LeBron gives more than just his name to his camp

by Jeff Goodman

Updated: July 9, 2008, 1:03 PM EST 7 comments

James and Paul teamed with Cleveland Cavs draftee Darnell Jackson, former high school teammate Romeo Travis (who played at the University of Akron) and another one of James' childhood buddies.

They won just four of seven games on the evening and spent the majority of their time on the losers' court.

Xavier's Derrick Brown was one of the players who enjoyed the unique bragging rights after knocking off two guys who finished in the top five in this past year's MVP voting and will suit up for the Olympic team in Beijing next month.

But he wasn't about to talk about it.

"No way," he laughed. "I'm not stupid. There's no way I'm going on the record about that."

Louisville's Terrence Williams called it the "best experience of his life."

"LeBron is my favorite player ever," Williams said. "At first, I didn't know whether to be in awe or compete."

What people don't quite realize about James and Paul is that they love the game and actually do care about giving back to the young players. James knew exactly who Williams was when he first ran into him at the hotel over the weekend.

"We're just basketball junkies," Paul said. "We watch a lot of these guys. We're both fans."

After the session ended, James and Paul (who have been close friends since their AAU days) were holding court with nearly all of the college players huddled around. At one point, Paul gave some advice to Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn on how to run the pick and roll.

"It was incredible to be able to learn from the best point guard in the game," Flynn said. "How many people can say that they had a lecture from Chris Paul?"

This is the second go-around after Nike decided to scrap its Nike All-American Camp and come up with a plan to hold the LeBron James Skills Academy in the King's hometown of Akron.

Eighty elite high school players are in attendance in addition to more than 20 high-caliber college players.

And LeBron.

"A lot of guys just show up for one day and that's it," Arkansas guard Patrick Beverly said. "He's been here all the time. It shows his true character and what he's about."

In addition to practicing with the U.S. Olympic team this summer, LeBron has been actively working with high school and college players at his camp. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE / Getty Images)

A year ago, Steve Nash hardly showed his face at one of the four positional camps that leads up to LeBron's event. Nash was said to be more involved this year. Vince Carter, Paul Pierce and Amare Stoudamire all host camps as well, but none compare to LeBron.

"He's by far the most involved," said Raphael Chillious, who is the business manager for Nike's Elite Youth Basketball. "The other guys are good, but LeBron takes it to a different level."

James was extremely involved last year, even to the point of actually jumping in with some of the high school players in games. This time around, he's offered continuous instruction to the high schoolers and is a mainstay at the camp.

Paul ran a weekend camp recently down in North Carolina for many of the top guards in the southeast.

In so doing, James and Paul have shown they are not only two of the elite players in the NBA — but also two of the top ambassadors for the game.

Beverly, a Chicago native and Arkansas guard, was one of the more vocal players to go up against James and Paul.

"God gave you a mouth, so use it," Beverly said. "It was fun, but at the end of the day, they're just human. But it was a great experience playing against these guys that you see on TV."

James could only shake his head after being informed that he went 4-3 on the night.

"There's no excuse for that," Paul said. "Too many losses."

James and Paul will return again tonight for another shot at the college boys and not much will change.

Students will flock to the gym, the college players will still be in semi-awe and the cornerstone of the U.S. Olympic Team will continue to show the world that they are just basketball junkies.

But I'm betting they won't lose three games this time.