|
 The year also will be remembered for a series of "lasts" for
outgoing NBA Commissioner David Stern and a Canadian making history
as the top pick in the NBA Draft.
After facing loads of criticism for past playoff failures, James
inched his way up the list of all-time greats by leading the Miami
Heat to a second consecutive NBA championship in June and putting
his team on the verge of becoming a dynasty.
While not always at his best in the 2013 playoffs, James raised his
game when it mattered most, scoring a game-high 37 points and adding
12 rebounds in a championship-clinching victory over the San Antonio
Spurs in the decisive seventh game of the NBA Finals.
"For me, I can't worry about what everybody says about me. I'm
LeBron James, from Akron, Ohio. From the inner city. I'm not even
supposed to be here," James, a two-time Finals MVP, said after the
victory. "That's enough.
"Every night I walk into the locker room, I see a No. 6 with James
on the back. I'm blessed. So what everybody say about me off the
court don't matter. I ain't got no worries."
For Stern, 2013 was a victory lap of sorts after having previously
announced his decision to step down as the longest-tenured
commissioner in professional sports.
Stern, 71, will retire in February after 30 years on the job, a
period during which he oversaw strong revenue growth, expansion to
30 teams from 23, a movement into small markets like Oklahoma City
and Memphis and helped grow the game on a global basis.
One week after the 2012-13 NBA season ended, the Cleveland Cavaliers
used the top pick in the draft to select Toronto native Anthony
Bennett, making him the first Canadian player taken first overall.
Bennett, touted as a big-bodied rebound specialist who played one
season for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, became the seventh
player born outside the United States taken with the top pick but
the first from a country better known for producing elite ice hockey
players.
"Yeah. It's just crazy. Made history. I can't really complain about
that," Bennett said after being the surprise top pick. "It's just
like a long time dream that I had since I first started playing
basketball, even though it was six or seven years ago. It's just
crazy."
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REJUVENATED CLIPPERS
For Chicago Bulls point guard Rose, the year ended the same way
it began, with him on the sidelines because of an injury that
has robbed the 25-year-old of another season in his prime.
Rose, who missed all of the 2012-13 season recovering from a
torn ACL in his left knee, was injured 11 games into the current
82-game campaign before undergoing season-ending surgery to
repair the medial meniscus in his right knee.
The injury was a devastating blow to a Bulls team that was
considered a contender for the Eastern Conference crown with
Rose rejoining a team that reached the conference semi-finals
last season without him.
In Los Angeles, the spotlight that was usually reserved for Kobe
Bryant and the 16-time NBA champion Lakers has since been
shifted to the rival Clippers, who opened the season with lofty
goals given the championship pedigree of former Boston Celtics
coach Doc Rivers at the helm.
Rivers, one of only four active coaches to win an NBA title, was
acquired from the Celtics in June and is looking to bring the
rejuvenated Clippers franchise its first championship.
The Lakers, long the preferred destination for top players
seeking an NBA title, found themselves in unfamiliar territory
having to battle for a playoff spot and then getting swept out
of the first round of the postseason.
The offseason was no kinder to the Lakers as Dwight Howard
spurned the team after one season to join the Houston Rockets,
joining forces with James Harden on a team that made the
playoffs last season for the first time since 2009.
"It means a lot to me just to have a fresh start and have an
opportunity to write my own story," Howard said about his
decision to leave the Lakers for the Rockets.
"I don't think people understood the fact that I got traded to
L.A., and now I had a chance to really choose my own destiny,
and this is the place where I chose and I'm happy about it."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto;
editing by Gene Cherry)
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