The Incredible Drive Of LeBron James

(CBS)  If you have never seen LeBron James play basketball, you have certainly seen him in television commercials or on the cover of national magazines.

According to no less an authority than the Harvard Business School, LeBron James is now the third-biggest name in the sports world, behind Tiger Woods and soccer star David Beckham, with earnings last year - on and off the court - of $40 million.

It already feels like he has been around for a long time, but he just turned 24 - a prodigy who's lived up to his hype

His team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, lists him as playing the position of small forward, which is a bit of a misnomer since he is big enough to be an NFL linebacker, only much quicker. He also wants to be the first billion dollar sports brand.

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"What do people get when they buy into the LeBron James brand?" 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft asked James.

"You wanna buy in?" he replied, laughing. "I don't know. I mean you get me. It's just - it's all real."

"You know, I'm just 6'9" and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball," James told Kroft.

The Quicken Arena in downtown Cleveland is literally the house that LeBron James built and where the Cavaliers superstar puts on the hottest show in the NBA.

For his opening act, he tosses a handful of chalk in the air - in a ritual that's become his personal trademark. It's his sixth season as a pro, and so far, his best.

He has continued to elevate his game from passing, to shot blocking; from his outside game to defense. Some are now debating whether he will become the best all-around player ever.

But when James is coming at you on the court, don't bother to "debate" - just get out of his way.

But of all the weapons in James' basketball arsenal, he thinks the most powerful may be his brain.

Asked what the strongest part of his game is, James told Kroft, "The way I approach the game mentally. I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed. Because I'm always thinking about, 'How can I help my teammates become better?' I've always approached the game that way, ever since, I mean, I was a kid."

It's an unusual answer for a big time professional athlete. But then James is a smart, well-grounded young family man who is raising two boys of his own with his longtime girlfriend. Loyalty and togetherness are the threads that have held together his life, most of which has been spent within a 40-mile radius of Cleveland.

He was born, raised and still lives in Akron; it used to be known as the rubber capital of the world before the plants closed and moved away. Today it's known as the home of LeBron James.

"How's Akron doing these days?" Kroft asked.

"Just maintainin' baby. It's always a struggle growing up in Akron.
But we maintanin'," he replied.

James told Kroft he lived on "every side" of town, moving many times.

They were not the greatest neighborhoods, and he quickly learned a lot about life and survival, growing up in impoverished circumstances without a father.

Asked if he ever got in trouble, James said, "Never."

"Why, do you think? Lord knows there were lots of temptations," Kroft asked.

"Oh, absolutely. I don't know. I never walked down that path - I don't know why. I think the man above and my mother just led me in the right direction," James explained.

He told Kroft he gives his mother credit for that. "She get all the credit in the world for helping me become the man who I am today. Yep."

His mother, Gloria James, was 16 and unmarried when she had LeBron, and when her mother died at age 42, their situation became dire.

"We had pressures as far as where the hell we gonna sleep at," she recalled. "You know, from night, day to day, night to night. How we gonna eat from day to day, night to night?"

When things would get really bad, she would send him off to live with friends, usually one of his basketball coaches. But she was never far away. "I didn't reside in a steady home at the time. And I wanted him to, attend school until I could make our living situation better," she told Kroft.

Asked if that turned out to be a good decision, Gloria James said, "You tell me. It turned out to be a great decision."

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[eyemdope]

Well, for one, it's not hard to imagine had his friends been white how the story would have been one of "Lebron's friends have proven to be quick learners with natural business acumen and have been instrumental, despite the initial criticism of his choice, in assisting him expand his empire".

I could be wrong, but such dialog would appear to be consistent with all the stories of the wonder boys that become young CEO's on the path to the American dream without any prior experience.

[OregonDoug]

Not to brush off the basketball skills of LeBron James, nor to ignore the possibility of that he is a positive person, but for myself, the interview was a case in point why I've turned away from my childhood affection for sports.

