ANALYSIS Coaches recall facing LeBron

Roy Sembach, Jeff Brink and Ken Grisdale weigh in on LeBron James mania.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
For the past three seasons, the Cleveland Cavaliers have sent Newton Falls boys basketball coach Roy Sembach -- and other area coaches -- season tickets.
"Something tells me that they won't be available anymore," Sembach said with a laugh.
Of course, Sembach has already had good seats to see LeBron James, who the Cavs will select No. 1 in next month's NBA draft.
When James was a freshman, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary routed the Tigers, 61-28, in a Division III regional semifinal at Canton Fieldhouse.
"They had a great team and I thought he was the best player on that team even then," Sembach said. "Occasionally I'll go back and look at our scouting report and the thing I remember we wrote is, 'He can do it all.' "
Highly acclaimed
Even then, Sembach said, people were saying James could eventually play in the NBA.
A year later, James and the Irish beat undefeated Springfield, 63-36, in a Division III district final at Youngstown State University's Beeghly Center. James scored just 14 points, but Tigers coach Jeff Brink came away impressed.
"I've seen [Toledo Macomber's] Jimmy Jackson and people always talk about [Cleveland St. Joseph's] Clark Kellogg, but LeBron is head and shoulders above them," said Brink who will coach at Salem next year. "He's in a class by himself."
Poland coach Ken Grisdale, whose team lost to the Irish 76-36 in the Division II state semifinal in 2002, said James is the best high school player he's ever seen.
"Yeah, besides myself -- my ankle injury cut my career short," Grisdale said with a laugh. "I haven't seen a ton of players, but the best prior to him was Jimmy Jackson. I know old people always talk about [Kareem Abdul] Jabbar, but I've never seen anyone like LeBron."
Grisdale was holding an open gym on Thursday night, but cut away to watch the draft lottery.
"I'm a die-hard Cleveland fan and you're looking at a franchise that may not survive if they don't get him," he said. "It means everything. Even if it doesn't translate into wins right way, it will put some people in the seats."
Causing a stir
The last time a northeast Ohio athlete created this kind of buzz was in 1985 when Boardman's Bernie Kosar went to the Browns in the supplemental draft.
Grisdale, a Canfield High graduate, played against Kosar in high school -- Boardman won 33-0 -- and he said he has similar feelings about watching James.
"Yesterday I was thinking that when my daughter [9-month-old Jaclyn] gets older, we can sit and watch the films and I can say I coached against him," Grisdale said. "It will bring back a lot of positive memories."
James isn't yet a finished product -- all three coaches said he needed to improve his outside shooting and his defense -- but because of his size and his athleticism, he has a chance to be something special.
"I've seen a lot of kids with great ability, but the biggest thing with him is his body," Sembach said. "The past few years, he was literally a man amongst boys."
Added Grisdale, "He can do things that normal human beings can't. He's a freak of nature."
Staying focused
The other concern is how well James will handle the pressures and distractions of being in the NBA.
"I certainly wish him the best and I hope that he gets good advice and good leadership," Brink said. "He's been thrown into a three-ring circus and has people throwing $90 million at him before he's ever touched a basketball in the NBA. Any 18-year-old kid in that situation has to guard against making poor decisions."
But every player has weaknesses, and Grisdale said people shouldn't expect too much, too soon.
"I think everybody wants to find weaknesses because they see weakness in themselves," he said. "So they look for reasons to bring him back to their level. That's the ESPN generation. We think we know a lot more than we do."
scalzo@vindy.com