LeBron Free Agency 2010

[gflem]

I understand your rage and it's completely justified and maybe James shoulda done this a long time ago so you could at least have some good free agents that were available before they signed deals.
But seriously look at it and the only way for Miami is up. No doubt it in my view with the addition of James we are way too much for the Lakers. Heck even Wade/Bosh is better than Kobe/Gasol so now the trio has the future of the NBA in their hands.

You seriously need to look at the actions of your Gilbert - PATHETIC to sum it up. You wish ALL future employees the best in their future endeavours not what Gilbert has done.[/quote]

No rage, just speaking the truth. How is it good for the NBA for a team to renounce all but 2 of its players so it can free up the money to do something like this. And what NY did is in the same league. Its not so much about Lebron leaving for Miami, it the whole dog and pony show that accompianied him leaving. And at least you kind of get it by saying that he could have done it sooner so that the Cavs would have been able to move ahead instead of being strung along.
I am pissed at Lebron more for screwing this team in the immediate future than for him actually leaving. But at least if he went to Chicago, the way the Bulls cleared cap space wasnt as bad as the Knicks or Heat in regards to possibly setting a precedent for other teams to follow in the future.

[Tai]

***This is not the right board to post this.. Troll elsewhere.***

[grloung]

I listened to a good portion of LeDouche's comments & I heard him mention/thank his former teammates, coaches & management. I didn't hear one world of praise or thanks to the fans - maybe I missed it, correct me if I'm wrong.
All I heard was "I'm taking my talents to South Beach" & I have given/done great things for the city of Cleveland. Then he said something about being humbled. What an arrogant sob.

[Future Soldier]

Heck even Wade/Bosh is better than Kobe/Gasol .

you are out of your rabid *watch the language* mind, boy. Kobe is bigger than Wade and will lock him down if they meet. He always does when the game gets into crunch time.

and Bosh > Gasol? WTF are you smoking? Bosh folds like a beach chair when the pressure gets thick...I swear that dude Bosh is your weakest link, you'll see when you get to the playoffs and Howard is tossing his soft ass around the paint like a rag doll. Gasol is infinitely more skilled AND tougher than Bosh. Not even a contest.

[Rise Against]

Take the Lakers and Heat comparison elsewhere, not on the Cavs board.

[tidho]

Multiple choice...

A) Choosing to stop playing which undermined his teammates in Mike Brown's system thus ultimately costing them the Boston series and maybe more.

B) Using his lack of commitment to force a win now culture that cripled the Cavalier's ability to make a splash this offseason, then hypocrytically jumping to a team that tanked the last couple seasons to free up cap space even as their own superstar's prime passed before them.

C) Embarassing his home market by making an unprecidented public display announcing his departure.

[Tai]

fans from celtics, sorry to hear that, but whole world will support you

Don't speak up for me!

[Matt34520]

The greatest sin was committed by some Cleveland fans, the owner, and the media who over dramatized him leaving. Using words such a callous, devastated and driving the steak in to the cities heart...and then burning his jersey WTF. Its basketball, basketball is a game that is part of the entertainment world.

People in the media and some fans are acting like this is a major crisis. Its a disgrace to the men and women of the army, law enforcement and paramedics who deal with real crisis every day.

Im just saying, some of you need to calm down. LeBron is a human, he did what was best for himself which is what most people would do. Give the guy a break, hes just a ball player who decided to play somewhere else.

Atleast for 7 years he made you guys relevent again.

Good luck in the future. Im sure you'll get a new star in the next 5 years. With good drafting you'll be fine.

[tidho]

Im just saying, some of you need to calm down. LeBron is a human, he did what was best for himself which is what most people would do. Give the guy a break, hes just a ball player who decided to play somewhere else.

Please note that 'leaving town' wasn't on the list.
While a few people are bashing him for leaving the vast majority are bashing him for the way he left. That's a huge difference.

[Matt34520]

Im just saying, some of you need to calm down. LeBron is a human, he did what was best for himself which is what most people would do. Give the guy a break, hes just a ball player who decided to play somewhere else.

Please note that 'leaving town' wasn't on the list.
While a few people are bashing him for leaving the vast majority are bashing him for the way he left. That's a huge difference.

Well Im sorry for the classy cavs fans who were mad at the way he left. I understand he could have been more sympathetic and the 1 hour special was over kill.

