Indians 8, Tigers 2: Welcome to the Second Half of the Season
July 17, 2010Pooh Jeter Emerging As Potential Cavaliers Roster Signing
July 17, 2010If we can agree on one thing, it’s that over the course of this free agency madness, Adrian Wojnarowski, along with Cleveland’s Brian Windhorst, has used his thorough reporting skills and network of NBA sources to become an internet sensation. Windhorst fired his first reportorial shot last Sunday when he started to unwrap the details of how LeBron came to join the Miami Heat through free agency. As Dan Gilbert intimated in his letter, now that LeBron has set off so many people, more and more details on the man would continue to trickle out over the course of time. Last night, Wojnarowski picked up the story with a comprehensive report detailing many of the developments which led to LeBron landing in South Beach. If you are a Cavs fan, it is difficult to read as one thing is clear from Woj’s report and his sources – at no time did LeBron intend to stay in Cleveland.
As we are all well aware of now, the seeds for these three uniting down the road in free agency were planted during their exploits as members of Team USA. Last week, Windhorst described the friendship, started as members of the same 2003 draft class, that blossomed as national team members starting in 2006. The relationships built on the national team developed the level of comfort and desire for all three to arrange a situation where they would play together as pros. Woj, however, describes the precariousness of James’s status as a member of the national team. Two years off from Beijing, it is still a revealing anecdote of the man that many Cavs fans did not know or did not want to know:
From Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to managing director Jerry Colangelo to NBA elders, the issue of James’ immaturity and downright disrespectfulness had become a consuming topic on the march to the Olympics. The course of history could’ve changed dramatically, because there was a real risk that James wouldn’t be brought to Beijing based on fears his monumental talents weren’t worth the daily grind of dealing with him…No one could stand James as a 19-year-old in the 2004 Athens Olympics, nor the 2006 World Championships. Officials feared James could become the instigator of everything they wanted to rid themselves for the ’08 Olympics. For as gifted as James was, Krzyzewski and Colangelo subscribed to a belief that with Kobe Bryant joining the national team in 2007, they could win a gold medal in ’08 with or without LeBron James. Behind the scenes, officials had taken to calling James’ inner circle, “The Enablers.” No one ever told him to grow up. No one ever challenged him. And yet, James was still a powerful pull for his teammates, and everyone had to agree they could no longer let his bossy and belittling act go unchecked. These weren’t the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Team USA wasn’t beholden to him…’Legacies were on the line,’ one league official said, ‘and they weren’t going to let LeBron [expletive] it up for everyone in China.’
Another well-known fact was that James, the face of the franchise, was consistently consulted and catered to when it came to personnel decisions, both on and off the court. The Cavaliers did everything in their power to provide an atmosphere conducive to both winning and James’s comforts. Those seemed like complimentary efforts and symbiotic goals. In the end, it appears the enabling of James negatively affected the Cavaliers development on the court as well as their their ability to re-sign him. The coaching position was a particular point of concern for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert which led to Gilbert eventually firing Mike Brown – a move designed to appease James. Woj describes James’s disapproval of Brown and then his unwillingness to speak on potential future coach, Tom Izzo:
Within an hour of the Cavaliers’ season ending in Boston, James’ inner circle, including power broker William Wesley, agent Leon Rose and business manager Maverick Carter, stood outside the visiting locker room grumbling about coach Mike Brown…James had wanted Brown gone a year earlier after the Cavs lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Orlando Magic – despite Brown guiding Cleveland to 66 victories while winning the league’s Coach of the Year award. Ferry debated Gilbert to keep Brown. He won out, but Ferry knew it would be tough to make that case again in 2010. Every decision the Cavaliers made had to be run past James. He didn’t always get to decide, but he had to be consulted. This time, Gilbert believed he had to fire Brown to have a chance of re-signing James. The Cavaliers star had started to fully distance himself from the organization. He refused to get on the phone and discuss his future with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo…James wasn’t returning Gilbert’s calls and messages – never mind willing to talk with Izzo. Before Izzo finally turned down Gilbert, he was delivered a direct line to two of James’ close NBA friends, who told him he should only take the job with an expectation he’ll never coach James in Cleveland. Gilbert tried to sell Izzo, but the coach feared there wasn’t a single influential official in the Cavs organization who truly had a relationship with James.
