OT: LeBron returning to the Cavaliers | Page 3 | The Boneyard

OT: LeBron returning to the Cavaliers

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Scoe said:
Brian Windhurst is going back to Cleveland.
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He's got to continue being the Lebron stalker. ESPN used to have one for Barry Bonds, although I can't remember his name.
 
Sometimes it flat out s*cks to be a fan. One moment, you're the fan of a perennial championship contending team, and in the blink of an eye, your team flat out s*cks and might not even make the playoffs.

I'm on the fence as to if I respect LeBron more now. One one hand, he has matured since the Decision, and is now going back to the city, team, and the state he grew up in. On the other hand, would he have done this if the talent level there wasn't looking so promising for the current and foreseeable future?

So much for his, "Not 1, not 2, not 3..." which turned out to be just 2, though they got there 4 times. Staying in South Beach and not winning a boatload of championships, if that were to happen, would probably have tainted his image compared to returning to Cleveland, and hopefully winning at least one there, if that were to happen. If he stayed at Miami, the fan perception and possibly his legacy would probably remain the same, or worsened if he didn't rack up a bunch of championships. But returning to Cleveland, is going to win over a lot of fans, especially...duh...in Ohio.
 
DogMania said:
Sometimes it flat out s*cks to be a fan. One moment, you're the fan of a perennial championship contending team, and in the blink of an eye, your team flat out s*cks and might not even make the playoffs.
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It's ok most Heat 'fans' will just take out their old cavs jerseys from storage.
 
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Well look at the bright side Shabazz, you are now the 3rd face of the franchise behind only D-Wade and Pat Rielly! Moving up!
 
amory said:
cleveland will absolutely compete for championships with their current roster, and it'll only get better now. Plus they're virtually guaranteed to at least make the finals every year because the east blows. i don't see how this hurts his legacy, if anything it eliminates the silly "villain" persona that some people still attributed to him.
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i agree, i dont see how this hurts his legacy at all
 
amory said:
I like his analogy that going to Miami was like going to college...he had to go there to learn more about the game and mature as a player and a person. It's a good comparison.
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And South Beach was the girls dorm.
 
JaYnYcE said:
The east just evened out in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, they're in the top 2 or 3 but I can't give them the top spot before seeing what the rest of the roster is going to look like. Cleveland isn't guaranteed to go to the finals like the Heat were the last four years. His legacy takes a hit in the fact that he game genied his way to two rings and now he can play out the rest of his career for his home team. Definitely the greatest player in the world, but leaving to join a borderline all star team to get rings just to return home the moment he was allowed to leave is suspect imo.
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The East is terrible. I'd love to see Lebron on a team out West to see how he would do. Clearly, he'd still be successful, but he plays teams loaded with one and doners every single night in the East.

Pretty much every team in the East besides the Bulls has all out tanked at some point in the last 10 years. (Clev, Bos, Phil, Orl, Tor, Milw, Wash, Mia, Det, Charl, Nets, Knicks). Literally all of them. And most of them multiple times. Think about that for a minute.
 
Wiggins, Bennett and No.1's headed North. Love moving to Cleveland.
 
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Scoe said:
Brian Windhurst is going back to Cleveland.
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It's just as well. He doesn't have what you'd call a "nice beach body."
 
The Cavs probably won't need to trade Wiggins. Why would they? Fact is, Minnesota simply doesn't have enough leverage since Love is gone after this season. The ONLY way that the Cavs may have to budge on Wiggins is if Klay Thompson is offered up by Golden State. Otherwise, there's a good shot that the Cavs pull it off either through a straight up deal or 3-team trade.
 
kyleslamb said:
The Cavs probably won't need to trade Wiggins. Why would they? Fact is, Minnesota simply doesn't have enough leverage since Love is gone after this season. The ONLY way that the Cavs may have to budge on Wiggins is if Klay Thompson is offered up by Golden State. Otherwise, there's a good shot that the Cavs pull it off either through a straight up deal or 3-team trade.
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Nonsense. Minnesota has all the leverage. They have atleast 6 teams interested in Love and surely the price will go up. Cleveland shouldn't waste their time without beginning the phone call with the words Andrew Wiggins.
 
if cleveland trades wiggins for love, damn. yeah that would be pretty dumb. trading waiters and bennett is one thing...
 
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According to espn Bosh is finalizing deal to stay with the Heat.
 
partial said:
According to espn Bosh is finalizing deal to stay with the Heat.
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They are also saying Wade is working on a deal to provide "maximum flexibility". Hold on to your butts time for Knickerbocker fans?
 
Gurleyman said:
Keeping with tradition, our All-Americans who win titles end up on train wreck franchises. Now 4-for-4 (at least Rip was traded to Detroit).
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So much for that. Bosh is heading back to Miami and Wade is supposedly taking a discount to make room for more. Who knows, when all is said and done, the Heat might still be the favorites in the east.
 
I think the Heat should snag Gasol and sign Stephenson to an offer sheet.

Cole/Bazz
Wade
Stephenson/Granger
Bosh/McRoberts/Haslem
Gasol/Anderson

Add a 2 and a 3 who can bombs 3s plus a veteran PG (Jameer Nelson?) and we will have Heat vs Cavs in the ECF.
 
He's already proven to be a better basketball player than I thought he was (always thought he was great, questioned greatest), but I've also gotta admit that he's a better human being than I thought he was. Good for him. This took big balls, an impressive display of humility and a level of maturity way beyond his years.
 
