LeBron goes from Cleveland to Miami, from hero to villain
In an hour of unbelievably overcooked live TV, LeBron James went from being the nice guy you hoped would someday win a championship to the schemer you hope never does. He went from being John Elway to being A-Rod, from hero to villain.
It must have seemed a good idea at the time: LeBron and his “team” went to ESPN and pitched an one-hour special, and the Worldwide Leader does as the Worldwide Leader invariably does — it turned a news story into a circus. It offered up Stuart Scott, who said “two-time MVP” so often in the space of 10 minutes you wanted to shout: “Bill Russell was a five-time MVP, and he never needed a one-hour special to remind us!”
Bill Russell also won 11 titles, and he never had to cherry-pick his team. Neither did Michael Jordan, who took six, or Magic Johnson, who won five, or Kobe Bryant, who has five, or Tim Duncan, who has four. Even if LeBron does win a championship with the Miami Heat — and there’s no guarantee he will — it won’t be seen as a great player lifting a team; it will be seen as a bunch of glitzy free agents banding together just to burnish their respective images.
The Heat won’t be seen as the Celtics, where three guys who had never won big came together near the end of the careers to enhance one another. They’ll be viewed as the Yankees, where the operative word is always overkill. LeBron James just told us that, for all his exterior bravado, he didn’t trust himself to be the linchpin of a champion. He needs Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Can Carmelo Anthony be far behind?
We the people are funny. We like our stars, but we don’t like sure things. It will be no news when Miami wins, but it will be the lead story whenever it loses. And it won’t just be newsworthy when/if the Heat fails — it will be laugh-out-loud funny.
Had LeBron gone to the Knicks or the Bulls, had he stayed in Cleveland, we’d see him differently today. We’d see him as a superstar looking for a team he could make better, as opposed to one that might well have made do without him. A team needs both LeBron and D-Wade? The two brand names whose games most mirror one another? Why not bring Jordan out of retirement just to complete the set?
The wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, no stranger to hype, offered two sneering Tweets in response to the word circulating early Thursday that LeBron was indeed headed to Miami to ally himself with Wade and Chris Bosh. From C.O.:
“Nickname is KingJames. Kings lead with the help of an army (supporting cast on team) – a lead dog doesn’t join superstars to make it easy.”
Also this:
“Kobe-Magic-Jordan-Bird all created legacies on their own teams. They didn’t join together to make winning a ring easy.”
We can argue that LeBron deserves credit for leaving money on the table. (The Cavs could have paid him more than any other team.) But money at this rarefied level is a given, and what’s a few million here or there? The trouble with being one of three — Miami Thrice! — is that LeBron will never be seen as a transcendent talent on the order of Jordan or Magic or Bird. He couldn’t take the guys around him and make them champs. He had to station himself next to D-Wade, who’s already a champ.
The Summer of LeBron figured to be strange, but it wound up being stranger than anyone could have dreamed. LeBron had the world at his feet, and he managed to alienate a goodly portion thereof. His ballyhooed “Decision” smacks of a calculated plan intent on world domination, and nobody likes a megalomaniac.
LeBron might well have outsmarted himself. A lot of folks who wouldn’t have minded if he won are now hoping he and the Miami Heat will lose. I know. I’m one of them.
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509 comments Add your comment
Miami Fan
July 9th, 2010
2:03 pm
I think Lebron made the right decision. I think the owner of the Cavaliers is very immature. This is a business and anyone who knows business know you have to make decisions that’s going to benefit your company. Lebron made a decision that’s going to benefit himself and family (his company).
The Cleveland Cavaliers is a private organization and not managed by city government. So, I am confused about how he managed to let the City of Cleveland down.
Maybe I am confuse but when GM’s and owner’s of franchise make trades are the conferring with the players or making a business decision.
Candoit!
