LeBron James has detailed an interesting story about getting kicked out of practice ahead of his sophomore season in high school.
Speaking on the Mind the Game podcast, James said his coach at the time, Keith Dambrot, was determined to keep James and his team grounded despite all the hype around them.
“My sophomore year, the first practice, I came in projected as the number one player in the state of Ohio, I was projected to be an All-American as a sophomore, projected to be Mr. Basketball as a sophomore, which had never been done in Ohio high school history. And the first practice we had in our sophomore year after winning the state championship, I did absolutely nothing wrong coming out of football, he kicked me out of practice.
“… I had no idea why the f*ck he kicked me out of practice. And I think he was just setting the tone for the season. Like, ‘I’ve heard all this stuff about how great you are, but no, I’ll humble your ass right now’. He kicked me out of practice and the last thing he said to me when he kicked me out, he said, ‘Best sophomore in the country my ass’.”
Clearly, the hard-nosed coaching style helped James more than it hindered him.
He rose to the challenge and went on to average 25.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game in his sophomore season. He also led St. Vincent–St. Mary to a 26-1 season and they repeated as state champions.