Remember my note about the city of Cleveland ("Heartbreak City", trust me it's a great read, check it out!)? I think the city is in dire need of life support or to be put on suicide watch after last night.
Unless you've been under a rock, simply do not care, or have been polishing each of Kobe Bryant's five rings, then of course you know that LeBron James is now a member of the Miami Heat.
Now, let's make one thing clear...I do not hate LeBron James as a player, I just hate his arrogance and how he made this decision into what a highly touted high school athlete does by choosing a team or picking a hat, etc... However, my feelings over the last 24 hours have went from lukewarm to cold to lukewarm again (I guess that is what some Miami "heat" will do to your feelings).
The feelings went cold due to this charade.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh got 10 minutes to say "I'm going to Miami", while LeBron got an hour to hear "Miami-Wade" County say "Bienvenido a Miami".
LeBron publicly embarrassed four teams by pretty much choosing stars (Miami) over youth (New Jersey), potential (Chicago), history (New York), and home (Cleveland).
Hell, Kevin Durant tweeted about his new 5-year deal, Carlos Boozer and Amar'e Stoudemire went to Chicago and New York quietly, and Joe Johnson got away with one of the best robberies in NBA history. But I digress...
Feelings got better after I realized that the man took LESS money to win now.
He could have stayed in Cleveland, took the max contract, and wondered will that day ever come while the trio of Wade, Bosh, and Michael Beasley win one or numerous titles.
However, LeBron chose to join his Olympic buddies for a piece of the action for LESS money, how cool is that? Besides, ask most athletes what happens when you stay at home too long.
Then there's Dan Gilbert and his rendition of Nas, Tupac, and Jay-Z and the font of choice to show his anger, Comic Sans, because there's nothing like making things bold and clear than with that font.
Oh, wow, you could have used Arial Black, Helvetica, or (my personal fave) Times New Roman...but Comic Sans?!?
Anyways, Gilbert and Cleveland have a right to be mad, but burning the man's jersey who made you a relevant franchise and saying "Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there", is uncalled for. Who made this biblical? Why do this to the guy who doubled your franchise's worth?
Gilbert is to actually blame here, because ever since he became owner in 2005, he and general manager Danny Ferry signed and traded for players who were role players or on the downside of their careers, while having Mike Brown, a coach with a good pedigree but with a simple game plan.
No wonder why Cleveland could not get Trevor Ariza, Ron Artest, or Stoudemire, and never really drafted decent players other than J.J. Hickson or Daniel Gibson. They settled on decent defensive players like Larry Hughes, Ben Wallace, and an older Shaquille O'Neal, but never that impact player that a superstar needs.
James solely carried the Cavaliers to the 2007 NBA Finals, where they got swept by the San Antonio Spurs. That year he averaged 27.3 points per game, and scored the final 25 points (18 in overtime) in Cleveland's Game 5 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, but no one else had more than 14.9 PPG that season.
However, that team was arguably the worst to make it to an NBA Final.
The 2008-09 and 2009-10 teams each won more than 60 games and earned home-court advantage, but failed to reach the NBA Finals both years, and it was the first time that a team failed to reach the Finals at least once after reaching the 60-win plateau in consecutive years.
So now, LeBron goes to South Beach, and Cleveland is left in the cold...again, but don't worry Cavs fans! The Clippers and the Warriors have kept your lottery seats nice and toasty just for you!
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