CHARLOTTE -- There's nothing like a week away from LeBron James to crystallize just how far the Chosen One has to go before he becomes the leader the Miami Heat need.
I'd been in Kansas City on vacation since after the Lakers game, and with the time away I'd forgotten just what it is to experience LeBron up close every single day.
So when I walked into the Heat's locker room in Charlotte, with the usual media suspects milling about and a new year under way, I felt confident LeBron wouldn't do anything before an easy road game to unmask the problem child inside him.
First, there was the fact he'd done that only a week ago by claiming not to know what "contraction" meant. Then there was the proximity of Paul Silas, now the Bobcats' interim head coach, a walking reminder of LeBron's coach-killing ways.
So it was sure to be an uneventful evening, with no off-court meaning to be gleaned, no insight to be glimpsed.
That's what you think when you're not around The King every day. Had I been the past week, like usual, maybe I wouldn't have been so surprised by what happened next.
LeBron walked to his locker, the media gathered around, a few easy questions started us off.
First, LeBron sent some kind words toward his ex-coach.
Let it be said that if you can compliment a coach fired under your watch, you should be able to do the same with your current coach, especially if he's got you and your teammates on what is now an 18-1 stretch after the Heat routed the Bobcats, 96-82, Monday night.
"I think it's great," he said about Silas getting another chance. "He's one of the great minds of this league. He helped me, he helped my development the first couple of years, learning how to be a professional on and off the court. I give him a lot of thanks."
Fair enough.
Then came a question about Spoelstra, which meant this would actually mean something to LeBron's team.
The question was teed-up just so. It was a perfect opportunity for LeBron to show humility and to offer his current coach kind words and, hell, if you can call Paul Silas one of the league's great minds you can think of some blatantly respectful comment for Spoelstra too.
Still in LeBron withdrawal, it's what I expected.
LeBron, a reporter asked, what are your thoughts on Erik Spoelstra being named Eastern Conference coach of the month for December?
Say how great it is, I thought. Say how much it means to you to see your coach get some respect. Talk about his defensive-mindedness, his passion for the game, his ability to help you guys succeed the way you have.
LeBron started strong.
For all of four words.
"I think it's great," he said.
This is where a public-relations person or a close friend should have jumped in and ended the interview while he was ahead, Costanza-style. He thinks it's great! Perfect! We're done!
Instead, LeBron kept going. Now his voice took on that tone of someone saying what they really think. The robot-answer was gone. This was truth.
You had to be there to hear it for what it was, to feel the full impact and rebuke of his words, so you'll have to trust me on what LeBron was actually saying.
"For the month of December we played the best basketball of any team in the league and he had a lot to do with it," he said. "As players, we went out and executed."
On this night, all the writers around me heard it the same way, even guys who often hear LeBron much differently than I do: LeBron making it clear that the credit was not Erik Spoelstra's.
LeBron James doesn't always hide his deepest thoughts when he should, and only later, when the impact of what he's said is undeniable, does he try to backtrack and say he didn't say what he said or mean what he meant.
In this case, the correction came immediately, which means later denials will be unnecessary. LeBron kept going, talking in stride, rolling right past what he actually thought.
"But he gave us the game plan every night and we just did what we had to do to win ball games," he said. "It's great to see him."
He stopped. He didn't finish the sentence. It's great to see him what? A compliment, finally?
No.
"Everyone was talking about him being on the hot seat in the month of November to being the coach of the month in December, so it's kind of funny."
No, not funny.
Just clear as day how The King feels about his superior.
The writers knew it the minute LeBron said it. LeBron knew it. Surely, if we know, so do his teammates. Spoelstra is at best tolerated by The King, but never celebrated. Certainly never praised.
This is the LeBron I'd forgotten about. The guy who can praise a former coach with glowing words (remember Jerry Sloan and Utah, during the Heat's rough period), but who can't summon the same respect for his actual head coach.
Even when the guy is doing a great job. Even when that's beyond obvious.
Which means when times get tough again, the friction of November will return in full force.
Spoelstra was the coach LeBron bumped, the coach LeBron complained played him too many minutes, the coach LeBron's camp clearly sought to damage when they leaked a story after the Dallas debacle that led to the players' meeting afterward.
If LeBron had had his way, Spo would be gone.
Instead, the Heat have won 18 of 19 games.
During that time, Spoelstra has done the hard thing: He's stood up to LeBron. He's given nuggets in press conferences that remind the world he's in charge and he has a plan. He hasn't let The King turn Miami Heat basketball into his own personal playground.
There is a price to pay for doing to LeBron what few do.
To continue to stand up to (translation: to coach) LeBron, Spoelstra will need support from Pat Riley and from Dwyane Wade. He'll need help in whatever form he can get from other players, coaches, scouts, even fans.
It truly takes an organization to raise a child.
You'd think that the winning ways of the past 19 games would be enough to change the dynamic between the team's brightest star and the team's head coach.
That by now, a question meant to let LeBron praise Spoelstra would be met with, you know, unmitigated praise.
But it hasn't, not by a large stretch, not on LeBron's end.
Until LeBron becomes the kind of leader who can, if not defer to, at least show respect for his head coach, there will be trouble ahead.
Until then, LeBron is more Terrell Owens than Michael Jordan. He's the gifted, not too gracious, always a drama-waiting-to-happen specimen of athletic talent.
As an example of what he should have said -- how he should have felt -- we turn to Wade, during postgame, responding to the same question about his take on Spoelstra being named coach of the month.
"I predicted that," Wade said, lighting up, looking genuinely pleased. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say I said he will. You don't even recall that "
Wade laughed, and so did a public-relations person, and that person said, yes, absolutely, I remember you predicting that. Wade beamed.
"When we were 9-8," Wade said.
Someone went to ask another question, but Wade had more to say: "But it's great, it's great for him, he did a great job helping us really keep our mental stay in this thing. And he kept continuing to preach defense for this team and togetherness and he did a great job of leading us in the month of December."
Next to him, icing his feet, his media time just finished, LeBron said nothing.
Spoelstra's honor came on the same day LeBron and Wade shared co-player of the month awards for the Eastern Conference.
It came on a night when the best and worst of LeBron were on full display.
