Have not ever experienced anything like this where a superstar decides to have a one hour special where he will announce which team he will play for next year. There is great anticipation and this morning sources say he is leaning towards the Heat.
Earlier this week, Miami signed D. Wade and Bosh so signing LeBron would make them the front runners to win the championship next year. I think he should sign with the Cavs only because that is his hometown, that is where he started his career, and if he stayed there, he could become a legend. Moving to the Heat makes him more of a hired gun and many in Cleveland and around the country will feel like he is a traitor. Also, playing on a team with Wade and Bosh, LeBron isn't the only superstar on the team. Frankly, the Heat has been Wade's team and it will continue to be Wade's team.
The thing about LeBron is that he is not a killer. As great as he is, he is not the guy that can shoulder the entire team, get selfish when he needs to and truly take over the game. MJ could do that. Kobe can do it. They have this mentality that even if they were playing one on one against their mothers, they wouldn't think twice of stomping on them if it meant victory. LeBron doesn't have that killer instinct. He wants to get everyone involved and will pass up shots that he should take for others to get involved. I suppose in that sense, he may be able to fit in better on a team with other superstars.
Still, should he sign with the Heat, it will be interesting to see the fans and league reaction to him next year.
We'll find out at 9 pm tonight.
7 comments:
Not sure that your example of LeBron not being a "killer" is accurate. A few years back when the Cavs got to the finals, LeBron scored the last 25 points for his team to win game 7 in the Eastern Conference Championship. Either he has lost that mentality since then or he's soft. I tend to agree with you that he doesn't have it, but it's hard to tell. He obviously didn't have much confidence in his teammates' ability to score, which may be the reason why he seemed so apathetic to losing. It must have been frustrating as hell to know that no one else was picking up any slack.
Regarding tonight's show...it's pathetic. Just make the announcement and move on. LeBron's big head is getting bigger and the media continues to feed into it. I'm interested to know where he goes, but I would have gotten just as much out of it even if it was announced in a regular news cycle.
This is just a parody of a soap opera. People will watch and there will be a lot of fans who are happy and a lot of fans who are upset, but think about this - people are concered about which team is going to pay LeBron $100 million.
LeBron will be fine financially wherever he goes.
If the question is winning championships then there is only one choice - Chicago. The team is loaded with talent and can win right now.
Miami only has 4 players signed right now and LeBron would be 5. They still need the rest of the team to build around the core of three that would be great, but without a supporting cast they are at best the fourth best team in the East (Orlando, Boston, and Chicago would be better in the East and then you have to play the West Champ).
The only choice for LeBron is Cleveland in my opinion. He will be beloved no matter what happens in the city and he certainly still has a great chance to win it all there.
If he gets on national TV tonight and rips out the hearts of Cleveland's fans then F him and I'll actively root against the guy. I'm not really invested into LeBron, but that would be a jerk move.
Agree that the 9 pm LeBron "Decision" special is a joke.
Good article by Michael Rosenberg from SI on LeBron's decision. Here is a snipet:
Does he really have the guts to dump his home team on national television? Even James must realize what a public relations disaster that would be.
If he joins Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, he will never be the hero there that he is in Cleveland. If he goes to Chicago, he'll never be the hero that Michael Jordan was.
If James goes to New York, most of the country will never adore him; imagine the backlash if Jordan had gotten tired of Bill Cartwright and Stacey King and ditched Chicago to play with Patrick Ewing on the Knicks.
If James goes to New Jersey, he'll be building from scratch again, and the whole country will laugh. The man said winning was his first priority. How can he ditch a team that won 61 games for one that won 12?
These pretty much reflect my feelings.
Regarding LeBron not being a killer, this has been a knock on him for some time. MJ and Kobe would slice your throat, dunk on you, come back and step on your face just to make sure you knew who you got beaten by. Rosenberg describes it this way, "In so many ways, LeBron James should be a better player than Michael Jordan -- he is two inches taller and 35 pounds heavier, just about as explosive, a better shooter at this age and with better court vision. But if you could somehow suspend the laws of time and space and get the 25-year-old Jordan and the 25-year-old James on the same court, you would have to go with M.J., because he wouldn't worry about pregame theatrics or postgame speculation. He would spend every minute trying to rip James' heart out."
