Did Lebron James Make the Right Decision?

[steelevt]

Put it this way: Bosh could have gone to Cleveland to play with LeBron. As hard as it is to wrap your mind around it, both Bosh and Wade could have gone to Chicago to play with Lebron - for exactly the same money/years they will get at Miami (Chicago would have to make few more moves, but it was doable - Second City was all abuzz with exactly that scenario, trust me). Bosh wouldn't sing off on a sign and trade to Cleveland. Wade wouldn't sign with the Bulls to let Gar Forman pullthe trigger on trades that would allow the Bulls to free up cap space to sign LBJ/Bosh. It is what it is - LeBron went to play for Mickey, Pat and Dwayne. It does say "Miami" on the jersey, but you can't ignore the implication.

can you explain how the bulls could have landed all three? i know cavs were out cuz bosh didnt want to play there. and miami had enough room under the cap to sign all three, plus with the no state tax, they could all get the same amount of money as a max contract but give up a little to sign other FA. i thought chicago could only sign 2 max FA at most with around $30 million. and with the ability to play with bosh AND wade, lebron chose miami.

 

[Vlade4GM]

i agree that i dont see why everyone has to say lebron is riding wades coat tail or play second fiddle. i would understand if lebron was old and latched on to a winning team but he is just as good if not better than wade. he joined a team that wasnt already in contention to win a championship. so by them joining the same team, they are helping each other win a ring, not sitting by lettin the other win the ring for them. like ive mentioned before it doesnt have to be a batman/robin thing, i see it as a justice league thing...for those who read comics

Because Wade has proven he can lead a team to a championship and LeBron hasn't. However it all plays out, LeBron is either hiding behind or next to Wade. At the very least he'll never be the no. 1 undisputed leader of that team, and with that his opportunity to prove he's GOAT or even in the discussion of GOAT disappears.

 

[est.1999]

And wade has done WHAT since then? Nothing!

You really believe that if you switched wade or Kobe for lebron on those championship teams that those teams would have lost since "lebron hasn't proven he can lead a team to a championship"? Well have wade or Kobe lead a team of scrubs to the finals? Nope!

 

[est.1999]

Because Wade has proven he can lead a team to a championship and LeBron hasn't. However it all plays out, LeBron is either hiding behind or next to Wade. At the very least he'll never be the no. 1 undisputed leader of that team, and with that his opportunity to prove he's GOAT or even in the discussion of GOAT disappears.

Why can't he be the leader of this team? Last I checked wade made himself a free agent for this offseason too. He has no teammates to speak of and he hasn't done squat the last few years. This team is almost like an expansion team except rather than average players and college players forming a team we have 2 superduper stars and one all star with the rest pending.

 

[mac]

And wade has done WHAT since then? Nothing!

You really believe that if you switched wade or Kobe for lebron on those championship teams that those teams would have lost since "lebron hasn't proven he can lead a team to a championship"? Well have wade or Kobe lead a team of scrubs to the finals? Nope!

Did you honestly just compare the Miami Heat roster from the past few years since their championship to that of the Cleveland Cavs? Because if you did .... Well I'll let that speak for itself. Because you know, the Cavs were full of D-leaguers and stuff. Oh and what was that? LeBron was injured and sat out almost a whole season you say? Oh .... Oh hey wait, that was Wade wasn't it?

I find it funny how people say Lebron >>> Kobe, and then follow by saying (not directed at you) "If lebron were on the lakers they would have won too". How does that even make sense?? If Lebron truly is so much better than Kobe, then he would have been able to lead a much lesser team to win a championship. Now, I have no doubt in Lebron's talent nor his place as the possible top player in the league. He is also not entirely "riding Wade's coattails" per se, but he's not doing it on his own either. Is that wrong? Not exactly ... and no one is saying it's wrong. It's simply not what the real best players do, especially those in the conversation for GOAT.

Ah, this discussion is going to be on and on. It's just funny how the best team in the East from the past two years in the regular season is suddenly full of scrubs comparable to Miami, and far far worse than the Lakers. This is good stuff. Carry on.

 

[est.1999]

You just proved my point. You can't win without a legit number 2 man. And wades teams have been trash the last few years and he hasn't done anything. I said in an earlier post that he was injured that one year. My argument is not entirely about whether lebron is better than Kobe or wade but to the fact that people say he can't lead a team to a ring when in fact Kobe and wade haven't done anything when their roster isn't stacked.

 

[Kingstime]

There are alot of replies in this thread so I hope I'm not saying anything that's already been said hahaha.

