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A quick thought exercise: Close your eyes. Imagine yourself at 16 years old. Personally, I’m picturing a decently timid kid with fettuccine arms, a face-full of acne, braces, and a dick with a life of its own.
Now try to imagine that image you have in your head testing your physical prowess against the following:
Two-time All Star and NBA Champion Michael Finley (28 at the time)
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Two-time All Star Jerry Stackhouse (26 at the time)
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NBA Champion and former Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest (21 at the time)
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Can your brain even comprehend how badly a 16-year-old you would get overpowered by these dudes? Basketball skills aside, these guys were grown ass men.
And yet, as Ron Artest Metta World Peace recently revealed, a 16-year-old sophomore named LeBron James “embarrassed” these dudes in a game of pickup.
Listen below (transcript beneath).
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1177264257978851329?s=20
[Michael] Finley was in there. Stackhouse was in there. A young LeBron was in there. Woo. Young LeBron was in there.
…
I gave him a forearm on a fast break. He was cookin’. He was cookin’ everybody. Nobody could guard him. It was LeBron James. They couldn’t guard him.
And I’m like, ‘It doesn’t matter, he’s embarrassing us.’
So he’s coming down full speed, and I go [gestures with forearm]. He gets up and starts cookin’ more. He’s just touuugh. He was about 225 at that time. But I remember him just being tough.
As a sophomore, James averaged 25.2 points and 7.2 rebounds with 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game. He was named Ohio Mr. Basketball and selected to the USA Today All-USA First Team, becoming the first sophomore to ever achieve either.
There’s only one thing left to be said: What a fucking specimen.