Not for leaving the Cavs, no. Most basketball fans and analysts agree that the Cavaliers organization, despite its best efforts over 7 years, simply wasn’t able to put together a winning formula. Presently, they sit pressed hard against the salary cap with bad contracts and a team payroll that gives them very little, if any, ability to improve. (As James Worthy said a few weeks back, in an interview seemingly rife with double-talk where he said that LeBron would be a “quitter” if he left: “Larry Bird had Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson. Magic had Kareem, myself, [Bob] McAdoo. I don’t think LeBron has received what he needs.”) From a pure basketball standpoint, it would’ve made no sense for James to stay in Cleveland.
So for just a moment, let’s stop thinking as fans and put ourselves in the shoes of the man himself. LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players who has ever walked the earth. When all is said and done, he might be considered one of the top-ten, or even top-five, greatest EVER. When you’re that good at something, and you love that thing so purely, you want to explore it without boundaries. You want to push yourself as far as you can go, venture into territories unknown even to yourself. Simply put, you want to achieve your full potential. And just as simply, that couldn’t happen for LeBron in Cleveland.
So we can’t be angry with him for leaving. We just can’t.
His wrongdoing — his selfish act — came in the way he did it. To put yourself in the national spotlight (“The Decision” drew 8.4 million viewers last night) while four organizations in four cities with four breathless fan bases watched and waited* was condescending at best. The suitors that weren’t selected, and the people they represented, were made fools — fools for hoping, fools for daring to think they were good enough for The Chosen One. And on balance, they got off lightly. In the case of his hometown, what James did was downright cruel.
[*I’m excluding the Clips and Nets, both of whom were clearly out of the running by then.]
In the privacy and narrow context of his office at LRMR, “The Decision,” as TV spectacular, probably seemed like a great idea. Let’s remember: the sports media has, quite literally, been contemplating LeBron/Summer 2010 for years. And most recently, even before coverage of the Lakers’ championship had faded out, buzz about where LeBron might land started creeping in. History might not remember it this way, but let’s be clear: LeBron’s “Decision” was THE sports story of Summer 2010 long before any TV deal was made with ESPN. So the idea of leveraging a story with that much juice behind it to promote “the LeBron James brand” and simultaneously raise money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, again, probably seemed like a great idea when LeBron and his partners were talking it through.
But last night, from the moment the camera opened on LeBron, it was all over his face that he knew he’d made a mistake. By then, of course, it was too late. We more or less watched him bite his inner lip for an hour.
If you hate LeBron for making that mistake, well, you’re entitled. But damn, that seems harsh. If you hate him for any other reason, however, you need to defend that reason. And I’m hearing a lot of haters today.
Let me address some of the things I’m hearing, and why you’re wrong for thinking it:
"LeBron took the easy way out."
You think? Expectations for the Miami Heat couldn’t be higher. This team is going to lead ESPN News any and every night they play. Any loss will be scrutizined. When they have their first losing streak, analysts are going to skewer them, criticize them for not living up to the hype. Basically, anything short of winning the Eastern Conference next season will be considered a disappointment (...and some talking heads — Skip Bayless, anyone? — will be sure to rip these guys for anything short of a Larry O’Brien trophy). So, yeah, the pressure is on.
"LeBron was disloyal to the Cavs organization."
Majority owner Dan Gilbert sure agrees with you. He called LeBron’s decision a “cowardly betrayal.” But if Gilbert himself had the bravery he accused James of lacking, he’d admit that HE ultimately failed as an owner. It’s true that Gilbert and Danny Ferry tried damn hard; you have to take your hat off to them for digging in and doing everything they could to concoct a winning formula. But in the end, they came up short. Put another way: They were good, but not great. And certainly not nearly as good at what they do as James is at what he does. Excellence demands excellence. (Just ask MJ...or any of his former teammates who had him barking in their ears.) LeBron isn’t disloyal. That is an objectively false statement. He’s simply a man of excellence in pursuit of excellence. (Side note here: During James’s tenure as a Cavalier, the organization’s value increased by $100 million. Exactly what does Dan Gilbert believe LeBron owes him? Another $100 million?)
"LeBron made a shameful spectacle of himself."
We all live by certain unwritten rules, cultural mores that silently dictate how things are supposed to go down. In sports, we’ve come to believe that players should be subservient to coaches, GMs and owners. And just about anytime a player defies that expectation — whether it’s someone showboating after a dunk, or demanding a trade, or developing a TV special to announce where he’ll playing next year — our instinct is that some wrong was committed. But if we examine our own instinct, what, exactly, is that wrong? An NBA free agent announced his decision on a show that earned a 7.3 rating. Nothing like that has ever been done before. Maybe that was the problem: we simply tensed up, reflexively, at this New Thing. But if a player of James’s caliber commands that kind of attention, why shouldn’t he own it? After all, we don’t follow the NBA because we’re intrigued by owners or GMs or even coaches. We follow the game because of the players on the floor. The players — especially the stars — are EVERYTHING. We say so every time we watch and with every jersey we buy. In the case of “The Decision,” we said so by tuning in. We sanctioned it, the NBA and ESPN profited from it...but somehow LeBron James committed some kind of moral injustice?
Yes, it backfired. I’ve spent time in Cleveland. It is a one-of-a-kind, diehard sports town. Those fans are devastated right now, and they deserved a hell of a lot better than what they got. If I were James, I would’ve held a press conference at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. I would’ve talked about my love of Akron and, by extension, Cleveland, and about how this place is my lifelong cherished home. I would’ve talked about growing up here and what it’s meant to me, and about how humbled and grateful I am for all that my friends, family and fans have given me all these years. Then I would’ve said, plainly, that it’s time for me to go. And I would’ve explained why in clear and honest terms.
He made a mistake, one mistake: He acted selfishly. This mere human being, only 25 years of age, made a mistake. And he knows it. But if you can forgive this misstep and get past it, here’s what LeBron James has shown us of his character in making this decision:
> He wants to play to his fullest potential and WIN
> He’s putting ego aside to share the spotlight with Wade
> He’s laying the weight of near-impossible expectations on his shoulders
> And he’s leaving $30M on the table do try and do it (the latest rumor is that Mike Miller is coming aboard, which means these guys will all have to take even less to subsidize his contract)
Now I ask every hater out there: Isn’t this everything we want our superstar athletes to be?
Well? Isn’t it?
G.
