LeBron's defection to Miami; Orchestrated with arrogance, but not dictatded by selfishness
Written by Abukar Ahmed
During an ostentatious, hour long ESPN exposé, Lebron James shook the sports world to its core in sensationally announcing that ‘this fall, I will be taking my talents to South Beach”. Years of feverish anticipation and relentless rumours came to a head a fortnight ago, dramatically culminating with James’ announcement that he would join the Miami Heat next season; a roster already featuring the likes of fellow NBA superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
The move crushed the hearts of rebuilding franchises who had invested all there chips in their quests for the superstar forward, confident in their pursuit for free agencies holy grail. New York, New Jersey and Chicago all freed up enormous cap space and concocted lavish presentation pitches in desperate attempts to lure arguably the greatest athlete in the world to their organisations. In the midst of the most talented free agency pool in league history, teams invested almost all their effort in securing LeBron signature, moving heaven and earth in the process. For almost all parties concerned, it was all in vain however.
Similarly, James' alignment with his Team USA buddies also effectively holds the entire leagues competitive landscape ransom. With the fashion in which the balance of NBA power shifted so emphatically to Miami, the ominous prospect of challenging this newly formed super trio has incontrovertibly sent reverberating shock waves through GM offices coast to coast. The potential effects of LeBron's decision have resonated around the league, namely in Cleveland where LeBron was truly a 'King'. Born in nearby Akron, LeBron was royalty in every sense of the word. He was the heart, soul and spirit of the region and the adored darling of its long suffering sports fans who have arduously endured 45 disappointing and trophy-less years of heartache.
Naturally, news of his departure was met with a wave of outpouring emotion, littered with shock and subsequent anger. As demonstrated by their understandable reaction, Cavs fans have effectively conceded that LeBron's desertion may have been the latest wrenching, and possibly fatal, blow to their glory elusive city.
An Ohio native, Lebron’s defection from his hometown Cavs instantaneously transformed him from Cleveland’s knight in shining Armour to their Benedict Arnold.
An especially vocal advocate of this view, Cavs owners Dan Gilbert took to the web moments after James publicized his decision, posting an open letter to the residents of the greater Ohio area and Cavs fans beyond. In a ambitious call to arms, through the letter, an incensed Gilbert reassures Cavs Nation that James' defection, although hard to digest, would not mean the end of them, vowing to invest everything he has to make sure that Cleveland win a 'ship before LeBron ever does.
Most interestingly though, Gilbert rants about the "selfishness" of LeBron's decision. When the dust settles and the smoke clears though, those proponents will quickly come to realise the ill's of their misconceptions. I, for one, am of the belief that it wasn't a selfish move at all and here's why.
For 7 years, LeBron has invested innumerable gallons of his blood, sweat and tears into the franchise, representing not only the organisation but the league and his hometown with sheer excellence in the process.
In their many prior free agency forays in years past, the teams administration has proven itself incapable of surrounding LeBron with a competent supporting cast. From the outset, their business moves were questionable. In LeBrons second season as a pro, the then-team GM, Jim Paxson, demonstrated amateur business savvy, losing one half of Cleveland's dynamic duo and one of the leagues most promising young big men to free agency in a bungled contract renegotiation effort.
Paxson thought he had an understanding with Boozer in which they would release him from his existing contract (making him a restricted free agent), so he could re-sign with the Cavs at 10 times his previous salary.
Said to have verbally agreed, Boozer complied with the release, only to later deny making any such agreement and bolting from Paxon's contract renewal offers. Offered a 6 year, $70 million dollar contract that the Cavs were unable to match, Boozer would eventually sign with the Utah Jazz where he would go on to become a two time all-star, gold medal winning Olympian and one of the world's premiere power forwards.
When Dan Gilbert assumed ownership of the team, out went Paxson and in came Danny Ferry. Although their was new management at the helm, the same administrative ineptitude lingered. In futile attempts to surround LeBron with the best supporting cast possible, Ferry and co. executed desperate trades and secured, at times, illogical acquisitions.
The curse of Cleveland was particularly reinforced by the fate of his one of his first big moves as GM. In 2005, he signed Larry Hughes, a versatile swingman capable of filling up a stat sheet. Enjoying his best year as a pro, Larry Hughes averaged career highs for Washington in the 04-05 season averaging 22 points, 6 boards and almost five dimes a game. In turn his acquisition, naturally, came full of promise and welcomed with buoyed fanfare. Hughes signed a five-year $70 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent in the summer of 2005, in what was projected to mark the beginning of a forceful duo. In his first 28 games in North East Ohio however, Hughes struggled to find his feet in Cleveland's system. With a quarter of the season gone, he looked a mere shadow of the player he was just the season before as the team slumped to a 18-10 record. Hughes would soon after succumb to a broken finger and surgery to remedy it, resigning him to the sideline for some that season. The rest of his stay in Cleveland would be marred by despondency, family tragedies, laziness and at times apparent apathy. His tumultuous stint with the Cavs came to an end prematurely when, in a three team trade, he and his enormous contract, was off-loaded to the Chicago Bulls. After his ill-fated experiment with LeBron and the Cavs, Hughes was never the same. He went on to become a NBA journeyman, a nomad used as trade bait as he's come and gone to three cities since. The curse of Cleveland is definitely much more than a myth in Hughes' eyes as he went from a coveted 22 point player, to a bit-part, 9 point bench warmer with league cellar-dwellers, the New York Knicks.
