Anyone remember this? For those of you that don't know, this was taken at a Yankees/Indians play off game. I called the feact that he was leaving this day. Sorry Mad, but he nexver did give a shit about your city or your team. He just happened to be drafted by a team an hour from his home. Much like you, Model, and anyone else of moderate intelligence he got the fuck out.
Nice job Gilbert. Even if he apologizes, everybody now knows one of the reasons Lebron wanted out of Cleveland. And good luck signing another Free Agent. EVER. James wanted to play with Wade and Bosh. It's that simple. It wasn't about the money, it was about winning. And like Ochocinco said this morning: If you leave as a FA, you're a coward and a traitor. But if you get old or injured and they cut you, "Hey...it's just business".
It's the way he did it that is so appalling. An hour long live show for him to shit on his hometown? Does he realize the ramifications this will have? Over/under on how many days before his mom's house gets looted?
This very point is what makes Lebron different from a majority of Northeast Ohioans. I'm 32 years old, and I've rooted for a championship in ANY sport since I can remember for Cleveland teams. My dad hasn't seen a championship since he was a teenager. We're bred to follow the Browns, Cavs, and Indians much like Bostonians, New Yorkers, and Chicago based fans. We put so much support into a winning franchise that its unbelievable. We got pissed when The Sporting News declared Boston as the most tortured sports towns at the beginning of the Millinium because the Sox hadn't broken the curse. Who cares if they were currently carrying the Super Bowl trophy? We get pissed off at the fans that just celebrated a championship in the last 5 years (I'm looking at you, Miami.) saying how this is all you long for. We've watched numerous "superstars" shuttle off to other cities "to make more money at behest of the players' union". We watched our team win another Super Bowl for a different city. When you ask me whether Lebron is a true Clevelander, I'd say no. He's always rooted for the Cowboys and the Yankees (2 front runners when he hit puberty). He makes out the city like we're there for him. Truth be told, he's a cog. He's the means to the end. He's gone. We'll move on. I watched him give up against Boston, and if anybody disagrees with me, I'll refer you to Reggie Miller and his 8 points in 16 seconds of an NBA playoff game as it drew to a close. I knew he was gone at that moment because his body language said it all. He lost confidence in his abilities to lead a team to the championship. I watched him win 2 MVP's and lay caution to the wind that he was taking too much out in the regular season and not saving it for postseason. He'll probably win one in Miami, but he won't lead them to one. If he was a true Clevelander, he would realize that (given the chance) any of us would do our damnedest to lead these franchises to the promised land. The only difference is that he had the ability to do it, and chose the easy way out. I hope a gator pops out this weekend and gnaws off James', Wade's, and Bosh' ankles. But only after they sign there contracts.
Yeah he completely left them in the dark is what seemed to have happened. In the decision the guy interviewing him asked who knew and lebron said very few, only enough to count on one hand then he went on to ask if the team knew and lebron replied with something along the lines of they just found out so it comes off as he only told miami. So what it seems is that he only told probably his mom and a select few friends then the Heat themselves right before the show.
Actually Roy, if he was a true Clevelander he would never win anything. Dan Gilbert didn't help any. Hell yeah, we are going to get you Shaq! A 40 year old 400 lb man that was good ten years ago. They had LeBron James and a bunch of mediocore players for 7 years.
That Cleveland team was almost doomed from the start. They tried to win it all instantly, instead of being patient. Almost every move Gilbert and the Cavs made was for the Now, with a wonton disregard for the Future. For comparisons sake, look at how OKC has built around Durant -- smart, tactical decisions that have enabled them to surround KD with young players that fit his style of play, all the while making sure not to take on bad contracts and collecting first round picks and other desirable assets that make them enticing trading partners. Enabling those young guys to grow together has been something to watch, and they are indeed the NBA Team of the Future.
The problem with the Cavs doing that WAS LBJ. Every year that they didn't win a title, LBJ would bitch that he didn't have the guys around him to do it, and basically forced the Cavs to play for now every single year. The truth is that it was the ONLY way they had a chance to keep him... if they'd have tried a slow build with a player like LBJ, it would just be getting to the point now where they could contend, but it wouldn't change the fact that he went into free agency at the same time as Wade and Bosh, and without any titles, he would want to play with Wade and Bosh. All it would have done is left the Cavs with a team built around a superstar, except they wouldn't have a superstar.
