SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY. If Karma is a b****, as Lebron likes to tweet on twitter, it certainly did not turn its b****iness at the Cleveland Cavaliers during this important evening.
Grant, Nick, and Dan Gilbert were only part of the contingent that represented Cleveland at the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery; the Cleveland Cavaliers secured the #1 and #4 Overall Picks in the 2011 NBA Draft.
In tonight's NBA Draft Lottery, the Cavs were the unquestioned, big winners, translating a total 22.7% chance into the 1st Overall selection in June's NBA Draft.
The winning lottery pick was acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers in the trade that sent Mo Williams to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Baron Davis and the first round pick. The Clippers finished the season with a 32 - 50 record, the 8th worst record in the league this season-- good enough for only a 2.8% chance of winning the NBA's annual Draft Lottery.
Together with their own pick, the Cavaliers will have the #1 and #4 Overall Selections in the NBA Draft scheduled for June 23rd.
The Cleveland contingent pulled out all the stops for some good luck, but the man of the hour was 14 year old Nick Gilbert, son of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who represented the team on stage.
Also joining the Cleveland contingent were current Cleveland Browns Josh Cribbs and Joe Haden, as well as, former Cleveland Brown Bernie Kosar.
Following the poorly conceived and disrespectful "Decision" special on ESPN where Lebron announced his "taking his talents" to Miami, Dan Gilbert responded with an open letter to Cavalier fans promising to win a championship before Lebron's new team. Acquiring two of the top four picks in June's NBA Draft will help to accelerate the Cavs efforts to rebuild.
Some players (along with some footage on them) that the Cavs will be considering with the #1 and #4 Overall Picks:
KYRIE IRVING (Point Guard, 6'3")
DERRICK WILLIAMS (Small Forward, 6'8")
ENES KANTER (Center, 6'10")
BRANDON KNIGHT (Point Guard, 6'3")
KAWHI LEONARD (Small Forward, 6'7")
For more information on the Children's Tumor Foundation and how to give to this worthy cause, please CLICK HERE...
MIAMI, FL. By virtue of taking his "talents" to South Beach and joining a greater talent in Dwayne Wade, Lebron has his best chance ever to win against the team that ended his career in Cleveland. However, even a series win will not be enough to erase the legacy of his past playoff failures.
The Boston Celtics continued to dominate Lebron (along with his new team, the Heat) during the regular season; will the playoffs be any different?
It was around this time last year that the Boston Celtics played and dominated Lebron's Cleveland Cavaliers to another disappointing early dismissal from the playoffs.
As he left the court following an overall unimpressive performance in the series, he ripped his Cavaliers jersey off with visible disdain before he reached the locker room; it was a moment that will replay in the minds of Cleveland fans as it began to fuel speculation that Lebron had quit in the Boston series.
The early end of the season for Lebron and the Cavs equated to an early start to a summer of speculation about where Lebron would go in free agency. The "Summer of Lebron" saw several franchises, who had gutted their lineups to create financial flexibility in the form of capspace, vy for the attention of the most talented free agent class in a generation, particularly the "No-Ring King", himself.
Lebron basked in the constant attention leading up to the July 1st threshold for the first day of signing. Lebron wanted more time in the limelight, so he extended his personal deadline for making up his mind to July 7th. Then that day came and went with only the statement that Lebron would make his announcement July 9th. Then ESPN began promoting "The Decision" show that would take place in primetime...
Many a Cleveland home was warmed in the winter of 2010 using a Lebron jersey heating system.
Ultimately, his embarassment at the hands of Boston's Big Three may have been the catalyst for his joining fellow Superfriends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.
The production of not only "The Decision" show on ESPN and the subsequent introduction of Miami's free agents at the American Airlines Arena proved to be as shameless and disrespectful of the game as the threesome's alleged conspiracy to join forces following the 2008 Olympic Games.
The attention given to such a talented player who has no team-oriented success in a team sport is astounding. However, to be fair, Lebron and his dickriders made the excuse that he did not have enough help in Cleveland. I think that we can all agree that with Wade and Bosh, Lebron has more than enough help.
