For every Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, and Jermaine O’Neal there are several people who don’t make the jump from high school to the league as clean, among them Korleone Young and Leon Smith.

On one side you have an 18-year-old senior high school student in one of the most important years in any man/woman’s life.

On the other hand you have an 18-year-old phenom in his chosen profession who has the chance to be among men in the NBA, while most of his class and teammates will be in classrooms next year.

This is the unique position St. Mary/St. Vincent high school basketball player LeBron James enjoys and endures.

James sells out venues across the country, has his games on pay-per-view in Ohio and in move unprecedented, has had a couple of games nationally on ESPN.

He could have arguably been the number one pick in last years draft ahead of Houston Rocket and starting All-Star center Yao Ming and Chicago Bull Jay Williams.

So why is it a big deal that James' mother recently purchased a Hummer for James? It breaks down to a catch-23 where the media and schools can use LeBron for his skills on and off the court (read: box office draws) but LeBron can't use them.

James is a young man with an extreme upside and unlimited potential. In the past he has often been compared to the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady (two men who also took the high school to the league route) and at 6-9, 235, he plays the small forward position with the handle of a point guard and rebounding of a power forward. In a medium in which he dominates (the high school level) he get as much f not more joy passing to teammates than trying to scoring the basketball. He would rather score 10 points in a win that 100 in a loss. He is a triple-double threat at anytime and the thing is: He is still growing!

With these attributes its easy to see why pro and college scouts, national writers, sports businessmen and administrators have been knocking on his door since he was a sophomore (at least), but is it right?

Is it right that a kid, in all intent and purposes, is being taken out of his element, a high school Akron and being thrown into a national scene because of his skills with a ball?

While I agree that it happens more often than not and its not necessarily unwanted by the James family, I will charge that it also hasn’t been this grand. The advances of media coverage in the last ten years and the willingness of people who seek to gain from this young man and his talents has changed the game for the athlete/student and I don’t know if we can go back.

Who can we blame?

I don’t usually blame the media, they are the media and their jobs are to get the information, investigate, find the stories in the world and hype them up But in this case ESPN’s showing of LeBron on national television in particular, was using the demand to see this young man and exploiting it to another level. The network picked a good game pitting LeBron’s team, St. Mary-St. Vincent against Oak Hill Academy, a perennial powerhouse but it only vaguely covers up the fact that they made a teenager a main attraction on a national telecast. While he is nationally known already is it right that he has to deals with people (with less than caring interests) in his space at a ridiculous pace.

His school, St. Mary-St. Vincent needs to accept some of the blame as well because although we’d like to believe the school just suddenly decided to put its team on pay-per-view to show off all of the players it is clear to the majority that it was to show off James and help gain clout for the school as well. The school is extorting his already limited privacy as a student in the name of exposure for the player.

When can he relax and be a kid, a growing young man about to make a huge decision, whether to give up his college eligibility and go directly to the NBA.

When can he think of his passions besides basketball, just in case he has to do something else with his life?

Its true, the notoriety and fame that the James family and LeBron himself gets benefits him in that he has relationships with sneaker companies, a developing fan base and the fact than his mom can get a loan for a Hummer based on the fact her son is widely regarded as an upcoming millionaire. But end the end is that a good thing? : A relationship based on potential?

What happens when the potential runs out and your asked to live in a world that demands results now! Will LeBron be able to respond, will be ready for adverse situations?

I hope so!

LeBron seems from his interviews and his regular column in Slam Magazine to be a level headed young man and I think he will be able to handle the huge pressures he is being faced with because among other traits he has the talent to be one of the best.

The question though is does that make it right that he is being pimped in a system that in any other circumstance would turn his back on him? People are making a big stink about him getting an automobile, they question how he got it, was it legal or illegal?

The truth is they need to pay him for his time and services. As James sadly already knows he is being taken advantage of for his talent, he probably figures he (with the help of his mom) might as well get something he wants in the process.

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