Word. Very few people realize this, but when Tim Duncan has played most of his career for considerably less than market value, allowing the Spurs to afford to keep homegrown players Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili when their rookie deals expired. The model for this kind of attitude was, of course, David Robinson who once had a contract that would have made him a free agent every year for four years if he wasn't one of the two highest-paid players in the league. He willingly walked away from that cash cow and signed a contract that gave the Spurs the ability to project and plan for a team built around a franchise player. Lebron James is so far removed from that kind of "winning" attitude that it would surprise me less if Miami Thrice won zero championships in the next five years than if they won five straight. Honestly, I don't find his desire to win in Miami as distasteful as the implication that it was Cleveland's fault the Cavs didn't win with him in the lineup. Personally, I chalk that up to the echo-chamber thinking that's inevitable when you surround yourself with poorly-educated high-school graduates in lieu of seasoned advisors. When the Heat start struggling (and believe me, they'll struggle at times with whatever pastiche roster they cobble together this summer from the D-League bin) it won't be but a matter of minutes until someone on Team Lebron starts leaking word about how Miami didn't "build a contendor" for the King. And for whoever said earlier that Miami is somehow now more attractive for veterans willing to take less money? In short: no. The current state of the NBA is one in which role-playing veterans are often times already priced out because of max contracts for the superstars. If offered the opportunity to earn $1.8M in Miami vice earning $2.3M with the Clippers or Grizzlies...expect said player to jump for the cash. Miami may be able to get to a six-man rotation with questionable journeymen like Mike Miller, but half of their team is going to be bottom-of-the-barrell pickings because the quality of players they'd need to furnish a deep playoff run are the same players that don't have the luxury of taking a one-year deal in the hopes they can win a ring. So basically, expect the Miami Heat starting lineup to feature Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, Chris Bosh...and Mikki Moore. God, I got a hard on just writing that last sentence.
I am curious about something else: how well will Erik Spoelstra be able to handle these three guys? I don't know much about him, but I do know that he is one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA. I imagine that this will be a big learning experience for him.
Dan Gilbert's letter was one of the most deranged, idiotic, and hilarious press releases I have ever read. Just take a gander at some of this; So...he wants to assassinate LeBron James? He's even quoting the Steven Seagal film "Hard to Kill"! Anyways, the most important thing I took away from the whole LeBron saga is how insanely entitled and frankly, fucking pathetic many sports fans are. Just because James happened to be born in Akron, the entire Cavaliers franchise owns him, body and soul, for the duration of his career? He has no human right, as a free agent, to play where he wants to? Listen, NBA franchises cold-heartedly trade loyal, stand-up character guys ALL THE DAMN TIME, and no one has a problem with it. They lie and blindside their players a million times worse than James ever did to the Cavaliers. And yet, no one has a problem with it. God forbid a player exercise those same rights. As for the television special, it ended up being a horrible decision, but I understand the motivation. It's the same thing that was behind Ali's rants, Kobe's insane video complaints about the Lakers, or any other all-time great, slightly insane, self-obsessed athlete; he was promoting himself and his brand. That's it. All these morons crying because a rich athlete decided to go where he thinks it's better (you know, sort of like how workers have the right to choose their place of employment...something which evidently doesn't extend to James?) are absolutely pathetic. It's an easy bandwagon to jump on (LeBron is evil! LeBron is traitor!), but it's also complete, fuzzy thinking bullshit.
I don't see how Pat Riley is not coaching this team at some point during next season. I don't think he will be able to stop himself.
The operative difference here is that James willfully and deliberately invites comparisons to Michael Jordan, a guy that won championships with arguably less talented supporting players on his teams beyond Scottie Pippen and won for the same franchise that drafted him. You can't hold yourself out to be the heir to His Airness unless you're going to win titles the same way. No one is giving Chris Bosh shit for wanting to play for a better franchise, and I think few people outside of Miami would be gripping if Wade decided to bolt to play with either of those guys in a different city. But then again, neither one of those dudes calls themselves "King" or has "Chosen 1" tattooed across their back. The criticism is fair, if a bit surprising. But he brought a lot of it on himself in this case.
Completely agree with you there. However, I wasn't writing about whether going to Miami was the best decision from a legacy perspective (it definitely wasn't), but about the insane vitriol I've seen from basketball fans and idiot sports writers alike. Actually, a lot of Toronto fans are doing precisely that. Granted, it's not as shrill since Bosh is nowhere near the stratosphere of fame or even greatness that James is, and he didn't make it a prime time television event, but it's there. That's not true at all. I remember when Wade was unhappy with the guys on his team, and openly talked about signing with another franchise, there was a lot of hate from self-entitled Miami fans. And while his ability is comparable to that of James, Wade is nowhere near as famous, nor are the basketball fans in his city so over-obsessed with "their team".
