Please show us your fire again, James

WHAT do LeBron James and Britney Spears have in common? Well, money, fame and talent. Oh yes, and the propensity to self-destruct.

Pop star Spears shocked the music fraternity with her head-shaving antics last week. Questions are being asked about the 25-year-old's mental condition.

Is it a question of too much fame too soon? After all, she has been topping the music charts since the age of 16.

The National Basketball Association fraternity is asking similar questions about James.

The NBA's next big thing - that has been the hype surrounding him since he joined the league in 2003 as an 18-year-old.

He is playing far below the giddy heights he achieved last season, when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers almost single-handedly to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Then, he averaged 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists a game - a feat unheard of from a player only 21 years old.

He seemed to be Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson rolled into one - an unstoppable scorer who gives his teammates equal chances to score.

He running riot and earning his first championship with the Cavaliers have not happened this season.

He has slipped. He is averaging just 26.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists. Still a respectable performance, but not up to his usual high standard.

It is his on-court demeanour that is more troubling.

After the Feb 11 match with the LA Lakers, Kieran Darcy, editor of ESPN.com's Page 2 section, noted: 'LeBron looked lethargic. He settled for too many fade-away jumpers, many of which were way off.

'It was strange. He didn't score in the second half until there were less than three minutes remaining, and he was very cranky with the refs all game long.'

He does not appear keen to go that extra mile anymore.

Last season, whenever the Cavaliers trailed, he would assume responsibility.

He would score in bunches, drive relentlessly towards the basket for a dunk or pass to unmarked teammates for easy points.

Last Wednesday, against the Toronto Raptors, he even let little-known teammate Sasha Pavlovic take a game-winning shot.

Pavlovic missed, but teammate Anderson Varejao slammed home the rebound for a fortunate 86-85 win.

Yes, the swashbuckling superstar of last season is gone. Now, James wears a scowl more often.

The Cavaliers' 32-24 win-loss record, however, could still take them to the play-offs.

What troubles him? Critics are divided.

Yes, there is the strain of having to carry a sub-par team for years.

Without him, the Cavaliers were awful. They had a big but slow-moving centre (Zydrunas Ilgauskas), an injury-prone scorer (Larry Hughes) and not much else.

So, James had to score, rebound and pass more than any rival to keep the Cavaliers afloat.

The NBA teams will soon be designing defences to stop him. So his work is getting tougher, especially since he is relatively inexperienced and may not work out counter-measures fast enough.

The harsher critics say that he is starting to believe the hype about him.

They point to his sacking his agent after last season, and placing his destiny in the hands of an entourage of relatives - read 'yes men'.

He is also said to be at odds with the Cavaliers' coach.

Mike Brown is a highly-rated young coach, whose speciality is defence - the one weakness that James has.

Sources say he is unhappy with the coach's over-emphasis on defence, which stifles his offensive abilities.

While James could brush off this season as a minor blip, I see his lack of fire as a worrying trend.

He will slide into irrelevance if he is not as driven as Jordan, or even Miami's Dwyane Wade.

Jordan wanted to be better than any player, a singular drive which led him to six NBA championships.

Similarly, Wade's never-say-die attitude reaped a title ring last year.

James has a long career ahead. If he keeps stoking that fire of obsession in his soul, he could well be another Jordan.

If he turns lukewarm, he will be the biggest waste the NBA has seen in decades.

hankeong@sph.com.sg