After being eliminated from the 2011 NBA Playoffs by the Boston Celtics for the second year in a row, Lebron exclaims, "When I said enough help, I meant I don't have enough Kevin Durants and Dwight Howards on my team!"
And when Lebron faces Boston this time, there are no more excuses. The least he can do is exorcise the demons of last season's playoff failure.
However, it will take much more than that for Lebron to redeem himself in the basketball world. He became Wade's Sidekick to win championships. He mortgaged his legacy and status in the sport in order to claim "multiple championships" (in Lebron's own words).
Anything short of that can only be defined as failure.
Attention, Miami Heat fans. Please don't wet yourself in excitement, for as anyone in Cleveland can tell you, Lebron's promises and predictions are never as good as they sound.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. Things got a bit testy approaching half-time of the game that was hyped as the potential 2011 NBA Finals matchup. The Los Angeles Lakers had fought back from a quick start by the Miami Heat, and Ron Artest and Lebron had just been called for double technicals.
Artest successfully exposed Dwayne Wade's Sidekick's messed up hairline.
It was looking as if the Lakers might use the halftime break to shrug off poor starts by both Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and compose themselves and make a game out of one of the most anticipated games of the season for NBA fans. Alas, it was not to be.
The Lakers could not reign in the Heat, and although they were able to cut the lead to under 10 points several times, they were unable to break through and take the lead. Finally, the Lakers simply ran out of time.
After the game, Kobe broke his week-long media silence with very candid words about the effort that has seen the Lakers suffer back-to-back bad losses to Milwaukee and Miami:
Despite their clear frustration at dropping an opportunity at making a statement to the Miami Heat and the entire league, Kobe and the Lakers have been here before. This was their second consecutive Christmas Day loss to a team with Dwayne Wade's Sidekick on the roster; last year, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers that took the Christmas Day match up in Los Angeles.
Despite the loss, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to gather themselves and won the NBA Championship. If there is something that Kobe has over Lebron, it is his ability to lead his team to a win when it counts. That is why the only stat that matters is the 5 NBA Championship rings that Kobe has versus zero for Sidekick.
After the anti-climactic conclusion to the "Summer of Lebron", it is clear that at age 26 and a half (and at an emotuional age of 15), Lebron has considered his legacy in basketball and in the world about as much as he considered the consequences of announcing his "Decision" in an hour long special on ESPN.
In case you were cowering under a rock until the events of the "Summer of Lebron" would blow over (like Jeff Van Gundy, who then emerged, disoriented, and proclaimed that the Miami Heat would win more games than the 72 - 10 Chicago Bulls team), you would know that, despite compelling presentations from several NBA teams, including one that would have put Lebron literally playing in Michael Jordan's shoes and along side MVP candidate, Derrick Rose, Lebron made the cowardly "Decision" to join Dwayne Wade on HIS Miami Heat team.
A bold offer to a man who lacks enough "bolds"; Lebron can't fill MJ's shoes.
When Lebron could have plugged into a perfect win-now situation with a complete and talented team, with the franchise that Michael Jordan exploded, in the stadium that Michael Jordan built, in the city that Michael Jordan made into a basketball town and that had been starving for a basketball hero, Lebron could have built a legacy in Chicago that would have written itself. Lebron brand would have elevated itself to a worldwide brand, strengthened by its organic association with the iconic Jordan.
And although it would have been difficult to see at the time, it is clear now that the New York proposal was also a powerful one, with Amare Stoudemire's continued MVP-like efforts for the New York Knicks this season. Amare has New York squarely in the playoff picture and is making the case as a legitimate destination for next year's most coveted free agent, Carmelo Anthony.
And, of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers, though hampered by salary cap restrictions, would have found a way to make the necessary upgrades to stay the class of the NBA, if Lebron had stayed. And if he had won even one NBA title with the Cavs, the city of Cleveland would have rejoiced with the pent up energy of all the years of frustration that came before. Lebron's legacy would have been Cleveland's Greatest Champion.
