While We’re Waiting… NBA Rumors, Bosh Analysis, and Media Shifting
July 7, 2010Rangers 12 Indians 1: Scary Fall Overshadows Game
July 7, 2010
The plot is beginning to take shape and the end game of the 2010 free agency situation is starting to come into focus. The question everyone wants to know is, will we be happy or will we be devastated?
This morning we might have some more clues to consider. ESPN’s Chris Broussard is reporting that Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are indeed teaming up in Miami. Yes, this is the same Chris Broussard who reported that Wade, Bosh, and LeBron met in Miami (which has since been refuted) and who reported that the Raptors would do a sign and trade with Cleveland if Bosh was on board. He reported that he thought Bosh would eventually warm up to playing in Cleveland before reporting that Bosh was never going to agree to Cleveland. So take it for what it’s worth.
The important thing to consider is whether or not LeBron follows them to Miami. It’s certainly possible, but it just doesn’t feel like that is where this story is headed. I feel like whatever LeBron does, he’s going to want to carve out his own legacy. I could spend an hour convincing myself in either direction, but I’m just not sold on the idea of LeBron wanting to be a part of that triangle in Miami. I could certainly be wrong about this, but with Bosh and Wade going to Miami, I feel better than ever about LeBron’s odds of returning to Cleveland.
The main reason is that Bosh and Wade being together in Miami doesn’t dramatically shift the balance of power in the East. The Heat still have a lot of work to do to fill out their roster, and Bosh and Wade alone with a bunch of mid level and vet min players isn’t going to make them automatically better than Cleveland, Boston, or Orlando. The Cavaliers have been on the brink the past 2 seasons, and nothing that has happened to threaten the Cavs place with LeBron. Amare doesn’t make the Knicks better than the Cavs, I don’t feel there’s anyone left who makes the Bulls automatically better than Cleveland, and same with the Nets.
Finally, there’s this business about the ESPN special. Many will scoff at this and LeBron is taking an absolute beating from a PR standpoint over this. The question I have, though, is why? With the exception of the Larry King interview, LeBron has remained completely silent throughout this process. Any talk of this whole thing being about stroking his ego and building his hype has been completely unfair.
I’m as guilty of it as anyone, as I’ve written some harsh things about this process over the summer. But the reality is that it was more about my own exhaustion over the ubiquitous media coverage than it was about LeBron himself. We have seen more direct quotes from Wade, Bosh, and Amare this summer than we have from LeBron. The problems we have are our own self righteousness and our desperate need for LeBron to do everything the exact same way we think we would if we were in his shoes.
If LeBron wants to finally take an hour to discuss this process with the media, I feel he’s earned that right. Throw on top of that the fact that he’s raising money for charity for this, and it’s really not that bad of a situation at all. It’s more than a little unprecedented, sure, but then again, LeBron has always been one to do things his own way and to carve out his own unique path through life.
But what does this announcement say about what LeBron’s decision will ultimately be? I’m not sure. It’s easy to say that LeBron wouldn’t dare call a public press conference just to rip our hearts to shreds in public, but as I just pointed out, LeBron’s mind works differently than that. He’s going to do things his own way. I do think that if he has half a soul he wouldn’t do this to Cleveland and I do feel good about the decision, but I still can’t escape this small nagging feeling in the back of my mind that he might end up picking New Jersey.
In my heart I still feel Cleveland is where LeBron wants to play and where he will choose to sign, but it bothers me a little how patient New Jersey is being with LeBron. While the Knicks panicked and threw $100 million at Amare, and Wade and Bosh scrambled to put pressure on LeBron to join either of them in any city but Cleveland, it’s been New Jersey who has calmly, quietly, and confidently stood their ground and just waited for LeBron to come to them. Mikhail Prokhorov has expressed confidence that LeBron is coming to the Nets, and the conspiracy theorist in me is bothered by the fact that if LeBron is confiding in anyone other than Maverick Carter on this, it just might be Jay-Z, who in turn would have given Prokhorov the reason for his confidence.
Then there’s the fact that Bosh not agreeing to come to Cleveland gives LeBron a convenient out clause. Now he can say to Cleveland, ‘Hey, I tried to get Bosh to come and then I would have stayed, but Bosh wouldn’t come, so I had to go to the best team for me. Hate Bosh, not me’. Far fetched, perhaps, but us Cleveland sports fans have learned to expect the worst throughout the years.
Perhaps that’s the biggest issue with this whole thing. We just can’t allow ourselves to be confident about this. We’ve been burned too many times in the past and so we just expect that we’re going to get bad news when LeBron announces his decision. LeBron has never in his career given any indication of a desire to leave the Cavs. Sure, he’s asked for roster upgrades in the past, but he has never shown a desire to actually leave. Throughout this process LeBron has never said anything that would indicate he’s leaning toward leaving. He has tried to recruit Chris Bosh to come to Cleveland. Cleveland is his home and he knows the Cavaliers will continue to work endlessly to pull off trades and signings to build a Championship around him here where he can cement his legacy for eternity. And yet, we can’t let ourselves feel good about it.
