LeBron James aims to be best of all time

LeBron James was the young star playing for his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. It seemed an ideal situation.

But after seven seasons of trying to bring a first championship to a benighted city, he bolted. He took what seemed the easy way out, joining two other elite players in Miami, and he announced it in the worst way possible – at the end of a ghastly and ill-considered half-hour television special named: The Decision.

NBA supporters turned on him overnight.

The day before The Decision, he was seen as a local kid willing to spend a career trying to win for Cleveland fans. The day after, he became just another pampered, ungrateful and out-of-touch superstar. He was a traitor and, too, his jump shot was weak, his sportsmanship shaky and his shying away from the final shot a given.

That was three and a half years ago. Only a trace of that animosity remains. Derision has been replaced by admiration for a player clearly at the pinnacle of the NBA.

He is the best player in the game, and maybe of a generation. But his ambition is to do more. “I want to be the greatest of all time,” he said in September. “It’s that simple. I’m far away from it, but I see the light.”

He has already been the league’s MVP four times. He has won two NBA championships, twice been the Finals MVP and has two Olympic gold medals. If he wins one more regular-season MVP he will join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Bill Russell (five) and Michael Jordan (five) as the only players in NBA history with five.

He turned 29 on Monday. James is a unique physical package, a freakish combination of size, strength and athleticism. Add that to his desire to be the best and you have a very special athlete.

Mike D’Antoni, the Los Angeles Lakers coach, was an assistant coach on the 2008 and 2012 US Olympic teams, and he has become a big fan.

“When your hardest worker is your best player, then your team is going to be really good,” D’Antoni said.

“And then the other thing is that he’s working on his game. He’s working on the low post. He’s working on his jump shot. He’s working every day as hard as he can.”

In James’s rookie season, he shot 41.7 per cent from the field. His shooting percentage has gone up eight consecutive seasons, though. He is making 59.2 per cent of his shots this season, fourth best in the league.

James said: “I have a drive that’s burning inside of me.”

He can become a free agent again at the end of the season, if he elects to pick up his early termination option. Unlike four years ago, however, James is not discussing his personal future.

“I never saw him leaving Cleveland, so I would never try to predict what he wants to do,” the NBA TV analyst Jeff Van Gundy told the Los Angeles Times. “But wherever he plays, they’re going to have the best player in the game.”

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Nepotism is the name of the game

Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

How to wear a kandura

Dos

Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts

Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying