Why LeBron made the only choice that made sense.
by Irv Soonachan
It’s been established over the past few weeks – for those who hadn’t already noticed — that LeBron James is a narcissistic, supercilious spoiled brat whose delusions of grandeur would make Napoleon blush. He played it left-hand but made it too far.
But another part of the story is equally clear: LeBron came to the only conclusion possi
ble when he decided on Miami. Most of the arguments why he should have stayed are bunk. Such as:
1. He’s not a real superstar because he didn’t stay in Cleveland to win a title “on his own,” or the “Magic and Larry stuck it out” argument.
Magic and Larry were drafted by teams run by people with unassailable credibility: Red Auerbach and Jerry West. Both teams had the No. 1 overall pick within three years of drafting their respective stars. The Celtics traded their pick for two future Hall of Famers: Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The Lakers drafted future Hall of Famer James Worthy, creating a starting lineup featuring three former No.1 overall picks with Kareem at center. Both Magic and Bird walked into situations where they were surrounded by talent. It’s usually not possible to win an NBA title without two or three near-their-prime Hall of Famers. The Cavs never cleared that hurdle, and aren’t anywhere close. Did Bird and Magic make their teammates better? Absolutely. But were their teammates awfully good on their own? Make no mistake about it.
Let’s not confuse Jabbar, Worthy, McHale and Parish with Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison or Anderson Varejao. And you wouldn’t want to confuse West, Auerbach or Pat Riley with Danny Ferry or Jim Paxson in a card game, either.
2. He could have signed with the Cavs for four or five more years and still had time to leave and start over.
The Cavs have shown no ability to put together a solid front office. Will owner Dan Gilbert ever hire anybody as proven as Riley to run things? If he hasn’t so far, it doesn’t seem likely.
And tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. High school-to-pro phenoms can age quickly after years of wear and tear. Look at Kevin Garnett and Moses Malone, both Hall of Fame caliber players: By 33 they looked 40.
3. LeBron should have stayed to help his hometown.
If I were 25, still lived my hometown and had never gone away to college or lived apart from my family, and somebody offered to move me to Miami … not that I don’t love my family or my hometown, but I’d be on the next bus. Wouldn’t you?
Granted, even if I could walk across Lake Erie I wouldn’t market myself with as much religious imagery as LeBron has… he shares responsibility for the trope about Saving Cleveland.
I’m not a LeBron apologist. I’ve spent time in the Cavs locker room over the years, and can definitively say that his hubris these last few weeks was not an act. But he came to the only decision he could: The Cavs are unlikely to improve with Gilbert as owner. If you want to blame someone, blame the enabler who let LeBron act like a (gifted) child, while surrounding him with sub-par personnel. Which might explain why Gilbert is shouting the loudest against LeBron.
On the flipside, Riley had the catbird seat from the very start. He had a man on the inside (Dwyane Wade), whom nobody else did. He brings stability to the Heat front office, while his competition either didn’t have long-term execs or were searching for new execs simultaneously to recruiting LeBron. Florida has no state income tax, giving the Heat flexibility in negotiations. From every angle, it would have been hard – and probably the wrong move — for LeBron to say no to Miami .
So here’s hoping that being a 25-year-old gazillionaire celebrity in South Beach works out for LeBron, and maybe teaches him a little humility. Or at least works out for him.
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their problem was they didn’t live to their expectations in the post season behind their leader, the King
and when you claim that you’re the King, you’re supposed to act like that a 25 regular man would move to Miami but not the two time MVP of the league who could take a trip to the city every time he wants i’m not sayin’ he had to stay in Cleveland but he had other options where he could have been the leader, the player all of us wanted him to be, the player all of us are waitin’ to take over
but
10 pts in the fourth
with 15 friggin rebounds. no quitin, just finding ways to win the game if one aspect(offense) is not fallin.
the team mirrored their leader. Just the way it is.