I don’t know what he’s going to do, and I want so desperately to believe. I want to have confidence in what the Cavaliers have already given him and what they will continue to offer in the future for him. I just can’t allow myself to go all in on this. The pain is too real and so I will continue to keep myself at a distance from this. I’m not angry about the way he’s handled this and I’m not praising it. It just is what it is. Some fans have turned their anger over their expectations of LeBron leaving into vitriolic hatred toward LeBron and his process. Who am I to blame them? We’ve all seen this story play itself out before and we never come out happy.
Even yesterday as news of the Bosh sign and trade broke, I told myself that it was too good to be true and there’s just no way something this good to happen to a Cleveland sports team. I was right about that. I hate that LeBron staying feels the same way. It’s almost too good to be true. Some have said that being a Cleveland sports fan is like being a sadist, but I don’t think that’s true at all. We don’t love the misery and pain. We’re desperate for it to end and for someone to show us some validation and support and approval.
How we ultimately feel about LeBron will almost certainly be tied to what his decision is. A lot of our angst held toward him will be washed away in a wave of relief should he announce he’s staying. If he’s leaving, the anger and hostility will be multiplied to an entirely new level. The overriding factor in all of this, though, is that nobody knows what is about to happen. Bosh and Wade reportedly feel like they have a real chance of getting LeBron to join them in Miami. The Nets are confident. The Cavaliers feel confident. Only one of them is going to be right, though. For the sake of all of us, for our sanity and for our passion and for our outlook on life, may it please be the Cavaliers who are the ones with the reason to be confident.
(Update: Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports a source has told him that it is down to Cleveland and Miami. For what it’s worth…)
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Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
76 Comments
@kanicki – it’s not Durant’s fault, but OKC is still the stolen-Sonics. therefore, he has bad karma attached to him despite the fact he has definitely shown himself to be a class-act otherwise.
@44, Let me ask you a question. At what point is it okay for Lebron to do what he believes to be in HIS best interest, or is it okay? And surely you can the see difference between playing high school ball where nothing really is at stake and playing in the Nba. Look, the cavs had sevens years to get it together. They dropped the ball basically in Lebron’s first two seasons and really can’t recover. Lebron, or anyone else for that matter shouldn’t be “loyal” to failure. You make the same mistake that others make when you mention Magic, Bird, and MJ. Magic had the talent around him to win a championship in his rookie season. James Worthy and Jamal Wilkes followed shortly after that. Magic had every reason to re-sign. The same with Jordan. Jordan was in the league for four years when Scottie pippen, and Horace Grant showed up on the Bulls roster. Bird played with Parrish and Mchale. look at what Lebron has been surrounded with. Lebron isn’t even playing with a top fifty player in the league, let alone a top fifty talent of all time. Why should he be loyal to garbage? What is in it for him?
If WKNR is smart, they would have a Reghi react show at 10pm
I hate broussard. something else I never thought i’d feel before this ‘process’
broussard is being fed info from someone / somewhere and is allowing LeBron/Wade/Bosh to manipulate everyone’s feelings at every turn. broussard is a complete shill to them now (which he never really was before).
anyways, since today Broussard is claiming Wade&Bosh are done and delivered for Miami and that LeBron has made up his mind and he is 75% Miami…I think we can safely assume that LeBron is NOT going to Miami.
if there is one thing we learned the past week, it is that these guys like the media to twist and turn at their every whim. we should expect 10 more such turns in the next day and a half.
also, noone cares, but I’m not watching the ‘special’ it’s my little way of boycotting the process. sure, i’ll be refreshing my screen every 5 seconds to get the news, but I am not contributing to the ratings on this silliness.
and once again, Matt#2, Modell stole an entire franchise. If LBJ leaves, we still have the Cavs. The thing I continue to find a bit ironical in all this is the fact that we are rooting for the superstar athlete to take the big money, and angry at the thought of him leaving for a better chance at winning. Not a position we often find ourselves in as Cleveland fans.
I am returning to my “ignoring this whole train wreck until after something actually happens” mode–much happier that way. Keep in mind, there is a huge World Cup match this afternoon, and the Tribe begins a series against the fun to watch (until they go into Tribe rebuilding mode next season, of course) Rays tomorrow night. If you really want to avoid this LBJ “look at me” nonsense (and not just complain about wanting to), it can be done.
so, do we all have a class action suit against LeBron?! after all, he told us we’d “be the first to know” when we signed up on his silly website. breach of contract?
(10% serious)
B-bo
The only way I’m watching the program is if something goes very awry with my anniversary.
Matt#2
Well it will be a no-lose day for you. Congrats on the anniversary, sir.
