I am myself again, says relaxed LeBron

MIAMI - Reuters

The three musketeers of the Heat, (L-R) Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, pose during media day at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. AFP photo

LeBron James became the man U.S. sports fans loved to hate when he left Cleveland for the Miami Heat last year and many celebrated when he stumbled in the NBA finals, losing to the Dallas Mavericks.

Prior to the 2010-11 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, James bragged about multiple championships for Miami’s ‘Big Three’ but was heckled after his first attempt to win one with his new team fell short in June.

But this year at the Heat’s annual media day in the American Airlines Arena, the two-time MVP was not talking about proving critics wrongs or silencing the boos.

With the wrangling of the NBA lockout now over, James looked and sounded relaxed, appearing more at ease with himself than at any time since he left his home state of Ohio for South Florida.

“It was a tough season for myself. If I look at my numbers over the course of the whole season, I played pretty well, but I wasn’t who I was, it was a tough transition - coming here, going through what I went through, it was something different. But I will learn from it and I am back to who I am now,” James told a news conference.

“Last year was one of the first years where I said - ‘OK, I’m going to prove everybody wrong’ ... I was just so blinded, so out of whack. You try to do so many things that you kind of forget who you are and what got you to that point.”

James took weeks to deal with Miami’s loss to Dallas in the NBA Finals and will have a quick shot at revenge when the season begins as the Heat visit the Mavs on Dec. 25.