In This Case, Believe the Hype

Those comparisons between LeBron James’ rookie season and those of his high-school-to-the-NBA predecessors are unfair.

After all, James is a full-time starter, which Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were not in their rookie seasons.

That means James has it even tougher.

The other guys weren’t asked to carry a franchise -- not to mention resuscitate a league’s television ratings and step into the shoe-selling ability of the most marketed basketball player ever.

“I don’t think anyone has been under the microscope more than LeBron,” said Alvin Gentry, who coached the Clippers when they made Darius Miles the highest-drafted high school player at that time with the No. 3 pick in 2000. “Kobe had Shaq and those guys. KG was in Minnesota, they let him feel his way through. LeBron, they basically said, ‘This is your team, you are the leader.’ I’m just amazed at how this kid has handled it from the maturity standpoint.”

Quinn Buckner has been involved with the NBA as a player, coach or broadcaster since 1976, a career that spans the early days of Bill Willoughby and Darryl Dawkins -- the first two drafted players to make the preps-to-NBA leap -- to the LeBron phenomenon.

“I’ve not seen anybody like this kid,” Buckner said. “I thought he had too much hype coming in, too much pressure, he couldn’t handle it. He handled it and then some.”

James answers doubts about his shooting by hitting jumpers. He wins over fans and reporters with his demeanor.

His Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t played a schedule so much as a series of major events. There was “The Debut” in Sacramento (25 points, nine assists, six rebounds and zero turnovers). “The Showdown” with Carmelo Anthony (advantage ‘Melo and the Nuggets) and “The Shootout” in Orlando (he went for 34 points in an overtime loss to an inspired McGrady, who went for 41).

Tonight at Staples Center he plays his first game against Bryant. Although the Cavaliers played the Lakers twice in the exhibition season, Bryant sat out both games while recovering from knee surgery.

Not only has James started every game, Cleveland Coach Paul Silas went against his early reservations and had James play point guard. James is averaging 19.9 points, 6.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game. That’s more than twice as many points and nearly four times as many assists as Garnett, Bryant and McGrady averaged collectively in their rookie seasons. In fact, the 625 points James scored before his 19th birthday on Dec. 30 were 86 more than Bryant scored in all 71 games of his rookie season.

Bryant started only six games as a rookie and didn’t become a full-time starter until his third season. Garnett didn’t become a starter until the middle of his first season. McGrady didn’t start every game until he was traded by Toronto to the Orlando Magic before his fourth season.

Of the recent high school players, Amare Stoudemire came the closest to sharing James’ responsibilities. When Tom Gugliotta was injured early last season, that gave Stoudemire a starter’s spot, which he kept for the rest of the season. Stoudemire averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds and became the first player to win the NBA rookie-of-the-year award one year out of high school.

Stoudemire was able to creep into the national consciousness. Yao Ming was the No. 1 overall pick and the centerpiece of Commissioner David Stern’s desire to expand into the Asian market. Stoudemire went to Phoenix at the No. 9 spot.

Like Stoudemire, James (6 feet 8, 240 pounds) arrived in the league looking not like a skinny adolescent, but with a physique more like that of a veteran who has been working with a personal trainer.

“LeBron is a little different, when you look at the body this guy’s got,” said Gentry, now an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets. “I’ve been amazed at the maturity. Everybody talks about his physical skills; there’s not enough talk about what he’s doing mentally. I do think LeBron is special. He’s like Michael [Jordan]. There might be another guy with the talent level. They might not have the whole package like he has.”

The fans are buying it. James’ No. 23 the top-selling jersey. The Cavaliers’ home attendance has increased from a league-worst 11,497 per game last year to 17,610 this season. They average 18,803 on the road, making them the second-best draw after the Lakers (19,507). Kids lined up outside Niketown stores for the launch of his shoe on Dec. 20. The Cavaliers have played six nationally televised games with another six to come, including tonight’s game and the Lakers’ visit to Cleveland on Feb. 4.

The NBA (not to mention Nike) needed another marketable face following the retirement of Jordan and the arrest of Bryant on a sexual assault charge. That face is the easygoing, smiling visage of James.

Now he needs to do something else: win. His team is 11-25, with only one more victory than the woeful Atlanta Hawks, whom the Lakers disposed of by 46 points on Friday.

Cleveland made one step to improve the environment when it traded Ricky Davis (along with Chris Mihm, Michael Stewart and a second-round draft pick) to Boston for Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown and Eric Williams on Dec. 15. Several people who had observed the Cavaliers early in the season thought they would have to trade the selfish Davis in order for James to flourish. The predictions came true. Since the trade, James has averaged 24 points per game, including four games of 30-plus. And the Cavaliers have won five times in 12 games after winning only six of their first 24.

Buckner now does color commentary for the Indiana Pacers, who played Cleveland just before the trade and one week after.

“The difference was night and day,” Buckner said. “He had his own game, his own rhythm. It was his rhythm that they were playing to. I don’t think any other high school player has had to do that.”

After getting to know the skills, work ethic and poise of Bryant and Garnett, you’d have to think they could have if they’d been asked to. And would the Lakers or Timberwolves hand their franchise to James if they drafted him?

“You may not turn it over to him,” Buckner said. “But you’ve got to play him.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.