Yes, I know that I'm a few days late. And yes, I know that I'm probably the 2,345,965th person to voice their opinion on the matter. But I was gonna post something anyway if he had picked the Bulls (which, as ESPN's Jon Barry said many times should have been the better choice. And it totally was! I hate Lebron.), so why not post something on him picking Miami as well. It was also the biggest moment in NBA free agency history and with all that happened since Thursday night, it makes it even harder not to write about the end of Lebronamania 2010. so here it is: my main six, in honor of James's newest jersey number (which he will wear in at least eighty times a year for the next six years):
After all, James humiliated the Cavaliers and city of Cleveland by announcing his decision to a nationwide audience on an exclusive one hour special. In fact, why have that one hour special, anyway? Why couldn't he just announce it at some press conference, on his Twitter account, or on YouTube? Did he really have to do it in front of millions watching at home? Shouldn't you have done that special if only to announce that you're coming back? It was as if the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers were a guy proposing to his longtime girlfriend in front of a very public place and James was that lifetime girlfriend who thought about it, then said no in front of all those people watching because she fell in love with a co-worker of hers.
He picked the interviewer (Jim Gray). He pretended that it was a very tough decision even though he showed no emotion while giving the announcement. Go ahead and YouTube that moment again. Even Bristol Palin was a better actor than James when he said it was a tough choice. And using the Boys and Girls Club of America as a shield as well as an excuse to make this special in the first place? Not cool.
He referred to himself in third person many times. He mentioned how loyal he is when he just finished announcing that he would be leaving his hometown tea., He caused what once his most loyal fans, the ones that stood behind him for all those years of not living up to his full potential, to burn his jersey (or any merchandise featuring him) and call him a traitor, joining him with Art Modell and John Elway on top of Cleveland sports fan's most hated people (as well as on the "Don't Come Back to Cleveland For the Sake of Your Life" list). He made his former team's owner go medieval on him in Comic Sans. He led multiple teams to believe that he will play for them where there were rumors for months that this would happen. Basically, it was everything that you could've hated of Lebron during his free agent search rolled into a sixty minute span. Overall, what James did was poorly done and was a terrible public relations moment on his part that will probably take years to fix (even though you could make the case that it wasn't a bad decision, considering how he now gets to play with Wade and Bosh instead of the C-level players in Cleveland).
2. Whatever the case was for James in the best NBA player debate has been destroyed to some degree. Let's take Michael Jordan's career as an example since that seems to be the person everyone has been comparing James to since high school. In 1990, Jordan (like James) also had a few years in a row in which carried a team deep into the playoffs but ultimately never could go far because of a few setbacks (for Jordan, it was those Bad Boy Pistons teams and for James it was Dwight Howard's Magic and the Big four in Boston). So what did Jordan do? Did he decide to join Magic's Lakers or Hakeem's Rockets? Did he decide to team up with his friend Charles Barkley in Philadelphia? Or did he want to join that Pistons team that gave him trouble the two years before?
No, Jordan stayed in Chicago and worked his ass off to try to one day beat the Pistons, to try to beat the Lakers and any top Western Conference team, and to lead Chicago on top of the NBA (which he did, by the way). Same with guys like Magic or Bird or even Russell. Lebron, however, went the other way. He just gave up on a shot to lead a team like the Cavs, Knicks or Bulls to a championship. Instead, he joined his Olympic team buddies Wade and Bosh (and maybe Chris Paul later if the rumors are true of that "pact" they made during the Redeem Team days) to get an easy road to the title, like he was one of those scrubs who joined the '07-'08 Celtics after the KG trade thinking that this was the only way they could possibly win a title.
3. So, now that the 6 years, $110 million contracts have been signed and all those sign and trades with Cleveland and Toronto are completed, the big question now is how successful will that threesome of Wade/Lebron/Bosh be in Miami. How many Finals appearances will they have? Will they win multiple titles? Will they become one of the greatest dynasties of all-time? Or will they bomb more than the English soccer team in the every World Cup since the 1970s?
First of all, let's get one thing straight: Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest of the early '10s Heat team will win at least one title. After all, if a team featuring a PG who was not even close to how good he is now, James Posey, Sam Cassell, and three big stars who were slightly past their primes won an NBA title three seasons ago, then so will this Heat team. But for the short term, I still don't see it. After all, they will probably have one of the league's weakest bench (unless Mike Miller becomes Sixth Man of the Year and Da'Sean Butler plays a Rookie of the Year caliber season), and you need a good one to survive in the league or else it's an insult to guys like Manu Ginobili during most of the Spurs title runs this decade or David Robinson in '99. Also, are they really a better team than the two-time defending champion Lakers, the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics, the Magic or even the Bulls now that they've filled added some shooters and filled their PF hole? I don't think so. And what happens if one of the big three (especially James or Wade) get injured? I don't think I'm ready to give them the title just yet.
(By the way, that was my best Jay Marrioti impressive in that last paragraph. Hope you enjoyed it.)
