In a never-before seen display of hype, hysteria, and hyperbole, the “Super-Friends” Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, had the NBA world on a string, and ultimately they got everything they wanted (except for LeBron, who may just now be learning what him and his business manager Maverick Carter did to his brand). Bosh and James will earn $110 million over the term of their deals, while Wade will earn $107 million, with each of them taking roughly $15 million less than the max. In a display rivaling the Super Bowl, the Miami Heat unveiled their new trio of players to the public. Introduced as the “Three Kings,” they weren’t short on confidence as LeBron said he felt they could win more than seven NBA titles, and that winning was “going to be easy.” Dwyane Wade went on to call the trio “arguably the best trio that ever played the game of basketball.” Somewhere Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, and James Worthy just had a nice laugh, as did Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin and Dennis Rodman. For a threesome with all of 1 ring between them, they certainly played the role of villain quite easily. Bosh made the statement that “Nobody likes it, but it don’t matter, we like it”. Wade went on to admonish everyone for mocking them for joining together, saying, “All great ones had other great ones with them.” True, sort of. Jordan had Pippin, Magic had Kareem, Bird had McHale, but they never fled to join up with others. He then went on to scold people for “hating on Lebron”. Easy for the guy who got everything instead of having it ripped away from him.
The sheer arrogance of these three superstars, well 2.5 superstars, because Bosh isn’t really what I would call a superstar, and is lucky to have gravy trained James and Wade, is nauseating. They truly believe they did nothing wrong. And legally, they are correct, they did nothing wrong. However, I believe in a little something called decency . Going on national TV and publicly divorcing your high school sweetheart is not decent. OK, that was just Lebron, but, more and more rumors that these 3 colluded to make this happen is popping up.
The quick version of the story is as follows, in Beijing, during the Olympics, these 3, and allegedly Chris Paul made a pact that they would all play together after the 2010 season, much like guys do when they are at a bar late at night and reliving the good old days. Well, apparently this was more than just a late night “wouldn’t it be great” session. Heat advisor Alonzo Mourning apparently said that the Heat had this planned and knew the outcome since 2008. Toronto and Cleveland are currently looking into tampering charges against Miami, so more details are sure to arise.
So, with that info in place, lets look at the 2010 playoff series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. Anybody who watched that debacle, and who thought they knew anything about Lebron James could easily see something wasn’t right. We were led to believe it was a mysterious elbow injury, complete with an awkward left hand free throw, a mere 15 seconds after swishing one in what looked to be a pain free manor. I think it is dangerous grounds to go where I am about to go, and I am sure there are some who will disagree and call me a bitter Cleveland fan. However I now can only draw the conclusion that Lebron tanked the series. I don’t know about the year before, I would have to go back and watch, though Lebron didn’t seem to play the way he normally did then either.
Why would he do this you ask? How could he leave Cleveland, join his cronies, while spouting that it is all about winning, if the team he left just won the NBA title? He couldn’t. He would have been, so he thought, vilified had he left for somewhere else after winning. Turns out making an ass out of yourself on public television for an hour and half will also make you a villain.
As expected, information is starting to leak about how spoiled Lebron was in Cleveland. The fault lays in part with Dan Gilbert, he is the one who ok’d it. But we all know why he did it. Lebron is literally the kinda player who has the physical talent to transcend the sport. Now, I don’t think he has the mental fortitude to do so, any one who would lose on purpose, for any reason, is just a loser. He failed more often then not when the light shined the brightest. When he was expected to win, he didn’t. His greatest moments came when the Cavs were the underdogs. The win versus the Pistons to go to the Finals in 2007 was not supposed to happen. Lebron took off and crushed Detroit in every facet of the game. Then got manhandled by the Spurs. But it was awesome wasn’t it?
But I digress, Maverick Carter is Lebron’s manager. Dan Gilbert had to give Carter his owner seats on the road so Carter could sit court side. He had to keep Randy Mims on the Cavalier payroll with a job title of……… well, thats never been defined. It is also said by a very good source that he was paid more than some of the assistant coaches. Gilbert made sure to ask Lebron about every possible move. He got him a coach that wouldn’t out shine him. He didn’t bring in certain players that Lebron didn’t like. He brought in others that were way past their prime to try to win immediately, players that Lebron wanted. He put the team in salary cap hell and paid the luxury tax with out care to appease the “Spoiled One”. And did so without ever receiving a single commitment from James. In hindsight, it is not surprising that he left. It IS shocking how he left!
Lebron’s people put that narcissistic press conference together, using the Boy’s and Girl’s Club as a front to justify it. They hand picked the lackey to do the interview, Jim Gray. They paid him to lob softball after softball to the “Heartless One” (yes, my goal is to find as many nicknames as I can for the “Slimy One”). The whole thing reeked of egomaniacal self promotion. I was one of the few who stay positive up until that moment. Stupid me. Won’t be making that mistake again!
He did untold damage to his “brand”. He will never be the Greatest ever, as he said he wanted to be. He CAN NOT win an MVP playing with 2 other All Star starters, not just All Stars, but All Star starters. I guarantee that Nike, who has paid him $100 million to be their primary spokesman, and who has committed to him for several more years, isn’t happy that their prize pupil has gone the route of Darth Vader. Everyone wants the green light saber, not the red one. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, who signed his 5 year $80 million deal the same day as “The Selfish One”, now wields the green saber, while Wade, James and Bosh wield the red one.
The reaction around the league has been telling. Teams have been lining up to take their shots at the Heat. I think an unprecedented amount of pressure is coming to Miami. They will have to take on the absolute best shot of every team, while playing in front of fired up hostile crowds, eager to boo the evil empire. There will be the mindless few who aren’t smart enough to not be front runners, but for the most part it will be pure hatred towards these 3 and all who join them.
What will “The Soulless One”‘s legacy be? I think Marc Stein said better than I could.
“LeBron leaving the Cavs and his home state in ruins — in a one-hour TV special that he and his “team” conceived — will make him the biggest sports villain in Cleveland history. Bigger than Michael Jordan. Bigger than Art Modell. The fact that LeBron is wearing someone else’s uniform is going to be thrust in the face of Clevelanders every day because of the saturation coverage he gets. Clevelanders won’t be able to dodge the sight of LeBron in Heat colors … and thus he’ll never be able to dodge their wrath.
I will leave you with a quote I found on ESPN. It is from an unnamed Cleveland fan, and I think it will say it all for Cleveland. Here is the fan’s reaction on espn.com. It states what the fans feel better than I can.
“James’ legacy will be he didn’t accomplish what he said he was going to do. LeBron said this himself, ‘I got a goal, and it’s a huge goal, and that is to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland. And I won’t stop until I get it.’ If he leaves he will leave as a failure in that way, and his legacy will be that he couldn’t get it done even though Dan Gilbert did everything possible to put the pieces around him that he could. LeBron said it above, and I think it is those words above that will haunt Cleveland fans.”