It wasn't so much that LeBron left, but the WAY that he left. What he should have done: Informed the Cavs of his decision, then put out a press release saying that he thanks the fans of Cleveland for their support, but it is time for him to move on and try to win a title elsewhere. Cleveland fans would be upset, but they wouldn't be nearly as upset as they were with the way things went down. Instead, what he did was put on one big one hour middle finger to Cleveland. The reality is that Cleveland, as a city and the Cavs as an organization, just spent the last seven years sucking LeBron's proverbial cock at every turn. To say that he was their golden child would be an understatement. LeBron could do absolutely no wrong in that town. If Kobe had given up in a playoff game the way LeBron did? He'd have so many Laker fans up his ass he'd be walking sideways. What other athlete could give up in a playoff game the way LeBron did, and have all of his fans and his organization still absolutely dying to kiss his ass? And in return, LeBron didn't even have the common decency to call the president of the Cavs himself to tell him his decision before announcing it on live TV. Think of it this way: you start dating a woman, and she is amazing. She is perfect for you. You would do anything just to make her happy and keep you around. You spend years catering to her every whim, in the hopes that one day she'll marry you. Then, she goes on national live television and says "yeah, I'm leaving you, and going with John." It is just the absolute most bullshit way to leave an organization. One of the arguments for LeBron going the way he did, is that organizations trade and cut players every day. But my question is this: when is the last time an organization called ESPN to ask for one hour of television time to announce that they were trading a superstar player to another organization, or cutting a superstar? Cliff Lee just got traded to the Texas Rangers, and it was just announced to the press. You think of the Vikings decided to trade Bret Favre that they would call a one hour ESPN special to do it? No, they'd just do it and announce it via press conference or press release. More importantly, when a guy is traded, 9 times out of 10, the owner or the GM of the team will call the guy and tell him he has been traded or cut. They don't tell him "well, watch ESPN at 8 and you'll find out if we traded or cut you." Now, let me reiterate this: I don't hate LeBron. I think he is very charismatic, and he is a likable guy when he wants to be. I don't want him to win, but that is because I am a Bulls fan, and I want to see the Bulls win. I think he has an absolutely mammoth ego, and I think he has handled this entire free agency poorly. If he HAD decided to go to the Bulls (which I didn't see happening, even if I did hope for it), I could still understand Cleveland's anger if he had announced it on a live TV special. The TV special was just a huge mistake, and it rubbed a lot of people, especially in Cleveland, the wrong way.
And he should have done it much, much sooner. Think about how bad he really fucked them: Not only do they lose their franchise player, but he waited until Stoudamire, Bosh, DWade, Joe Johnson, etc were all off the table. There goes plan B! The Cavs will have his money to offer someone, but who?
I guess that depends on how petty they are. Given how the owner went nuts, they may try to find anyone that is thinking of signing with the Heat, then spend the money to try to steal them away. However, you're right about the timing, the Cavs are fucked. At the same time, there are a few teams who were wooing LeBron that now have a decent amount of cap space to play with. Miami is stuck signing guys for the minimum, while teams like Chicago, New Jersey, and Cleveland can make better offers. That is why I think Miami's bench is going to be awful. The fact is that there are now teams out there with a lot of money to spend, and more importantly, said teams are desperate to do something since they missed out on all the big names, so they'll likely over pay a bit to get some help.
The television special turned out to be a horrible decision, but it was completely consistent with everything we know about LeBron...and what people WANTED him to be. He's a larger-than-life persona who promotes himself and his brand like no other. That's what these same fans craved and appreciated for the 7 years he played for the Cavs. Only, once he leaves, that same character trait is suddenly indicative of "cowardly betrayal", Of course he was going to delay the decision to create extra drama, and get more mainstream publicity. There would still be plenty of hatred from these Ohio nutcases if James had announced his departure the same way Bosh did. (hell, there is hatred from Toronto fans towards Bosh right now) Furthermore, to act shocked that James would do this on national television, given who he is, is laughably dumb. Another thing I have taken away from this saga is how completely fucking pathetic most people in Ohio are, that they have nothing more worthwhile in their lives than placing so much of their emotions and self-worth into a freaking sports team.
KIMaster, I believe anyone and everyone can reserve the right to act shocked when someone pulls an enormously dick move. We should never not act shocked when someone pulls an enormous dick move. We shall all stare and point and say "Holy fucking shit, that's a huge ginormous dick move." Kyle Korver to the Bulls, and we might be getting J.J. Reddick. Chicago is fucking ready, yes sir.
So...how is it a dick move, again? I follow Utah, so I have seen a fair amount of Korver during the last couple of seasons. He is mostly washed up; horrible defense, non-existent rebounding, and slower than ever getting in his shot off. His shooting percentages this past season are a little misleading, because so many of his three pointers were in garbage time. Still, Rose, Noah, and Boozer are a terrific trio, easily good for 55-60 wins and one of the top three teams in the East. (Along with Miami, and Orlando/Boston)