In further comparing MJ and LeBron, Rosenberg says, "But Jordan had a different kind of ego. LeBron needs the adoration. Jordan needed to dominate. When Jordan ended his baseball career and returned to the NBA, he did not go on Larry King or feed speculation for months. He put out a two-word press release: "I'm back." He knew that was enough. He knew that what the world really wanted was Jordan on a basketball court, not Jordan in an hour-long TV special."
Should LeBron go any where other than Cleveland (particularly Miami), he will have a lot of people cheering against him next year.
It's going to be a loo loo!
Agree that the 9 pm LeBron "Decision" special is a joke.
Good article by Michael Rosenberg from SI on LeBron's decision. Here is a snipet:
Does he really have the guts to dump his home team on national television? Even James must realize what a public relations disaster that would be.
If he joins Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, he will never be the hero there that he is in Cleveland. If he goes to Chicago, he'll never be the hero that Michael Jordan was.
If James goes to New York, most of the country will never adore him; imagine the backlash if Jordan had gotten tired of Bill Cartwright and Stacey King and ditched Chicago to play with Patrick Ewing on the Knicks.
If James goes to New Jersey, he'll be building from scratch again, and the whole country will laugh. The man said winning was his first priority. How can he ditch a team that won 61 games for one that won 12?
These pretty much reflect my feelings.
Regarding LeBron not being a killer, this has been a knock on him for some time. MJ and Kobe would slice your throat, dunk on you, come back and step on your face just to make sure you knew who you got beaten by. Rosenberg describes it this way, "In so many ways, LeBron James should be a better player than Michael Jordan -- he is two inches taller and 35 pounds heavier, just about as explosive, a better shooter at this age and with better court vision. But if you could somehow suspend the laws of time and space and get the 25-year-old Jordan and the 25-year-old James on the same court, you would have to go with M.J., because he wouldn't worry about pregame theatrics or postgame speculation. He would spend every minute trying to rip James' heart out."
In further comparing MJ and LeBron, Rosenberg says, "But Jordan had a different kind of ego. LeBron needs the adoration. Jordan needed to dominate. When Jordan ended his baseball career and returned to the NBA, he did not go on Larry King or feed speculation for months. He put out a two-word press release: "I'm back." He knew that was enough. He knew that what the world really wanted was Jordan on a basketball court, not Jordan in an hour-long TV special."
Should LeBron go any where other than Cleveland (particularly Miami), he will have a lot of people cheering against him next year.
It's going to be a loo loo!
LeBron won a state HS championship and I think he has enough of a killer instinct to win as the go-to guy. He likes to get players involved, but I liken him to Magic Johnson. He makes others better and he can make the big shot when they need him too.
I loved MJ's "I'm Back!" press release. I was in Chicago at the time and there were some rumblings for a couple of days leading up to the release that Jordan was really going to return to the Bulls.
The night before his press release, Scottie Pippen put his Air Jordan shoe in front of a camera while he was on the bench and seemed to indicate that Jordan was going to return. It was great for the city of Chicago.
If LeBron says, "I'm going to Miami!" he will be a real a-hole. I cannot believe he is going to do that.
LeBron is an unbelievable player and a freak of nature at 6-8, 260 lbs., and a point guard. He has amazing size and quickness but he is not an assassin. Maybe he will learn but in clutch times or a last second shot you knew MJ and Kobe are going to get the ball and more than likely they will make it. LeBron, on the other hand, seems to hesitate in those moments.
As Rosbenberg states, MJ wants to dominate. Kobe is the same way. LeBron is great but I have not seen him show that same attitude of it's my ball, it's my game, I will destroy you and there is nothing you can possibly do to stop it.
I think the Magic comparison is a good one.
I'll say this - he hasn't elevated his game and his team enough to win an NBA championship. Maybe he feels like he cannot and must go elsewhere. Who knows?
The problem is that going to Miami will kill all of his good will in the NBA and especially in Cleveland, and it makes little sense if his stated reason is to win championships. That team is nowhere close to winning championships. MJ won because he had Paxson, Cartwright, Kerr, Hodges, Stacey King, Horace Grant, etc. - just as much as having Scottie Pippen. Right now, the Heat have some stars but they have nothing else and won't have anything for at least another year and probably 2.
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