To me, this story is a microcosm of why I like baseball better than basketball. Basketball, despite being a nominally team sport, screams individuality to me; I sincerely believe that LeBron could take any NBA team to the playoffs (perhaps not win, but certainly be a contender). That individual impact potential, coupled with the complete lack of a minor league system, seems to make the average NBA star a less, erm, virtuous than his MLB counterpart. No one baseball player can take a team to the playoffs (a starting pitcher has the most individual impact in a game, but can only pitch once every four days; a hitter only bats 4-5 times in a game), and coupled with the years of living on minimum-wage salaries and staying at Holiday Inns between bus rides from Scranton to Columbus seems to make players think less about themselves and more about the team.