July 9th, 2010
2:05 pm
Lebron. has the right to make right decsions for his career and family . I understand why the some fans are upset but at the end of the day its his career and life– Ochocinco SHUT UP.. Stop pimping yourself on T.V.
cmblessed
July 9th, 2010
2:05 pm
Mark stop HATIN on Lebron James. In the end he made a business decision to better his career. It’s no different than a person in the corporate world who makes a career move that’s best for them Lebron gave 7 years to Cleveland. He didn’t have to stay with them forever. Dan Gilbert has NO CLASS and neither does your article Mark.
mr bobby's gotta go
July 9th, 2010
2:08 pm
simpdawg,
lebron is not magic jordan or bird. he is lebron james. let him do him. why does it matter? kg left after being too loyal. so whatever. look at those names u listed. pippen, kareem, mchale. all hall of famers. is it lebron’s fault the organization cant put a “championship” team around him and not just a regular season squad. name one other potential hall of famer on that team?……………….im still waiting
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:15 pm
The thing is, for the most part people aren’t hating on him, just the way he handled this situation. But
whatever, the ignorant ones will always cry one of two things #1Hater #2Racist
Dave
July 9th, 2010
2:16 pm
Having read all of the comments, I believe “Nobody wants to play for Cleveland ” said it best: NO ONE was going to come to Cleveland to help Lebron win his championship. That became apparent when Bosh refused to go there even when Toronto agreed to do a sign-and-trade to get Bosh a max contact. Bosh just did not feel comfortable with the Cavalier ownership, and, given the way the owner went off on James last night, Bosh’s uneasiness was JUSTIFIED.
James felt that teaming with two other STUD players gave him the best chance to win a ring. I personally feel he would have ad a BETTER chance in Chicago, which has a better supporting cast, but Pat Riley has time to assemble the role players Miami will need, specifically a point guard, a couple of shooters, and a few big men to do the dirty work (rebounding and play defense).
Those kind of players (like the Hawks’ Joe Smith, Mario West, Pachula) can and will be found overseas and in developmental league, and they will be willing to take the league minimum and whatever is left in terms of Miami’s salary cap for the chance to play with the BIG THREE to get a ring. Once they prove their worth, they can then cash in with other teams.
It will NOT be easy for these guys! Someone (probably James and Bosh) will have sacrifice being the Alpha Dog for the greater good of winning that championship. They will have to mesh and learn to play with the various role palyers, and the coach (who probably WILL be Pat Riley) will have to adjust on the go to find the right mix.
BOTTOM LINE: All three of these guys (James, Bosh, Wade) EARNED the right to free agency, then they manipulated the system to get on the same team. It is clear that they all want the same thing: a championship ring! If it was JUST about the money, James and Bosh would be playing in Cleveland where they both could have gotten MAX money, but NO championship, because Gilbert could not have gotten any supporting cast.
I do NOT feel sorry for the Cavalier’s ownership, because they had SEVEN years to get it right, and they FAILED miserably.
The only person I feel sorry for Byron Scott, who signed a contract expecting to coach Lebron James, and now has a team of second-rate players. If he wins 30 games with this bunch, he will deserve a second Coach of the Year!
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:18 pm
Nobody was bashing his teammates during the first 82, hell you guys were already sizing up their rings!
I remember the venom with which everyone was killing the Lakers w/on Xmas day.
mr bobby's gotta go
July 9th, 2010
2:18 pm
cheshire,
he’s taking 30 million less not 5. get it right please!
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:19 pm
If you don’t think Lebron signed off on all moves Clev. made then you are clueless. No one ever answered my question about what if vick had done this to ATL?
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:23 pm
I just don’t appreciate the way he handled the entire situation! It was a classless ME-athon!
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:28 pm
And I don’t know if he made the right move or not , but he certainly could’ve handled it better.
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:30 pm
Mrbobby-How much $$ will he make up of that $30 million due to no state tax? just wondering
jay
July 9th, 2010
2:31 pm
“Oh, yeah, jay. That Wilt Chamberlain was really short.”
Ok you got me. But name me some more dominant big men from that era. I already wiki-ed Kareem and he didnt play in that era
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:32 pm
As anybody here ever changed jobs? I assume you had enough decency to call your previous employer and inform them of your decision. Yeah I thought so.
JET
July 9th, 2010
2:34 pm
WHEN A PLAYER GETS TRADED IT CALLED BUSINESS DECISION; WHEN A PLAYER QUITS A TEAM HE IS CALLED A COWARD, TRAITOR AND ALL KINDS OF ILL NAMES. THEY CAN KICK YOU BUT DARE YOU TRY TO KICK THEM. I AM GLAD JAMES KICKED THEM BEFORE THEY KICK HIM. NOW THAT HE IS MOVING ON THE OWNER HAVE ALL THESE NASTY COMMENTS, TALK ABOUT SOUR GRAPES, HE IS LIKE THE FOX WHO COULDN’T GET THE GRAPES THEN CALLED THEM SOUR. YOU GO JAMES DO WHATS RIGHT FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE.
