NBA: Miami gets glimpse of the Future

He waits, and as the poor Italian journalist tries to stammer out a question in somewhat broken English, the Future patiently waits for the question -- whatever it is -- to be asked.

The moment drags on, until finally the poor journalist is escorted away by an NBA official.

"What did he say?" the Future asks.

When the reply comes back that the journalist wanted an autograph -- a no-no in professional locker rooms -- the Future laughs.

"What, did he want me to sign some black socks? Can I get a black marker for that?" the Future says as he pulls his Cleveland Cavaliers practice shirt over his mouth.

And then he cracks up. Remember, the Future is just 18-year-old.

Meet LeBron James. Maybe you've heard of him.

The Cavaliers' rookie sensation visited American Airlines Arena on Wednesday night to show the struggling Miami Heat what hope looks like.

And to the people of Cleveland and the rest of the NBA, it looks like a 6-foot-8 playmaker who wasn't even born the last time Dr. J won an NBA title.

Though the Heat managed to pull out a 88-83 victory, remember, James is the Future. Right now, his present isn't too great.

The Cavaliers fell to 2-6 and lost their 25th straight road game dating back to last season.

For James and the NBA, the results this year are almost beside the point. The next six months are about brand-building.

The Rolling Stones -- and Michael Jordan for that matter -- go on farewell tours all the time.

James' rookie season is more a year-long debutante ball.

The Heat gave away T-shirts as a promotion to many of the 15,329 in attendance, but many treated the shirts as hand warmers while wearing white Cavaliers jerseys with the number 23 on them.

James proved to be as good as advertised, scoring 18 points and grabbing 7 rebounds while making a couple of dazzling plays.

"I thought I played well," James said. "I was disappointed we didn't get the win. But we got a lot of stops defensively so that shows we're improving."

Yet he's still a rookie, as his four turnovers and 6-for-15 shooting performance suggest. And at times James was outshone by Heat rookie guard Dwayne Wade, who scored 14 points and handed out five assists.

"Me and him in the same boat, two-guards trying to play the point," James said of Wade. But that's where the similarities end.

Wade doesn't have to sneak in and out of malls with his cap pulled down over his eyes.

Wade's teammates don't have to answer endless questions about their prized rookie.

Ask Cavs' guard Ricky Davis about the ratio between number of questions he gets about the team and the number he gets about James, and he practically rolls his eyes.

"It's about three to one," Davis says.

Which one is the three, James or the team?

"Which one do you think?" Davis asks with a laugh.

And the weird thing is, James is prepared. Well, as much as anyone who spent last fall traveling the country with his high school team can be.

"I'm supposed to be the best player to ever come out, I'm supposed to help my team win every night," James said. "They want me to go out and score 50 points and excite the crowd."

And if he doesn't?

"That's the thing about the NBA, you have another game tomorrow night," said James, whose team plays in Boston on Saturday. "We'll get there."

For the NBA, the Future can't get here fast enough.