Lebron Thread [Part 3]

[10scott10]

I want people to remember that I was hating LeBron way before it was cool

[KayDee35]

It's easy to choose loyalty when your organization puts the right pieces around you from all-stars to role players to a good coach. Jerry Krause was partly right in that organizations win championships.

[crazy_me_87]

LeBron James: Love... Not Money.

Growing up I never played much basketball. However it was really popular in my neighborhood and at my school. There have always been a few constants in my life growing up. One of them being that no matter the time of day or the type of weather there was always a bball game going on somewhere around my neighborhood. Each game was the same in my hood. Each game was the same on the playground at school. Before the game started you scan the available players. Usually the person who picks was at the court first or maybe they own the ball. Maybe they are one of the best players on the block. Every game was the same the guy or girl picking first would always pick either the tallest person or their best friend on the court. Almost always it was the buddy that’s picked first. Why was the best friend picked over the tall guy or the fastest guy in town? Because it just made the game more fun. Sure you want to win. But isn’t that much more fun when your friends are winning with you? In high school my bball teams both male and female were all really good friends. They all went to class with another. They all were into the same things dressed alike and even played similar games. When we won the city finals the whole school cheered for the senior varsity boys because we all knew how close they were. Those kids moved from high school, away from the playground and onto college. Something’s get lost in the transition from childhood bball to college bball. The dynamics change and sometimes the love gets lost. Players have to play for a state they care little about and with others they know little about. Sure some get it and move on. Some can’t wrap their heads around the idea of playing with nothing invested. Then there are those that realize that it would be in their best interest to ride this thing as long as they can. When they realize “ I have a talent that I can earn a free ride in college from and possibly make a living from”. The lucky few that make it to the NBA are fortunate but once there, the prospects all have different agendas. Some want the fame and the money. While other seek a way to make a decent living without working. Some see it as a dream come true. Some it’s all they know.
Where does LeBron fit in this story? He is the neighborhood baller that always picked you to be on his team whenever you came to the playground because you were a crackup during the week in school. He is the kid you knew in high school that lead your hometown team to city then state. He is that kid that played with his friends no matter where he went. Basketball was an escape and it was fun. Glory was better with your homies around singing and cheering with you. Kids who were on your level and that could relate to. You knew all the time they were with you they were giving their all. That is who LeBron really is. He is the next Jordan or Kobe. I think he thought he wanted to be those things because everyone told him he should be this one thing. Since day one LeBron has told us he is a team player. Not a one man army. We didn’t listen. He told us at the McDonalds game that it was the players around him that enabled him to fill up the stat sheet. LeBron begged for people he could believe in to come to Cleveland. He didn’t want suck ups. I think he despised it when Andy and others refused to play because they weren’t getting the money they thought they deserved. Why did that bother him? Because he hated just knowing that those players were only there because of how much Cleveland could afford to pay them.
The Olympics was the turning point. LeBron’s basketball world came full circle. Playing with Wade, Bosh, Kobe, Boozer and Howard LeBron was reminded of why he plays the sport. Why we played the sport. LeBron was reminded what those days were like in Akron before all the hype. He remembered what it was like playing with someone on his level. He remembered what is like playing for something they all had in common. They were all Americans and they were playing for HOME. The best players, your friends all on the same team playing for home.
We criticize athletes for less. We accuse them of being greedy; we accuse them of being narcissist. However this one time we are proven wrong. Can you imagine when explained to his agent and Maverick Carter that he wasn’t going to join JayZ or make a billion over night in NYC. Because that’s what people have said that’s what he should want. People said that’s what he could be. Maybe he adores Jordan and respects Kobe but let’s face it, he really wants to be Ervin Magic Johnson. That isn’t an easy task to accomplish but all along that’s what his game has showed us. That’s who he wants to be. Remember that pass to Donyell Marshall at the end of the game that was James telling us then but we didn’t listen. He has the money and prestige to do whatever he wants now. Kobe Bryant gave him advice which he repeated in the interview with Jim Gray. ‘Do what makes you happy.’ That’s exactly what he plans to do. He wants to win. He wants to play with players that all have the same goal. He wants a championship by all means necessary. Legacy? Legendary, he never said that… We said that… That’s what we wanted for him.
The game is always been the same for the very few. It never changes. It’s why Kids show up early in the morning staying late in the rain, sleet or snow. No nets, dirt courts, bent rims, dead rims, and sometimes pot holes the kids still playing out there everywhere. It’s why we all play, it’s why we are fans it why we may all learn to like LeBron again someday. Stories will be written about this guy who loved basketball that much. For love not money and it burns us deep inside that’s what he decided and that is a bit of a shame. Love…Not money. Isn’t that refreshing?

