AKRON, Ohio - Dru Joyce II has heard the word more often in recent months, as the audience aware of LeBron James widened and the scrutiny of those surrounding the 17-year-old basketball prodigy intensified.
Joyce, head coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, is part of a coterie of adults who some believe are exploiting the player expected to be the No. 1 pick in next year's NBA draft.
"What we've tried to do is put him on a platform that will allow him to excel," Joyce said recently, sitting in an office next to the school's gymnasium. "I love him as a son. I'd never do anything to exploit him."
The stage on which James plays is constantly flooded in the brightest of spotlights.
A little more than a week ago, the 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior considered by many to be the most polished teenager ever to lace up a pair of sneakers - Nike or Adidas, take your pick - led his team to a nationally televised upset of then top-ranked Oak Hill Academy with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
Today, the little Roman Catholic school from this blue-collar city plays at the venerable Palestra in Philadelphia, and James will continue to headline a traveling show that could be a well-orchestrated prelude to his future life in the pros.
"I love it," James said recently during a news conference in Cleveland to promote the Oak Hill game, which was played there. "I want to be on all the magazines. I want all the spotlight. I'm not being selfish. If I'm in the spotlight, that means my team is in the spotlight, too. That's all I'm about, me and my team."
If only it were that simple.
Perhaps it was, back in 1964, when a pair of future Hall of Famers met in the first sellout at Cole Field House. The player was a 7-footer from New York's Power Memorial High School named Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and the coach was Morgan Wootten from DeMatha High School.
Perhaps it was, through the ensuing decades, as several high school stars beginning with Moses Malone, Bill Willoughby and Darryl Dawkins and continuing later with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady made the direct leap to the NBA.
But none of them created the buzz of the player who has been dubbed "King James."
Nothing like it before
"I thought Alcindor was the most hyped player I had seen until LeBron James," said Wootten, who shepherded dozens of big-name players to college before retiring from coaching this year.
"I've never seen anything quite like this in my 30 years following high school basketball," said Bob Gibbons, a widely respected talent evaluator out of Lenoir, N.C. "He's certainly the most heralded player ever."
James, whose signals indicate he plans to forgo college for the NBA, has become adept at handling the hype - and the media.
"Y'all did it," James said in Cleveland, smiling at a roomful of reporters. "As a matter of fact, I did it myself. But I knew if I kept working hard, it was going to come.
"If the attention bothered me, I wouldn't deal with it. I would just go to school, play ball and go home. The spotlight is no problem. I chose this life, and there is no way I can get away from it. I'm not trying to get away from it."
The white-hot glare could become blinding; in fact, the media, fans and a contingent of NBA scouts from potential lottery-pick teams are not the only ones following James these days. Agents are shadowing him as if they were working for the FBI rather than IMG or any of the other high-powered sports management companies hoping to get a cut of his endorsement deals.
He is expected to get $25 million or more in commercial endorsements. Representatives from athletic shoe companies, such as Nike and Adidas, have been trying to lure James by showering him and his teammates, coaches, friends and family with free apparel. When he takes the court for St. Vincent-St. Mary, he wears Adidas, the team's sponsor.
"Whatever the day is he plays his last high school game, he's going to go from living in an apartment with his mom to probably being worth a conservative $50 million," said Rick Burton, who studies marketing trends in sports as director of the University of Oregon's Warsaw Center. "That is what our industry is willing to pay him for his potential."
Burton says James is being exploited but no more than Kobe Bryant was in high school or talented teens in other sports, such as figure skating.
"That's what sports is all about," Burton said. "If it's not cynical, then it's at least a harsh reality. He's not being exploited any more so than Sarah Hughes or Sasha Cohen or some teenage tennis phenom.
"This man - and he is a man - has amazing potential. In the entertainment industry, that kind of potential is often sought, discovered and utilized. What I call utilized, you might call exploited. ... These guys, male or female, exhibit enormous talent at a young age, and they entertain us."
A mother's caution
James, asked whether he can trust people, replied: "I've learned a lot and am still learning. I'm 17, I'm young. With age, you get more knowledge about everything."
Gloria James, who gave birth to LeBron when she was 16, said recently that she is constantly telling her now-famous son to be wary. Despite her own struggles, including a time on welfare when she had to leave her young son with friends and relatives, Gloria James is well-versed on the potential pitfalls.
"I remind him that there are those who will take advantage of his position," Gloria James told The New York Times. "There are a lot of females who would love to hem him up with a baby."
His father, she has said, was her casual sex partner, Anthony McClellan, a felon who played no role in raising their son, according to ESPN the Magazine.
Gloria James is visible, and quite audible, at her son's games in much the same way that Allen Iverson's mother has been in Philadelphia. A single parent who lives with her only child in public housing, Gloria James was unavailable to comment for this article.