The one thing that shines through most clearly from the Woj report is that LeBron was never coming back to Cleveland. The only question that remained was where he would land after a life spent in NE Ohio. Even in the final hours, not only the Cavs and their fans felt that LeBron was staying home but many top executives around the league consistently told NBA reporters that James was likely staying put. But it appears that those closest to him knew that was never the case, and well before the chaos on East 9th street during July 4th weekend:
For months, Wesley had believed James’ choice would be the Chicago Bulls, but no one had counted on Riley’s relentlessness in clearing enough cap space to accommodate the three stars. Free agency wouldn’t officially start for another week on July 1, but from then on, Wesley had two words about LeBron and the Heat for the closest of associates: done deal…Worldwide Wes had understood something about James the Cavaliers refused to believe, and even James’ childhood buddies from Akron were still somewhat unwilling to accept: LeBron James was never re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and now it was a matter of securing him the proper complement of teammates for the greatest free-agent haul in history…Wade had come to believe James would likely leave Cleveland, but became largely certain once the Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. For the first time, James could no longer blame his supporting cast and coaching for a playoff exit. His peculiar performance in a Game 5 blowout, lethargic and distant, pushed James on trial…Privately, everyone in the circle knew James was leaving Cleveland, and it would be harder for his Akron guys to get credit for the deal…The way James lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals turned out to be a boon to the Heat. The pressure was on James to start winning titles and Riley understood this was playing into his favor. The criticism of failing to win a title weighed on James, and Wade worked him over on it. All that would fade away with the Heat, and it wouldn’t be a matter of winning a single title but rather how many they would line up.
Wojnarowski obviously went into great detail on the many facets of this story as it developed over the past four years. He describes the parade of NBA owners and executives that came through the IMG building, in particular LeBron’s interest in the Nets pitch and his inability to maintain attention during the Knicks presentation.
I obviously recommend reading the report in its entirety if you have not already. Windhorst described his piece last week as simply the “tip of the iceberg.” This report continues to move the ball forward and the trickle of information on LeBron will continue, mostly painting LeBron in a negative light, as Gilbert noted in his letter. One major effect of more and more information being revealed is that more Cavs fans will continue to speculate on the integrity of what we saw in the Celtics series.
One can speculate on who some of the sources are for this piece but it appears that someone close to Worldwide Wes sourced a lot of the particular points of the report. One major point is the supposed rift between Wes and LeBron’s childhood friend and business manager, Maverick Carter. Wes, as July 8th approached, ceded the public spotlight to Carter who became worried that Wes would get too much of the “credit” for LeBron’s free agency power play. Carter, it appears, was most responsible for the disaster of The Decision:
Back in Akron, James still wanted to go through his live hourlong television show on July 8 to announce his decision. This had been Maverick Carter’s big idea, his production, and still people around him worried about the fallout in Cleveland. Several friends told James this was a bad idea to do to his hometown, that leaving the Cavaliers live on national television would make this a public-relations disaster for him…James didn’t seem to agree, didn’t think it made a difference. Mad was mad, he thought. He would take a beating, but it would subside and people would love him again in Cleveland.
As more and more comes out, chances of that range from slim to none.
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32 Comments
Windhorst was interviewed by Tony Rizzo yesterday, who was filling in for Jim Rome, and he said that James was surprised that he got booed at the ESPYs and that he can’t understand why he is being ridiculed for what he did.
Aw, poor baby James is finally facing some criticism, perhaps for the first time in his life. People are actually making fun of The Global Icon. How the mighty have fallen.