[hoops_32]

While I understand that he wanted to win he could have handled the situation better. Was it really necessary to announce publically that you're leaving?Also during the announcement it shocked me when he said that he told only the team that he was going to of his plans and made the other 5 teams wait. LeBron could have at least had the decency to tell the Cavs before he made his announcement. The Cavs are better off without him and will be back before you know it.

[rjgraca]

Well, I feel sorry for the those naive fans/ writers defending lebron like a wolf in sheeps skin. Lebron held the CAVs hostage for over 2 seasons and did little to recruit talent to the CAVs other than token efforts. Ron Artest was even quoted last pre-season that he couldn't sign with the CAVs, because he wasn't sure Lebron was staying.

Yes, the ESPN special was disrespectful and over kill... but Lebron is second rate--- just like his marketing team.

It is annoying to see the Heat rewarded for wasting one of Dwyane Wade's prime seasons by making little attempt to get better and instead clearing cap space. Equally frustrating is the fact that the Cavaliers were punished for continually appeasing LeBron in a series of short-term, expensive moves.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-ad ... 40945.html

Greatness or Humility? LeBron Choses Neither

Do I blame LeBron for how he left the Cavs? Of course I do. LeBron has earned every ounce of abuse he's taken for his weeklong ego-palooza, the crowning achievement of which was not even deigning to tell the Cavs himself that he wasn't coming back—at least, not until he told the world on ESPN. As Rudy from Fat Albert would have noted, that move was like school during summer: No class.

Some have also criticized LeBron for opting to join fellow-superstar Dwyane Wade and all-star Chris Bosh in Miami, rather than choosing a team—Cleveland, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, the Clippers—that would have been indisputably his. As ESPN's Bill Simmons put it:

I think it's a cop-out. Any super-competitive person would rather beat Dwyane Wade than play with him. Don't you want to find the Ali to your Frazier and have that rival pull the greatness out of you? That's why I'm holding out hope that LeBron signs with New York or Chicago (or stays in Cleveland), because he'd be saying, "Fine. Kobe, Dwight and Melo all have their teams. Wade and Bosh have their team. The Celtics are still there. Durant's team is coming. I'm gonna go out and build MY team, and I'm kicking all their asses." That's what Jordan would have done. Hell, that's what Kobe would have done.

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch ... her/59438/

[gflem]

Im just saying, some of you need to calm down. LeBron is a human, he did what was best for himself which is what most people would do. Give the guy a break, hes just a ball player who decided to play somewhere else.

Please note that 'leaving town' wasn't on the list.
While a few people are bashing him for leaving the vast majority are bashing him for the way he left. That's a huge difference.

Well Im sorry for the classy cavs fans who were mad at the way he left. I understand he could have been more sympathetic and the 1 hour special was over kill.

Matt, you make a few good points, but we all live in the real world, and most of us have the perspective you dont seem to be giving us credit for.
However, this is a fan site, and basketball is a diversion from the serious issues that we all face every day. Us Cavs fans now have to deal with our team likely sucking for the next several years because egomaniac Lebron couldnt have the decency to let our team know he was leaving allowing our FO to proceed accordingly.

[fallguy]

Hey Cleveland fans. Boston fan here. Can't believe how my feelings for your team changed yesterday. What a horrific way to lose a superstar, and what a messy fallout afterwards. Can't remember a more distasteful display. It was entirely fair of Lebron to leave but utterly classless the way he did it. Some thoughts I put together from my blog at theoutletpass.com. Be interested in your thoughts...

"The Ego

What a dick move.

There was no reason for this hour-long televised handjob besides ego gratification. The creepy Children of the Corn in the audience had no context, even with the unspecified pledge to charity. Why did they have to be sitting there?

Answer:

For the same reason we had to sit home and watch it.

To bear witness to a man who’d rather be a brand than a basketball player. Obviously, the basketball is very important to him. I don’t doubt that at all. But the branding is even more important.

And therein lies his tragic flaw.

Watching Lebron lose to the Celtics in this year’s playoffs was instructive. It was the metaphorical equivalent of someone telling him, “NO.” And unlike his rookie year in the league, or the loss to the Spurs in the finals, he was no longer willing to be told no. He didn’t know how to handle his team wilting to the Boston Celtics, like it wilted to the Orlando Magic the year before. And as he drifted through game five, it was like he was seeing his own limitations for the first time, because unlike most people, a myth has been built up around his eventual coronation, and his entire life, that precludes any real flaws being recognized, except in a manner where they’re brushed off as tiny imperfections in an otherwise unparalleled masterpiece.

