Unfortunately, you will not be able to see Xavier’s sophomore Jordan Crawford posterizing LeBron James because NIKE decided to confiscate all video of the monumental moment.
Legend has it that during a pick-up game at LeBron’s basketball camp, Crawford rose up and delivered a powerful two-handed slam right over Prince James himself.
“He just said, ‘We have to take your tape,’” [photographer] Miller said. “They took it from other guys, too … LeBron called Lynn over and told him something,” Miller said. “That’s how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, ‘Hey, Lynn. Come here.’” Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.
“There’s nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online,” Miller said. “It’s a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I’m kind of pissed. I lost my tape.
Maybe NIKE wanted to keep the videos from YouTube and post the videos on their site to hog all of the hits. Or maybe they just wanted to keep their $100 million employee from being embarrassed by a guy who averaged 10 points a game as a freshman.
I’ll go with the latter.
It has been a poor off-season for James, as detailed by The Big Lead.
Rough six weeks for the best player in basketball. Stunned in the playoffs by Orlando. Storms off the court without shaking hands and is blistered in the media. There was this rumored radio incident. His Cavs acquired Shaq, but no other free agents seems to have the slightest interest in going to Cleveland. And then there’s the Ariza story, which we’ll get to later.
Nike does not want you to see that dunk [CBS Sports]
