It`s Just Business, Nothing Everything Personal.

SPORTS BETTING
SPORTS BETTING
S
hould I stay or should I go?” It
was the reoccurring, nightmarish
question that Cleveland Cavalier
fans knew, one day, would be asked
by its most talented and beloved, home-grown
athlete. It has also simultaneously remained
the one question that every fan of the LeBronera Cavaliers has dreaded, much like a parent
dreading the moment when they walk in on their
children re-enacting scenes from “American
Pie.” Yet, for seven years that one question has
remained a notion that was out of sight and out
of mind; until now, that is. Now, it’s been asked.
Now, it’s been answered. And now, he’s gone
forever.
It’s Just
Business,
Nothing
Everything
Personal.
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We all know how it went down in Greenwich,
Connecticut. The moment that the mega-hyped,
The Decision aired July 8th live on ESPN at
9:00 PM EST was the moment when LeBron
James stuck a trident in the backs of Cleveland
Cavaliers fans. The entire sit-down was an
overblown, sensationalized one-on-one that
brought on a claustrophobic unease. It’s tough to
even imagine the tensions that were rising and
surely overflowing in Cleveland throughout the
one-hour ESPN special. It can’t be explained or
even summarized in words. Tortured Cleveland
fans that have been put through so much agony
and so much pain for so many years gathered
in anticipation that their king would undoubtedly
stay put rather than flee. Unfortunately, those
that tuned-in were left with their mouths gaping
open in disbelief, like if a guy just found out that
the girl he’d been dating for six months was a
man.
When James uttered the words, “this fall I’m
going to take my talents to South Beach and
play for the Miami Heat,” to Jim Gray during
The Decision, basketball in Cleveland died.
That’s a fact. In retrospect, it’s easy to see that
from the moment he was drafted #1 overall in
2003, LeBron James became the lifeblood of
basketball - heck he was the lifeblood of all sports
- in a community that was completely deeprooted in the dregs of professional athletics. The
Browns, the Indians and, up until LeBron made
his debut in 2003, the Cavaliers were all the
bastardized children of the sports world. James
changed all of that. He cast a ray of light on a city
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that was totally clouded with failure and misery.
He gave the Cavs a chance to win each time he
stepped out on the court. He was the almighty
in Cleveland and Cavaliers fans kissed his feet
and worshipped the parquet floors upon which
he trotted.
The first question to ask is, “How could he do
this to his people?” How could, arguably, the
greatest athlete to ever come out of Ohio, betray
a city just miles from his hometown? It’s simple:
LeBron is a businessman. He has been since he
came out of St. Vincent’s-St. Mary’s High School
to enter the NBA Draft. You’d have to be if you’re
that good at anything. Looking in the rearview
mirror, it’s not that difficult to comprehend. Think
about it, LeBron-to-the-Cavaliers was a dream
scenario. It’s every kid’s dream to go pro and
play for his hometown team. Isn’t it possible that
LeBron thought the same way? At the age of
18, how great must it have seemed to James to
be the saving grace for his hometown team that
hadn’t been relevant in the NBA for decades?
During the seven years James played in
Cleveland, he made the Cavs clear-cut playoff
contenders each year. While it’s true that LeBron
could never bring them to glory, it wasn’t
entirely his fault. He did come close in 2007,
but was ousted in embarrassing fashion by
the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals. It wasn’t
James’ accountability that upper-management
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could never put the right pieces around him to
catapult the Cavs into the Finals every year. Over
the course of seven years the Cavaliers front
office made all of the wrong moves by adding
stinkers, including Jiri Welsch, Larry Hughes,
Damon Jones, Ben Wallace and Wally Szerbiak,
to the Cleveland roster. It was crystal clear that
James had a growing discontent brought on
by Danny Ferry’s successes of assembling a
half-assed team that could never win it all each
season. Despite Cleveland’s annual post-season
shortcomings, it’s important to remember, never
once did LeBron pull a “Kobe” and threaten to
up-and-leave the Cavaliers while under contract.
James wisely negotiated a three-year, opt-out
clause in his contract for leverage, but nothing
ever developed from it. Could that opt-out clause
have scared away some of the free-agents Ferry
tried to bring in and accompany King James? It’s
likely. But LeBron never overelaborated on his
unhappiness with the Cavaliers organization’s
lame attempts to satisfy his desire to win a
championship.
Coming into 2009, Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert
and general manager, Danny Ferry found
themselves held at gun point with their backs
up against the wall. With one year remaining on
their most prized possession’s contract, Gilbert
and Ferry did the only thing that they could do to
make James’ possible final season in Cleveland
successful: they went all-in. Danny Ferry brought
in Shaquille O’Neal, Mo Williams and then
traded for Antawn Jamison mid-season in hopes
of scrapping together something that might
resemble a playoff-hopeful basketball team. Did
the new-look Cavaliers ever have a chance to
win an NBA Championship? Absolutely not. Mo
Williams is a decent point guard, but not good
enough to run the court on a consistent basis;
Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t been a relevant starter
in three or four years; and though people were
excited when Cleveland traded for Antawn
Jamison at the deadline, the majority forgot that
he notoriously went into hiding during clutch or
high pressure situations, circa the postseason.
