TrueHoop isn’t fond of it.

There are fascinating elements of the James story that have not been told. He was an amateur high-school player worth millions, and for years he was on rails to be an NBA superstar. What was the role of William Wesley (whom James called, in a GQ article, a “great role model”?) How did James navigate that forest of those who congregated to influence him, give him things and skirt the rules? Can he tell us more about the fascinating character of his mother? Did he know Sonny Vaccaro, Phil Knight or any of the various other stars in the constellation of youth basketball? What kinds of overtures did he get from colleges? Did anyone ever offer to help him cheat on his SATs? How did agents, financial advisers and the like approach him? How did he build the most important financial relationship of his life, with Nike? How did he choose his first agent, Aaron Goodwin? How is it LeBron’s close friend Maverick Carter got a job at Nike while James was in school?

But James and Bissinger essentially passed. If you’re looking for a dose of reality, look elsewhere.

Instead we get some touching but shallow insight into how much he likes his friends. Some pretty basic denials of wrongdoing in the little controversies that were in the paper (the expensive Humvee he drove with no visible means of support, the retro jerseys he accepted as a gift) and a little story about getting in trouble for once smoking marijuana.

It’s safe to the point of glossy. Barack Obama, running for the highest office in the land, took more chances.

It shouldn’t be all that surprising that James took the safe way out. His persona is generally calculated and anytime he does speak off the cuff (not shaking hands after the Magic series, rooting for the Yankees, being loyal to Akron, etc.), he usually gets in trouble. Maybe we’ll get the real story in 10 or 20 years after he hangs ’em up.