aj1987
10-20-2013, 02:44 AM
A MONTH AFTER Dwyane Wade and LeBron James signed with the Heat in the summer of 2010, I crouched in a roofless all-terrain vehicle deep in the bush country of the Madikwe Game Reserve just along the South Africa-Botswana border. It was dusk, and a cool breeze rustled the brush as two male African lions woke from their daylong slumber. They were both huge, in excess of 400 pounds, with full black manes that indicated their maturity and vitality. A few minutes later, they let out simultaneous roars that vibrated the truck and signaled their dominance to the rest of their pride -- and to any other males within earshot.
Our guide, a South African who lived on the reserve, had been monitoring the duo. The lions were brothers and had recently forced out an older male to take control of the pride. These two were in their primes, and the battle scars on their faces mapped the history of all they'd survived to reach their lofty rank.
But this did not follow The Lion King script. Can two lions, both near their physical peak, share a pride? Can there be more than one alpha male? Won't they eventually have a power struggle? "Maybe they will watch each other for weakness and then decide," our seasoned guide said. "Lions can turn on each other. But they all have their own personalities. It could keep working."
It's not natural for two alpha males to coexist -- in the wild or in the NBA. Eventually they look for vulnerability in each other. This is why the James/Wade pairing remains so scrutinized, even within the team. For three years, they've fought nature and won. But they have also had stretches when they've struggled together, when Wade's frustration about his role has been written on his face and when LeBron (and everyone else) could see that the Heat sometimes played better with one alpha on the floor. Now they have reached what could well be the saturation point, a fourth year at the top of the food chain, after which they can opt out of their contracts at season's end. Over the next eight months, their every move will be dissected. Will one set himself up to pursue his own pride? Will one try to push the other out? Or will it all somehow keep working?
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9824938/how-lebron-james-dwyane-wade-coexist-heat-espn-magazine
Our guide, a South African who lived on the reserve, had been monitoring the duo. The lions were brothers and had recently forced out an older male to take control of the pride. These two were in their primes, and the battle scars on their faces mapped the history of all they'd survived to reach their lofty rank.
But this did not follow The Lion King script. Can two lions, both near their physical peak, share a pride? Can there be more than one alpha male? Won't they eventually have a power struggle? "Maybe they will watch each other for weakness and then decide," our seasoned guide said. "Lions can turn on each other. But they all have their own personalities. It could keep working."
It's not natural for two alpha males to coexist -- in the wild or in the NBA. Eventually they look for vulnerability in each other. This is why the James/Wade pairing remains so scrutinized, even within the team. For three years, they've fought nature and won. But they have also had stretches when they've struggled together, when Wade's frustration about his role has been written on his face and when LeBron (and everyone else) could see that the Heat sometimes played better with one alpha on the floor. Now they have reached what could well be the saturation point, a fourth year at the top of the food chain, after which they can opt out of their contracts at season's end. Over the next eight months, their every move will be dissected. Will one set himself up to pursue his own pride? Will one try to push the other out? Or will it all somehow keep working?
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9824938/how-lebron-james-dwyane-wade-coexist-heat-espn-magazine