Perhaps now Lebron has managed to arouse the bile of millions (am I overstating this? I don’t think so – I’m sure the ratings for the handjobathon will be massive), there will be a new story that takes hold. One that involves a little more genuine humility and little less pretend humility.

But I’m not counting on it."

Anyway, feels like fans are galvanizing around the Cavs and wants to see them return to prominence (not that they've left yet) as soon as possible.

Hope the sting dissipates asap.

Ryan

[rjgraca]

Prince James claims to have idolized Jordan, but his idol never did anything like this to take the easier road. Lebron James is nothing special here in Northeast Ohio or Akron for that matter anymore. He can stay in Miami and be prince James to King Wade.

King abdicates throne as Air apparent

He jumped on Wade's back, with a boost up from Bosh, in order to win.

It's a move an aging, ring-less veteran might take. But not a man dubbed "King James" and "The Chosen One."

What made Jordan great wasn't just winning six championships in six tries. Or the six NBA Finals MVPs he won.

The journey and the struggle were just as impressive. Early on, many said he was a great scorer, but wouldn't win anything. Jordan didn't win a championship until his seventh season. Before that, he couldn't get past the Pistons, losing three years in a row before finally breaking through.

It was monumental when he finally got there. People marveled at his perseverance, his determination.

Jordan would have never asked to be traded to the Pistons or Celtics in an attempt to win faster and easier. Or even become a free agent to escape the burden of trying to win his own title.

In 2006, James told ESPN The Magazine, "I don't want to go ring hunting. I want to stay in Cleveland and build a championship."

James not only changed his mind, but, apparently, no longer wants a shot at being the greatest, either.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/ ... id=5367307

[Pula_86]

I don't think there is anyway that Cavs fans would be happy (what team is when their star leaves), but I think seeing raw emotion such as when Gretzky left Edmonton would have made a difference to a lot of people in Northeast Ohio. While I saw through LBJ's PR to his perverse narcissism, there are many fans in Northeast Ohio that believed he cared. Of course anyone has the right to go wherever they would like in free agency, I could never (and would never want to) be so soulless in the process. After losing to the Celtics, LBJ mentioned how he spoiled the fans. This is really no surprise.

[rjgraca]

Yes, Lebron's comment about the fans being spoiled was ironic considering that he was the one who was actually spoiled by the fans of Northeast Ohio putting up with his manic ego.

With fans only in Miami now, pressure's on LeBron to win it all

And for the sake of James -- a man who told ESPN The Magazine in 2006 that "I don't want to go ring-chasing" -- they better be right. Because there is no going back. Miami is home now, and with Clevelanders already carving James' face next to Art Modell's on the villainous Mount Rushmore, he may never be able to go back. Folks there may have been able to swallow LeBron leaving but to slap them around on national television and try to mitigate it by bragging about all he has given them borders on unforgiveable.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... ?eref=sihp

Easy come, easy go for King James

As the worst idea in the history of marketing unfolded, James looked trapped somewhere between despondence and defiance. His bumbling buddy Maverick Carter had walked him into the public execution of his legacy, his image, and there was a part of James that clearly wished he could turn back through the doors and hide. Only, it was too late. No going back now. James goes to the Miami Heat, Cleveland goes into a basketball Hades and LeBron’s legacy becomes that of a callous carpetbagger.

“His brand is [bleep] now,” one high-level NBA official said late Thursday. “He’s destroyed everything.”

The Championship of Me became the Championship of Flee, because LeBron James doesn’t believe he can be the centerpiece of a title team. He needed Dwyane Wade, a closer, far more than Wade needed him.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... sion070910

[bjorn23]

**Leave your poor illogical comments and posts somewhere else.**

[TheOUTLAW]

See, this is the problem with Ballboys, they just say the dumbest things. Sure those guys travel just like Bird, and Jordan before them. They'd still be great players.

[Pula_86]

It enraged me when LeBron had the nerve to say that he spoils Northeast Ohio. At the end of the day you are a basketball player and nothing more.