Did Lebron James Make the Right Decision?

#61
Well he waited till he was 37. I don't fault guys for that who are on there last leg and really don't have much to offer. What if this is just the begining. It is detramental to small market teams like ours. Lets say Reke gets ready for his FA period and decides to sign with another high caliber player then cousins then whoever. This is not a good trend to start. I am telling you the NBA is not going to prosper from this. In fact I see a rule in the future that a team can only sign 1 player to a max deal.
lebron gave them 7 years. he didnt just leave after his rookie contract. he signed an extension and gave them 2 years notice to give him help to win a championship. people are acting like he just left cleveland out of no where. everyone knew the possibility of him leaving was there. if reke becomes as great as lebron and we fail to give him a supporting cast to help him get a ring, i wont blame him. ill be upset, but if he gives us 7 years, and the kings dont help him deliver, whos fault is it? plus most people are saying wade, bosh and lebron dont plan on signing the max, so only signing 1 max deal is pointless.

theres just no winning with people. someone signs with a team for max money, hes greedy. and is handcuffing his team to sign talent. if he wants the ball in his hands and wants to do it all on his own, he's a ball hog and a narcissist. but if he agrees to possibly gives up millions, and admits he needs help to win a ring he is a coward? he wants to play with people as talented as he is and are also his friends. what is so wrong with that?
 
#63
ok guys curse me if you will. I am a laker hater from back in the day. But after this day. If the Heat and the Lakers end up in the Finals next year.

I will be chanting Kobe Kobe Kobe. (Entity ducks)
i can't believe you went there. i will NEVER root for a laker, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#65
Cleveland was Lebron and now its left with nothing behind.
They will have to start from Zero again..
"THE KING HAS LEFT THE BUILDING"

Its actually not that bad. I know they loss the most marketable guy in the NBA. But basketball wise its time to build the team the correct way. The reason they didn't have a good team is because they never did it through drafting more young talent. Rather than taking their time, they were so afraid of losing LeBron from the start that they just kept patching up their weaknesses with old washed up players who used to be good. They can win in the regular season like that but not in the playoffs as the big time teams are too good for a team with Lebron & mo williams as the #2 guy.
 
#66
lebron gave them 7 years. he didnt just leave after his rookie contract. he signed an extension and gave them 2 years notice to give him help to win a championship. people are acting like he just left cleveland out of no where. everyone knew the possibility of him leaving was there. if reke becomes as great as lebron and we fail to give him a supporting cast to help him get a ring, i wont blame him. ill be upset, but if he gives us 7 years, and the kings dont help him deliver, whos fault is it? plus most people are saying wade, bosh and lebron dont plan on signing the max, so only signing 1 max deal is pointless.

theres just no winning with people. someone signs with a team for max money, hes greedy. and is handcuffing his team to sign talent. if he wants the ball in his hands and wants to do it all on his own, he's a ball hog and a narcissist. but if he agrees to possibly gives up millions, and admits he needs help to win a ring he is a coward? he wants to play with people as talented as he is and are also his friends. what is so wrong with that?

No offense but I think you are confused about why everyone is angry.

I personally am glad Lebron left. He should have. He was not going to win a ring in Cleveland. But did he really need to make an *** out of Cleveland by doing it in a one hour special on ESPN?

Reports are also saying that he didn't even tell Cleveland's owner/GM and he told Donnie Walsh 30 minutes before. Where is the class? There was no tact. There was no "thanks Cleveland for everything." This all could have been done behind open doors.
 
#67
i can't believe you went there. i will NEVER root for a laker, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
agreed. lets turn on the morality meter here. rooting for lebron who just donated all the money from his 1hour special to charity or for a laker and an alleged rapist? hmm what a tough decision.

on the other hand if kobe joins the kings...
 
#71
No offense but I think you are confused about why everyone is angry.

I personally am glad Lebron left. He should have. He was not going to win a ring in Cleveland. But did he really need to make an *** out of Cleveland by doing it in a one hour special on ESPN?