Guys it’s ESPN. We all should have seen this coming from them. They aren’t the most credible “journalists”. I just don’t see LeBron leaving now. 3 egos that big in Miami will only lead to problems. And Pat “I’m retired but I’m back” Riley will make it 4. LeBron as great as he is has to be the star, the center of attention, etc. He will not be that in Miami. Cleveland makes sense. Maybe throughout the process he woke up and realized he still has something to prove here.
Lebronjames.com has now officially dubbed the 1 hour special “THE DECISION”…no joke.
Do we really think he has it in him to name this thing something like that (the drive, the shot, the fumble) then go on national prime time television to publicly spit in our faces?
Chrsitopher, Espn named the special not Lebron. But even if he did, what should he have called it?
JM
I AGREE that he has something to prove here.
I have mostly defended the okay-ness of Lebron James’s free-agency, which would entail whatever decision he makes, but I can find no denying that he has something to prove here.
The thread of having had something to prove HERE would persist no matter how much it’s “business” or “all about winning.”
Eric – are you claiming that ESPN runs his site? Cause otherwise, its LeBron and his people calling this “THE DECISION (@#!%ZOMG)”
hey eric, lebron’s going to do what he’s going to do. i’ve said here and elsewhere that as fans, we sometimes project our personal values onto the players who are individuals with their own set of values. their values might not be ours and that’s ok.
so to your question of ‘At what point is it okay for Lebron to do what he believes to be in HIS best interest, or is it okay?’ i say anytime and all the time.
however, if he wants a legacy like bird/magic/mj… and kobe… and now, likely durant… if *HE* wants that legacy… then his best interests are served by him staying.
^sorry .. his interests are BEST served .. [typos, sigh]
Windy tweeted “Newsday is reporting LeBron will do show from Greenwich, CT. Guess technically it’s not New York, just a suburb”
Does anyone think he would go right near NY and tell us he’s staying? I think we are toast.
@67 – that’s basically Bristol where ESPN is located, so I wouldn’t read into it (easier said than done, right?)
@ 56 – How long do you think we’ll have the Cavs after Lebron leaves? This will cost Gilbert 1/2 the value of the franchise and there will be willing investors in Seattle who will be happy to help him recoup some of that.
We’ll have a team as long as Dan Gilbert wants us to at that point. If LBJ leaves and then Gilbert sells or moves, it’s ultimately Gilbert’s decision/fault, not LBJ’s.
If you think Dan Gilbert of Livonia, MI is going to be more loyal to the city of Cleveland than Lebron James, you’re kidding yourself.
It wouldn’t be Gilbert’s fault if the Cavs leave post-LBJ. His decision would be as a result of LBJ’s decision.
lol you people are ridiculous. I can’t believe how deep some of you are willing to dive on this….if LBJ leaves then that’s it the cavs are moving to seattle…also the sky is falling, and if you sail too far into lake erie you’ll fall of the side of the earth….hahahaha c’mon.
@71 I forgot how players no longer with a team have full control over that team’s decisions going forward–my bad. You’re right, the team’s actual owner has nothing to do with it. It was Kosar’s fault the Browns left, and not Modell’s decision. I feel like such a fool. Thank you for allowing me to see the light.
eric, where’d you go? i was close to a gordie howe blogger hat-trick.
philosophical – espn hype is ephemeral; soul is transcendent.
psychological – we sometimes project our personal values onto the players who are individuals with their own set of values.
and now all i need is a fight. 🙂
Jim, I guess you’re right. Lebron’s best interest are served by wasting the second half of his career with an incompetent organization. And I see that you are still using silly comparisons, so I will repeat my material. Bird/Magic/MJ/Kobe and Kevin Durant don’t play with garbage. Because those players don’t play with garbage,and their best chance of winning is with those teams, they have evey reason to stay on the teams that drafted/traded for them. Lebron is not in that position. Why is that so hard for you wrap your head around?
Lebron’s hype doesn’t come from Espn. I don’t if you were paying attention but he was famous before ESPN. That network is just exploiting the interest he created with his talent. They didn’t create it. Espn can’t create fame. Nor can they sustain interest. That’s why their attempts to blow up Kevin Durant have failed and will continue to fail. There’s nothing transcendental about the sublime Durant. He’s about as interesting as watching paint dry on a wall. You know this Jim. You’ve only became a Durant fan not because he’s a great talent, which he is, but because you’ve turned away from Lebron. That’s not “soulful” and certainly not loyal. You value loyalty right? You seem to demand it from others.
Projecting “personal values” onto others is psychotic and puerile.
@64- Team Wallace, No I’m not claiming Espn runs Lebron’s site. I’m saying more than Likely Lebron’s site got the name of the special from ESPN and then posted the name on the site. That scenario is more logical and likely. I know, I know thinking is hard.
Well anyway Good Luck tonight guys.
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