While its not necessarily a good day to be a Knicks fan, I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be a Cav's fan and Cleveland sports fan in general. Last night LeBron James sent a shockwave through the NBA by renouncing his throne and his manhood by by deciding to play second fiddle to Dwayne Wade on the Miami Heat.
Please everyone spare me on the bullshit that he is a facilitator like Magic Johnson or that Miami does give him the best chance to win championships. If LeBron would have said last night,
"Sorry Cleveland, but I was wrong and cannot bring you a championship on my own. I have given you everything I could over the past 7 years and I now feel that it is time for me to part ways with the Cav's organization. This is strictly a basketball decision and while I do not expect anyone in Cleveland to be happy with me, I hope that in time you will be able to forgive me. I have decided that my chance at winning a championship right now and near future is to ride the co-tail of Dwayne Wade in Miami."
And to correct myself, this is what he should have said on July 1st. There is not a single person in this world that can tell me that this whole idea of Wade, James and Bosh playing together in Miami was not orchestrated from the very beginning. Perhaps as far back as the '08 Olympics. Your telling me that LeBron woke up Thursday morning anhad an epiphony and decided to go to Miami, when Pat "the Rat" Riley was preaching "Dynasty" months ago? Give me a fucking break!!!!
I'll leave that conspiracy theory for another day, the day that Chris Paul joins that trio in Miami. Don't act surprised folks, it'll happen.
What I'm most interested in however, was the process. Dwayne Wade having a 2nd meeting with the Bulls, Pat Riley meeting with James' agent at night after the Knicks visited James earlier in the day, Chris Bosh refusing a sign-and-trade that would have put him with LeBron and Mo Williams in Cleveland and given him a max contract, and that cheesy, bullshit interview that Wade and Bosh did after they announced that they were both signing in Miami. Where at the end Bosh with a smile and two thumbs up, wishing LeBron good luck. The photo a few days before with Wade and Bosh having dinner and the empty seat in the middle, with Bosh saying, "It feels like somebody is missing." Oh and by the way, it was reported on ESPN.com that early Wednesday morning at about 12:30AM the three of them had a conference call. I wonder what they talked about??? Looking back, it looks like a giant, pre-orchestrated scheme to play everyone into this whole bonanza.
My gut feeling is that the Knicks ahead of everybody else caught a whiff of this and tried to make a move in order to maybe sway him from joining Miami. Hence the addition of Amar'e so early in the process. The Bulls were caught napping but were able to land Carlos Boozer before it was too late. I think New Jersey was doomed from the start but completely whiffed as they came away with nothing.
I know for a fact that I am not alone in that I am highly disappointed in LeBron and how he carried himself over the last few months. For a man dubbed "The King", "The Chosen 1" and claims everyone else to be his "Witnesses", he made a bad decision for his career. He may believe that winning a title or two or three will erase what happened in the last two weeks but it won't. Here's why:
1) I do not think that he fully understood just what exactly he did to the city of Cleveland and the state of Ohio. The look on his face when they showed the fan burning his jersey last night on live television said it all. This is now a city that has to claim the Cleveland Brwons as its best sports team! He was the one that talked about his mission being to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland. And so much for his loyalty. He decided that on national television, with the world watching, he was gonna stab Cleveland right in the heart. This is unforgivable. I fear for his safety the next time he has to go back to Cleveland.
2) This is the A-Rod and Jeter situation all over again. I did not hear last night that he conceded that he is going to Wade's team. Maybe he feels that it should be understood, maybe not. Keep in mind that A-Rod did not understand that he could never be greater than Jeter no matter what he did in a Yankee uniform. It took a humbling experience of being caught for PED use for him to finally get it. While LeBron will be loved in Miami if he helps bring another title there, it will always be that Wade did it first. And if LeBron get 2 rings while he is there, it won't matter because Wade will have 3. Heck, he will be playing his home games in Miami-WADE County. And let's say that the first 2 years don't net a championship, where will the fingers point? Certainly not at Wade, he has 7 years of loyalty from the Miami fans and Bosh isn't a credible enough star to bear the blame because he is not expected to carry them to one. Keep in mind if LeBron failed by himself elsewhere it would be understood. With this team, he has no excuse.
3) So much for him and his "Brand" and being Global. He killed all hopes of that once he uttered the words "South Beach." You now have at least 5 more cities/places (Cleveland, Chicago, NY, New Jersey, Brooklyn) in addition to at least L.A. that people will despise him. Not to mention all the others who were just simply fed up by the whole process that seemed to linger on forever. The uttering of those words "South Beach" instantly made him the most hated athlete at least in this country. He just made A-Rod look like Jeter and Bret Favre look like Peyton Manning in one fell swoop. In addition he may have burned his Jay-Z bridge, and any future bridge he may have had in NY.
4) He can forget any comparison to Jordan or Kobe. Some may say that he never wanted to be compared to those guys. Bullshit! He is arguably the best all-around player in the world. And he decided that he is going to spend at least the next 5 years being Scottie Pippen to Wade's Jordan. Why would he do that? He would be the alpha dog in NJ, Chicago and NY. This is what puzzles me the most. Why Miami? Why with Wade? He has no more legacy to speak of.
He will be remembered as a narcissistic, ego-maniac who strung the NBA world along for a bogus ride. As the man who failed in Cleveland and then stab the heart of his hometown city/state on national televsion. The man who could have had the world in NY, but was afraid of the stage and to the easy way out.
The lies and collusion that were involved in this process will make the next collective bargaining agreement very tough. We will see radical changes in how contracts, caps, free agents and the structure of player options are handled. And NBA Free Agency will never be the same because of the humiliation that teams and their management were put through.
There is also the economic fallout the Cleveland will suffer because of his departure. And the fact that the Cav's roster is in shambles because of the various moves to acquire/keep players around him who had bad contracts. Moves that were made to appease him and done with his approval.
Congratulations to the Miami Heat and LeBron James as they both hit a trifecta yesterday.
Miami landed the top 3 free agents in the offseason. LeBron James just killed his career, his legacy, and the city of Cleveland.
My condolences to Cleveland & R.I.P. LeBron James.
No comments:
Post a Comment