Yesterday there was an article that appeared on ESPN.com.  It showed a first-hand look at just how consumed with himself LeBron James is, and his new demeanor and attitude during a trip to Las Vegas.  The article was up for about an hour and then ESPN took it down, similar to the tab on Sportscenter entitled "LeBron in Las Vegas" that disappeared midway through the show  Many believe that the most pathetic manager in sports, Maverick Carter, was behind this.  This just shows how pathetic both LeBron and ESPN are.  The article was orignally written by Arash Markazi, and I'm publishing here in its entirity. 

Go check out my new blog: Cleveland Deserves Better

LeBron James leans against a waist-high stone wall with a 16-foot-tall Buddha hovering over him.

He’s at Tao, a bustling restaurant and nightclub inside the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, and his arms are crossed as he listens to Lynn Meritt, senior director of Nike Basketball, and Charles Denson, president of Nike Brand.James is quiet, occasionally applying Chap Stick on his lips and nodding when he hears something he likes.

Five security guards are stationed around him, one at each corner of the table he’s about to sit at and another roving around with him, watching his every move. Anyone who takes two steps toward James is stopped and must have James’ approval to come closer.

The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder.

She wants to take a picture with him. “I can’t right now,” says James. “Maybe later, upstairs, I’ll remember you’re the one with the tattoo.”

James will host a party later in the upstairs nightclub at Tao, but he is currently hosting a dinner for his friends and family in the downstairs restaurant. Wearing a gray striped shirt and gold crucifix around his neck, he bobs his head to music played by an amped-up saxophonist who weaves his way around the table like a one-man mariachi band.

I have somehow found myself at this exclusive table, seated beside Eddie Jackson, who is introduced to me as James’ father (though he actually began dating James’ mother, Gloria, after LeBron was born and the two are no longer together). Jackson, wearing a muscle shirt accentuating his large biceps, looks like a member of James’ four-man entourage, like one of his childhood friends.

James’ circle includes Randy Mims, seated to his right at the center of the table, Maverick Carter, seated at the head of the table, and Richard Paul, seated in front of James. The quartet makes up the initials behind LRMR Marketing, the management firm James founded almost four years ago with his buddies. Their offices in downtown Cleveland gained notoriety this month as the location teams flocked to for their meetings with James.

LeBron James partied at Tao last weekend, complete with a kings’ cake and an entourage to make heads of state jealous.

Seated to the right of James is Chris Paul, whose brother, C.J., is seated across from him. The New Orleans Hornets point guard has seen how James has positioned himself to win a championship by signing with the Miami Heat and joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and has reportedly considered a similar move himself.

The truth is, in James’ dream world, the duo he would love to play with for the next decade would be Wade and Paul, his two closest friends in the NBA. Paul has been like a brother to James since the two were in Las Vegas four years ago for USA Basketball training camp, when as a rookie he carried James’ and Wade’s bags to and from the team bus.

James and Paul are fairly quiet at the center of the table as they take in the scene around them. As family style plates of miso-glazed Chilean sea bass and crispy lobster and shrimp dumplings are brought to the table, James effortlessly picks up the food with his chopsticks and occasionally raises his cup of green tea to passersby as they raise their martinis and mojitos in his direction before being helped along by security guards.

When trays of dessert plates are brought over, James gets up, preferring to start his party upstairs instead of indulging in the giant fortune cookies and chocolate cake. A security guard comes over and puts plastic wristbands on our wrists and escorts us through the back of the restaurant, up a flight of stairs in the bowels of the hotel and through a back entrance into the club. About a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.

James, now wearing sunglasses in the dark club, immediately stands up on the couch and folds his arms high on his chest and nods his head. He smiles as he looks at the dozens of people crowded on the dance floor. Noticing him, they stop dancing and snap pictures as the DJ screams out, “LeBron James in the building!” and plays LMFAO’s “I’m in Miami.”

