You're now listening to Vices and Vultures, a podcast on Cultures. Previously on Vices and Vultures, we discussed the cultural impact of a Canadian team winning the 2019 NBA Finals. This is part two of a three-part conversation where we are currently discussing two active players in the NBA who are arguably the most influential right now. Because LeBron's shifting from the east to the west, insane because with all the philanthropy and all that other stuff that he does as well, like with the I promise school and all this other stuff, that comes into play whenever a big star like LeBron shifts teams, especially going from one, like he goes from Cleveland Ohio, which isn't really that big of a city as it is to LA, one of the biggest cities in the United States.
And it's just interesting because all of this revolves around culture because this shifts culture in such a way where it implies the implications are further than basketball. You know, for Kawhi, it was like a quiet dude. He still gets to do what he's doing like signing. He's not saying much, but like we said before, he's getting the job done.
And I like that about him. The fact that he's quiet, but he's still capable of making a whole lot of noise. But with LeBron, he's like, you know, for a long time, I thought LeBron was like a baby. And I still think he is because sometimes he kind of winds up all stuff.
But one of the real reason why I'm far line or off the court, off the court, like he doesn't do it as much on the court as he used to because I'm not sure if you watch the NBA's like a couple of years prior, LeBron used to flop a lot. Yeah, that was a big nerdy. Like, like, LeBron flapping all the time. But yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that's why, like, that's one of the reason why, like I watch basketball now, like I would say that I'm from this area where I watched LeBron's play more than Michael Jordan. So for me, LeBron's is the greatest. I know a lot of people is going to feel, you know, some type of way, but that you have the right to. And the reason like how I determine his greatness is about what he's doing on the court and what he's doing off the court because this guy is like, he's really changing the whole like narrative.
He's also changing the culture of what he's doing. He has he also has the show where you talk about social justice. And as a black person and as a Haitian myself, I feel like that's very significant because he is using his platform to do something and to speak on certain subjects that other people wouldn't necessarily speak on, right? Like, and this is where I'm putting him against like you have those people who make money and they keep quiet about certain things, but that's not LeBron.
And this is where I put him as I would put him in the greatest conversation because even though he's kind of faulty on the court, but you can't deny what he's doing off the court, even when he's off the court, I feel like he winds up with a lot of stuff like, you know, sometimes he goes online and he say certain things that's like, wow, like, what would you say something like that? But at the same time, you can't deny that he's also like, he's also greatness. Like he talks about like social justice. He talks about, um, you know, back then how the whole slave master discussions, like how they see players and you mean during the Donald Sterling, but not even that they were not supposed to comment on certain subjects because you just hear the plea and you just hear to do like, but now he's he's he's bringing up the subjects where like, I want to be able to see more and I feel like this is very important because just because I play basketball doesn't mean that's all I have to do.
Yep. You know, I'm allowed to comment on social injustice. I'm allowed to, you know, mention what I see or talk about what I think is right or what it's not because and for the brand who is in that position that is and this dude is a boss. He got his own money.
He's doing his own things. Like, like, yeah, he's one of those players that goes online, talk about certain things and you're not expecting him to fall off because he got his own bread. You feel me? Yeah.
He understood from the time, even before he went to Miami, when he made the decision, right? He understood the power of his personal brand. The fact that he had a whole presser just to announce that he's going to another team just in that moment and just everything that built up to it. There's a really cool episode on SB Nation, Rewinder that talks about that decision and the the build up to that.
And this is so this ties in with social media and culture because of the fact that brand is so important today. Like you said, there was a time when basketball players, all they were dictated to do based on just the way that things worked as far as just the corporations and the big money and stuff like that. All they were supposed to do was just play ball. You know what I'm saying?
So there was just this whole, as you said, sl social media that just sticks out or just in general that sticks out. A lot of Gilbert, I think he's going to be with the ringers. Okay. He's talking about it.
Yeah. Gilbert, that's another guy that I can't say that I've seen him play a lot, but he's just funny. He talks about funny shit and I feel like he addressed certain subjects that are also important to the culture. A lot of people may have a problem with the way you approach his thing, but you can deny that he's one of those voices.
Now that he has a podcast too, I haven't really listened to it, but I think he talked about it, but him and who else I would say? There's some players who I can think of that they might not even, they might have hit their prime yet and their whole conversation is based on is it going to hit? And two people that I'm thinking of right now, one is not as big as the other person, but the two people, and I know you know what I'm thinking about, the first person who's not as big on social media in general is to buy his hair on the Sixers. And the other players on the Sixers, Ben Simmons, there's so much conversation around Ben Simmons and just as a side, he dated the generator.
So that's going to pop off in a completely different culture as far as pop is concerned, which we're not going to get into. But Ben Simmons doesn't have a shot apparently, or working on it. Yeah, he's working on his shot. But you know, the funny thing is I think every summer everybody's saying that, yeah, every summer they come out saying, yeah, this nigga working on his shot.
Yeah, but it's just like, it's interesting because, you know, the Sixers have not been relevant to the finals like against the Lakers in early 2000s. I've known people like their shot is bad, but they still they still shoot you for me. But the difference Ben Simmons doesn't have it at all. This dude hasn't taken one.
You know what I'm saying pointed like this is, you know what I'm saying? And then like you look at people like a former Sixers. I think Markovox is on the magic now, right? We had like that whole stretch of time when he had like a broke shot because he had an injury and it's just like sometimes because of the internet, because the internet culture, social media culture, they take this and they meme it and they just make it huge, right?
It just becomes bigger than them. Which I don't know, but I'm going to say that I feel like messed them up mentally. Oh, yeah, because he's 20 years old. Exactly.
I'm not talking about social media, man. This thing can destroy your life. You know, like if you're not a strong person, you know, it's easy to believe what people are saying about you and that could literally literally change your whole career. And that's why I call it non-social media.
Exactly. And that's exactly like what I want to bring it back to. Those are people that are like they have strong personalities. Like somebody like why you can tell that it doesn't care what people say.
Did you see that video where he was getting heckled like front one and together? He doesn't give up on it. Yeah, like he's not like he's not for that. Like he's coming here to play ball.
He's making money for his family. Like he's he's doing he's doing he did everything on his own terms. The strong will of that is so impressive because not as you said, not a lot of people are willing to do that. Let's take it back from basketball a little bit so we can talk about social media.
This is part two of a three-part conversation on where the cultures of basketball and branding intersect. Part three is entitled Social Media Discipline and is available in the next episode. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of Vices and Vultures and considering being a supporter of this project. Even leaving a review on your preferred podcast platform was a long way for us.
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