wow amazing post thanks man

i think we are in the same frame of mind in that regard...

we wanted him to be the next Jordan..... we wanted it so hard that we were blind to see that this is not what fits him best... he tryed very hard led the leauge in scoring averaged 30 points 2 times and came close last year

but i remember in his first summer leauge interview 2003 he said he wanted to be like Penny Hardaway and Magic Johnson ....not a word about Jordan....

he never claimed to be the next Jordan or even Kobe


we did.....

so let us say we try let him be himself... the next Magic .....the first Lebron =)

we made this all up....not him.... we hyped him we said he will be GOAT ... he never did

we did

[Nickson]

crazyme87, how can you not compare the Lebron and Kobe situations?

Kobe signed with Lakers instead of the Clippers or the Bulls when the roster was just as bad - actually worse than Cleveland's.

Shaq had just left, and all the Lakers really had was a young not-yet-developed Caron Butler and Lamar Odom.

Sure Kobe explored leaving, but at the end of the day, he decided to stay in LA and challenge himself to find a way to win there.

[GotItNow]

wow amazing post thanks man

i think we are in the same frame of mind in that regard...

we wanted him to be the next Jordan..... we wanted it so hard that we were blind to see that this is not what fits him best... he tryed very hard led the leauge in scoring averaged 30 points 2 times and came close last year

but i remember in his first summer leauge interview 2003 he said he wanted to be like Penny Hardaway and Magic Johnson ....not a word about Jordan....

he never claimed to be the next Jordan or even Kobe


we did.....

so let us say we try let him be himself... the next Magic .....the first Lebron =)

we made this all up....not him.... we hyped him we said he will be GOAT ... he never did

we did

No one who does not want the spotlight asks for a 1 hour BS special. You can be stupid if you want, it's just that stone cold stupid is a whole nother level.

[GotItNow]

crazyme87, how can you not compare the Lebron and Kobe situations?

Kobe signed with Lakers instead of the Clippers or the Bulls when the roster was just as bad - actually worse than Cleveland's.

Shaq had just left, and all the Lakers really had was a young not-yet-developed Caron Butler and Lamar Odom.

Sure Kobe explored leaving, but at the end of the day, he decided to stay in LA and challenge himself to find a way to win there.

**** please, Kobe is no clean and fresh virgin.

[DayofMourning]

I'm really surprised at all the hate. LeBron wants to be part of something special. In your opinions that means he's worthless. Wow.

Response to this post will be more hate. Put yourself in James' shoes.

[cheenofly523]

In 2003, Ohio State took our crown, last night.. we took their King.

[NO-KG-AI]

crazyme87, how can you not compare the Lebron and Kobe situations?

Kobe signed with Lakers instead of the Clippers or the Bulls when the roster was just as bad - actually worse than Cleveland's.

Shaq had just left, and all the Lakers really had was a young not-yet-developed Caron Butler and Lamar Odom.

Sure Kobe explored leaving, but at the end of the day, he decided to stay in LA and challenge himself to find a way to win there.

Kobe wanted a team that wasn't huge on talent, he'd play as a second fiddle his entire career and wanted to prove he could do it all on his own.

When that experiment failed, he cried for help and tried to force his way out.

[ikidunot]

Multiple police cars are protecting the witness billboard in downtown CLE.

