While the whole LeBron saga has been overblown and everyone's probably sick of it, I have a lot of thoughts on the situation that I wanted to discuss.
I am not sure if you're going to believe me, but right after the Cavs lost in the playoffs this year, I predicted he would land in Miami. I came to that conclusion because Wade seemed like the only one was going to recruit free agents to come to his team and the organization has a recently won a championship. Plus, it's freaking Miami beach.
As important as this announcement is for Miami, however, another critical question mark is who else will be on their team. Winning the championship is not going to be as easy as just showing up. You can't even pencil them into the Finals next year. The talent in the NBA right now is consolidating. In the East, I feel the current rank is Boston, Miami, Chicago, Orlando. In the West, it is the Lakers and then in distant second the Nuggets and Mavs. Should one of the three get injured for much of next year, the team's status would drop quite a bit. There is still a lot to learn about this team and how they will gel with their coach.
I don't feel too bad for the Cleveland fans. He gave them seven years and the team in return was not able to surround him with enough talent to win the championship. You can't blame him for leaving for "greedy reasons" because he would have made more money contractually by staying in Cleveland. Ultimately, his job and his goal is to win a title. His career is much more limited than the average person's due to physical limitations. If he has a better opportunity to win somewhere else, and accomplish his goal, it makes sense for him to leave. I'll allow you to be upset for the weekend about the public parade that he created to announce the decision - then get over that :) The people I do feel bad for is business owners near Quicken Loans Arena. They're going to lose a lot of business because of something they can't affect.
One writer on Sports Illustrated's website wrote a scathing article on ESPN's decision to produce a show for LeBron. He attacked the network's journalistic integrity and ridiculed how overblown the story has become. While I agree that parts of the show were questionable (allowing LeBron to hand pick his interviewer, calling him "King James" 10,000 times during the broadcast), they didn't shy away from the tough questions. They showed footage from Cleveland of people lighting his jersey on fire and asked for his reactions. If SI or any other sports news outlet was offered exclusivity to broadcast the event, there's no question they would've done it.
If Tom Izzo had gone the other way, what is he thinking tonight? It is kind of interesting that he left money on the table for a better chance at success and so did LeBron. Although, once LeBron starts winning championships, he is going to make way more money than he would have if he stayed in Cleveland and his championship drought continued.
What happens to the giant LeBron Nike billboard that is in Cleveland across from the arena? Is it still up? Did someone burn it down tonight?
5 comments:
I believe you when you say you predicted Miami...BUT YOU HAVE TO CALL IT!!! That would have been an awesome call.
Most experts have Miami as the 2nd or 3rd best team in the NBA already. Seems silly. I'm not sold on Bosh as being anything other than another Pao Gasol-type player (in other words, not the mega-superstar he seems to being portrayed as), and it remains to be seen how the three will coexist and operate.
And like you said, you need a supporting cast. They literally have no one else. Mario Chalmers is your point guard? Remember when he was busted for smoking pot with Beasley during his rookie year? Yeah, I want that guy running the ship.
Or rookies Dexter Pittman (you know, the fat guy from Texas) or De'Shaun Bulter, who just destroyed his knee in the NCAA tourny? You're going to consider them key pieces already?
As far as Cleveland goes, I agree with what Bill Simmons said: "It's one thing to leave. I get it. You're 25. You don't know any better. You're tired of carrying mediocre teams. You want help. You want the luxury of not having to play a remarkable game every single night for eight straight months. You want to live in South Beach. You want to play with your buddies. I get it. I get it. But turning that decision into a one-hour special, pretending that it hadn't been decided weeks ago, using a charity as your cover-up and ramming a pitchfork in Cleveland's back like it was the end of a Friday the 13th movie and Cleveland was Jason ... there just had to be a better way." It's going to take awhile for them to heel.
Maybe Wade/James/Bosh will make Chalmers into a better player, like Pierce/Garnett/Allen did for Rajon Rondo.
...Or maybe it will all blow up in their faces.
I still can't tell which one I'm rooting for yet.
I think I'm rooting for the blow-up. I just want to see what would happen.
I did call it - Stacey and I were out playing pool with some friends right after the Cavs lost to Boston. We were talking about where he would go and I said "Miami".
I agree that this had been decided for a while. I don't know if I believe the rumors that Wade was always going to Cleveland and used his presentations as a way to spy on what other teams were presenting.
I agree that LeBron's image will be tarnished, but I think Dan Gilbert's comments are making LeBron look better. It makes you realize how there wasn't a good relationship between the the front office and him.
Now I just need to verify with these so called "friends" that you did indeed call it.
Let me draft up some documents for them to sign verifying that they did hear you call it.
Of course these will have to be notarized. And I would prefer if my lawyers are present.
And if a detective comes to your door questioning you on your whereabouts the night of the last game of the Cavs-Celtics series, I hired him just to double-check your story. Not that I don't trust you...
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