Melo to Cleveland for Wiggins? Knicks can rebuild. Melo and James united at last. Huh? Eh? Meh
 
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JaYnYcE said:
but terrible for his legacy.
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You speak too soon, grasshopper.
And, also, he made it clear that he doesn't care as much about his basketball "legacy" as he does about living his life the way he wants to.

My respect for him grew substantially with this decision and the basis underpinning it.
 
ZenConn said:
Would be interesting if Melo, Bosh and Wade end up in Miami.
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I would love for this to happen because, when Miami failed to make the playoffs, it would demonstrate both the greatness of LBJ and the crapiness of Melo.
 
Strummer said:
You speak too soon, grasshopper.
And, also, he made it clear that he doesn't care as much about his basketball "legacy" as he does about living his life the way he wants to.

My respect for him grew substantially with this decision and the basis underpinning it.
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You're giving him too much credit. This was all very well done by LBJ's PR team. Adam Mendelsohn, his publicist, should get most of the plaudits.

Give LBJ credit for this though: he quickly figured out that relying on his 'boys' to run his PR was a huge mistake, and promptly got a hired gun.

The most managed athlete of our time.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/07/lebron-james-adam-mendelsohn?utm_campaign=complexsports socialflow 07 2014&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
 
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djct1999 said:
Nonsense. Minnesota has all the leverage. They have atleast 6 teams interested in Love and surely the price will go up. Cleveland shouldn't waste their time without beginning the phone call with the words Andrew Wiggins.
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No, they don't have all the leverage. You don't have much leverage when you have a player that is signed for only one more season and is vocal that he's likely to walk.

Six teams interested or not, no one is going to give up much to get a guy they might have for only one year.

If Cleveland doesn't budge, they get to keep Wiggins, Waiters, Bennett and draft picks. But if Minnesota is too choosy with these teams, they run the risk of losing Love without getting anything in return. Bottom line is that Minnesota does not have a lot of leverage. They can't demand one player from any given team with running the risk they lose any prospective deals because they made such demands.
 
nomar said:
Totally disagree. He was the best player on those teams. He's the best player on the planet. Now that he's got the rings, he's heading home.

I wonder, did you read the article?
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Yea I read it, very well written. Doesn't change his past tho. I'm curious as to why it's ok for people to accept that the best player on the planet formed a border line all star team to win two rings then returns home. He's going to try and bring a championship home, that's a given. But he really doesn't have nearly as much pressure now. He's got his rings and now returns to Cleveland and everyone is happy for him. Maybe it's me, but I don't see how any of this is right. How what he did not only set a precedent of it being ok to take the easy road to get a ring when you're one of the top players in the road, but also jumping back and forth from two different teams is also acceptable. I'm a 80's and 90's fan. Closest thing I can remember was Shaq leaving for LA but nothing like this has ever been done and it's very disturbing that no one else sees anything wrong with this.

Maybe it's just me.
 
JaYnYcE said:
Yea I read it, very well written. Doesn't change his past tho. I'm curious as to why it's ok for people to accept that the best player on the planet formed a border line all star team to win two rings then returns home. He's going to try and bring a championship home, that's a given. But he really doesn't have nearly as much pressure now. He's got his rings and now returns to Cleveland and everyone is happy for him. Maybe it's me, but I don't see how any of this is right. How what he did not only set a precedent of it being ok to take the easy road to get a ring when you're one of the top players in the road, but also jumping back and forth from two different teams is also acceptable. I'm a 80's and 90's fan. Closest thing I can remember was Shaq leaving for LA but nothing like this has ever been done and it's very disturbing that no one else sees anything wrong with this. Maybe it's just me.
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You're putting artificial morality and right and wrong into places where it doesn't exist. It's a cold-blooded business and everyone has the right to do what's in their best interest, since things can turn on you on a dime. Just taking Ray's history since I'm familiar with it, but he tried to build something in Milwaukee (signing a long term deal without an agent and not even listening to other offers), but then George Karl wanted to bring his old pet Gary Payton in, so Ray was dealt. Then he tried to build something in Seattle and almost reached contender status, but they didn't pay to keep the coach or some key free agents, hired replacements on the cheap and eventually brought in new ownership who blew everything up and he was dealt again (and now the Sonics don't even exist). If he had it to do over with the advantage of hindsight, would he resign in Milwaukee out of loyalty if, say, the Spurs offered him the chance to play his career with Duncan? Caron might have liked to have spent his career with Wade in Miami, but they had a chance for Shaq and off he went. James might have liked to spend his entire career in Cleveland, but in seven years they failed terribly at finding a Pippen type of co-pilot and there was no help of the horizon. Garnett was probably the guy in the most similar situation of going it alone in Minnesota without much help, and he hung on the loyalty ideal for a while, but when the chance came to join a winner, he ripped up the no-trade clause and signed on.

And 90s basketball wasn't exactly pure idealism either. The Jordan Bulls hated the Bad Boy Pistons with the passion of a 1000 white hot suns, but when they needed a rebounder and had a chance to sign Rodman, guess who became a Bull? Winning trumps all.

Perhaps having followed baseball and watched the big market teams swallow up free agents like candy for decades, a superstar leaving to be on a better team is pretty routine "Dog Bites Man" stuff. The lesson for a franchise is that when you get a transcendent player, you have to develop or acquire another All-Star level piece or two around him or you'll get stuck on a treadmill as a "good, but not great" team and that player is going to get frustrated at the ceiling being too low. The Cavs didn't.
 
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