Carter, LeBron’s childhood friend and manager, begins dancing around James like Puff Daddy in a Notorious B.I.G video. A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, “KING.” Carter grabs a bottle of Grey Goose and pours a quarter of it on the floor and raises it up before passing it off.

James’ infamous one-hour special, “The Decision,” was reportedly the brainchild of Carter, a 28-year-old who has never managed anyone outside of his friend James. This three-day party marathon in Vegas (which James is being paid six figures to host) is also Carter’s idea.

Bottle after bottle of “Ace of Spades” champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he’s dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James’ No. 6 Miami Heat jersey.

James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter’s last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, “I wish they’d have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy.”

Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James’ party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the “King” sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.

Davis shakes his head and walks on.

James dances on the couch and sings along with the music blaring from speakers all around him.

The more you hang around James, the more you realize he’s still a child wrapped in a 6-foot-8, 250-pound frame. The night after the party at Tao, he and his crew walk through the casino at the Wynn and Encore and he pretends to dribble a basketball as he walks past ringing slot machines and tourists who do double-takes. In a Nike T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, James’ pantomime seems unconscious. He stops every few feet to shoot a jump shot, his right hand extended above his head on the follow through. He weaves through a pack of a dozen friends and pretends to connect on a layup as he walks past a gift shop. He passes overhead casino signs and jumps up and slaps them, pretending to dunk. Columns covered with advertisements for lounge acts become stationary defenders, chumps to fake out before connecting on imaginary mid-range jump shots.

James probably goes through a practice’s worth of shots as we walk from the XS nightclub at Encore (James left his poolside table when he saw the club was practically empty), through Wynn and over the bridge to the Palazzo.

Soon after arriving at Lavo, a restaurant and nightclub at the Palazzo, a scene straight out of “West Side Story” breaks out when James and Lamar Odom, seated at a nearby table, engage in an impromptu dance-off to California Swag District’s “Teach Me How To Dougie.”

Odom, smoking a cigar, can’t quite keep up. James celebrates by crossing himself and taking a shot of Patron. Moments later, a handful of girls dressed as cheerleaders walk toward his table with someone dressed in James’ Heat uniform. Someone throws talcum powder in the air as James does before every game, while his new unofficial song, “I’m in Miami,” plays.

Odom casts a glance James’ way before looking in the opposite direction and raising his glass at a couple on the dance floor who point to their ring fingers and smile.

Back at his table, James and his crew sing every word to Rick Ross’ “Free Mason.” LeBron raps every line to former teammate Damon Jones (who played with him in Cleveland). Jones, puffing on a cigar, nods.

James rips out the lines:

“If I ever die, never let it be said I didn’t win/ Never, never say/ Never say legend didn’t go in/ I just wanna die on top of the world.”

While he looks at club-goers flashing the LA and Westside signs at him, James smiles and points to Jackson’s T-shirt, which reads, “Another Enemy,” and raises his glass of champagne.

Finally, Carter tells James it’s time to leave the club and they do, LeBron pretending to cross-over tables and shoot over slot machines all the way back to his room.

On the night of the 2010 NBA Draft, I find it fitting to talk about one of my favorite Cavaliers of all-time.  Wish I could have gotten him into the Top 10, but it just didn't work out that way.  Coming in at #11 on the list, is none other than Darius Lavar Miles. 

Darius was born in 1981, in Belleville Illinois.  He attended East St. Louis High School, and led his team to 3rd place in the 2000 Illinois State High School championship.  D-Miles was a high school phenom at 6 ft. 9", but he encountered a bit of an issue when it came to getting into college.  He wanted to play at St. John's, but failed to receive a qualifying SAT score to get into the school.  Apparently those SAT classes didn't do the trick.  Darius wasn't too worried about it, and decided to skip the whole "college" thing and go straight to the Pros, similar to Kobe and later LeBron. 

He entered the 2000 NBA Draft, and was expected to be a first-rounder.  No one saw the Clippers taking him with the 3rd overall pick, but that is exactly what happened.  At the time, he was the highest pick ever taken directly out of high school.  Who said obtaining a college degree was important anyways?