But as for the original topic yes I think Lebron made the right decision. But he clearly could of handled it better as the whole decision crap was a spectacular display of loserdom. I remember years ago I was an original witness I thought this kid could do no wrong and I have always seen him as more Magic than MJ and in no way is that a bad thing. He's too unselfish for his own good, he has that Magic blood in him not that cold bloodedness MJ possesses.

He's not mentally built to do it all by himself and sadly no man can win a team game by himself. Looking at it from a full out fan perspective the guy who is the biggest loser in this whole thing is Chris Bosh. For months people have wanted this cat to come to there team, thinking he is the piece to take them over the top when he isn't. He was the most annoying part about this whole fiasco, he's done virtually nothing in this league and made this thing into a platform to launch his own brand.

Lebron gave Cleveland 7 years of his career took em to the finals once and won 2 MVPs. When it came to having to add that last guy to help him, they dropped the ball. At the trading deadline Pho offered Amare for JJ Hickson and pieces, Ferry didn't wanna do it and now Bron is in Miami.

It's gonna be entertaining watching this go down I think anything less then 2-3 titles in the 6 years they are together is a disappointment for that type of talent that has been assembled.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Interesting piece about Cal Ripken Jr. - a hometown guy that chose not to leave his team.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=At7QDJLrGqhFHPJu7fMxJHo5nYcB?slug=lc-ripkenjames071210

 

[iowamcnabb]

On a side note, when was the last time the NBA has had this much buzz? I'm a partner in a coffee shop/restaurant and everyday people are coming in talking about the NBA. I've never see it like this before.

 

[SacKings7]

On a side note, when was the last time the NBA has had this much buzz? I'm a partner in a coffee shop/restaurant and everyday people are coming in talking about the NBA. I've never see it like this before.

So far I've found that it's the opposite. A lot of people I know are moving on to other sports or something because the NBA has now turned into the Lakers vs Heat league. I just hope that what LeBron and Bosh did doesn't have a domino effect. Just having 3 or 4 super teams will eventually run the league into the ground

 

[iowamcnabb]

So far I've found that it's the opposite. A lot of people I know are moving on to other sports or something because the NBA has now turned into the Lakers vs Heat league. I just hope that what LeBron and Bosh did doesn't have a domino effect. Just having 3 or 4 super teams will eventually run the league into the ground[/QUOTE

I dont think the concept of two favorites from the respective conferences is anything new. Most years there are only 3 or 4 teams that have a shot at winning the whole thing with this year being no exception. However, there are a lot of competitive teams this year and even the usual bottom feeders have some promising young teams.

 

[Arco Thunder]

So far I've found that it's the opposite. A lot of people I know are moving on to other sports or something because the NBA has now turned into the Lakers vs Heat league. I just hope that what LeBron and Bosh did doesn't have a domino effect. Just having 3 or 4 super teams will eventually run the league into the ground

My concern as well.

 

[Superman]

So far I've found that it's the opposite. A lot of people I know are moving on to other sports or something because the NBA has now turned into the Lakers vs Heat league. I just hope that what LeBron and Bosh did doesn't have a domino effect. Just having 3 or 4 super teams will eventually run the league into the ground

I dont think the concept of two favorites from the respective conferences is anything new. Most years there are only 3 or 4 teams that have a shot at winning the whole thing with this year being no exception. However, there are a lot of competitive teams this year and even the usual bottom feeders have some promising young teams.

Professional sports leagues are trying to sell this image that their leagues have true parity, when in fact, none of them do. The big market teams always have an advantage. The billionaire owners always have an advantage. States with no sales or income tax have an advantage. You can't legislate parity, because certain factors are not in anyone's control.

You can make changes to your system so that you make it harder on teams to build dynasties, and easier for bad teams to fix their mistakes and get back in the mix. The NBA has done things in that vein for several years now, because they want fans of the Indiana Pacers to pay for League Pass and buy season tickets in hopes that their team will/can contend for a title. Not that they can't, but the league is tilted toward the big market teams. Always has been, always will be.

 

[UKRAINE]

This is my last post about this topic ... Of course, James made the right decision because it was HIS decision and he did what he wanted to do. It is his life and it is too short to listen to everybody taking into consideration that those "teachers" and "advisers" are usually talentless couch-potatoes.
And of course there are a lot of oracles and geniuses who already know his destiny, some people absolutely sure that Miami will win 0 titles, some people know that James will be a second fiddle and I can continue this list.

Let's wait a little bit before making such bold statements; not even one game is played.