Most interestingly though, Gilbert rants about the "selfishness" of LeBron's decision. When the dust settles and the smoke clears though, those proponents will quickly come to realise the ill's of their misconceptions. I, for one, am of the belief that it wasn't a selfish move at all and here's why.
For 7 years, LeBron has invested innumerable gallons of his blood, sweat and tears into the franchise, representing not only the organisation but the league and his hometown with sheer excellence in the process.
In their many prior free agency forays in years past, the teams administration has proven itself incapable of surrounding LeBron with a competent supporting cast. From the outset, their business moves were questionable. In LeBrons second season as a pro, the then-team GM, Jim Paxson, demonstrated amateur business savvy, losing one half of Cleveland's dynamic duo and one of the leagues most promising young big men to free agency in a bungled contract renegotiation effort.
Paxson thought he had an understanding with Boozer in which they would release him from his existing contract (making him a restricted free agent), so he could re-sign with the Cavs at 10 times his previous salary.
Said to have verbally agreed, Boozer complied with the release, only to later deny making any such agreement and bolting from Paxon's contract renewal offers. Offered a 6 year, $70 million dollar contract that the Cavs were unable to match, Boozer would eventually sign with the Utah Jazz where he would go on to become a two time all-star, gold medal winning Olympian and one of the world's premiere power forwards.
When Dan Gilbert assumed ownership of the team, out went Paxson and in came Danny Ferry. Although their was new management at the helm, the same administrative ineptitude lingered. In futile attempts to surround LeBron with the best supporting cast possible, Ferry and co. executed desperate trades and secured, at times, illogical acquisitions.
The curse of Cleveland was particularly reinforced by the fate of his one of his first big moves as GM. In 2005, he signed Larry Hughes, a versatile swingman capable of filling up a stat sheet. Enjoying his best year as a pro, Larry Hughes averaged career highs for Washington in the 04-05 season averaging 22 points, 6 boards and almost five dimes a game. In turn his acquisition, naturally, came full of promise and welcomed with buoyed fanfare. Hughes signed a five-year $70 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent in the summer of 2005, in what was projected to mark the beginning of a forceful duo. In his first 28 games in North East Ohio however, Hughes struggled to find his feet in Cleveland's system. With a quarter of the season gone, he looked a mere shadow of the player he was just the season before as the team slumped to a 18-10 record. Hughes would soon after succumb to a broken finger and surgery to remedy it, resigning him to the sideline for some that season. The rest of his stay in Cleveland would be marred by despondency, family tragedies, laziness and at times apparent apathy. His tumultuous stint with the Cavs came to an end prematurely when, in a three team trade, he and his enormous contract, was off-loaded to the Chicago Bulls. After his ill-fated experiment with LeBron and the Cavs, Hughes was never the same. He went on to become a NBA journeyman, a nomad used as trade bait as he's come and gone to three cities since. The curse of Cleveland is definitely much more than a myth in Hughes' eyes as he went from a coveted 22 point player, to a bit-part, 9 point bench warmer with league cellar-dwellers, the New York Knicks.
The three team trade that saw Hughes off-loaded to the Bulls, was nonsensical on Ferry's behalf as the pieces that they brought in were so far from possible remedies to their roster. Ferry landed two players with only one good leg in Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith and a offensive liability in Ben Wallace as a potential saviours. Needless to say, none of these moves delivered championships.
Then, in what only Ferry must have considered a coup, Lebron James was teamed with a 37 year old Shaquille O'Neal. On the merits of legacies, this duo looks great on paper; but when put into context however, not so much.
Outside of marking probably the biggest trade in Cavs history, bringing Shaq over to the mid-west stood as no more than a headline-grabbing blockbuster as it served no meaningful purpose. With his diminished lateral speed and athleticism, Shaq's injection did nothing to bolster Cleveland's lackluster frontcourt. What they needed was a potent, back to the basket post player that could work the low post with conviction; services they weren't getting in their two other big men, Ilgauskas and Varejao. Let's be honest, Ilgauskas was nothing more than a mid-range shooting center, and Varejao a mere energy player. And at that stage in Shaq's career, he was only ever going to be a defensive presence which Ben Wallace proved was not their recipe to success.
