Hoops

LeBron signs with Miami

Anyone who talks about themselves in the third person three times in one sentence is automatically the Worst Person Ever.

“I wanted to do what was best, you know, for LeBron James, what LeBron James was going to do to make him happy.”

LOL at all the butthurt over Lebrons move.
The TV special was always going to happen as this decision has been hyped for years.
You can't tell me having those 3 guys on the court isn't going to cause every team in the NBA problems. Most teams have 1 or 2 real good defenders but 3 lol?

Shit, I remember when I was told this was a possibility , but that was to happen in Chicago. Wonder how many guys will take a pay cut to play in South Beach?

I think most people are fine with Lebron making the move. It's just the way he went about it that has people being critical. The Cavs and their fans have backed Lebron all the way over the last seven years and its just cold-blooded to keep them on tenterhooks for all this time, only to kick them in the guts on national TV.

IMO, he could have gone about this in a much more respectful way. Cavs ownership should have been told his decision privately before the announcement. Give them a chance to maybe work a sign and trade and save some face.

Imagine if you were Dan Gilbert and had spent $100s of millions over the last 5 years to try and build a champion around Lebron and then he won't even take any of your calls throughout free agency? I'd be pretty mad too!

The reactions from the media are bordering on pathetic.

A player has agreed to play for another team. It's bad for Cleveland, and the grandiose nature of his announcement was a jerk move, but come on...that's no excuse for acting like teenage girls that've just been dumped by their first boyfriend.

LOL Isaac. Lebron is copping it from a few media guys for his grandstanding. Wojnarowski was pretty critical too in his most recent article.

"They paid Shaq 20 mil last season, if thats not a franchise willing to do anything for him I dunno what is."

Then clearly, you don't know what is.

For the past 3 seasons, Shaq has been a brand, not a talent (I can't remember where I stole that from but it's valid nonetheless). Cleveland didn't need big name signings, it already had the biggest (arguably) brand in the league; what it needed was a better coach, a better starting line up and more bench production.

I'm not saying in any way that he'll do better in Miami - no one can tell that yet. But at least if they're willing to splash out on 2 perennial all stars, you'd hope they have a plan to afford at least a servicable group of players to help them out. Plus, don't underestimate the influence of Pat Riley...

Well said Billo @ 11:49. Agree with everything you said - though I would have liked to see Lebron in NY with Amare to spread the talent around a little more.

It will be interesting, though, to see how Miami goes about building a budget team around their big three, and whether those egos all gel on the court.

Saw a blog post before saying that dozens of police are protecting Lebron's witness billboard in downtown Ohio! Man I'm so glad I'm not a Cleveland fan. They have to be some of the most tortured fans in all of sports.

Loved Dan Gilbert laying the boot in with his open letter too. Not very classy, but very entertaining for non-Cav / Lebron fans! Celticsblog has a great picture of a smashed Dan Gilbert sarcastically clapping for Lebron too:

http://linky.com.au/ziqfb

Your Mum, exactly on the button. The moment you start dealing with a business instead of a sporting league, loyalty lasts as long as the money flows. The difference between the NBA and a league like the NBL shows that clearly.

The NBA is a business that sells basketball, they market stars and deal in rumors and hype. There's no loyalty to be seen.

10 years ago when groups of Millionaires owned basketball teams, and not billionaires, you picked a team and stuck with it. The moment that there's more money involved than sense, the players become objects and move where the money is, or where the money sends them.

Mario Chalmers must be a hell of a player. He'll be able to tell his grandkids about the summer he was his team's only player until Wade, Bosh and LBJ all agreed to join him!

I will never compare lebron to mj again

MACDUB - I agree 100%. It's good to see someone else realises that staying in Cleveland was not a viable career move.

Isaac, did I say that Miami were going to win?

What I meant was, everyone acted like Lebron was going to single handedly win them a championship.

Just look at this text from this link:

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/fran_blinebury/07/08/what.next.cavs/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1

"Without James, the Cavaliers are as unpalatable as the toxic mixture that once caused the Cuyahoga River to catch fire. With him leading the way, they have won 66 and 61 games -- the most in the NBA -- in the last two regular seasons. Without him, they'll be lucky to win 60 games total over the next three seasons."