 

[Superman]

No, it's because he's been on the Heat longer AND led them to a championship, as THE guy. Quit acting like this is not important: when you're The Man on your team, and you actually win, you don't displaced from being The Man just because you get another talented player, ESPECIALLY if they haven't accomplished as much as you have. If you've NEVER won, like with Robinson, another great player can come in and usurp you as The Man, but when you've won, as THE guy, you're The Man until you hang it up. That's how that works.

While that's true, if (and this is admittedly a big IF) this season plays out in such a way that LeBron is obviously Numero Uno on that team and it's in fact Wade who takes a back seat, and they win a championship, then LeBron becomes a difference maker. They go from being a fringe playoff team that got beat in five in the first round, to the champs. While LeBron can never supplant Wade as the guy who got them there first, if the roles make it clear that he is The Man, then what happened in 2006 ceases to matter.

I don't know how it's going to play out. I just don't think that just because Wade is the guy that's been there that it means LeBron is necessarily second fiddle. I think it depends on the shape that the team takes as the season goes on. The scales are tilted in Wade's favor, but that doesn't mean that it can't change.

 

[bloom]

Didn't want to make a new thread..but..Here’s an interesting read about Lebron.

Back when the Heat’s three new superstars had signed short contract extensions and started to explore the idea of free agency thrusting them together, a different discussion had played out within the NBA and USA Basketball: What should we do with LeBron?

From Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski to managing director Jerry Colangelo to NBA elders, the issue of James’ immaturity and downright disrespectfulness had become a consuming topic on the march to the Olympics. The course of history could’ve changed dramatically, because there was a real risk that James wouldn’t be brought to Beijing based on fears his monumental talents weren’t worth the daily grind of dealing with him.

When the mandate had been to gather these immense egos and get the NBA’s greatest players to fit into a program, no one had a more difficult time meshing into the framework than James. Other players made it a point to learn the names of staffers and modestly go about their business without barking orders and brash demands.

No one could stand James as a 19-year-old in the 2004 Athens Olympics, nor the 2006 World Championships. Officials feared James could become the instigator of everything they wanted to rid themselves for the ’08 Olympics. For as gifted as James was, Krzyzewski and Colangelo subscribed to a belief that with Kobe Bryant joining the national team in 2007, they could win a gold medal in ’08 with or without LeBron James. Behind the scenes, officials had taken to calling James’ inner circle, “The Enablers.” No one ever told him to grow up. No one ever challenged him. And yet, James was still a powerful pull for his teammates, and everyone had to agree they could no longer let his bossy and belittling act go unchecked. These weren’t the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Team USA wasn’t beholden to him.

“Legacies were on the line,” one league official said, “and they weren’t going to let LeBron [expletive] it up for everyone in China.”

Through Nike, James ultimately heeded the message and became more tolerable to coaches, teammates and staff. Team USA assigned Jason Kidd(notes) to babysit him at the Tournament of the Americas in 2007, to try to teach him something the Cavaliers never had a veteran to do: professionalism.

When James returned to the Cavaliers, the franchise hoped that he had grown, matured and maybe learned some lessons. Only James understood the angles and leverage he had in Cleveland. Every day, owner Dan Gilbert and general manager Danny Ferry wondered: What must we do to get him to re-sign in 2010?
What will make him happy?

The answer, as the Cavaliers eventually discovered, was nothing. James lived to make demands, but those with knowledge of his plans insist he never intended to re-sign with the Cavaliers.

Within an hour of the Cavaliers’ season ending in Boston, James’ inner circle, including power broker William Wesley, agent Leon Rose and business manager Maverick Carter, stood outside the visiting locker room grumbling about coach Mike Brown.

James had wanted Brown gone a year earlier after the Cavs lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Orlando Magic – despite Brown guiding Cleveland to 66 victories while winning the league’s Coach of the Year award. Ferry debated Gilbert to keep Brown. He won out, but Ferry knew it would be tough to make that case again in 2010. Every decision the Cavaliers made had to be run past James. He didn’t always get to decide, but he had to be consulted.

This time, Gilbert believed he had to fire Brown to have a chance of re-signing James. When he was fired, Brown purposely left his star’s name out of a public statement of thanks. He knew James had led the movement for his dismissal for more than two years and Brown no longer needed to pretend that he liked, or respected James.

The Bulls still believed they were strongly in the bidding for James. They met him on July 2, and for all the discussion later about the belief that Chicago wouldn’t give jobs and access to members of James’ inner circle, the issue had never been raised with team executives.

For everything the Bulls tried to sell – from owner Jerry Reinsdorf to GM Gar Forman to coach Tom Thibodeau – there had been one thing that troubled James’ about the Bulls pitch: Derrick Rose never called and tried to recruit him.

