By TIM DAVID HARVEY
Last Christmas, LeBron's heart was in South Beach as his Miami Heat team visited Los Angeles and cooled off the L.A. Lakers in California. King James unwrapped so many Hollywood highlight worthy, hard-hitting jams that he almost hulk ripped out of those Christmas day sleeved jerseys with more Banner induced rage than the hate they incited. This year and this time tomorrow you'll know him by the first name that reads underneath his old number 23 on the back of his new special Christmas Day jersey. Still the front of this logo jersey reads something different from last year altogether and we're not talking about another Adidas festive themed special that's a cracker. For the crest across the chest of this icon belongs to Cleveland like this homecoming king does once again. Last Christmas if we told you this you'd have either thought the fools of April had come early or you where in the ghosts of seasons past. But, alas no! Its a wonderful life hey Ohio? Bron's new search for championship champagne is back with the wine and gold and this Christmas tomorrow another reunion will happen like families heading home for a feast as LeBron takes his team back to South Beach. As Dwyane Wade urges the Heat faithful to not throw rocks and boos at the throne one big three will meet an old one. Just another royal appointment that shows you the throne doesn't just belong to the king of the castle but all his men too. Lets look at all the young princes who have served their king.
St Vincent-St Mary
Maverick Carter, Romeo Travis. These are names made famous by being synonymous with the King James. Despite sounding like celebrity ballers all in themselves. The movie star status may not be there, but the rock star life of millionaires are for the kids that helped this young prince stay humble in the face of hardwood Hollywood before he became the one and true king. Back then a teen names LeBron was illustrated in this sport as the chosen one and inbetween magazine covers and slams, network coverage and top ten plays of the week this guy was the man before he even became one. It wasn't just his 'Entourage' that we're getting that Jeremy Piven type love. The saints of Vincent and Mary found new, reborn spirit under the chosen one and their green and gold decorated his holding of court as now some of hoops hallowed, hallmark colours. This new 'Irish' now as timeless as the old English inked like scrolls on the shoulders of the man who carried his hometown of Akron, Ohio up on there. An Irish that proved they could throw punches with even Notre Dame traditions with this guy carrying them on his back. From allies on and off court like Willie McGee, to father and son dynamics like coach Dru Joyce II and his playing son the third it was all family. It was all testimony like LeBron and his boys autobiography, the first chapter of his classic career that already was made for the hall when he left the high schools ones in 2003. You can see it in the movie documentary and hear it in the big name, Drake, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West and Eminem game soundtrack forever. He was already attracting the greats. This was truly more than a game. They say high-school days are the best of your life and this is where this king made his.
Miami Heat
Carter's maverick decision to televise LeBron's announcement to take his talents to South Beach brought in the millions, but the actual choice was a championship one that brought rings with the changes. From long-term Heat legends like Udonis Haslem to NBA icons like Ray Allen many came and followed the chosen king into battle. Still there where two men standing either side of the throne that ensured this king sat on top of the world as it spun like a basketball. When these guys got it together they may as well have been the Globetrotters, because even if they didn't have the ball on a string they certainly had their opponent on one. With a championship already certified this may have already been Dwyane Wade's team, but even Flash had to make way for Superman in the Justice League and in the NBA one boy did this number 3 run alongside the new number one as voltron formed the biggest three of all of basketball. 'Bron may have come all the way from a home in Ohio, but taking the number 1 jersey Bosh made it to South Beach all the way from Canada. Toronto to be exact as this Raptor entered the kitchen to cook heat and prove he wasn't extinct. Now decisions have been gone back home on this big-man is getting even bigger, no matter how many write him or his team off. A team and city that is now Wade's world again, back in a rejuvenated Flash back to the wonder years of nostalgia. Add Luol Deng to this new top three and some extra Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts to the arsenal and there is enough firepower here for the Heat to take their own shots at the throne.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Still, there's no place like home and tapping his red sneakers together the king knows this at home in his old manor with all his aids around him. When this leader of the new school first tasted wine from the gold challice he was advised by men much older than he was. From reliable veterans like Zydrunus Ilgauskas to legends of the crown like Shaquille O'Neal, the daddy if this basketball game of thrones. Still despite all the years and peers when the king decided to leave his castle the townspeople would never be the same. Throwing rocks at the tributes to him hung outside his palace of The Q, whilst burning his old robes to the embers of the past. Even his name tasted as bitter as the seawater in Miami, on the shores of South Beach that would bring a tide of championship change to the king as his old home would remain washed up after being set adrift with no memory bliss. Still redemption is a funny thing by royal appointment and with the return of the one to his kingdom of The Land it was all good and love again like nothing even happened. So much has though. There's even more Love with the arrival of another beach boy in Kevin, a big, big man upgrade in this big three and rebounding story. Then of course there's another special K that will one day find his way on to the front of a cereal box as you read all about him on the back at your breakfast table. From all the number ones that came in the lottery chances of a town that lost their one that got away, Kyrie Irving was the ticket and the man that still gets to lead this place to the promised land from the quarterbacking of the point guard position. Still with all this Wade and Bosh upgraded talent and a stellar squad that reads Miami familiar and NBA fond and well like Mike Miller and Shawn Marion, there's a lot more to this royal family then a few lucky family members. You don't have to witness a new Nike commercial to see everyone's behind this king with their hands stretched out to his, reaching for the same gold as he is. Its not the crown upon his head or where he sits that makes LeBron James the man that he is today. Its the people around him that make him king. They all deserve their knighthood. They all have their place upon his throne. Long live all the kings men.
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