That pretty much sums it up - they didn't have an "our team can win" attitude, they had a "LBJ will win it for us".

I don't know what kind of team Miami will have, no one does yet; I'm simply saying that one player doesn't win a title, a team does. The Cavs, despite their regular season records, were not winning teams.

The regular season record can hide bad coaching decisions, or matchups not in your favour, and since you're playing a different team every night, your opposition may not have completely prepared for you.

You know what's funny..the reason why Lebron didn't stay in Cleveland was because of the Cavs front office.
Stupid idiots running the Cavs contracted average players to long-term, overpaid contracts so when it came to this off-season they had no cap space to try to lure other support players for Lebron. No one wanted Parker, Wests or Big Z's massive contract.

What else could LBJ do?
- Stay in Cleveland with no upgrade of support players = same result as last year

-Go to Chicago: Definently could have been viable but at the end of the day which would you rather: Wade and Bosh or Rose and Boozer?

That's one raw open letter right there! I think he probably pushed the "recall this message" button on Outlook, only to realise that it doesn't really do anything.

I don't know why people are so butt-hurt over it.

You can't lead a team to a title if your team mates over the hill or simply not good enough.

You can't lead a team to victory if your coach is a hack.

You can't lead a team to victory if your bench is made of inconsistent players.

Cleveland brought in Shaq for no good reason at all (and don't tell me it was because of Howard in the 2009 ECF this year's Magic would still have beaten them), relegating Ilguaskas to an unfamiliar and non optimal role.

Ilgauskas was then unceremoniously "traded", only for him to come back after he bought out his Wizards contract. Way to turn YOUR back on a player, Cleveland owners.

Was "The Decision" a self serving jerk move? oh yeah. Be mad at Lebron for that. But don't try to blame him for leaving a team that could only win a playoff game against a non-contender.

Mad at him because he's the "home town" guy? well, his home town is Akron, not Cleveland, sorry to break it to you. Yeah it's the closest city with an NBA franchise; but don't use it as a reason to justify yourself being mad at him.

Cleveland expected Lebron to be a saviour. He wasn't. He was an MVP of the league, but an MVP doesn't win titles, teams do.

Doctor,

When Shaq left Orlando to go to Miami he was leaving to be the Man on another team as Kobe wasn't ready to lead yet. Lebron is leaving to a team that already has it's own Superstar. Wade and Lebron are maybe two out of the top 3-4 players in the league. When Shaq left to go to the Lakers he was in the top 3 and Kobe was maybe just in the top 10.

On Shaq's legacy every year he moves and try's to win another championship at another team and fails his legacy is dented. You just need to read the newspapers across America now about him going to Atlanta and what they are saying about his season last year in Cleveland.

I do agree with you about the TV special I think you have to give him credit for doing this and making the TV network give all the money from Ads to Charity. This helps his legacy in regards to Charity work.

Cheers

I am also dissappointed with Lebron. He says it is all about winning and they may win a few titles. But his legacy will be tarnished forever as he never led a team built around him to the title.

That's exactly it billo. I don't think any basketball fan would begrudge him the choice to sign with a contender (besides Cleveland natives). It's all the grandstanding and braggadocio which is the problem. I guess this is what happens when ESPN plays your high school games live and you start to believe your own press.

Can't wait to start an NBA 2K11 franchise with Miami. So I can trade LeBron to the Nets.

I know everyone online has said this already, but I just have to say that I honestly can't believe LeBron had a one-hour TV special to announce he was leaving Cleveland. I didn't have a very high view of him before, but I didn't honestly think he was that low.

LeBron has just stated that all three big names are not getting max deals...and that he will be signing for 5 years.

Yep. The booing at his first visit to the Cavs is going to be loud enough to drown out an army equipped with amplified vuvuzelas.

I guess he instantly becomes the most-hated man in Ohio!

Chris Bosh on Twitter:
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"