Plenty left for James to learn

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Plenty left for James to learn

But Bryant case won't deter him in move to NBA

By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 7/21/2003

eBron James remains confident about handling the off-court pressures that come
with being an NBA player, even in light of the sexual assault charge filed
against Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant. James, the top draft pick and
$90-million Nike man, called life away from the arena ''the easy part.'' With
a year of hype preceding his entry into the league, James said he has learned
to handle ''the fans and everything else that comes with basketball.'' But
James said he continues to learn about the off-court challenges ahead.



Like Bryant, James will enter the NBA directly from high school, joining a
very adult world at 18 years old. According to former NBA players and current
coaches, it is a lifestyle filled with money, women, and late nights. Call
them what you want -- temptations, challenges, distractions, trouble.

Although relatively little is known about the specifics of the Bryant case, it
is important to recognize that the incident took place during the offseason,
away from the usual NBA haunts. On Friday afternoon, Bryant was charged with
one count of felony sexual assault by the Eagle County, Colo., district
attorney for allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman June 30 at the Lodge &
Spa at Cordillera. In a press conference after being charged, Bryant admitted
to committing adultery and apologized to his wife, Vanessa. The issue is
whether the sex was consensual. Before playing his final game at the Pro
Summer League yesterday, James offered Bryant his support.

''That's a tough situation,'' said James. ''I'm behind Kobe 100 percent.
That's my man, but I don't know everything that's going on, so I really can't
comment on something like that. But I'm behind Kobe 100 percent.''

When asked if he had learned about the type of scrutiny he could face as a
high-profile NBA player, James added, ''You've got to know that before [the
Bryant situation]. You have to know that. He was just put in a bad
situation.''

Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge, Nets coach and former
Laker Byron Scott, and Celtics assistant and former player Lester Conner gave
a glimpse into NBA life off the court and offered advice about behaving
properly as a sports celebrity and staying away from the type of situation in
which Bryant now finds himself.

For the most part, the former players and coaches who spoke did not wish to
comment specifically on Bryant's situation.''There's a lot of challenges when
you're playing in a city like Los Angeles, especially when you're a young
player and you come into the league like I did and all of a sudden you're
handed a boatload of money,'' said Scott. ''You have fame because you're
playing with one of the best teams in basketball. There's a lot of pressure to
perform on the basketball court, but the things you have to watch off the
court are just as important. Because I lived in LA all my life, I understood
all the things that were going on and it made me a little bit more able to
deal with the situations of the money and the women and all the other things
that were going on at that time. ''If I had a son that I knew was going to the
league, some of the things that I would do would be to put him in connection
with the right people, financially first. I would sit him down and talk to him
about some of the things to look for in his first couple of years. You're
going to have girls calling you, you're going to have girls who know how much
you make, how long your contract is, where you party, where you stay. Those
are the people that you really have to look out for.''

Said Conner: ''I think it has a lot to do with the upbringing, knowing what's
right and what's wrong, staying away from certain situations, whether it be
staying out late, going to clubs when you know you've got games. You're always
fighting constant temptation. With guys making so much money, and even when I
was playing, there were just the temptations of going out and spending lots of
money, the temptation of women, whether you're married or not. You're
constantly fighting those things because they're at your disposal so
easily.''

While Scott and Conner alluded to issues of entrapment, that has not been
brought up in the Bryant case. Bryant traveled to the resort area of Vail for
knee surgery. He checked into the exclusive Lodge & Spa at Cordillera, where
the alleged victim worked at the front desk. The 19-year-old woman went to
Bryant's room during the night, though the hotel has not said why.

Ainge, Scott, and Conner all stressed the importance of having a good support
system, family, friends, and advisers who have the best interest of the player
in mind. Ainge also cautioned not to view the transgressions of NBA players as
part of only the professional sports landscape, but rather to look at the
influence of a permissive popular culture on society as a whole. ''It shows
you a little bit about our society when I hear people say to me that he only
committed adultery,'' said Ainge. ''I think of how devastating that is to his
family. To me, the fact that we think it's only adultery is a sad commentary.
The temptations [in the NBA] are great. These players have a ton of free time.
I wish that parents and agents and everybody could be involved with these NBA
players and help them through all of this. An organization, a head coach, an
assistant coach, a team counselor, can't hold the hands. We see it happen not
just to kids from bad backgrounds, but to kids from good backgrounds. This is
temptation that's not just happening all over the NBA. It's all over our
society.

''When you have young players and you're bringing in high school and junior
college kids, you have to have some realistic view that problems exist and
that they need to continue their education and they need to continue to have
parenting/advisement. At the same point, some of it comes on him or her. They
have to make decisions in their life and understand the consequences of their
actions.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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