“If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them,” James said. “It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
The article I linked proceeds to go in on James' comments:
Who has the guts to tell him that he sounds like an immature, self-absorbed brat?
James had been an MVP until the very final moments of the basketball season, and then, he embarrassed himself and acted like a petulant kid. In a world where everyone in his life is too fearful or too dependent, LeBron James goes into the summer believing his own nonsense that he walked out of this season a winner.
Do I feel he should have shook hands? No, it's not required aka he's not going to get a $10,000 fine for not participating. Call him immature, but at THAT MOMENT after a loss, he felt destroyed, more than anybody else on the team because of who he is and what he represents.
I don't see what the big deal is. Unsportsmanlike? Has LeBron ever thrown an elbow to the face of a player? Has he punched somebody after a rough foul? Has he not passed the ball his entire career and made his teammates much better than they would be without him?
He's the utmost sportsman that you could possibly want to represent the sport. I wouldn't call it making a mistake to not shake hands after a tough defeat. He wanted to get off of the court, and back to Cleveland, as soon as possible. It's better than him exploding during the post-game press conference. That would have been a mistake.
What's really funny about all of this is the fact that people think that just because he didn't shake hands, that he didn't respect the Magic. How could he not respect them. I called it before the series even started that the Magic had better matchups height/skill wise over the Cavs. Lebron knew it was going to be tough (he's one of the most studious players in the NBA). But that's another argument for another day.
My point is; what is a handshake worth? It doesn't change the fact that he just got his ass kicked on national television. This isn't Little League. You don't see any Orlando Magic players crying over this. You know why? Because they're grown ass men worried about the Lakers in the NBA Finals; they could care less about a minuscule handshake to show "good sportsmanship". And for the record, basketball is the second most main-stream individual sports next to baseball, because how well you do individually means your team has a better chance of winning, of course. Whether that's passing,shooting or setting pick and getting a rebound.
A handshake (or non-handshake, in this case) does not overshadow somebody's charity work (which LeBron does plenty of, he even has a camp for young players) , they're intelligence (he knows Kobe's personal signals for plays), or how they treat people on- and off-the field of play (you never heard of LeBron getting arrested for domestic violence, etc. have you?).
He could at least have given Dwight Howard an Obama fist-pound, though (pause).
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