LeBron James arrives as a 76er and sets expectations high: ‘I didn’t leave my family to lose in the second round’

A little after noon on a dreary Monday morning, kids wearing school uniforms spilled onto the playground in downtown Camden.

It was recess at LEAP Academy, and the kids milled about the macadam or waited their turn on the swings, contentedly unaware that, just a few blocks away, the King had just arrived to claim his new kingdom.

At around 11:15 a.m. ET, LeBron James followed a phalanx of front office and public relations staff into a second-floor room, sat down behind a table draped in blue cloth and promptly began clearing the table. He took a water bottle meant for his sipping and plopped it on the floor, yanked a microphone off its stand and finally glanced at a placard with his name.

“You guys know who I am, right?” he said, before putting the name card on the floor, too.

This, of course, is why James is here, wearing the red, white and blue of the Philadelphia 76ers: To rearrange things. To bring structure and order to a franchise that has been mired in mediocrity.

And, if all goes as he plans, to upend the NBA pecking order.

“I didn’t leave my family,” he said of his relocation to Philly while his family stays encamped out west, “to lose in the second round.”

Had the Liberty Bell still been able, it might have peeled off in glee at that moment.

In his first official duty as a 76er, James hit all the proper notes. He spoke graciously for nearly 20 minutes, waxing thoughtfully about the difficulty of juggling parenthood with superstardom, and sharing honestly his reasoning behind joining the Sixers. He invoked the Palestra (he played there as a high schooler) and paid proper homage to the demanding fan base (“We respect you, but we hate you. I love that,” he said).

But it is those 11 words that Philly fans, who are at 25 years and counting without so much as a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals, will devour. The question, of course, is whether they will be on James’ statue or carved into his gravestone.

Declarations here – of independence and otherwise – have a way of hanging around. The same people who embraced Moses Malone’s prediction of “Fo Fo Fo,” about the Sixers’ 1983 NBA title run (it wound up Fo, Fi, Fo) also remember that, 31 years ago, Ricky Watters replied, “For who? For what?” when asked why he didn’t lay out for a throw from quarterback Randall Cunningham.

“They know sports. They know ball,” James said of his new fan base. “But if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, they’re going to let you hear it. They’re going to hold you accountable.”

The worry about what will come, though, is for another day. For once, the September Sixers offered excitement about what could be.

Ordinarily the Sixers’ media day would have fallen largely on deaf ears, a speed bump on a calendar filled with far more important dates. Nine hours after the Sixers commenced their interviews, the undefeated Eagles would play the Bears on “Monday Night Football.” On Tuesday, when training camp officially begins in Camden, the Phillies begin their quest for “Red October,” after belatedly securing a wildcard slot in the eleventh hour.

But this Saturday, the Sixers will play their Blue x White scrimmage in the downtown arena for the first time, to allow for more fans, and the get-in price for the home opener is already pushing toward $300. Actual media day, usually reserved for a few ink-stained regulars, was near standing-room only, with one team official bemoaning a Phoebe Bridgers concert that prevented the team from moving the event to the team’s home arena in Philadelphia.

This is what hope looks like, what it feels like when a franchise actually has a plan and not just a process. General manager Mike Gansey pulled off the coups of the offseason, not just signing James but securing Jaylen Brown in a trade with the Celtics that was as brazen as it was stealthy.

“If it had leaked,” executive vice president for basketball operations Jameer Nelson told CNN Sports. “I’m not sure it happens. That’s just my opinion.”

Brown’s arrival started the ball rolling. Tyrese Maxey sealed the deal. The precocious 25-year-old became a workout pal with James post-Covid 19 pandemic, the two bonding on their insatiable desire to do the work. In the offseasons since the pandemic, they became regular partners, both hitting 6 a.m. workouts together. Clearly impressed with Maxey’s dedication and pluck, James asked him for an honest evaluation of the Sixers.

Still – even though Philly was on James’ agent’s famed whiteboard of destinations – it seemed like a long shot even to those involved.