The guy is a complete and total phoney…and we let ourselves be blind to all of the signs. There is very little doubt in my mind that in addition to everything in the article, he threw Game 5 of the Celtics series…and I wish the national media would look into it a little bit more. If they ever do, Dan Gilbert is going to come out smelling like a rose. The only question he will have to answer is why he even wanted him back to begin with. I guess he just didn’t want to go down in history as the guy who lost LeBron James…which it starting to look like not such a bad thing.
The more that comes out, the more I am glad he left. I don’t want to waste any more of my time cheering for a guy like him.
When all this LBJ free agency madness started, I thought his ego was skewing his perception of reality. Now I realize it’s made him completely and totally delusional.
If LeBron really can’t understand why he got booed at the ESPYs and why he is being criticized, I think he must be a complete moron, not just an incredibly self-absorbed, enabled, spoiled, out-of-touch product of all of the praise he’s received since high school. It’s pretty funny that he couldn’t pay attention for two straight presentations for a single day, and as the article mentions, film sessions had to be kept short because he would start zoning out.
I would rather have not read this article. I am still wishing LBJ left just for rings. I hate having this negative opinion of him now. He deserves all the scrutiny we can throw his way, but he could care less how we feel about him..
@2 ” If they ever do, Dan Gilbert is going to come out smelling like a rose”
Maybe. While it would certainly validate his letter and make Gilbert look better PR wise around the league, I really dont think it makes Gilbert’s firing of Brown any better. Turns out, it might not actually have been as much of Brown’s fault as everyone first thought. Gilbert was “drowning” and had been for some time, the firing of Brown still looks like it was his last “flailing” attempt to keep his “head” (organization) above water, when in reality, there was no hope of ever doing so. He got duped.
…also, I was duped. Kinda in line with MattyFos, I thought it was a winning-based decision made this summer. I thought he would prefer to win in Cleveland if the situation was right. Seems he wanted to leave regardless of what he had or could of had here.
F*** Princess Jamie and the Three Am-Egos!!
What is so ironic is we always heard that he was so mature on and off the floor. And yet he wasn’t wanted on Team USA and couldn’t stay awake in meetings or film sessions. I’m with Buckeyedawg, I rather not cheer for someone like this.
what a f***ing child. i’d rather win without him.
How is this not tampering then? Is Stern that much of a wuss that he says it is not and will not look into it? As far as LeFraud goes. He’s not from Cleveland, he is from Akron. He always talked about his home not Cleveland. He wore a Yankee hat to Jacobs Field. He didn’t root for Cleveland teams growing up, thus making him a fair weather fan since childhood. He ripped off his jersey in a matter of seconds before he even went to the locker room. Pretty sure he slapped hands with Boston fans too. This goes back years not weeks. I knew when Izzo never got in touch with him something was wrong. Good riddance to the punk he’s not a leader anyway.
I heard that Stephon Marbury was rumored to have a workout with the Cavs..It’s probably not true but i did hear it so i wanted to know if anyone else had either..
What a schwantz!
Yea…Lebum is a bum…didn’t we all already know all this, what a joke he has become to everyone outside of his thugs and cHeat fans.
I hope everyone hates him forever…I will…Seriously, forever.
GO BROWNS…It’s getting close!
@#5…..Actually, he could NOT care less about how we feel…just sayin’.
I am glad he is gone and the truth is knowing what we now know I think it might be better for the team in the long run. Since LeIdiot has know for 3 years he basically screwed the team during those 3 years and it makes his obvious tanking of the celts series even more obvious. However this might actually be good for the long term health of the Cavs. Instead of getting veteran players that don’t fit to keep winning they can now focus on building a team for the long run that can continue to win. I like OKC’s plan. Lots of good young talent which was given time to win. Problem is I don’t know if Gilbert has the patience to do so,
Initially, some people criticized Ferry for going all in for 2010 roster, thereby limiting the team’s flexibility in free agency. However, it now looks like Ferry was doing the right thing: the only way to keep LeBron was to shame him into not leaving an NBA championship team.