Lebron should just change his name to "Lebron James Dwayne Wade's Sidekick"
However, whether it had been planned since the 2008 Olympics or even earlier, Lebron chose to join Dwayne Wade, a player who has already gotten it done in the NBA Finals and already has his own NBA Championship and NBA Finals MVP legacy. No matter how many championships they hope to win together, DWade will always have one more; one that he won after being the underdog and trailing the favored Dallas Mavericks two games to none in the series. Wade was the one man wrecking crew carrying his Miami Heat to victory in the series in Jordanesque fashion. And that is why, by joining DWade's Miami Heat, Lebron's legacy can only be one thing: Dwayne Wade's Sidekick.
At best this would mean being "Scottie Pippen" to Wade's Jordan, but Lebron will still have to win multiple championships in Wade's shadow to even be considered as great as Pippen really was. Wade and his sidekick have yet to show that they can play together with the same kind of chemistry that Jordan and Pippen had in winning 6 NBA Championships.
In this day and age of NBA Superstar branding, it is amazing that Lebron's PR people would have allowed Lebron to make such a collosal PR mistake, as they have continued to allow him to do since "The Decision" show. Whether Lebron can change his legacy is mostly a question of whether he is willing to change the PR team that got him here, for this much is clear; Lebron has decided not to be responsible for his legacy, just as he has decided not to be responsible for the failures of his teams in past and future playoffs.
CLEVELAND, OH. Without a doubt, there will be a lot of emotion for everyone involved in Lebron's first game back in Quicken Loans Arena, the stadium he called home when he won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award just last year, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a league-best 61 - 21 record.
Now, after his antics during the "Summer of Lebron", he is the enemy, in more ways than simply returning as an opposing team's player.
Lebron was supposed to be "The Chosen One" to bring a sports championship to a city that has not won a major sports championship since 1964 and has had worse sports fortune than arguably any other city in the world. Cleveland is the punchline of sports joke after sports joke because of heartbreaking and infamous sports moments as "The Drive", "The Fumble, and "The Shot" where they snatched defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory.
Part of Cleveland's heartbreaking sports history has to do with losing more sports talent than any other city, culminating in losing an entire team when Art Modell decided to move the Cleveland Browns football team, earning him the honor of most hated sports figure in Cleveland. Until this past summer. Until "The Decision". And that brings us back to Lebron James.
In a move as classless and heartbreaking to the city of Cleveland, Lebron announced his plan to "take his talents to South Beach" and play for Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat during a one-hour special called "The Decision" which aired on ESPN. It was a forgettable public spectacle to most, but to the loyal fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was a public humiliation. The hometown kid who had promised to bring a championship to the city, had tried and failed, and was now going to quit on the city of Cleveland and get a ring for himself in an easier situation.
Tonight marks Lebron's first game back to face the Cleveland Cavaliers. As hurt as they are, Cleveland fans have too much pride and class to avenge Lebron's actions with physical violence. Several creative solutions are trying to garner social media support.
However, will we see Lebron humble himself enough to regain the respect of the fans of Cleveland?
Will Lebron do the Chalk Toss before the Cleveland crowd as an opposing player?
TO CHALK TOSS OR NOT TO CHALK TOSS?
Lebron copied and evolved a well-known Michael Jordan pre-game routine into his own pre-game ritual known as the Chalk Toss (pictured at right), a ritual that he used to pump up and engage the hometown fans in Cleveland.
And although he has every right to do his ritual in NBA arenas all over America, it would be a great show of respect and honor to the city of Cleveland that had been loyal until they were betrayed. Lebron knows that in this simple gesture, there may be salvation for his legacy in Cleveland.
"What Should He Do?": Skip the Chalk Toss tonight in Cleveland.
What Will He Do?": ...Be a LeBiatch, and do the Chalk Toss, cementing his legacy of being the Most Hated Sports Figure in Cleveland.
Dallas, Texas. Another game against a playoff caliber opponent resulted in a loss for the most overrated team in NBA history on Saturday night.
Dallas used a huge run to begin the second half, including a pivotal play where Dirk Nowitzki split the defense provided by Dwayne Wade and Lebron James. With all three All-Stars hanging in the air, Nowitzki completed the layup against both Miami Heat defenders. With the momentum, Dallas would stretch to a lead of 18 points which they would never relinquish.