Reports are also saying that he didn't even tell Cleveland's owner/GM and he told Donnie Walsh 30 minutes before. Where is the class? There was no tact. There was no "thanks Cleveland for everything." This all could have been done behind open doors.
no offense taken at all. im trying to find out the reason for the hate and all input is appreciated. i saw the interview with michael wilbon after the special and lebron thanked his team, his teammates, the city and his fans. the way dan gilbert wrote that totally immature letter, i dont believe he deserves anything from lebron. you are supposed to be a businessman, an owner, a friggin adult. he didnt pick your team. you didnt surround him with the help needed and other teams had better meetings with lebron than you. so you go and write a letter calling him names and cursing him and the city he goes to? does this sound like the type of guy you owe anything to? good luck with guaranteeing the cavs win a title before any team lebron plays for
 
#72
Just scanning through some other boards I think LeBron may have rather badly misunderstood just how damaging this decision would be to his rep. Going to New York was going to tag him as a disloyal narcissisist, but going to Miami was much worse in that not only has he been disloyal, but now his very greatness, competitiveness, and general character has been called into question. He looks like a follower or bandwagoner looking for the easy way out. For a guy who obviously does have a lot of narcissistic tendencies, I think the booing he's going to receive next season is going to come as something of a shock.
I don't think it makes him a follower or a bandwagoner, but I do agree with everything else you said.
 
#74
no offense taken at all. im trying to find out the reason for the hate and all input is appreciated. i saw the interview with michael wilbon after the special and lebron thanked his team, his teammates, the city and his fans. the way dan gilbert wrote that totally immature letter, i dont believe he deserves anything from lebron. you are supposed to be a businessman, an owner, a friggin adult. he didnt pick your team. you didnt surround him with the help needed and other teams had better meetings with lebron than you. so you go and write a letter calling him names and cursing him and the city he goes to? does this sound like the type of guy you owe anything to? good luck with guaranteeing the cavs win a title before any team lebron plays for
Yeah, the owner went too far. Just made himself look stupid. I think people are reading way too much about this whole thing. I feel bad for Cavs fans but this is he way superstar athletes of today are. Not too long ago, kobe was blasting his teammates and saying he wants to be traded and rather play in Pluto. If the lakers didn't get Gasol, kobe would be playing for another team for the last few yrs now. LeBron has the right to choose him team. I mean his team wasn't going to win. I don't think the Heat are going to win anytime soon either unless they somehow get Haslem and Jermaine to resign but I doubt it.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#77
ok guys curse me if you will. I am a laker hater from back in the day. But after this day. If the Heat and the Lakers end up in the Finals next year.

I will be chanting Kobe Kobe Kobe. (Entity ducks)

Kiss that infraction record goodbye. :p
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#78
I have already said my piece before the decision was announced. I guess I'm disappointed that its official but like I said before I'm far more concerned about how this effects the small market team I love, the lockout situation and a dozen other things besides the self annointed one.
 
#80
I agree, calling LeBron a "coward" goes too far - way too far. The King did everything he could in 7 years for that franchise. He's now 26 and didn't want to spend rest of his career in Cleveland of all sorry, bad luck places. Who can blame him for that alone. Yes, I know he's an Ohio kid from Akron but now he wants to give it a try elsewhere. Ever notice when an pro athlete gets traded they never say the team was cowardly, traitors, a bunch of scum for sending them packing. They just say, "it's all part of the business," and move on. Maybe a few complain about where they are sent, try to force management to deal them to a better city or situation, or have no trade clause in their contracts - but they go when it's time.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#81
As someone stated earlier. Had he signed with the Bulls or Nets it wouldn't have been that bad. But to sign with 2 All-Stars already when your former MVP. Its just overkill. I guess I am just not a "if you can't beat them join them" kinda guy.
 
#82
I don't think it makes him a follower or a bandwagoner, but I do agree with everything else you said.
I mean, is Lebron joining Wade & Bosh any different from the lakers (magic, worthy, Kareem) and celtics (bird, mchale, Parish) days? They are just trying to be a dynasty like those teams. 3 superstars. By talent as of today, the lakers still has the most talent as they are stacked.

As a side note, we are plenty stacked too with young talent and 2 potential superstars.
 
#83
As someone stated earlier. Had he signed with the Bulls or Nets it wouldn't have been that bad. But to sign with 2 All-Stars already when your former MVP. Its just overkill. I guess I am just not a "if you can't beat them join them" kinda guy.
No offense, but seriously does having 2 other stars mean less when you win? If so then magic and bird wouldn't be legends.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#84
I mean, is Lebron joining Wade & Bosh any different from the lakers (magic, worthy, Kareem) and celtics (bird, mchale, Parish) days?
Of course its different since those players were all acquired in the draft or through trade, not some kind of collusion that allegedly began at the 2008 Olympics when all 3 were under contract to different teams.
 