VJ Edgecombe was getting a pedicure when he heard about his new teammate and Nelson was at an AirBnB in Huntington Beach, California, for his daughter’s softball tournament when the news became official. Unable to tell his family, Nelson played dumb until Jayce started screaming, “LeBron is coming to Philly!”

“Oh really?” Nelson said.

Once the deal was done, Edgecombe set about creating a new team text chain.

“But I don’t have LeBron’s number,” he said with a grin. “And even I did, I wasn’t adding him to it. I made Tyrese do that.”

Even those on the text chain admit they’re still a little starry eyed. James officially became a Sixer on July 27, but this is his first time in Philly (that he arrived on the heels of a Nor’easter reminded him of what he’s in for with the East Coast weather).

“I thought I was over it,” Jabari Walker said. “But then it was like, ‘Wait. He’s in the locker room now.’”

On Tuesday, James will be on the practice court. That is, frankly, where he plans to do his best work. He can still play – “the luxury of my game is I can do everything,” he quipped. “Literally I can do everything” – but he thrives in creating an incubator for success. He threw shade at unnamed players who averaged big numbers in their careers, but secured no postseason success, and pooh-poohed an “instant oatmeal” society that wants everything handed out easily.

James loves, at the risk of using a word that will make Philly fans flinch, “the process,” but his comes with four championship rings on his fingers.

“You have to fall in love with doing things that are uncomfortable,” he said. “And if we can do that, we can be a great team. If we don’t do that, then we’ll be like, ‘Oh man. That was a great team on paper and we had a lot of great talent, and we lost in the second round.’”

在一个阴沉的星期一上午，刚过中午，穿着校服的孩子们涌上了卡姆登市中心的操场。

LEAP Academy 正值课间休息，孩子们在柏油路上闲逛，或者排队等着玩秋千，他们全然不知，就在几个街区之外，国王刚刚抵达，要征服他的新王国。

美国东部时间上午11点15分左右，勒布朗·詹姆斯跟随一大群球队管理层和公关人员走进二楼的一间房间，在一张铺着蓝色桌布的桌子后坐下，随即开始收拾桌子。他拿起一瓶原本用来喝的水，随手扔到地上，又一把扯下麦克风，最后瞥了一眼写着他名字的牌子。

“你们都知道我是谁吧？”说着，他也把名牌放在了地上。

当然，这就是詹姆斯身披费城76人队的红白蓝球衣来到这里的原因：重组球队，为这支长期深陷平庸的球队带来秩序和结构。

如果一切都按他的计划进行，他将颠覆NBA的格局。

“我离开家人搬到费城，而我的家人仍然留在西部，”他谈到自己离开家人时说，“不是为了在第二轮就输掉比赛。”

如果自由钟还能动的话，它当时可能会高兴地脱落下来。

作为76人队的一员，詹姆斯首次正式亮相便表现出色。他发表了近20分钟的精彩演讲，深情地探讨了兼顾为人父母和超级巨星身份的种种挑战，并坦诚地分享了他加盟76人队的初衷。他提到了帕莱斯特拉体育馆（他高中时曾在这里打球），并对热情似火的球迷们表达了敬意（“我们尊重你们，但我们也恨你们。我喜欢这种感觉。”他说道）。

但对于费城球迷来说，这11个字将会让他们铭记于心，因为他们已经25年没有打进过东部决赛了。当然，问题是，这些字会被刻在詹姆斯的雕像上，还是会刻在他的墓碑上。

在这里，无论是独立宣言还是其他宣言，总会以某种方式流传下去。那些曾对摩西·马龙关于76人队1983年NBA总冠军的预测——“Fo Fo Fo”（最终变成了“Fo, Fi, Fo”）——深信不疑的人，也同样记得，31年前，当被问及为何没有扑向四分卫兰德尔·坎宁安的传球时，里奇·沃特斯回答道：“为了谁？为了什么？”