Tyson Chandler looked like an All-Star against the Miami Heat.
Once again, Miami was beat on the glass as Tyson Chandler grabbed 17 rebounds to go with 14 points and 3 blocks, and the Mavs starting frontline outrebounded Miami 26 to 19. Chris Bosh, who has been criticized throughout his career for being soft, has done nothing to prove otherwise, and with the probable loss of Udonis Haslem for the entire season, the NBA playoff hopes of the Miami Heat rest on the slender shoulders and non-existent testicular fortitude of Bosh.
After falling to a season record of 9 wins and 8 losses, worse than last year's mark of 10 wins and 7 losses at this same point in the season, the Miami Heat players had a team-only meeting lasting approximately 45 minutes. None of the Heat players were willing to speak about anything specific that was said during the meeting.
The loss capped a disappointing week for the Miami Friends (I've dropped the "Super" for obvious reasons), who have lost four of their last 5 games. The team-only meeting was just another sign that the Miami three of Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh are fracturing under the pressure of public scrutiny of, in particular, Lebron's Decision to leave a talented team in Cleveland to form a supposed "super team" in Miami to pursue an NBA Championship. The results seem to support those who believe that Lebron took the easy way out and will not win a title this way.
This was a tough week for Lebron in particular. After Rudy Gay hit a game-winning shot in his face to lift the Memphis Grizzlies, an ad for Jordan brand in response to Lebron's "What Should I Do?" Nike ad went viral on the internet; in the ad, Michael Jordan asks if Lebron was just making excuses.
Miami, Florida No, the chances of the Miami Heat going 82 - 0 for the season have long passed. However, at a record of 5 - 3 during this first month of the NBA season, the vaunted Miami "superteam" is on pace for a record of 51 - 31, not even matching the record of the Cleveland Cavalier team that won a league best 61 games and brought Lebron the honor of NBA MVP. Experts around the league doubt that even exceeding the Cavs win total from last season will bring another MVP Award to Lebron because he is not even the focal point or best player on this season's version of the Heat.
Chris Bosh has been exposed as a soft defender and weak rebounder.
The Utah Jazz took their talents to South Beach and handed the Miami Heat their first home loss of the season behind a career night for power forward Paul Millsap who scored 46 points in the overtime victory.
Millsap was efficient; his career-high 46 points were scored on 19 for 28 shooting from the field, including shooting 3 for 3 from 3-point range. Millsap outscored the Miami Heat starting frontcourt, including Bosh (17 points), Lebron James (20 points), and rookie Joel Anthony (4 points).
In the first 8 games of the season, the Miami Heat's greatest weakness has been exposed. After having a roster that was completely gutted during the off season to make way for the Miami Thrice experiment, it seems that the filler players that were obtained to form the rest of the Miami Heat roster are not the only concern for the Heat.
For all their talent and skill, the Miami Heat front line, lead by Chris Bosh, is soft defensively and on the boards. Chris Bosh was the best player on a bad team with the Toronto Raptors, and he was able to accrue strong stats during mostly meaningless games. Bosh never led his Toronto Raptors team to the playoffs.
In the loss earlier in the week to the New Orleans Hornets, Bosh grabbed one rebound in 34 minutes of play. ONE REBOUND!
We saw in tonight's game that the Miami Heat plan to keep Lebron James back to help on the defensive boards. Lebron tallied a triple-double (20 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds) because of the strategy, but ultimately, the Heat lost the game. Going forward, we will see if other teams, especially teams that can dominate on the front line, continue to press the advantage to beat the Heat.
The teams that Miami is hoping to beat in the playoffs to play for the NBA Championship are teams that are powerful up front: Los Angeles, Boston, Orlando, New Orleans, and Chicago, to name a few. At this point, the Miami Heat are a fool's pick to win the NBA Championship.
New Orleans, LA. Lebron may not have been able to do it alone in his seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but on this night, it was Chris Paul who played the role of a lonely David versus the Goliath of the Big Three of Miami.
Chris Paul finished the game with a modest 13 points, but made his teammates better to the tune of 19 assists.
CP3 keeps his Hornets undefeated against DWade, Lebron, and the Miami Heat.
