In the late 1990's as an assistant high school boys basketball coach in the state of Ohio (Toledo) I recall hearing about a basketball phenom from Akron who was going to be the next Kobe Bryant..... only better.

The hitch to this story is the kid was still in middle school.

If you had ever seen Lebron James play in high school you would have seen a player who was clearly a man among boys.

James simply dominated at the high school level. He was the first sophomore to be named to the USA Today All-USA basketball team and the first sophomore to be named "Mr. Basketball" in the state of Ohio. A feat he repeated as a junior and senior.

Lebron's high school teams won three state championships in his four years at Akron St. Vincent St. Marys and the only reason that they did not win a fourth is because in his junior year his school was moved up from division lll to the more competitive division ll. After a summer of adjustment however, it was no problem for them to win their third state title in the Lebron James era.

To understand Lebron James is to understand that he has always been a winner and a competitor. In his high school career his teams lost a total of six games while winning over 100 (101). As early as grade school he was dubbed the heir apparent of basketball.

Lost in all of this is the fact that Lebron James was also a very talented football player in high school. In only three years ( he did not play his senior year for obvious reasons), he garnered the attention of many major colleges who were willing to offer him a full scholarship for his football skills.

Because of his athletic prowess Lebron has always been in the spotlight which caused him to have to deal with grownup situations at a very early age. Because of his size, it was easy to forget that Lebron was still just a teenager.

A boy in a man's body.

Because so much was heaped upon him at a young age, many times Lebron was forced to conduct himself as an adult even though he was not. In this, he was not allowed the time to grow into adulthood that was afforded to most teenagers his age.

Maturing into manhood is a slow, awkward and difficult process that if abruptly cut off can have repercussions later on. A good case in point is Michael Jackson.

After having to grow up at an accelerated pace, Michael spent much of his adult life reverting back to things that he missed out on in his youth to the point of building his own amusement park and zoo on the grounds of his Neverland estate.

This is not to say that Lebron James suffers from some of the same denials as Michael Jackson and assuredly not to the level of Michael but certainly walking off of the court as he did Saturday after his Cleveland Cavalier team lost without congratulating the Orlando Magic team or doing postgame interviews was an immature act.

Throughout his basketball career, Lebron James has enjoyed phenominal success. He went directly from high school to the NBA without missing a beat. For the most part, he has handled himself appropriately at whatever station of life he found himself in.

This however is different.

Upon winning the MVP award of the NBA, Lebron finds himself at a place he has never been before and it seems that this time he has not made the adjustment.

Along with this accomplishment comes the tag of being the best player in the NBA and possibly the world. You are now the face of the league and basketball itself. This is an enormous responsibility which I do not think has caught up with Lebron.

Understandably, Lebron was upset and disappointed at losing before achieving his goal of winning the NBA crown but he needs to realize that the eyes of the world are looking at him through a different lense now. He has graduated to the very top of his class and he must act the part.Even though he may be upset he must still show respect and dignity in victory and defeat.

That's what MVP's and champions do.

note -- Lebron's Akron team was scheduled to come to Toledo to play us ( Libbey High School) in his senior year but a snowstorm caused the game to be cancelled and it was never rescheduled. I wonder what might have happened had they shown up. We were pretty good. It would have been interesting.