“他们懂体育，懂篮球，”詹姆斯谈到他的新球迷群体时说。“但如果你没做好该做的事，他们会让你听听他们的意见。他们会让你承担责任。”

不过，对未来的担忧还是留待以后再说吧。九月份的76人队确实让人对未来充满期待。

通常情况下，76人队的媒体日会无人问津，只是日程表上众多重要日期中的一个小插曲。76人队开始采访九个小时后，保持不败的费城老鹰队将在“周一夜赛”中对阵芝加哥熊队。周二，当训练营在卡姆登正式开始时，费城人队也将开启他们的“红色十月”征程——他们在最后一刻才艰难地获得了外卡席位。

但本周六，76人队将在市中心球馆首次进行蓝白对抗赛，以便容纳更多球迷。主场揭幕战的门票价格已经逼近300美元。通常只有少数资深记者才能参加的媒体日，几乎座无虚席。一位球队官员抱怨说，由于菲比·布里杰斯的演唱会，球队无法将活动移至费城的主场球馆举行。

这就是希望的模样，这就是一支球队真正拥有规划而不仅仅是按部就班运作时的感觉。总经理迈克·甘西在休赛期完成了一系列重磅引援，不仅签下了詹姆斯，还通过与凯尔特人的交易得到了杰伦·布朗，这笔交易既大胆又隐秘。

“如果真的泄露了，”篮球运营执行副总裁贾米尔·尼尔森告诉CNN体育频道，“我不确定这种事是否会发生。这只是我的个人看法。”

布朗的到来拉开了序幕，而泰瑞斯·马克西则最终促成了这笔交易。这位才华横溢的25岁小将在新冠疫情后成为了詹姆斯的训练伙伴，两人因对训练的无比渴望而结下了深厚的友谊。疫情后的每个休赛期，他们都成为了固定的训练搭档，经常一起在清晨6点开始训练。詹姆斯显然对马克西的奉献精神和拼搏精神印象深刻，于是请他对76人队做出客观评价。

尽管费城出现在詹姆斯经纪人著名的目的地白板上，但即便对相关人员来说，这似乎也是个遥不可及的梦想。

VJ Edgecombe正在做足疗，突然听到他有了新队友的消息；而Nelson当时正在加州亨廷顿海滩的一家Airbnb民宿里，陪女儿参加垒球锦标赛，消息也是在那时正式公布的。Nelson还没来得及告诉家人，就装傻充愣，直到Jayce开始大喊：“勒布朗要来费城了！”

“哦，真的吗？”纳尔逊说。

交易完成后，埃奇科姆着手创建一个新的团队短信群。

“但我没有勒布朗的号码，”他笑着说。“就算我有，我也没把他的号码加进去。是我让泰瑞斯加的。”

就连群聊里的人都承认他们仍然有点激动不已。詹姆斯于7月27日正式成为76人队的一员，但这是他第一次来到费城（他抵达时正值东北风暴过后，这让他意识到东海岸的天气会是什么样的）。

“我以为我已经释怀了，”贾巴里·沃克说。“但后来我又想，‘等等，他现在在更衣室里。’”

周二，詹姆斯将出现在训练场上。坦白说，他计划在那里发挥出最佳水平。他依然可以上场比赛——他打趣道：“我的优势在于我无所不能，真的无所不能。”——但他更擅长为成功创造条件。他暗讽了一些职业生涯场均数据亮眼却从未在季后赛中取得佳绩的球员，并对那种想要不劳而获的“速食燕麦片”式社会嗤之以鼻。

詹姆斯热爱“过程”（虽然用这个词可能会让费城球迷感到不适），但他的“过程”已经为他赢得了四枚总冠军戒指。

“你必须爱上那些让你感到不舒服的事情，”他说。“如果我们能做到这一点，我们就能成为一支伟大的球队。如果我们做不到，我们就会想，‘唉，这支球队纸面上实力很强，我们有很多优秀的球员，结果却在第二轮就输了。’”