Following a summer that was notable for an infamous Decision to go to South Beach, Chris Paul was very public about his discontent with the state of the New Orleans Hornets, fueling rumors of a potential "Big Three" scenario that might have landed himself, along with another disgruntled superstar, Carmelo Anthony, on the New York Knicks.
Following a fifth straight victory to start the season by New Orleans (a Hornets franchise-best record to start a season), trade talks have been silenced. The New Orleans Hornets front office has consistently gone on record saying that Chris Paul would not be traded; the franchise even traded talented back-up point guard Darren Collison, who played excellent during the significant minutes he played in Paul's absence, as a clear statement of commitment to Paul.
It seems that their clear commitment, along with other off-season moves, has paid off for the undefeated New Orleans Hornets.
On the other hand, Lebron's summer has been one of a lack of a clear commitment (other than to himself and his so-called advisory team), culminating in the self-aggrandizing and self-promoting, 1-hour Decision special on ESPN. We all know the subsequent backlash that has resulted from Lebron's decision to be Dwayne Wade's Miami Heat sidekick, along with Chris Bosh.
After much speculation and talk of breaking the 72 win record of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls team, the Miami Heat lost their season opener to the Boston Celtics, and they now fall to a record of 4-2 after this loss to the New Orleans Hornets. This would put them on pace to win 66 to 69 games this season.
First off, SUPER FANS, thank you to each and every one of you for your support. The Facebook Group launched on the 9th of July, and in the less than three months since then, we have seen our little group grow and grow! 10,000 Likes is not a common achievement among Facebook groups (especially when the name of that group does not include "Ville" or "World" or "War" in its name). However, we did it! On October 1st, our little community included 10,000 SUPER FANS, and is still continuing to grow!
MIGHT THIS BE OUR LAST FACEBOOK UPDATE? (AS POSTED TO OUR LINKED TWITTER ACCOUNT)
Not all of the news today is good though. It seems that after working hard to build this community, Facebook is now blocking our right to publish updates to all of you who have chosen to join and chosen to receive our updates. Do you suppose that LeBiatch and his people are also LeSnitch? Do you think that his people cried and whined and peeled off a couple grand to try to kill the backlash?
Well, do you know what that tells me? It tells me that we are on his mind. It tells me that what we are saying here about what he has done matters. It may not change Lebron's thoughts or actions, but we are going to constantly remind him of his bad Decision. It tells me that he is concerned that whatever he accomplishes this season, that if we constantly remind people of the way he disrespected his city and the way he is disrespecting the sport of basketball, his legacy will always be that of a failure, crawling to join someone else's team, someone who can lead.
However, there is nothing in the world that could change this fact. There is nothing he or his team can say. Each time Lebron or his team opens their mouth to try to justify his actions, the excuses are more lame and more weak. Now he and his PR manager are crying racism. Is Magic Johnson being racist when he criticizes Lebron's move? Is Charles Barkley being racist when he criticizes Lebron's move (like in the video below)? And is Michael Jordan being racist when he criticizes Lebron's move? Is Jason Whitlock being racist when he tells you to put the race card away and shut up?
So, now that they have no more lame excuses left and no race card left to play, their only option left is to try and stop us from speaking the truth. Do you think we should allow them to silence us?
NO! I don't think so either! Keep the LeBIATCH MOVEMENT alive!
Here's how you can help:
1. To get instant Facebook updates, be friends with Lebron Isabiatch by clicking the link HERE
2. If you are interested in LeBiatch Custom Design T-Shirts and Products, visit our website, www.LeBiatch.com, where you can find our latest products!
3. Register as a SUPER FAN via our website, www.LeBiatch.com, and receive an instant discount code for 20% OFF on any order! (Including our newest design officially commemorating that "I'M ON THE LIST"!)
Whether or not you have gotten over the horrifically produced travesty that was "The Decision" Show yet, we can all admit that the loss of Lebron will be a difficult blow for the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team to recover from, even though Lebron shoots like 15% from the field in must win games.