For the next two years, Darius made headlines on a flashy Clippers squad.  Playing alongside high-flying Miles was Quentin Richardson, Lamar Odom, and Elton Brand.  This was unquestionably one of the most exciting teams in NBA history, and become popular with young fans. 

It was in LA where Darius and Quentin trademarked their classic "double-fist head tap" celebration.  Still never really figured out what exactly it meant, but my boy Lechner and I imitated it all the time in middle school.  Those were the days.

Before the 2002-2003 season, the Cavaliers traded one Cavalier legend for another.  Andre Miller was sent to the Clippers for Darius, and I would have been upset if it was for anyone else.  Unfortunately, during Darius' only full year with the Cavaliers, we were the worst team in the league.  Don't put all the blame on Miles though, don't forget the immortal Ricky Davis was on this team as well.  A classic Darius/Ricky story occured before the season, when the team was featured them on the media guide.  Like a true baller, Darius overslept and didn't even make it to Media Day. 

Darius played in 62 games, starting 67, and the team finished 17-65.  I watched every game of this season, on WUAB 43 and FSN.  I still don't get why Dan Gilbert replaced stud announcer Michael Reghi.  Probably the worst move in franchise history.  Regardless, in every defeat, you could at least count on one great dunk from D-Miles.

Darius Miles and the horrendous play of the Cavaliers that season led to the team locking up the #1 overall pick in the 2003 Draft.  The #1 pick turned out to be some player named LeBron James.  He's pretty good from what I hear.  Darius and LeBron were close friends at the time, and the franchise was ready to move in a positive direction.

Midway through the 2003 season, the Cavaliers decided they no longer had a need for Darius.  He and LeBron played the same position, and it just wasn't meant to be.  That's not to say that he and The King didn't hook up on a few sick alley-oops before he departed to Portland.  We shipped him out, and in return received Jeff McInnis.  Not exactly what I had in mind.

While he was in Portland, he showed some of what he was capable of, and the Blazers were impressed.  So impressed, that they offered him a 6 year, $48 million dollar contract.  It was a pretty good deal for Miles, who hadn't exactly earned much of anything yet. 

My favorite story about Darius in Portland came during the 2004-2005 season, when he got into it with then-Coach Maurice Cheeks.  He apparently insulted Cheeks with racial slurs, and was quoted as saying, "I don't care if we lose the next 20 games, since Cheeks is going to be fired anyways."  Talk about sticking it to the man.  No one could doubt what he said was true, as Cheeks was soon fired and the team proceeded to lose most of their games the rest of the season. 

In 2005, he began the season red-hot.  In the first regular season game against Minnesota, he dropped 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, along with 5 assists and 5 steals, and 3 blocked shots.  He kept it up until he suffered a knee injury, and when he returned in February he just wasn't the same.  He was a player who relied on his quickness and jumping ability, and his knee just wasn't agreeing with him.  He sat out the entire 2006-2007 season due to microfracture surgery.

Darius is a Cavalier-great, whether you agree or not.  Not only does he play basketball, but he's also an actor.  He starred in the 2004 film The Perfect Score, where ironically, he played a high school basketball player who needed a qualifying SAT score to get into college.  Must have been a tough role for him to get into.  If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.  D-Miles is one of the 5 best dunkers in Cavaliers franchise, up there with the likes of LeBron and Ricky Davis.  Now that I think about it, Miles might be one of the most ferocious dunkers of all-time.  He represented the youth movement of the early 2000's, and was unfairly traded before he and LeBron the chance to mesh.  When he wanted to, he could block shots with the best of 'em.  Darius is currently attempting an NBA comeback with the Charlotte Bobcats, and I wish him the best.  I miss seeing the double-fist head bump, and hope he makes it onto a roster so he can bust it out after a nasty dunk.  It's pretty obvious, Darius Miles is Underrated