Rumors on the street was they were trying to set fire to it.


http://twitter.com/pdcavsinsider

[crazy_me_87]

oh man i really start to feel ashamed to be a nba fan right now

not because of lebron as many here write


it's because the responses here on this board

why is it lebrons fault that espn is crawling his butt? sure he is loving attention but i believe that espn asked lebron to to the special not otherwise

the baddest thing you can say about him is that he's an addict to attention so are many people but he is in the focus...

all the hate all the negative vibe in here is just unexusable i think.... i always thought the majority of basketball fans were at least semi-intelligent but i thought wrong so it seems

shaq left orlando
wilt left phily
karl malone left utah
drexler left portland

why is malone the only one of that group that is critisised for that?(at that time LA were favourites no one saw detriot coming) ?

i just saw "The Decision" again

lebron was very straight, very polite and said he never wanted to leave cleveland, that he had a great time and espacially said thank to all the fans and his heart will always be in that area

so what he said wrong?

[Chris435]

Kobe has done great things in LA, but it's been done before.

im shocked at Lebron's decision, but at the same time.. these 3 guys are doing something unprecedented. That's what legacy is all about IMO. I'm not talking about legacy in terms of rankings, but in terms of adding something new to basketball. It's exciting.

I've got big problems with the way these guys handled the free agency though (mostly Bosh & Bron).

[H00PDREAMS]

wow amazing post thanks man

i think we are in the same frame of mind in that regard...

we wanted him to be the next Jordan..... we wanted it so hard that we were blind to see that this is not what fits him best... he tryed very hard led the leauge in scoring averaged 30 points 2 times and came close last year

but i remember in his first summer leauge interview 2003 he said he wanted to be like Penny Hardaway and Magic Johnson ....not a word about Jordan....

he never claimed to be the next Jordan or even Kobe


we did.....

so let us say we try let him be himself... the next Magic .....the first Lebron =)

we made this all up....not him.... we hyped him we said he will be GOAT ... he never did

we did

No one who does not want the spotlight asks for a 1 hour BS special. You can be stupid if you want, it's just that stone cold stupid is a whole nother level.

Dude this was stage by Maverick Carter and ESPN. Yeah he could have canceled it but honestly I really think his initial thought was to return to Cleveland but he decided to follow his basketball heart. Can you imagine how Nike felt when they found out that he was going to Miami. They wanted New York they wanted Chicago! They wanted to reopen markets not saturate Miami! Do you know how much pressure he was under! He followed his heart man. Yo I cant say i agree with his decision or the way it went down but dude took courage to do all that. I don't think he initially went on TV to announce Miami. I think first it was Cleveland it was always Cleveland, except last night...

[H00PDREAMS]

Wall of text. Nearly blinded. Please hand out reading glasses next time. U owe me one.

*Probably sucked anyway.

Poll Of One Did It Probably Suck?

[ ] NO
[ ] MAYBE
{x} YES

Judgement served, don't do it again please.

OWE you... Do you know me? Dude WTFRU? Go away and stop being lazy.

[Don Ford]

crazyme87, how can you not compare the Lebron and Kobe situations?

Kobe signed with Lakers instead of the Clippers or the Bulls when the roster was just as bad - actually worse than Cleveland's.

Shaq had just left, and all the Lakers really had was a young not-yet-developed Caron Butler and Lamar Odom.

Sure Kobe explored leaving, but at the end of the day, he decided to stay in LA and challenge himself to find a way to win there.

Kobe wanted a team that wasn't huge on talent, he'd play as a second fiddle his entire career and wanted to prove he could do it all on his own.

When that experiment failed, he cried for help and tried to force his way out.

Kobe wanted to play on a team with Kwame Brown, Luke Walton, and Smush Parker as starters? Not quite. Kobe wanted to be the man but he also wanted enough talent around him to be able to win rings, pretty much the team they have now. LeBron had plenty of talent around him in Cleveland but he thought that he needed Wade to win rings so he left. So now he's ARod to to Wade's Jeter.

[Flite]

It's not LeBron's choice that bothers me, it's how he went about it. I have not lost respect for LeBron as a basketball player as he has sacrificed stats, money and spotlight to join the Heat in the hope of finally winning. I have lost respect for him as a person and public figure in the way he has handled this whole saga.