4. Back to the Cleveland sports fans for a moment: is there any other possible way these loyal fans can suffer any worse? They've already had more named game losses than any other city in the country (The Drive, Red Right 88, The Shot and The Fumble to name a few) and had more heartbreak losses than most cities (like Game 7 of the '97 World Series) and had their beloved football team moved because the owner desperately wanted a new stadium only to see that team win a Super Bowl five years later and haven't won anything since the Otto Graham days and saw their baseball team trade away two Cy Young winning pitchers in a twelve month span. Now they just saw the city's most popular personality (a hometown hero by the way) go away in favor of getting an easy championship, losing the city's only chance to see a championship there for the next few years and adding "The Decision" into the named sports sufferings list). Not only that, but it happened on a primetime special for God's sakes! I've never been a fan of Cleveland sports before and have only once been to NE Ohio, but even I hope to see Dan Gilbert's promise of the Cavs winning before the self-titled former King come true next season.
5. You know what Lebron's decision really means do you? It means that Stephen A. Smith beats ESPN (who probably feels as embarrassed in not finding out first first as when Jay Glazer reported that Brett Favre was traded to the Jets in '08 before them), NBA TV, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo and every other reporter and rest of media in the country in claiming the "I found out through my sources that Lebron is coming to Miami first" competition by telling his radio show listeners Monday of last week . That's right, Stephen A. Smith, Mr. "Quite Frankly" himself! Let that sink in for a moment.
Alright, so I guess there's nothing to do except to congratulate Stephen A. He did get it right after all and that should be applauded. It also gives me a chance to randomly show you this hilarious video, so I should thank him for that, too. Enjoy:
6. I actually have more than one just six thoughts on this topic. But for the purposes of this post, here's all of them crammed together into one section:
a. I wasn't able to find watch "The Decision" live because I had to spend time at O'Hare airport going through customs and finding my suitcases since I just arrived from Europe then. But, I was able to see a replay of it a day later thanks to the glorious invention that is YouTube. And as someone who regularly watches TV, I have to say that that was probably the worst and most awkward hour of TV I've ever seen. Everyone involved in it was terrible: Michael Wilbon, Jon Barry, Stuart Scott, Jim Gray with his soft questions and especially Lebron James. I don't want to say that was the worst hit an athlete had to his brand that didn't involve sex or an arrest, but it's right at the top. It was way too long and boring. Overall, it made the American Idol Results Shows look like the Kennedy Center Honors.
b. The attention and media scrutiny that will be put on this team this year and as long as the James/Wade/Bosh trio stays together will be unlike anything we have ever seen. If they lose their first four games this season, ESPN will treat it like the apocalypse. If they don't win multiple titles, it will be an embarrassing and unforgiving thing for them to do. If they however go on and win a bunch of games, than they will be treated by gods (at least in both Bristol and South Beach). And let's not forget about the scrutiny that will be put on #6! He's the main reason why this scrutiny will be placed, so expect him to have more media attention put on him them any member on the team. So, in other words, get ready for the media to cover this team in unprecedented and potentially revolutionary ways from beginning (probably as early as training camp) to the end (whenever that happens).
c. Besides Atlanta, is there any group of fans more undeserved to get this break than Miami sports fans? Not only are they a football town, but these are the same "fans" that rarely get twenty thousand to watch a Marlins game or could sell out tickets last year to Heat games, even when they played the Cavs or Magic (unless they were in the playoffs, of course). In other words, I don't think so.
d. While I understand Dan Gilbert's angry response (linked earlier), this is the same owner of the team that took too late to try to get James a supporting cast, instead giving the "Chosen One" a team whose best players included Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao and an aging Shaq. He's also the same guy who waited until after "The Decision" to criticize his performance in the playoffs, using the time before it to mostly beg James to come back. So, until the Cavs do end up winning before Lebron, let's not call him a hero just yet.
e. Looking on the bright side, this new Big Three in Miami finally gives something the NBA has been lacking for many years: the league's version of "The Evil Empire," or the team that every non-Heat fan will love to hate or see get beaten. Anytime you have something like that in your league is always going to be a good thing. After all, just look at how better the MLB is when the Yankees are winning, or the NFL when the Patriots and Raiders are winning.
f. I wonder how long the Heat will play with Eric Spolstra as their head coach. After all, the Hall of Famer Pat Riley is right there to take his place just in case he does anything short of a great job. Let's say the Heat start going on a losing streak in the beginning or middle of the season, or let's say that he doesn't win a title with this team by 2012. Will the team still keep him by them? I sincerely doubt it right now.
f. I wonder how long the Heat will play with Eric Spolstra as their head coach. After all, the Hall of Famer Pat Riley is right there to take his place just in case he does anything short of a great job. Let's say the Heat start going on a losing streak in the beginning or middle of the season, or let's say that he doesn't win a title with this team by 2012. Will the team still keep him by them? I sincerely doubt it right now.
g. It's finally over! At last, it's finally over!
So, yeah, I'm back from vacation. Hope you had some good three weeks off! And enjoy the FIFA World Cup Final, everybody!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you want to suggest anything to mj15 for his next blog entry (tips, perhaps?), e-mail him at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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