However, after searching high and low, scientists have indeed discovered an upside to Lebron James leaving Cleveland: fresher air! After the growth of industry that lead to the population boom in Cleveland and the associated rise in air pollution, environmental regulations have lead to a gradual improvement in Cleveland's air quality to its present level. However, it seems that the effects of all the environmental regulation combined will not improve the air quality as much as the departure of Lebron James.
Anderson Varejao was instrumental in exposing Lebron James' assault on the environment. The following video reveals the lengths and sacrifice that Varejao went to in order to expose James.
Cleveland will be a better place for many reasons with the departure of Lebron, and Varejao deserves our gratitude for his sacrifice in exposing Lebron, the eco-criminal.
So, the much anticipated 2010 NBA Free Agency period (the so called "Summer of Lebron") has come and gone. It was a soap opera beyond imagination which finally ended with the most awkward debacle of an announcement of a bad decision ever made in the history of modern sports.
Lebron decided to take his talents (and for his sake, enough lube) to South Beach to join Dwayne Wade and new Heat teammate, Chris Bosh. And that was when Lebron revealed himself to be a fraud and less than the Chosen One he had claimed to be. The hearts of those who had once supported him were broken, as they have been so many times before in Cleveland. And beyond Cleveland, those who believed that he could step into the Air Jordans of the Greatest of All Time and those who hoped that pride could be restored for a team that plays in the Mecca of Basketball were also disappointed.
However, none of this may compare with the irreparable damage that "the Decision" has done to Lebron's own legacy. The championships that he may have believed would cement his legacy, gotten this way by joining a champion in DWade, will forever cast him as a sidekick. And despite what anyone has said, this incarnation of the Miami Heat have yet to win a single game.
With all the free agent dominoes having fallen and the teams geared up to start the regular season, this usually proves to be the longest month for hardcore hoops fans. Therefore, we wish to bring you the Best Videos of the Summer of Lebron is a LeBiatch. In this edition, we examine the Best Documentary Videos of the summer.
BEST AMATEUR FILM CLIP Lebron James gets booed at Cedar Point by Nikkie0212
Current Number of Views: 401,214
August 9, 2010 About a month after announcing "the Decision", Lebron returns to Cedar Point, the legendary amusement park in northern Ohio. However, despite the solid month of anti Lebron sentiment coming out of the Cleveland Cavaliers fanbase, Lebron must not have been convinced that his decision could have been so poorly received.
On this day, an amateur camera-person captures Lebron James at the basketball hoops getting jeered by park-goers and missing every shot he takes. He must have been having flashbacks to Game 5 of the Boston Celtics playoff series this year where he shot 3 of 14.
BEST DOCUMENTARY Raw Video: Cavs Fans React to LeBron's Decision (Associated Press)
Current Number of Views: 328,158
July 9, 2010 This will be a date that will live in infamy in the minds of Cleveland sports fans as the unthinkable and unimaginable happened in a public act of humiliation that garnered an audience of 9.95 million to TV screens. In a classless display of self-aggrandizement, Lebron took an hour of national TV airtime on ESPN (and the dignity of one Jim Gray, who presided over the charade) to make his long awaited announcement.
Lebron James, a homegrown, hometown basketball phenom from nearby Akron, OH, eventually became the #1 overall selection of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft. He was christened The Chosen One because he was believed to be the one to return Cleveland sports to respectability, and during his 7 years playing for the Cavs, James won two MVP awards, lead his team to the best regular season record twice, and made one NBA Finals appearance.
Lebron's decision to join a loaded team in Miami was viewed as not only selfish and quitting, but it was also an act of betrayal greater than any other because he was the local guy who should understand the pain and the plight of the city in terms of sports history. After being likened to Benedict Arnold, Lebron is giving Art Modell a run for his money for the mantel of most hated Cleveland sports demigod.
It seems that as time goes by, tiny morsels of facts regarding "The Decision" and the rest of the farce that was NBA Free Agency 2010 emerge that lend more and more credence to the notion that Lebron's decision to join with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami was contrived well in advance of the start of the free agent signing period on July 1, 2010.