#85
I agree, calling LeBron a "coward" goes too far - way too far. The King did everything he could in 7 years for that franchise. He's now 26 and didn't want to spend rest of his career in Cleveland of all sorry, bad luck places. Who can blame him for that alone. Yes, I know he's an Ohio kid from Akron but now he wants to give it a try elsewhere. Ever notice when an pro athlete gets traded they never say the team was cowardly, traitors, a bunch of scum for sending them packing. They just say, "it's all part of the business," and move on. Maybe a few complain about where they are sent, try to force management to deal them to a better city or situation, or have no trade clause in their contracts - but they go when it's time.

Yeah thats very true, the teams turn their back on players also. At the end it comes down to money and winning.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#86
thats the other thing. You got Lebrons agent and "people" trying to get players to sign with the heat now for low to minimum pay so they can have a supporting cast????? WTF is up with that. Lebron, Wade, and Bosh should have accepted lower pay so they could have a supporting cast. I garuntee if Bosh and Wade were on Miami and they only had 10 mil in capspace Lebron wouldn't have went there. In the end the Championship wouldn't be the most important to him. Its winning a championship AND him still getting a max contract thats important.
 
#87
LEbron James Decided on the Miami Heats, Do you think It was the right decision? How far do you think Miami is going next year?

Unless they beef up their front line I don't think they're even going to make it out of the East much less match up against the Lakers . Bosh is more of a small forward. I think James would have went much farther with the Chicago Bull who have a more complete team, whereas miami just have a skeleton team of wade, james, and bosh
First, Bosh is not a SF in any way. He may play a bit soft and be lacking on D, but he is a PF. That being said, I think LaBron made the wrong decision. And for that matter, I think Bosh and Wade made a mistake in wanting all 3 of them to be together.

I see Miami being able to win a lot of games next season, but come playoff time they will have some problems. First and foremost, both Wade and James like the ball late in games. One of them ultimately will have to defer to the other. This doesn't mean that they won't both take big shots, but one of them will get the biggest shots. They have basically filled 4 positions at this point. Now they have to find a starting center and fill out the bench. The problem is that they don't have anything other than the league minimum to offer players. This will result in the Heat having a very thin bench. Even with 3 great players, you need some depth to succeed. I think their lack of depth will be a major problem in the playoffs, and teams with a lot of size will also cause them problems.

I think James would have been better served with any of 3 other options:
1. Staying in Cleveland. This may not have gotten him a championship, but he would still be leading his team to one of the best records every season with a chance to win it all. It also would helped to keep him as a media darling IMO. I think going to Miami (and the way he did it) will greatly tarnish how he is perceived.
2. Sign with Chicago. I think he would have given the Bulls exactly what they needed to become the best team in the East. They already play defense like he wants, and he would have that secondary star with Rose. Boozer and Noah help solidify the team (all with well defined roles). The only downside is placing himself in the shadow of MJ. However, he seems more than willing to put himself in Wade's shadow so it shouldn't have been much of a problem.
3. Sign with New Jersey. The Nets might not be as ready made to contend as the Bulls, but they have a good young nucleus for him to mesh with. Harris is a very good PG and Brook Lopez was one of the best centers in the NBA last season. They also have some young talent with Favors, Williams and Lee. The addition of James would have instantly made them a playoff team IMO. And if Favors and Williams live up to some of their potenial, they would be contenders by the 2nd or 3rd season. The downside would be that they are afterall, the Nets.
 
#88
thats the other thing. You got Lebrons agent and "people" trying to get players to sign with the heat now for low to minimum pay so they can have a supporting cast?????
Sure, every season they can get a new cast of vets to sign on for the minimum for one year, so that they can experience a title run. It's NBA Fantasy Camp for pros.
 
#90
Of course its different since those players were all acquired in the draft or through trade, not some kind of collusion that allegedly began at the 2008 Olympics when all 3 were under contract to different teams.
i know this isnt your point when mentioning draft or trade but those arent always legit ways of acquiring a player. (ie tanking to get a better draft or lakers trading a bag of chips for gasol)