Former Cleveland Fan
July 9th, 2010
2:34 pm
MJ had players and a coach. Kobe and players and a coach “when kobe didn’t have player they couldn’t make it”. Tim Duncan had players and coach. At the end of the day Cleveland owners nor GM could bring in the right personal or didn’t know who to bring in to make the team better. On top of all that nobody wants to play in cleveland. The dude doesn’t want to end up like A.I. (one of the great championship-less player). When you look around the league other teams were making critical personal changes to their rosters. Has Cleveland signed on solid free agent? Has cleveland had any free agents promise to sign if lebron would return? Cleveland wasn’t showing any signs of improvement. Heart breaking as it might seem there was no real option but to leave. I think Wade Lebron and Bosh truly wanted to play with each other long before free agency came about. And last time I check most athlete chase the dollars not the rings, & I applaud these guys for shedding dollars to be part of a power house to win multiple rings.
The One
July 9th, 2010
2:35 pm
The big flaw with this article’s criticism of Lebron is this. All of those superstars that you compared him to had other great players on their teams when they won championships. Lebron did not in Cleveland. I do agree that he is arrogant, and it was ridiculous to have a 1 hour special to build your own hype, but again, he needs great players to win championships, just like those others guys mentioned in this article. He was a free agent and he had to make a decision based on either money or winning, and he chose winning. I used to hear of people being criticized for being too money hungry, but he is being criticized because he wants better players around him to win a championship. He wants great players like Jordan, Magic, Bird, etc had. And now he has it.
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:36 pm
Whatever? I’m going to lunch, maybe Burger King, I’ll get one of those paper a55 crowns so I can be
a King on paper also. hahaha That’s some funny a55 stuff there!
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:39 pm
I don’t think they left as much $ on the table as everyone is saying. What would the state taxes be
on a $100 million dollars?
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:40 pm
MARK-Soccer tomorrow @2:30, where you watching the game at?
ACE
July 9th, 2010
2:44 pm
and by the way Dan Gilbert is officially crazier than a sh%#house rat!
Jed
July 9th, 2010
2:48 pm
I agree with MB,
I look forward to seeing the Heat fail under LeBron. Talk about grand-standing with an hour-long special? Honestly though, ESPN is as much to blame as the Man Child.
In the A, but still representing OH!
July 9th, 2010
3:02 pm
The Cavs, Cleveland, and all of Ohio for that matter will be just fine with out Lebron. Miami will be saying the same thing too one day and maybe sooner than you think. Let him get injured or not win a championship, he’ll leave MIA too. Mark my word.
FD
July 9th, 2010
3:15 pm
Everybody: Grow up! Stop living fantasies through these sports teams! Do something with your lives. If you are investing all your energy and emotion into a team and athletes something is wrong and you need to get it fixed. Grown men wishing ill of another is pathetic. Mark Bradley, I counted you as a sports writer of high calibre…but alas you’ve gone from “hero to villain.”
Talented 10th
July 9th, 2010
3:25 pm
This is a business, plain and simple. Keep the emotions out of it. Blah, blah, blah. No one is in a position to dictate anything to Lebron about where he should or should not play for whatever reason. Why is it so hard for people to allow this MAN to dictate his own destiny? Jealousy/envy all around me; it’s sickning. Or maybe folks are angry that this franchise player can make power moves like these and the whole world stops and pauses to watch? Hmmmm. As for the Cavs owner, he can suck a lemon. He sounds like a plantation owner who freed a slave and then got angry when the slave didn’t want to stay on the plantation after being freed…WTF? Ridiculous. LEBRON DOESN’T OWE ANYONE DIDDLY. All Lebron haters: SUCK A LEMON!
C
July 9th, 2010
3:33 pm
The NBA is a BUSINESS entity – all sorts of plays happen – off the court w/in ownership and upper managment ranks. After 7 hard-working years, LeBron surely knows that; he knows his skills have an expiration date too; …. he wants some championship experiences and titles while he is at optimum commodity value (small window of time), then he can move on and feel satisified he has lived the highest potential as a player. … Doubt if he plays a very long NBA career – by his own choice; great passion for the game, but his collective inner circle have other pursuits in mind.
