and I think you'd probably have to delve deep into Bron's consciousness and really understand the depth of his experiences as a fatherless child. In my eyes - his favorite thing in the world is fatherhood/brotherhood/family - not basketball. Basketball is what he was born to do - but family is where his true passion derives - so I think he did see himself as a father figure to kyrie in many ways - and some of that may be overly paternalistic as kyrie is a grown man and not in need of fathering (in fact - kyrie has a strong/loyal father in his life - something lebron never had) - but Bron seems to process basketball as a larger family he belongs to - which I think is wholly unique and under-regarded dynamic to his personality.

Still - there def was some gamesmanship when he referred to kyrie as "the kid" - but to be fair - he referred to him as "the kid" many times during their tenure in Cleveland. That said - I do agree that Kyrie got tired of playing lil' bro/son to Bron's Father - and I think Bron's body language at the end of last year was not helpful as he did show up teammates too often on the court (every recalls the TT episode). Bron's not a perfect leader - but at the end of the day - I think Kyrie will regret that he dipped out as soon as he did - because the positives and advantages to playing w/ Bron far outweigh the negatives - just ask D. Wade - who couldn't wait to get back into that PB&J sandwich.



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