That’s precisely when LeBron quit - once he
realized the team’s mortality after the regular
season – and mailed it in. Sure, Cleveland
finished the regular season with the best record
in the Eastern Conference, clinched the number
one seed in the postseason and even easily
handled the Chicago Bulls in the opening round
of the playoffs. However, once Boston rolled
into town, the team Ferry assembled with
Scotch Tape and Gorilla Glue failed to strike
the right balance. The old, slow and worn-out
veterans that comprised the Celtics’ roster had
the antidote to counteract Cleveland’s young,
athletic, but inexperienced group. It’s tough to
write, or even think that LeBron would ever
quit on the court, but he did for the first time
in his career on May 13, 2010 in Boston. For
the entire 46-minutes and 12-seconds James
“
He never
wanted to be
Jordan, he just
wanted what
Jordan had:
rings.
”
played against the Celtics, he had an utter look
of disconnection and disinterest in trying to win
that series. After the Game-6 loss, he shook
hands with his opponents and quickly exited the
TD Garden, taking off his No. 23 Cavaliers jersey
before entering the locker room. Everyone knew
James and his crew fell short yet again, but no
one knew if they had just seen LeBron James in
a Cavs uniform for the very last time.
After the Lakers won their second-consecutive
NBA Championship, the hangover quickly faded
in the sports community as all eyes shifted to
July 1st: the most highly-anticipated NBA free
agency period to date. LeBron James, Dwyane
Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson and Amare
Stoudemire were all free to join any team they
wanted; however the one superstar fans cared
for, or were most interested in was obviously
James. When James tore off his Cavs jersey
in Boston, he started an avalanche of rumors;
on-air debate; Twitter overloads; fodder for
lively barroom argument; and, quite frankly,
local hysteria in Cleveland. Nobody knew
where he was headed. Speculation narrowed
his destination down to five teams (New York,
Chicago, New Jersey, Cleveland and Miami).
However, it was mostly based on cheap
suspicions and overblown theories. In actuality,
only King James knew where he was taking his
talents in 2010. Prior to his courting, James’ only
public appearance was on CNN’s Larry King Live
during the NBA Finals. What was the angle?
There was none. It was just a farce, as LeBron
quote unquote claimed that Cleveland had an
edge going into his free agency. It was the
proverbial pulling of the wool over the eyes of the
entire Cavaliers organization and community.
By the time July 8th rolled around, LeBron
James had, all together, killed basketball in Ohio,
burnt down the Quicken Loans Arena and pissed
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“
But what he did
on July 8th is
the epitome of a
public relations
nightmare.
“
”
As Tony Gwynn,
Strasburg’s
college coach,
put it, “the kid
has it all.”
”
on its ashes, announcing to the world on national
television his decision to go play with Chris Bosh
and Dwyane Wade - his closest friends – for the
Miami Heat. Even if Dan Gilbert, Danny Ferry
and the rest of the Cavs’ front office sat on
their hands until the eleventh hour and LeBron
had been secretly brooding over it for the past
seven years, the way he left the Cavaliers was
as tasteless as anything in the history of sports.
You couldn’t call it betrayal, it was much worse
than that; what LeBron did to the state of Ohio
was what Judas Iscariot did to Jesus Christ.
How could someone so smart, so mature and so
well-liked do something so stupid and malicious?
It’s not hard to understand that playing in Miami
is a far richer social and basketball opportunity
than playing in Cleveland, but what he did on July
8th is the epitome of a public relations nightmare.
James immediately went from fan favorite
to hated heel as fans, analysts and players
thought his exit was as cold as murder. Whether
his tensions were premeditated or not, he
successfully drove a wooden stake right through
the heart of Cleveland.
The second question to ask, beside, “How
could LeBron do this,” is, “How long did he
know about this?” Some say that LeBron’s plan
to play with his friends (Wade and Bosh) dates
back to the 2008 Summer Olympics when the
three won the gold medal in Beijing. If there’s
no verity to that theory and all of the chips just
so happened to fall into the perfect places at
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the perfect time, then it doesn’t look as bad
for James. However, if the trio did conspire
and James knew all along that Miami was his
destination while whispering sweet nothings
into the ears of all of those teams - especially
Cleveland - just for kicks, then he looks even
more like a sinister magician, torturing his
crowd in bewilderment, just before his final
disappearing act. We’ll never know, but all signs
point to the latter; especially now learning that
Pat Riley “conveniently” started dumping every
major salary on the Heat’s books two years ago.
For that, the Miami Heat president has to be
considered genius from the highest order
From a publicity and marketing standpoint of the
ordeal, the 2010 Miami Heat has been burning
holes in the wallets of fans since July 9th. After
the sign and trade of Bosh was announced,
season ticket sales were suspended because the
entire quantity of tickets sold out. Season-ticket
packages were available starting in the realm of
$4,000, and made even more on eBay as some
packages were sold for as much as $18,000.