Brand New Song.. Calls out Lebron, Represents Cleveland…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shSgeXZ2g3Q
Something fishy with this Maverick Carter cat. “The Decision” was a debacle then the story of a ’19’ year old girl with his pendant. He said it was stolen 3 yrs ago, she said she got it 4 yrs ago at a garage sale. I don’t know what the true story is, but if she stole it off him 3-4 yrs ago, that would have made her 15-16 yrs old. I’m just wondering how a minor was able to get in a position to be able to steal it (if she did and not buying it at a garage sale as she contends)
@lebron11 — do you mean razzMARBURY?
‘what kind of juice is that brother? raspberry. razz-marbury.’ /skinnyinabeater
we HAVE to keep delonte if this is true. just in case anyone lost the link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVA00Fngvmg&playnext_from=TL&videos=WeQ8qcTc2io
@18: I was thinking the same thing; something is fishy there.
Can we make a no Le-Nicknames rule?
I was in love with a girl for many years. My friends maintained that she was a psycho, but I defended her because she was the best I had ever known. When she dumped me I realized they were right all along.
amazing piece. we’ve been duped this entire time. or at least most of it. one thing i know is that Trevor Ariza is a genius. he’s the only person to have ever called LeClassless out when he bailed on the cavs specifically because of LeClassless’s lack of commitment. it’s clear now that the cavs were never able to sign a big ticket free agent because of LeClassless. the players knew that he was not committed both in holding his team hostage with his 3 year free agency circus and as a leader.
also- this clown is gonna be in a world of hurt from here on out as his behavior is no longer in the coddling womb of Cleveland. say what you will about the allure of south beach, but it’s clear that Cleveland can offer a locked down oasis in which athletes, media and fans all are on the same team. to lure free agents the cavs should print up shirts that say “whatever happens in Cleveland stays in Cleveland.”
If the Heat don’t win a championship the first year, Lebrons soccer style act of flopping on the court to draw fouls will wear pretty thin real quick.
Wade flops way more than LeBron does, so it should be fun next year to see both of them exaggerating contact to get calls.
good riddens!
I refuse to stop with the LeNicknames.
@22 ariza is the one we know about. but — and it turns out that it was a good thing — but weren’t we all scratching our heads when villanueva chose detroit over us?
You guys are so naive. Wojnarowski can conjure up anything using his phantom “sources” and you’ll believe it. Again I ask, if Lebron is such a monster why are you so upset that he left?
You are not being funny or witty by adding Le to different words. It’s pathetic.
@23 you are simply delusional.
I think it’s funny that the fans of a team that tanked their season in order to get Lebron are crying that said player may have pulled the same stunt to get away from Cleveland. Oh the irony!
@29 some day you may wise up enough to pull together an amusing insult. but i doubt it.
“Again I ask, if Lebron is such a monster why are you so upset that he left?”
Because he’s a phenomenal basketball player and as a born-and-raised Clevelander, I want to see a championship; he had the ability to do that. Because the kind of person he is has no bearing on what he could do on the court for himself, his teammates and his city. You think Lakers fans regard Kobe as a nice guy?
We as fans don’t know these guys; Lebron James and I will never be friends. We will never have the same circle of friends. I don’t care whether he’s a nice guy or not, I just wanted him to stay in Cleveland and win. James told everyone that was what he wanted to do as well, but he was clearly lying. That’s where my problem with Lebron is. Don’t sit there like you did in February or March and say “I’ve never given any indication that I want to leave Cleveland; I love it here” when you had made your mind up 18 months in advance. That’s bad form, poor taste and cowardly.
Global is a strong word. Ppl here in Denmark don’t know who he is.