Yesterday at 8:41 AM | Back to Blog Posts | RSS » | Edit_sm Edit Post | Delete Delete Post
Report a Violation Why Lebron James is no longer one of the Top 10 players in the NBA… I imagine a lot of people are tired of the Lebron James story. Not! In my 23 years of life, this is the first time I see an athlete who used to be beloved by many and respected by all, be turned on in such a public way. From the ESPY’s to Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon, jus the mention of his name produces boo’s as if he actually did something to those people personally. Does he deserve this treatment? I mean its not like he committed a crime or anything. Are people out of line here? Well, in my humble opinion, NO they are not. Wait.. Wait. Wait. Tranquilo bobi. Don’t stop reading now, just hear me out. (I speak spanglish deal with it, more is coming.) Like I noted previously, I’m 23 years old, born in upstate New York, but left at 2 years old to be raised in South Florida. Yup. Yup. Raised in Miami- Wade (Dade) and Broward County. You really can’t be more South Florida than me. Attended 4 years at Florida International University located on Calle 8. The same street Chris Bosh will be buying his cafecito from. Being a South Florida boy, you would think by default I would be ecstatic about having Lebron James on the Miami Heat. And to some degree apart of me loves the idea of having him apart of the squad. Especially, the part of me that loves to party and stay up till that sun comes up. With all do respect to all the major cities in this country. No city throws down like Miami dejame decirte, pero of course I am a bit bias. Nonetheless, I said just APART of me was happy he was here. The other part of me, the part of loves the game of basketball, not just the NBA, but the game itself. Yeah that part of me, which holds a greater part of my heart in this topic, hates the fact he became a Miami Heatian. Its pretty ironic if you think about it. He choose to play for the only city that really didn’t care if they had him or not. I don’t want to sound like a broken record by saying the same things other sports journalists have mentioned like, “He will destroy his legacy by joining the Heat” or he is a “quitter,” because who am I to criticize his decision. So I’m going to keep the rest of my opinion to myself. But that’s no fun. I mean this is my first blog entry ever in life. Might as well, desquitarmelo. (Google it.) Look the sports writers, journalists, bloggers, whoever the heck they are, are right, sort of. His “legacy” is obviously, tainted to the degree that he will never be “the man” who led the Heat to a NBA championship. Even if he does lead the Heat in every category possible, this will always be D. Wades’s team. Especially, for us the people of South Florida. There’s only one first time and D. Wade was the one who pop Miami’s NBA championship cherry. Too much? My point is “Flash” was the one who led the Heat to their first championship and as long as he is on the team he will always be the darling, the main man, the “Jordan,” if you will, in our eyes and for that matter I think everyone else’s eyes, also. Lebron wants to win a championship and now that he is in Miami we all expect them to win, eventually. Hell for the first time it seems like, Lebron and Chris Bosh expect to win. I say that in the intro it kind of came off their like Chris and Lebron never ever expected to win with their former teams. A lit surprising for me to hear when you consider the Cavaliers did have the best record for the past two seasons. Pero co~no I have to say if they don’t win with the team. Well, then I’m sorry my friend but Mr. James really is cursed, with a team that loaded with talent. I betting even David Stern would bet on them, if wasn’t the commissioner of course. Just to give out my prediction real quick I think they get three, but that’s just me. And like me, they are many other people that feel like, there no surprise if they win I mean there they are “Three Kings.” Us Latinos, we love the Three Kings. On January 6, many of us leave grass in a shoe box or container with water on the side, so when the Kings finally do arrive on their horses they have something to feed the horses with for traveling around the world. I bet you PETA doesn’t do that. This version of the “Three Kings” may not bring us presents, but if they bring us championships, I guess that will do. Nonetheless, the world is expecting them to win multiple rings and who can blame them. They will be great. They have one of the top three players in the league in “Dwaynelius” Wade and two other players who are in the top twenty. I‘ll get into that a bit later. (For the record, Dwaynelius is D. Wade’s greek mythological name.) The funny thing is Lebron James unlike, Bosh and Wade had the most to lose and did lose. Regardless if or better said when he wins his rings on the basketball court, he already lost in the court of public opinion. What did he lose? Respect.