Once James signed with Miami, the “currently
available” ticket packages disappeared. Proving
that they were the hot commodity of the MiamiDade County, Wade, James and Bosh made
their debut at the 2010 Summer Heat Welcome
Party at the American Airlines Arena on July
9th, where they were introduced as “The Three
Kings” in front of 19,000 screaming fans. Wade,
James and Bosh all entered on a stage with
large letters reading, “Yes. We. Did.” The event
was more of a chance for James and Bosh to
spit in the faces of their previous owners, than a
marketing event.
Purely, from a basketball standpoint, how can’t
this “dream team” draw extreme intrigue?
Was the way that all three of the masterminds
(Wade, James and Bosh) went about pulling
together this super team blasphemous? Without
question. Through it, tough, we all discovered
exactly what LeBron’s destiny on the court is. He
never wanted to be the one who independently
had to carry a team to an NBA title; he never
wanted to be Jordan, he just wanted what Jordan
had: rings. And through it, the NBA now has one of
most dominant forces ever assembled. LeBron will
become the creator with the ball, Wade will finish
and Bosh will work the glass as the big man. The
three are all versatile and have made the Heat a
hybrid NBA team. Where one lacks, the other can
fill in. James never had that assassin’s bullet like
Kobe. Wade does. When there are five-seconds
left on the clock and the game is on the line, Wade
will get the ball. When Bosh is getting mutilated
because he simply can’t defend, James will slide in
and take over with his size, strength and speed. If
James is getting double teamed on the perimeter,
Bosh will be there to take the shots and let LeBron
continue to draw double coverage. Applying the
eye test to it, Miami is loaded to the gills offensively
and should be able to capture similar strides to the
Celtics of 2008, just with more style points.
Can they co-exist? Can they defend? That’s what
the world wants to know. Dwyane, LeBron and
Chris are all close friends, but if they can’t handle
ball distribution and sacrifice personal stats for
the greater good of the team, Miami could be
headed for a Titanic-like disaster. Realistically,
none of the three sacrificed a dollar coming over
to Miami (remember there’s no state income tax
in Florida). But, if they didn’t realize that sacrifices
would have to be made on the court to win an
NBA Championship when they crafted the idea
of playing together, then they’re a lot dumber
than they look. And when Bosh and James
signed, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and Žydrunas
Ilgauskas hadn’t been brought in yet. Now, the
Heat has plenty of size and plenty of defensive
ability. Do they have an Achilles’ heel? Not on
paper. When asked if the Heat could win 72
games – a feat that hasn’t been done since the ’96
Bulls - ABC/ESPN NBA analyst, Mike Van Gundy
stated, “I would think that everybody would think
they would have a great shot at it.” Van Gundy
also went on to say, “I don’t know if I said they will
or they have a great chance, whatever I said, I just
think if they’re healthy, the discrepancy between
their talent level and the next level is so great that
I just don’t see how they lose games. I think
they’re that good.”
The one area that could hurt the Heat is simply
that they are now a villain team and a villain
franchise. The entire NBA will be gunning after
Miami as they have become the team to beat -
forget about the Lakers, Celtics and Magic. Oddly
enough, the new “Big Three” will play the older
“Big Three” on October 26th as the Heat open
up the 2010 NBA season at the Boston Garden
to take on the Celtics. It’s games like these
that will foreshadow the successes or failures
of the Miami Heat. If they do as advertised,
bring out the best in each other and win it all,
the move and the sacrifice will have paid off. If
they implode and fail, they will all become the
laughing stock of professional sports. We’ll know
how for real Dwyane Wade, LeBron James
and Chris Bosh are very early in the season, as
their first game will be against their toughest
opponent within the Eastern Conference. For
the new-look Heat, in their first year, it really is
sink or swim.
History tells us that the great ones usually stayed
with one team; Russell, Bird, Magic, Jordan.
They all won with one team and they retired
with one team (minus Jordan who retired for
the second time with Washington). But times
have radically changed. When LeBron came
to Cleveland he was the chosen one and we
were all his witnesses. What we witnessed
was an extreme example of identity crisis. For
seven years James labored trying to bring a
championship to his hometown and for seven
years we all tried fitting a square peg through a
circular hole. James is incapable of being Jordan,
as he proved by joining a team to be a member
of a supporting cast. The NBA is a business and
in a business there are no attachments and no
favorites. LeBron made a business decision by
leaving Cleveland. He no longer wanted to be
the guy that an entire franchise - an entire city leaned on to bring them to greatness.
Whether LeBron knowingly or unknowingly
lead the Cavaliers straight into a snake pit of
betrayal and heartbreak, there were better ways
he could have departed from his seven-year
relationship with the city of Cleveland. He’ll
never be forgiven for the way he left the entire
Cavaliers franchise at the altar. He’ll never be
forgiven for divorcing himself from the Cavs
on national television. He‘ll never be forgiven
for kicking fans to the curb the way he did.
The saying goes, “It’s just business., nothing
personal.” But because James left the way
he did, to the people of Cleveland, it was just
business, everything personal.
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