Clarifying the Issue: Are you more upset about LeBron not shaking hands or his comment about why he didn't?

Hey Nickster:

I saw some of your comments about wishing Lebron never wins a ring.

I think it's a little hypocritical considering lebron has had an impeccable record with public relations so far and that this is one minor mistake.

i know your a laker supporter and obviously if we were to compare Kobe's transgressions their far more egregious and far worse and you probably weren't saying "I wish that Kobe never wins another ring"

As far as to answer your question. I am more upset by him trying to justifying his unsportsmanlike conduct with an unreasonable answer. I agree with you on that part. If he had apologized and said in the heat of the moment I was upset this whole thing would have been cleared. However is arrogant answer about being a winner (which he is clearly not because he has zero rings) indicates to me that he doesn't feel like he made a mistake while 99% of the NBA family knows he made a mistake.

I'm a little late to the question but I disagree with Cavs in 2020 when he says Lebron didn't do this last year. I don't know if that's true but he did congratulate Tim Duncan after losing in the NBA Finals. People (Cavs fans) forget that critical thing or just ignore it.

I lost a lot of respect for LeBron when didn't stay to shake hands. His excuse made it even worse. Bad boys like Carmelo Anthony and Ron Artest, who been in major fights, at least showed respect when they got eliminated. Biased Cavs fans support him. Let me ask. If LeBron changes teams and the same thing happens with LeBron losing to the Cavs and ditching, would you still defend him? Do other players ever not shake hands? Yes there have been and there will be others. The big problem here is that it's LeBron. He is most likely the face of the NBA for the next decade. So should he represent the NBA with disrespect every year he is eliminated? What does this teach his kids? In the next 10+ years they'll see him play. So is it ok for his kids to learn to disrespect the other team?

I'm a little upset at both, but I don't think he should be punished by the league. First of all, regardless if you are a winner or loser, you should show good sportsmanship by congratulating the winning team. Lebron hasn't even proven himself to be a winner. Second, who comes out after losing a series and says they are a winner, and thats why they didn't congratulate the opponent. The so called "King James" needs to prove that he truly is a winner before he makes claims like that.

The media is blowing this up for multiple reasons.

1.There is nothing else going on since the Finals don't start until Thursday and with 24/7 channels, they have to fill air time even though this is a non issue.

2. He snubbed the post game interview. The national media thinks because they voted him MVP he has to kiss thier behinds and answer the same 2 questions about his teammeates and is he leaving.

What the media wont tell you is he didn't shake the Celtics hands last year either and it was never brought up because he did the interview last year.

They also didn't blow this up when the Pistons snubbed Jordan the same way, that Bill Belichik has done the same multiple times (includung walking out on Mangini after the game), that Stan Van Gundy also didnt shake any Cavaliers hands, and that Orlando shot a 3 pointer at the end of that game despite being way up with a second to go to rub it in, and NONE of this is mentioned.

It's only required in the NHL to shake hands. The Rays didn't shake the Phillies hands after the World Series last year, so who cares. Derek Fisher says it happens all the time, but since LeBron is a magnet and the camera is always on him, that it's a big deal, when it really isn't.

I will admit that i was mad after the no handshake and leaving the arena. However, the comment is really what got me upset. Whether you're a winner or not, you should still congratulate the other team. He doesn't even have a ring yet so idk if he can classify himself as a "winner" yet. D-Wade and Kobe both have rings and are winners, and even win they lose thy still congratulate the other team. Kobe even did after how bad Boston whooped him last year. LeBrons comment made no sense and Wade/Bryant prove it. In the sports i do i never act like that. I always congratulate the opposing player/team not matter if i win/lose/or hate them. Its just bad sportsmanship if you don't even if you are a "winner". It makes you look arogant.

Had he apologized for his actions instead of making the comment he did, i believe i wouldn't have been as mad, but i would still be upset about it. I used to look up to him about two years ago and now he has changed all that.

Another thing that makes me mad though is the lack of punishment from the league office. If you think back to a couple of years ago, Shaq and Miami were both fined for his actions. Why hasn't LeBron been punished. Stern even refuses to comment about why he didnt punish him. It really proves that Stern is absolutely in love with the so called "King".

I was more upset about the fact that he didn't shake the hands of the Magic players. A couple days later when he said his comments about that just made it worse. Had he apologized the day after for not shaking hands and leaving the floor with class, I wouldn't have had a problem with that. At least by doing that he would be addressing it like a man.

My answer would be right there in your question - it's his response of calling himself a winner after acting like a sore loser.

Instead of apologizing he seem to be justifying his actions as acceptable (I'm a winner, I can't congratulate someone who beat me)

He knows that he is a great player, and he really is. But other great players went through the same thing he did. Jordan, Bird, Magic and Kobe all went through very painful defeats. All of them did not exhibit this kind of unsportsmanlike conduct.

I'm a Cavs fan so I probably can't look at it objectively. I feel like I have to support LeBron. But if the Cavs had won and Dwight Howard had walked off without shaking hands I don't think I would have thought that much about it. I certainly wouldn't still be upset about it several days later.

i think it is more of what he said. like there is no problem in not shaking someone'ss hand after a game cause im pretty sure a lot of playersdon'tt but because they are not "KING JAMES" it doesn't matter. as far as what he said --

I’m a competitor. “If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them,” James said. “Itdoesn'tn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”

-- like that justdoesn'tt make any sense. he just really annoys me that he thinks that everyone should sit there && kiss his behind [which just about everyone does] && he cant be humble enough to shake or congratulate someone else. PATHETIC!

Lebron is a great player regardless of whether others like him or not. The only thing he's demonstrated besides his obvious ability to play the game is his immaturity. I love him as a baller but he's still got a lot of growing up to do. He'll get there. I know he will because I have faith. By the time it's over he will go down in history as one of the top 5 players to play the game.