So was Eddie Jackson Jr., who has been something of a surrogate father to James since his infancy, when Jackson began dating Gloria James. Jackson reportedly gave her son the Ford Explorer the high school student drives.
Jackson, who has identified himself as a rock promoter and real estate broker, was sentenced this month to three years in prison for bank and mail fraud.
With James now limiting his public utterances to mostly news conferences before and after St. Vincent-St. Mary games, it has left Joyce to become something of an unofficial spokesman for a player he has coached since the fifth grade.
3 games, 5 days, 3 cities
Joyce, whose son, Dru III, is the starting point guard on the St. Vincent-St. Mary team and one of James' closest friends, defends his decision to schedule so many high-profile games. He looks at his team's recent NBA-type schedule - three games in five days in three cities - as opportunity, not opportunism.
"When I put the schedule together, what I was thinking of is, 'Wow, this is a great opportunity for some kids to play in a venue that some of them would never see,' " Joyce said. "That's a memory that they will carry for the rest of their life.
"I thought if I could give them that, I'll give them that. It's not about exploitation. It's an opportunity to play great teams in great venues."
Grant Innocenzi, who came to the 591-student school as athletic director six months ago, supports Joyce's decision. This year, St. Vincent-St. Mary is said to want a reported $10,000 share of the gate for each appearance. There are nine such games on the schedule.
Then there's the deal St. Vincent-St. Mary worked out with the University of Akron to play most of its home games at the 5,000-seat Rhodes Arena, where the tickets cost $15 for adults and $3 for students. Published reports estimate the school took in $200,000 to $300,000 last season, a figure that should rise.
School profits, too
"There's so much demand for him and the team, especially him," Innocenzi said. "Everyone wants to talk to him, interview him, manage his career. They want to do this, they want to do that. We keep it as normal as possible for him and everyone in general, given the situation."
Said Joyce, who works full time in commercial food sales: "The school is doing nothing more than any other school. There's an opportunity that's being presented. They try to make the most of the opportunity.
"Beyond that, this school is a nonprofit organization. Every dollar that's earned goes back into the school for facilities and computers and all the educational things that make this school a great school."
Wootten, who for years took his DeMatha teams all over the country to play the top competition, says St. Vincent-St. Mary isn't doing anything out of the norm, considering the interest.
"I think the high school is handling everything well with somebody like LeBron," Wootten said. "We all struggle at private schools for money. If you can travel over weekends and holidays without the kids missing class, you should use it to your advantage."
Gibbons was blunt in describing James' senior schedule. "It's like a road show. They're putting him on display," he said, noting that he plans to catch the show when it plays the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum next month.
"It's by choice. It's not like he's an innocent out there who is just unknowingly being used or taken advantage of," Gibbons said. "It's just people are capitalizing on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a player with his drawing power." .
St. Vincent-St. Mary traded the rights to its games for advertising on a Northeast Ohio cable company, which charges $7.95 for selected games on pay-per-view.
Pat Diulus promoted the Oak Hill game that drew more than 11,000 on Dec. 12 in Cleveland. Tickets were sold for as much as $75 (and scalped for as much as $100), but Diulus doesn't expect to give up his career as a girls high school coach and local Amateur Athletic Union director.
"I can tell you we're a for-profit company," Diulus said of his Fastbreak Limited, which has promoted games locally involving St. Vincent-St. Mary since James was a sophomore. "But most of the money is going right back to the schools."
Shattered backboard sale
One, Walsh Jesuit of Cuyahoga Falls, charged 1,000 spectators $5 each for the privilege of watching St. Vincent-St. Mary play in its gym, under a state rule that allows fans to pay for admission to what are called "preview" games rather than scrimmages, which are free.
When James tore down the rim and shattered the backboard at nearby Stow High School, his surrogate father asked for it to add to the family's collection of mementos. Athletic director Gene Lolli denied Jackson's request but apparently tried to get the player to autograph six basketballs in return for the rim.
"I don't think that's exploiting," Lolli, who hoped to auction off the signed balls to raise money for the school, told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. "Maybe other people see it differently."
The rim is now in the school safe, and there have been reports that it could be put up for auction to help raise money. (Eventually it could find its way onto eBay, where more than 500 items tied to James have been sold or are for sale.)
The media coverage has intensified lately. More than 100 credentials were issued for the recent Oak Hill game, which generated a cable rating that was third highest for ESPN2, behind only two Duke-North Carolina games. YES, the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, plans to air a high school tournament in Trenton, N.J., in February featuring St. Vincent-St. Mary and 15 other top-ranked schools. This season, the Akron Beacon Journal sends a reporter and photographer to every one of James' games, devoting more space to covering St. Vincent-St. Mary than to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Innocenzi was familiar with James and knew some of the coaches at the school before he arrived, but that did not prevent him from feeling overwhelmed at times by the mania.