To be fair, Mo Williams proved to be one of the isolated good additions overseen by Ferry. But even then he wasn't the perfect fit for them. Though he made the all-star team last year, the general consensus seems to be that he did so on LeBron's coattails. No way he deserved to be in a squad of the eastern conference's best, ahead of guys like Rajon Rondo. The fact of the matter is, though efficient, Mo Williams is a makeshift point guard who, as much as he tries, is not a pass-first floor general and therefore unable to make the players around him better. LeBron would have benefited mightily from a guard in the mold of a Devin Harris or a Chauncey Billups; either a speedy, slick, facilitating point guard, or a poised, clever, sharp shooting, pass first, veteran quarterback with a calming presence. Mo Williams gave them neither.
In anticipation of LeBron's impending free agency, Ferry traded for Antwan Jamison in his frist masterstroke as boss. With a 61-21 record last season, the Cavs were the outright best in the regular season but again capitulated in the post season. In a last ditch effort to sway Lebron to stay put, at seasons end Ferry sacked coach Brown and replaced him with coach Byron Scott. For LeBron, it was all to little to late however.
Though he has seen considerable success during his professional tenure in his hometown, LeBron has very little to show for it. Although infinitely talented, and enormous in stature, there is only so much dead weight one man can carry. Their near misses and the teams Jekyll and Hyde tendencies had stretched his patience too far. From a disastrous NBA finals appearance, to a trend of being regular-season-titans-turned-post-season-underachievers, Cleveland was just no longer big enough for Lebron.
If anything valid can be taken from Gilbert's letter, it would be his insinuations of arrogance. LeBron's handling of his free agency has definitely been nothing short of supercilious.
As far as the entire free agency debacle goes, his conceitedness dates back to 2008 when he still had two seasons to serve on a four-year contract extension. As early as November of that year, James was already commenting on the topic of his still-two-years-from-then free agency. A month into the 2008/09 season, James revealed that he wouldn't hesitate to leave Cleveland
"If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up," Barkley said in the live interview. "I'm a big LeBron fan. He's a stud. You gotta give him his props. [But] I'm getting so annoyed [that] he's talking about what he's going to do in two years. I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers."
Later, in a save-face attempt, James rescinded his remarks declaring that he was committed to the cause of the team he was with right now and would do all he could to ensure Cleveland its first title. “[Free agency questions] get funny at times” he said “but I don't think about making a change at this point. I am focusing on the team I have here and the relationship I have with the Cavs."
Two years on and with LeBron’s free agency come and gone, Barkley again chimed in with his two cents on the current zeitgeist and what had transpired. In reaction to LeBron’s decision to leave his beloved Cavs to join Wade and Bosh in Miami
“If you’re the two-time defending NBA MVP, you don’t leave anywhere. They come to you. That’s ridiculous. I like LeBron. He’s a great player. But I don’t think in the history of sports you can find a two-time defending MVP leaving to go play with other people.”
These were sentiments echoed by Michael Jordan. The G.O.A.T concurred with Barkley, asserting that back in his days, there is no way he was calling Bird and Magic back in the late 80's to join forces, let alone leaving his Bulls to do so. "In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."
James’ arrogance stretches beyond the parameters of his free agency fiasco though. LeBron, while a scintillating athlete, is too fixated on cultivating the perfect public image. He has long asserted quite publicly that he wants become the first billionaire athlete and so has set to find ways to make himself that much more marketable at every turn.
On a lighter note, and I don’t mean to be petty but, even his chalk toss has a tinge of arrogance about it. A pre-game ritual blatantly stolen from Kevin Garnett, James’ chalk toss is world renowned at this point with Nike even fashioning an entire line of commercials after the giant puff of powder he creates in the air before each game.
As Kevin Ding of the OC Register, explains though, some are sick and tired of Lebron’s little act…even if it is for trivial reasons:
“You have no idea just how horrible that “chalk” is. (It’s actually a rosin mixture to keep players’ hands dry for gripping the ball.) The powdery stuff gets everywhere –especially in sports writers’ drinks when sitting courtside and even worse … in laptop keyboards. It’s a nightmare.
So boo on James (and Kevin Garnett) for throwing that crap into the air. And kudos to Bryant, who gets his and bends at the waist to lower his hands toward the floor, discreetly dispersing it with slow claps that keep it out of harm’s way.”
Petty, I know. But a fair gripe nonetheless.
The mention of Kobe
Everyone knew it and he did too.
The issue here however, is he knew it a little TOO much apparently.
Aside from ripping off a legendary logo, for me, this was the crescendo of LeBron’s haughtiness. Jordan's won 5. Kobe has secured one. Both Jordan and Kobe both accepted it with humility, and shelved it, proving sometimes, LESS really is MORE. Come on 'Bron.
But hey, then again, is it really all that surprising coming from a guy who has "Chosen 1" tattooed on his back, "Witness" tattooed on his calf, and "KNG OF AK" as his license plate?
Just for you’re amusement, just a few days after shrewdly reminding people he won the NBA MVP award, LeBron was again snapped embroiled in self-promotion when he was spotted in St. Tropez directing people to his stat sheets for added affirmation of his pre-eminence in wearing this shirt:
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