RG
July 9th, 2010
3:36 pm
and now we can all go back to not caring about a crap association, the NBA.
Miami will not win. Karma. Cleveland will not win. Worse karma with that jacka$$ owner who doesn’t even play basketball. Nice try being Mark Cuban of the North. Like LeBron, an idiot with money who thinks his opinion matters more than those without.
Piston Fan
July 9th, 2010
3:51 pm
Good for you Lebron. The media makes it a circus!
Anti-Homer
July 9th, 2010
4:04 pm
Atlanta has snifed the playoff for the last time for years to come ….. Losers …..
Reality
July 9th, 2010
4:09 pm
And the best the Hawks could counter with was Joe Johnson (what a joke he is). That speaks volumes and shows why Atlanta sports teams and sports fans are and will always be LOSERS.
I Support LBJ
July 9th, 2010
4:09 pm
I for the life of me cannot understand why people are upset at LBJ!Key words this summer-FREE AGENT! He is FREE to do as he pleases. He did not sign a contract in blood saying that he would never leave Cleveland. People are just mad at him because the people of Cleveland put him on his pedestal and boosted him up to where he’s at and now he rightfully left. As for people talking about Kobe, Magic, Jordan, and Bird all being loyal, well LBJ would’ve been if he had a good supporting cast like the other 4.I can go on and on about how stupid the people who are hating on LBJ are!
Cavs Fan
July 9th, 2010
4:12 pm
Lebron James is #1 and everyone on here being negative are just haters!!!! Let the man live and do what he want to do. Noone can tell you what to do with your life! Where to live where to work!! Professional Sports is their job. If you want to move from Atlanta to New York to work at McDonalds then do you!!! I applaud him to be strong enough to do what he want for himself regardless what everyone else think he should do. Lebron scored over 50% of the Cavs points last season. Anyone will get frustrated and tired after 7 years. What if you went to work and had to produce over 50% of the work on your job everyday for 7 years. Talk about how bad Gilbert the Cavs Owner made himself look after his commits. Talk about how professional that ways!!! Don’t hate, Congratulate!!
Really!
July 9th, 2010
4:24 pm
Congratulations to LeBron James, a grown man who makes his own decisions. No granting time to a team that has been trying to win a Championship for seven years or feeling as if he owes a particular city anything. He choose to move on and grow as an athelete, and move his family to a beautiful city. It’s a grown man who can accept being the hero and the villain.
dean
July 9th, 2010
5:04 pm
Mr. Thomas Anthony “The Taxman Cometh” Jones, SR
July 9th, 2010
10:31 am
The AJC “destroyed” Damon Evans. Did you really say that? Look up the definition of “Credibility”. Damon blew his and you lost yours with that. Amongst other things. Have a great day.
Fred
July 9th, 2010
5:49 pm
Kudo’s to you Mark for keeping up with your blog. Many here at the AJC stick with it for about 15 posts, yet you are usually there til the bitter end.
As to your article? you pretty much nailed it. I don’t think anyone really blames James (or Wade or Bosh) for following through on the plan they made in 2008 while doing the Olympics, it’s just the WAY he did it. Why did he string 6 teams on when all along he knew where he was going, he was going to where ever the other two guys went. There is a fourth player in the group who becomes available in 2012, (may be available in 2011) who made the pact with them. Know who he is?
Hurricane Joe
July 9th, 2010
8:30 pm
Mark Bradley and the Atlanta sports scene deserve each other. Both losers, including the most underachieving team in the history of baseball and their wife-beating manager.
can't stand it
July 9th, 2010
10:36 pm
mark, have you a problem with a man making his own decision???? and a black man at that. don’t know you mark and really hate to bring race into this; however i can not help but wonder what role it plays here. lebron is articulate and had the courage to take charge of his own destination. even you, mark, (and others may not recognize your own prejudices and entitled privileges and consider yourselves not to have a drop a racisim in you) may have deeply rooted beliefs about a black man making his decision and making big bucks while doing it. when you can bash the big monied ceo’s for doing this then i’ll believe you. btw mark, you did not start your career at ajc and left somewhere else for what you thought were greener pastures or because you could… james has just as much right as any team owner, you and any white man to take charge of his future. more power to lebron and i wish him well. get over it mark, and hope the hawks do better this year.
