LeBron James is a member of the Miami Heat, but boy, was that ever cold!
The Global Icon not only dissed his home-state team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, he did it on national TV, essentially inserting the dagger slowly and then twisting it.
I don't have a massive problem with LeBron signing with the Heat - he's entitled to do whatever he believes will make him happy, I suppose. I will say, I'm a fan of the romantic notion of one player sticking with one team for his entire career - think Tim Duncan, Steve Yzerman, Derek Jeter, etc. I'm old-school like that.
Anyway, it's how LeBron orchestrated his move that gives me the heebie-jeebies. His break-up with the Cavaliers and their long-suffering fans was the equivalent of turning on the TV and seeing your girlfriend getting it on with Flavor Flav and Bret Michaels at the same time.
Well done, LeBron. In one fell swoop, you went from being almost universally beloved, to giving folks the notion you're kind of a dick.
In one sense, I completely understand LeBron's logic behind the ESPN production. It's his stated goal to become a global icon along the lines of Jay-Z, and the TV show was simply a means of leveraging his free agency to the greatest possible degree.
Even the timing of his announcement demonstrated a global media-savvy. The FIFA World Cup has completely enraptured the sporting audience planet-wide, so when did James choose to steal the spotlight? On Thursday - the day after the soccer semifinals had wrapped up, and before the hype for Sunday's final shifts into overdrive. And to his credit, it worked. For one hour, James owned the singular focus of sports fans, yours truly included.
But I just never figured he'd do his home-state fans like that. When it was announced he'd go on ESPN, I was convinced he was going to pick the Cavs. All the rumblings that the Heat were his imminent choice had to be an elaborately designed smokescreen. I didn't think he had a taste for torture.
The ironic part of all this is, James is making an exceedingly selfless decision in picking the Heat. Sharing the spotlight with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will, to a degree, impact his ability to be "The Man." But we always knew LeBron was a good teammate. That's why we loved him.
But what we've always wanted from LeBron was for him to be the alpha male, the Chuck Norris, the ultimate beast of the NBA. What he's done, though, is establish himself as a follower. The Miami Heat have become Dwyane Wade's franchise over the past seven years, make no mistake about that. And Bosh picked the Heat more than 24 hours before LeBron, spurning The King's advances to join him in Cleveland.
What I'm trying to say is, Michael Jordan wasn't running around in the mid-80s looking to team up with Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. And while some might view LeBron-to-the-Heat as a selfless move, others might call it weak sauce.
At the end of the day, the James-Wade-Bosh trinity makes for a fascinating scenario for basketball fans. The North American sports scene has never really seen anything like it. The closest thing I can think of would be soccer's Galacticos - Real Madrid circa 2000-2005, featuring David Beckham, Zinedine Zindane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo, among others.
But before we see whether the Heat can become more than the sum of their formidable parts, let's shed a tear for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, victims of the most ruthless sports break-up in history.
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As much as i love to see everyone hating on LeBron, and that now the whole wolrd is cheering for LeBron to never win a ring, i can't buy the fact that he doesn't have the wiring of an alpha dog. There is no precedent for it in his career as i see it. I don't think the very recent and extremely short alleged "quitting" in this postseason should so easily make us forget the 7 years prior that he actually was nothing short of the ultimate beast of the NBA.
ReplyDeleteYou have labeled his move as him establishing himself as a follower and Simmons called it the ultimate cry for help. I can see that all signs point to that conclusion, but that doesn't sit quite right with me. The pieces don't add up.
We've got the scenario where he throws the conference final to allow him to ditch town,and then decides to sign with the one team that makes it seem he has no regard for his legacy.
OK lets take a break to say that i'm having trouble organizing my thoughts its words. I'm not a professional!!
In Conclusion, the first 7 years and the time since free agency seem drastically different to me. His actions do make him out to be huge douchy child, but i'm just not so quick to label his move as him being a follower or crying out for help. We can't say that and call him narcissistic at the same time (King James says ...(third person and what not)). And here is my prediction: That same narcissism is why he thinks that Miami is going to be his team and we see a crazy scenario where LeBron assumes control and D-Wade gets "injured" a couple weeks into the season and then forces a trade (All the while Bosh is the in the background doing his flex and howl trying to act like an equal part of this new unholy trinity).
I know this is highly unlikely, but i have to root for this to happen, because if it doesn't then i'll have to accept that LeBron doesn't care that much about basketball and the legacy that he leaves behind, and is content to become a global icon behind another superstar and by other means other than basketball. And that idea makes me sad. I still can't give up that he is the ultimate beast of the NBA.
That was fun. I think i'll comment on more of your blogs since i know that i'll never make it into TSG mailbag. this is a good second. I hope you can peice my thoughts together from that disjointed ramble.
From your loving brother.
Hey, my first comment! Thanks dude!
ReplyDeleteIn regards to what you said, I agree that at certain points over the last seven seasons, LeBron did look like he was going to take over the league on his own. That's why I'm so disappointed he chose to go to Dwyane Wade's team.
The two people to benefit the most from the whole scenario are Wade (because he had the juice to make other superstars come to him) and Kobe (because LeBron made everyone forget what a douche he is).