It's about image, "packaging" the athlete, having us identify with these outrageously and repulsively overpaid kids (24 years old) who play a game - A GAME! - who also happens to be in the shamefully narcissistic profession of entertainment. Look humble, say you're for the team, thank God for your physical gifts...these are all the catch phrases to buy into their image, because once you've come to believe that he's just like one of us, then we can be seduced to go out an buy into the "billion dollar brand of Lebron James." That's what he said, his goal is to become the first billion dollar sports icon.

Isn't that the same money-greedy attitude of Wall Street? What is about us that finds this sort of thing admirable?

Dont tell me it's a team game when NBA games get promoted as "Kobe vs. Lebron", ad nauseum.

I don't blame the kid. It's a heady, heady stuff, getting $500,000 - $1,000,000 checks every MONTH while many will never see that much in a life time. Who can blame him and all the hundreds of other delusional athletes who've come to see themselves above it all.

If there's a value to recession, it's the possibility we get back to what is really important.

[rwright416]

Asking LeBron if he had ever been in trouble was totally inappropriate. To the best of my knowledge LeBron graduated high school with honors. A more intelligent question would have been to ask him if he plans to pursue higher education at some point in his life.

[davidcc472]

I think this was a great sports profile for the passer-by viewer of the NBA, but I felt I didn't really learn anything new about Lebron I didn't already know. I still love Steve Kroft profiles. Coldplay was better.

David

[jeanierp5]

I am disappointed that the story did not include Mr. James' philantropic causes and pursuits. I am sure he must contribute some of those millions to help disadvantaged youth. What a talented and intelligent young man!

[t8jdg99]

I think that LeBron James is a class act. He is a very smart and honorable young man who has learned from lessons taught to him early in life; "use the game of basketball as a vehicle to get to where you want to be in life". "Use it, don't let it use you". LeBron also
has a great flair for comedy, it just comes so natural to him.As far as I'm concerned the
sky is the limit for LeBron. Everything he touches turns to gold. He's making a lot of people a lot of money. Wishing him everything he needs to make him happy.

[joediorio]

I am surprised your story did not mention (1) the racial controversy surrounding LeBron's magazine cover with Giselle Bunchen (you showed the cover of the magazine), or (2) the fact that LeBron may become a billion-dollar industry because he will be a free agent and may move to another, more lucrative NBA market and abandon his hometown Akron.

[stvm06]

Seeing my high school gym on 60 Minutes brought back fantastic memories of basketball games, school rallies, and great friends. When Steve Kroft asserted that LeBron was voted ?most likely to succeed? by his class, I couldn?t help but smirk, as I knew that honored belonged not to James, but to my good friend Pat Vassel. Having graduated from St. Vincent ? St. Mary?s a year before LBJ, I understood that even as high school senior, LeBron was no longer ?likely? to succeed, it was only a matter of by how much.

[rcn220]

I have been thinking a lot about this case since it aired yesterday. I think it had the potential to be a bit racy, if Lebron or his people were pushed more.

First I want to say Lebron truly seems like a good guy. As another commenter pointed this out earlier, but his mom didn't exactly provide a stable childhood (drug/alcohol issues for her), so it is kinda amazing he turned out the gentleman he is now. His mom is just trash. That said, it is truly amazing how much he cares for her and refuses to blame her for anything. The story definitely should have focused on the true father figures/families in Lebron's life, like the coaches who took him in and looked over him...the people who actually taught him values.

Also, NancyJ, I really have no clue where you are getting at with your comment against anyone who is calling out the 'race card' friend. By making a comment as ignorant as that, it shows he clearly is in over his head. It's not exactly an attitude to make alot of friends in the business world. I just hope all the lawyers and real mba's Lebron hired are looking out for Lebron's best interests. Also, if having African American exec's was a must, it isn't that hard to go to any top law firm and have your pick of Ivy League educated ones. "Race Card" friend sounds like he never heard of a highly educated black man.

As cliched as this sounds, I think Lebron 'cares too much' about the family/friends that have been with him since he was a youth. I really hope he isn't taken down by these people....in some ways I think it would be cheaper for him to just pay all his hangers on 6 figure salaries to get out of his way.

[Balla12321]

Lebron is the best player i have ever watched. You my favorite player. I got a Fathead of you in my room. I have a question. When did you start playing and what did you do to become how good you are? It you can tell me hit it up at 301-712-5330