tbif
July 10th, 2010
2:03 am
This whole free agent circus created by the NBA and the media. When Lebron decided to take an active part under the Big Top, everyone except the Miami fans decided they didn’t like him anymore. John Elway is only a hero to those who don’t remember that he strong armed the Colts to trade him before he ever played an NFL game because they were not to his liking. A real Jerk.
can't stand it
July 10th, 2010
10:20 am
tbif, thanks for the example in elway…..somehow few people had problems with elway taking charge of his future. hmmmm
Gamer
July 11th, 2010
5:31 pm
People!!! Stop behaving as if Lebron owes you something more than a well high performance showing in any game, on any team, in any given arena.
Lebron has done nothing wrong in sports business but stick it to Cavs owner before he stuck it to Lebron..
Like M. Jordan, Lebron’s playing career will eventually decline and like the Bulls’ owner stuck MJ and Pippens, so would have done Cavs owner to Lebron.
CONGRATULATION TO LEBRON FOR BEING BOLD ENOUGH TO MAKE A TOUGH DECISION UNDER MEDIA’S PRESSURE.
The Heat aren’t guaranteed an O’Brien trophy.
Mark
July 11th, 2010
5:31 pm
Wow, Greg Oden is popular.
Show me the money
July 11th, 2010
7:19 pm
Mark – I somewhat agree with you – however – can you honestly say that if you were recruited by the best newspaper in the country that already has superstar writers (be it the NYT or Washington Post, or Chicago Sun, whatever publisher you consider the best) – would you NOT leave the lowly AJC to go to work for them??
I more or less blame Cleveland for not recruiting the talent that can back-up LeBron; after all, along with the greats you mention they all had key players around them. Jordan had Pippen, Paxson, and Grant. Magic had Jabbar, Rambis, Scott, and Worthy. And Bird had McHale, Parish, Johnson, and Ainge. Who did LeBron have – not names like those who backed-up the 3 greats.
rod
July 11th, 2010
7:28 pm
i have had it with the show. Michael, larry, Magic, Kareem etc kept their mouths shut and did the job. I hope he loses every game
Whatever
July 11th, 2010
7:31 pm
Why do people like ‘Can’t stand it’ have to make everything into a racial issue. MB never said anything about LeBron’s race. Stop making racial allegations out of everything. But I do say that I support LeBron in his decision. The owner of Cleveland is acting like a spoiled little kid who just had his toy taken away from him. I say – if he wanted LeBron to stay, he should have backed him up with better players.
FaithGurl
July 11th, 2010
7:56 pm
I am so happy that LeBron made the decision that he did. He is a villain in whose eyes? Not mine and many others. He will get his ring. Dan Gilbert and the so called fans showed there true colors. They are only happy if he is a step and fetch it puppet that does what they want. This is a business they didn’t own him, If he became injured while playing for Cleveland, they would have dropped him like a hot potato. The fans and owners could care a less about LeBron and he owes the city, fans and owners nothing. He made Cleveland. They DID Not make them. They got it all twisted. It is so childish and immature for someone wanted to hurt a player because he was a free agent and made a choice that was best for him. Congrats to LeBron and the city of Miami.
Pat
July 11th, 2010
8:47 pm
Seriously Mark……. he wasn’t going to win in Cleveland. It’s all business, plain and simple. Lebron wants a championship.
Cleveland needs to get over it and so does everyone else who thinks the worst of Lebron.
Pat
July 11th, 2010
8:48 pm
Plus, the Boys and Girls club gets money from the special on which he revealed his decision. What have you done lately for charity??????
Jim007
July 11th, 2010
8:56 pm
Lebron is a Tool.
In Ohio he could have been set for life.
In Miami he is just another LOSER/BUM, with No Class, soon to be forgotten
The Joker
July 11th, 2010
9:02 pm
I like the Villain…. At least he finished the season…Unlike a bobble-head coach that left in the middle of the season to head to Arkanas for a college head coaching position….. People get over it… Owners would have hung him out to dry had he not panned out… The City of Cleveland did not pan out for Lebron so he “X-ed” them first!!!!! Why hold players to a different standard than owners?
Dodd's Legacy
July 11th, 2010
9:29 pm
This group shall forever be known as
The Three ME-Egos.