LeBron was in a tough situation... he grew frustrated during the playoffs and folded like a deckchair. No doubt about that. However, Cleveland had the one of the most talented players this league has seen and failed to surround him with anything more than roleplayers like Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, Larry Hughes, Darius Miles, Drew Gooden, Ricky Davis, Zydrunas Ilgauskas Delonte West, Daniel Gibson and an ancient Shaq. Just take a look at that list. That is who management surrounded LeBron James with. I don't care how passionate the owner is or how much he is willing to spend, they had 7 years and did not get the job done. LeBron dragged that team to the finals in '07 - Yeah, the Cav's were swept by the Spurs, by look at that Cavaliers roster. It was only three years ago, and how many of his best teammates are even still relevant today?

Cav's management failed LeBron as much as LeBron failed the Cavaliers in the 2010 playoffs.

As for the people calling for LeBron's head on a count of disloyalty - LeBron is not from Cleveland. He has always distanced himself from Cleveland by mentioning Akron, his hometown. He may have grew up near Cleveland, but that does not mean he owes the city anything. He was the one that put in the work to become what he has become. Akron was the place where he was surrounded by the people that pushed him to make that happen. Stop acting like LeBron owes Cleveland anything... Yeah, they sold out crowds. That's what happens when you've got the best player in the league. This is not a knock on Cavaliers fans, I'm just saying that LeBron would be beloved by the organization and fans of any city in the country if they had been the ones to draft him. The Clippers would of sold out arenas too. Cav's fans showed great support for a great player, as expected. LeBron put in nothing but hard work, service and dedication for 99.99% of his 7 years in Cleveland... It just wasn't enough. Outside of the unsportsmanlike fold during these past playoffs, I don't think you can fault LeBron's performance on the court. Hell, if Carlos Boozer had stayed, LeBron might have won a championship or two by now. It's crazy to think that Carlos Boozer - an all star and the latest addition to my favorite team, but by no means some kind of superstar - is head and shoulders above anyone else LeBron has ever played with. Despite this, they remained contenders every year.

Of course it hurts like hell to lose a guy who grew up 40 miles away and will go down as one of the greatest to ever do it. But LeBron is LeBron and he has every right to make whatever choice he feels puts him in the best position to win championships, just like any other professional athlete.

It was obvious that Cleveland had failed to surrounded LeBron with a championship caliber cast, and doubts surrounding this happening in the near future are also valid. From a pure basketball stand point, Cleveland didn't make sense anymore.

LeBron was greeted with the unprecedented opportunity to play with two incredible all stars, who also happened to be two of his best friends and the guys who were there when they failed in the '04 Olympics and triumphed in '08. He obviously saw this as an opportunity to win now and in the future, and be part of a team that he has long considered family. He sacrificed money, he sacrificed his spotlight to do this.

I have a huge issue with how LeBron has handled this. It seems this was all a cautiously idealistic plan hatched 3 years ago when these three signed identical deals. Pat Riley went to work and made it a reality. LeBron made the right basketball choice and chose to join. Not the right financial choice. Not the right choice for his individual legacy. But the right choice as a basketball player, a guy who has done nothing but eat, sleep and breath this game since he was born.

However, after folding like he did in the playoffs, he owed the fans of Cleveland an apology. Not only did he not apologize for his incredible lack of effort, he didn't even have the decency to front up to the Cavaliers organization and fans to let them know that he was leaning towards leaving and probably wouldn't be back. When he said the "Cavaliers have the edge" during the Larry King interview, he kept the flame of hope alive in the fans and organization. The Cavaliers did not have the edge. He wanted out of there as early as Game 2 against the Celtics. All it would have taken was a subtle gesture. One directed at the fans to say thank you for the support and I'm sorry I couldn't get it done here, but I am moving on to better opportunities. Nothing wrong with that. It's the least you could do for the Cavaliers after that performance.

