktops, Bronny must live the answer to this question in front of millions of people, that they show his games in such large numbers that it is dangerous for him to play or follow each of his movements online. While LeBron was the kid from Akron who overcame the obstacles, Bronny – to his opponents – is lucky.

"It was one of the most important games of my life," Jai continued. That solemnly. "It really meant something to me, and to everyone on my team."

"We come from a city where no one really knows us.Only a group of children from Douglasville, Georgia, playing against LeBron James Jr.-fighting there and fighting. was a memorable day. "