"Until you are here and you have to witness it and work with it, there are no words to describe what it's like," Innocenzi said. "The media hypes it up like we have one of the best NBA players in the country right here. Sometimes it seems out of control for us."
No exploitation here
Said Joyce, the coach, "There's no one making bunches of money here," adding that he earned $3,000 coaching last season. "I do this because I love it. It's a great opportunity for me to stay with these kids and coach my son in this atmosphere. What father wouldn't want to be a part of that with kids you've seen grow up?
"People want to say exploitation. That's their opinion. I know where my heart is, and I know what I've done is the right thing."
Joyce first met James when his son, Dru, was 10. Along with another of his current players, Sion Cotton, they were part of an AAU basketball team that Joyce coached.
In a few years, the team made it all the way to the 14-and- under AAU national final, losing to the three-time defending champions from Los Angeles at the Disney Sports complex in Orlando, Fla.
The core of that team now plays for Mater Dei, a Santa Monica, Calif., powerhouse that St. Vincent-St. Mary will face Jan. 5 at UCLA's fabled Pauley Pavilion.
It was during the tournament in Florida that James began to demonstrate attention-getting skills. It was a far cry from the player Joyce first watched.
"He was a good player," recalled Joyce, a former high school football player and sprinter. "He was always a little bigger than the other kids. He couldn't dribble that well, but he would back kids down, all the way down the court.
"He always had that ability to pass and pass over defenses and make good decisions. Not a bad jump shot, and we worked on that. He had a good feel for the game even back then."
The explosion of interest came two summers ago at the Adidas-sponsored ABCD camp in New Jersey. James outplayed the biggest stars, among them Eddy Curry, who would be the fourth player taken in the 2001 NBA draft. From there, the LeBron legend grew.
Dubbed "The Chosen One" in a Sports Illustrated story last year, James was invited to play last summer in pickup games arranged by his idol, Michael Jordan, in Chicago. He also worked out last spring with the Cavaliers, leading to a hefty fine for the team and a two-game suspension this season for coach John Lucas.
When James is announced as the top pick in the 2003 NBA draft, which barring injury is almost guaranteed, how soon will the league cash in on a player who is expected to join Bryant and McGrady on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team?
"If he comes out like Jermaine O'Neal and he sits on the bench for a couple of years ... they won't do anything with him," said Oregon's Burton. "If LeBron is the next Michael Jordan, expect all the wagons to be circled, expect all of God's children to be at the table.
"Vince Carter has not proven to be Michael. Kobe is unbelievable, but for some reason is not Michael. Maybe Michaels only come once every 30 years, but leagues look for guys to be that next Babe Ruth or next Mickey Mantle as often as they can."
Par for Woods' course
Perhaps the best comparison is to golf superstar Tiger Woods, who received a substantial endorsement deal from Nike as soon as he turned pro at the age of 20 and then won his first major championship - the 1997 Masters - at 21.
Along with sharing the same birthday - James will turn 18 on Dec. 30, the day Woods turns 27 - and perhaps the same agent (rumors point to Mark Steinberg of Cleveland-based IMG), the two have the same kind of across-the-board commercial appeal.
Joyce hopes that his star takes the cue from Woods and keeps his circle of those with influence small.
"That's the one thing we're working hard to make sure that LeBron has that inner circle," said Joyce. "If we can do that, that will be able to deflect a lot of those seedier things that come along with the fame and the notoriety that bring people down."
In the meantime, those who deal with James on a daily basis say they don't yet see noticeable changes.
"He's just an amazingly normal 17-year-old kid," Innocenzi said. "It's really weird sometimes. You might expect that he has a big head and you wouldn't be able to talk with him, but he loves the school atmosphere and the kids love him."
Said Joyce: "He's a very normal teenager, joking with his friends. We have a great team with guys who are good friends off the floor and who've known each other for a long time. He's that kind of personality that draws people to him. He's used to being the center [of attention]. He takes it all in stride."
Lost innocence
Gibbons, who runs summer basketball camps and writes a newsletter on the exploits of the nation's top prospects, sees it differently. He remembers watching James at a camp in Colorado after his sophomore year. There was no hype, no entourage, nothing but raw talent.
It is markedly different now. He has a bodyguard sitting behind the bench. Fans descend on the hotel when the team is staying on the road.
"On the court he has not let the attention have any adverse effect on his game," Gibbons said. Off the court, Gibbons said, James gives less an impression of "the innocent young man" of two years ago.
In reality, James is living in two worlds, one at St. Vincent-St. Mary, another on the road. James talks the most about the less complicated world.
"I just love basketball," he said, sounding 17. "When I am playing basketball, nothing else matters. I'm out there with 'my guys' and don't worry about anything else. It is not hard. During the day, I'm in classes, going to school. I'm there 8 until 3."
If only it were that simple.