Instead, he had to drag this out and turn it into a media spectacle. A meal for his ego. Bosh made up his mind about going to Miami long ago, and once he let on, LeBron was all but packed and ready to go to South Beach. The Clippers, Nets, Cavaliers, Knicks... even the Bulls were never part of the equation. Instead he played them for fools and humiliated not only these franchises, but the franchise of LeBron. He tried to make this about LeBron - not his move to the Heat - but the spectacle that was the fawning of teams for his services, when that should not have only stayed completely private, but should of never happened in the first place. Instead he lead on 5 organizations and the legions of fans from those teams when they never had a chance, in the name of entertainment, keeping up the suspense so people around the world would tune in to "The Decision" not quite sure what to believe, even though his mind was made up long ago. Players were sent away for nothing in the false hope of landing James. I wonder how guys like Kirk Hinrich are feeling right now?

At the end of the day, LeBron had every right to leave Cleveland in the name of winning. He did that. I respect that.

However, he also stabbed that city in the heart and manipulated five others in the name of entertainment. Nothing but entertainment.

[SabasRevenge!]

The irony is that James probably hurt public perception by getting a big, long circle handy and then going on national TV for the money shot.

He just put the finishing touches on the NBA's evil empire and now most fans who actually follow the sport will be united through their disdain for the Heat.

Congratulations on becoming the NBA's biggest heel, Lebron.

[H00PDREAMS]

LeBron James: Love... Not Money.

wow amazing post thanks man

i think we are in the same frame of mind in that regard...

we wanted him to be the next Jordan..... we wanted it so hard that we were blind to see that this is not what fits him best... he tryed very hard led the leauge in scoring averaged 30 points 2 times and came close last year

but i remember in his first summer leauge interview 2003 he said he wanted to be like Penny Hardaway and Magic Johnson ....not a word about Jordan....

he never claimed to be the next Jordan or even Kobe


we did.....

so let us say we try let him be himself... the next Magic .....the first Lebron =)

we made this all up....not him.... we hyped him we said he will be GOAT ... he never did

we did

Thanks I am glad someone GETS IT.

Look these guys all played next to Kobe during the Olympics and they all realized two things. Kobe Bryant is MADCRAZYGOOD and they individually couldn't possibly take him on with their own sub-par teams. its the LAKERS MAN! They don't get beat easily historically proven. Then you got the Celtics and Spurs to go through! Dam thats exhausting just thinking about it.

They realized that they will have to force Kobe out together force him out and into retirement right away if they want multiple championships. The clock is ticking for all of them. They all realized NBA Stars of the past didn't or didn't want to. Imagine if Miller joined up with the Knicks to take on Jordan and the Bulls. These guys realized where the past generation of stars failed against Jordan. The decided to succeed where others have failed. De-thrown the REAL king. The Lakers.

LeBron is like Leonidas at the end of 300 when After a long battle the tired and out numbered Leonidas takes off his helmet and armor to expose his mortal body. becoming fully vulnerable to allow his body to become swift enough to do his best to strike down the Persian "God-King" Xerxes. Throwing the spear he only grazes Xerxes' face. But Xerxes immediately proven mortal himself. Leonidas proves to the world that the might Xerxes CAN be defeated.

Kobe is that Xerxes and the spear grazed his cheek was the the announcement last night. The Armor Leonidas shed was the HYPE that surrounded LeBron. Now LeBron is free to fight among the warriors and take the best fight that he himself can give to the Lakers and ultimately Kobe Bryant.

[MikeM]

Maybe he didn't want to join Miami but thought to himself that he'd never get back to the finals going up against Wade and Bosh so he just joined them.

[H00PDREAMS]

Maybe he didn't want to join Miami but thought to himself that he'd never get back to the finals going up against Wade and Bosh so he just joined them.

EXACTLY!!! Some of you are starting to get it. Dude LeBron quoted Kobe and Charles Barkley about 3 times each! One of the quotes that I heard Kobe say over and over is that NO one is guaranteed a ring no matter how good you are. Barkley has said that if wasn't for MJ he would have had a ring, and there are a lot of players in the NBA that all have that same story.