No let me take that back. A LOT OF RESPECT. By just not the casual fan, but more importantly by people who more than the NBA, love the game of basketball. Integrity man, that what you showed you didn’t have at the end of the day. Harsh huh? I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I am trying to be honest with myself. Before he announced he was coming I really didn’t think much of Lebron James. He was never particularly my favorite player. Doesn’t mean I didn’t respect the man’s game. He is beyond skillful and talented, blah blah blah, and you know that good stuff. But I got to tell you he lost the respect of fans, and I’m sure players, alike who could care less about smoke coming out from the stages during the introduction of the “New Big Three” in the Triple A. The game is about, in my humble opinion of course, is about winning the right way. Yes, there is winning the wrong way as stupid as that sounds. Look I don’t know about other people, but when I play a pick up game of basketball I enjoying being on a team that does not necessarily have the best players in terms of basketball skills. Why you ask? Because the feeling of beating a team that’s loaded with talent is so much sweeter, than being on a team that is loaded talent. Pick up basketball is not that same as the NBA. I’m not kidding myself, but if I do lose with my less talented team, I’m the first one to call for a rematch. YOU DON’T GIVE UP ON YOUR TEAM and that’s what Lebron James did. And I hate that I’m using the word “quit” when describing Lebron. I like don’t too, but I got too call like it is. He quit on his teammates, and great players make the players around them better. You instill that confidence in them and if that team, that franchise, was built around you finish constructing what you yourself said you were going to do. I repeat what I said before, where was his integrity? And I solely mean on a competitive level. I use to date a girl, a cute little cubanita, who would tell me “Lo que se empieza se termina,.” “Whatever it is you start you finish” and the fact is that he didn’t finish what he started and that’s why I think there is ,such a gigantic disgust and backlash against Lebron, apart from the obvious reasons, of course. Which leads me to the title of the blog. The whole Lebron James decision allowed me to have a new found respect for players like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone , John Stockton, and every other great player who stuck it out with their team, but was never able to bring a championship to their cities and franchises that supported them and built around them. By LeBron James going to Miami it shows how difficult it is win a championship. By those other guys staying with their teams in their prime, it shows you how much more harder it is to stick out with a team that relies on you to lead them to a championship. Furthermore, it shows what guts and self belief each one of those legends had in themselves and in their teams to stay in their respective franchises. I know eventually, when they got older some of them left to try to win a ring someone place else, but the fact that they gave their best years to those franchises that consciously built around them. That is worth great admiration and respect. Even in today’s game with players Dirk Nowitzski and Steve Nash, who are at the end of their careers, not in the sense that their production is decreasing, they still want that shot at bringing championships to Dallas and Phoenix and they believe they. Is that not the reason why you play the game? “You play to win the game!” I respect the fact that those guys truly believe in their teammates and they want to win for their cities who gave them their chance. Look I don’t blame Lebron for wanting to play alongside D. Wade and Chris Bosh, but I do blame him for not believing in himself and just as important his teammates enough, in thinking they can beat Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Its because the lack of self belief that I believe Lebron James can no longer be considered one of the top players in the game. The TOP 10 players in the NBA who are currently better than LeBron James, my humble opinion, go as follows: Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzski, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo. Those 10 guys may not necessarily beat Lebron James in a game of one on one game, but the greatest ones are not the ones who want to beat you one on one. The great one are the ones that want lead their team in beating your team. I’m just saying. And to add as a final point I know none of those guys do it by themselves. They all have tremendous help and some nights they are not even the best player on their team. But you know what they all have in common? This fall they will all be LEADING their teams in a pursuit of a NBA title this year and that’s something Lebron James may never have the distinct honor of having again, but then again maybe he never wanted too.
yeh kobe shot bad in game 7, but look at the rest of the playoffs, like against UTAH, and PHEONIX. and kobe does so much more for the lakers then just stats, just the fact that he’s double teamed opens up so many things for the others. And the 3 chips, without kobe non of the 3 would have been possible either so dont bring your stupidity here.
Otherwise, it’s made me realize how much people get outraged over things I don’t care about. Lebron’s not doing it “the right way?” He didn’t stare long and hard at his ‘What Would Jordan Do’ bracelet? I don’t care. The Heat are gonna be entertaining as hell to watch.
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