On SI.com's Dan Patrick Show, none other than Chris Bosh, the least talented of the Miami Big Three, was asked about Lebron's attempts to lure him to join the Cleveland Cavaliers. Reportedly, Lebron had spoken to Bosh about the possibility of joining the team in a sign and trade; an option that the Cavs would surely have entertained in order to keep James in Cleveland.
“We never had a discussion about Cleveland,” Bosh revealed, Wednesday morning. "We never really had discussions, period."
This simple statement greatly implicate that James had already closed the door on returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that originally drafted him out of high school first overall in the 2003 NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, which finished the 2010 regular season with a 61-21 record and the best record in the league for the second consecutive season, could have arguably had the addition it needed to be title favorites by adding Chris Bosh and keeping James.
The Lebron James public spectacle, and the infamous "Decision", continues to baffle, particularly those who understand the game and business of basketball the best.
Larry Bird, or Larry Legend as he was known even during his playing days with the Boston Celtics during the 1980 and 1990's, is on record having voiced his disapproval of Lebron James' "Decision" to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, which is in line with the sentiment voiced recently by his Hall of Fame contemporaries, Michael Jordan and Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
"I remember back in my days, I'd rather play against Earvin Johnson than play with him. He's a guy I always compared myself to. I'd rather stay in Boston and let him stay in L.A. and just compete every year in the Finals. That's what made me a better player."
Bird's statement follows closely on the heels of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson's statements criticizing Lebron James decision to join the Miami Heat. By doing so, James, the most coveted free-agent of the decade, joined with the next two most talented free-agents in arguably the greatest free-agent class ever in the NBA. Essentially, the joining of James, Wade, and Bosh, though not as epic as a Magic, Bird, and Jordan triumverate, is about the closest thing that has, in fact, come to pass.
The Legends (Bird, Magic, and Jordan), the first-ballot Hall of Famers who were responsible for the international explosion in popularity of the NBA and basketball, have voiced their displeasure with "The Decision" because of what it may mean to the future of NBA. The competition between Bird and Magic defined an era in the NBA, and the dominance of Jordan through the 1990's was a tribute to the will and perseverance of the greatest player of all time.
Old-school fans of the NBA were treated to epic battles between the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, however the Lebron decision was an admission of surrender and an inexplicable act of submission to another star in Wade.
When asked about Lebron's decision following a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada, Michael Jordan's reply to NBC Sports was this:
"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team, but that's ... things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. ... In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."
And in sports, it is that competitive fire that athletes are measured by, and that is why Bird, Magic, and Jordan have the legacy and legend that they do.
NEVER SURRENDER Cleveland Cavaliers LeBiatch Design T-Shirt
Did he or did he not quit? That was the question. In the playoff series against the underdog Boston Celtics, Game 4 just may be the most infamous game in the career of Lebron James, for when he was supposed to rise to the occasion and put the Cleveland Cavaliers on his back and carry them back to a tied series. However, after struggling for three quarters, Lebron simply stopped shooting and seemed to stop fighting. Following the loss in Game 4 and the series-ending loss in Game 5, Cavs fans actually booed, not the loss, but lack of effort.
In the days leading up to the official start of free agency, Cavs fans were optimistic that their hometown hero would keep fighting for the sports pride of the area where Lebron grew up and played his entire NBA career. They could not imagine that "The Chosen One" could fail in his quest to bring the elusive NBA Championship home.
That is, until the poorly produced "The Decision" show on ESPN (and all the hilarious spoofs that would come about as a result, such as the one above!). When Lebron announced his decision to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, he answered an innumerable number of questions about Lebron James the basketball player, as well as, Lebron James the person.
The world would "Witness" a player who did not succeed with a team, and rather than take responsibility to fulfill his promise to area by accepting the mantle of "The Chosen One" (like the tattoo on his back says), he opted for the easy road. Rather than showing the persistence, mental fortitude, and leadership that was the character of past legendary players, he opted to give up, surrender, throw in the towel, lay down, or his own brand of quitting, QUITNESS.
For all the Cleveland Fans out there fighting and never surrendering and who deserve a role model, a player, and a team that will never surrender, this is for you!
NEVER SURRENDER Cleveland Cavaliers LeBiatch Design T-Shirt
In Stock and Available ORDER HERE!