Chicago officials never directly requested Rose to reach out with a call, and the young point guard felt James could’ve always reached out to him had he wanted to discuss the possibility of playing together. James needed to be courted, needed to be wooed and apparently it surprised him there was a star who wasn’t falling over himself to do that.

Nevertheless, the pressure on Spoelstra to win a championship in 2011 promises to be immense. To keep his job, he’ll probably have to win it all, especially because Riley has his eye on Doc Rivers to someday coach the Heat. Rivers has one year left on his Celtics contract, and has been heavily affected by the distance between him and his family still living Orlando.

Riley never sold any coach to James in the meeting, but the one sitting next to him. Yet, James understood that Riley ultimately had no loyalty to anything but winning.

Back in Akron, James still wanted to go through his live hourlong television show on July 8 to announce his decision. This had been Maverick Carter’s big idea, his production, and still people around him worried about the fallout in Cleveland. Several friends told James this was a bad idea to do to his hometown, that leaving the Cavaliers live on national television would make this a public-relations disaster for him.

James didn’t seem to agree, didn’t think it made a difference. Mad was mad, he thought. He would take a beating, but it would subside and people would love him again in Cleveland. The TV event had delivered hope to the Cavaliers that they would keep James because they never believed he would go on air and open himself to such a visceral reaction.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-heatfreeagency071610

The guy talks about loyalty, how classy the organization is but he doesn’t believe in any of that. I wish people wouldn’t coddle these athletes at such a young age. The ego and lack of respect for anyone but themselves is embarrassing…I guess I was wrong about Lebron’s “Team” pushing him into something.

 

[Kingster]

I'm curious if those that support this decision by Lebron would also support a decision by CP3 and Carmelo to join Stoudemire in NY? So they get together for lunch and make the group decision to form their own little "dream team". Would that sit well with you? Then we could have a couple of "super" teams and the rest could eat popcorn.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Wojnarowski's articles have been interesting reads but if you go back he has clearly been anti-Lebron for quite some time. All the olympic stuff is interesting if true (the part about all the non-players hating him and almost leaving him off the team) and he does basically accuse Wade of telling Riley to dump contracts which would definitely be collusion but of course unproveable.

Even though I am willing to believe most of that stuff I really have to take Wojnarowski's stuff with a HUGE grain of salt because he is the only one reporting this story in as negative a light as he has been.

 

[Widowmaker2k]

I'm not sure if this has been posted, but it's pretty funny:
[yt=Steve Carrell's Decision]KtIaMr2hGeI[/yt]

 

[mac]

I'm not sure if this has been posted, but it's pretty funny:
[yt=Steve Carrell's Decision]KtIaMr2hGeI[/yt]

I died laughing

 

[bloom]

Wojnarowski's articles have been interesting reads but if you go back he has clearly been anti-Lebron for quite some time. All the olympic stuff is interesting if true (the part about all the non-players hating him and almost leaving him off the team) and he does basically accuse Wade of telling Riley to dump contracts which would definitely be collusion but of course unproveable.

Even though I am willing to believe most of that stuff I really have to take Wojnarowski's stuff with a HUGE grain of salt because he is the only one reporting this story in as negative a light as he has been.

I didn't know that. But this has been one of the best reads in a while, and even though he might be biased against Lebron James, I can actually believe most of the stuff that is written about him...But thanks for telling me about Wojnarowski's writting.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I didn't know that. But this has been one of the best reads in a while, and even though he might be biased against Lebron James, I can actually believe most of the stuff that is written about him...But thanks for telling me about Wojnarowski's writting.

I didn't realize it until every time I wanted to cite the latest horrible rumor about Lebron kicking a baby it was all coming from the same source. I don't really doubt any of the meat is true but it would be nice to get some corroboration from someone else, and preferably not from Yahoo.

 

[Superman]

I didn't realize it until every time I wanted to cite the latest horrible rumor about Lebron kicking a baby it was all coming from the same source. I don't really doubt any of the meat is true but it would be nice to get some corroboration from someone else, and preferably not from Yahoo.

I have trouble with some of the meat of it because if the genesis of this whole Big Three idea was the '08 Olympics, but LeBron left such a horrible impression on everyone there, then why would Bosh and Wade want to play with him?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I have trouble with some of the meat of it because if the genesis of this whole Big Three idea was the '08 Olympics, but LeBron left such a horrible impression on everyone there, then why would Bosh and Wade want to play with him?

But it seemed like he only left the bad impression on the little people and perhaps a few coaches and older vets. Definitely not his peers. In fact I suspect his cavalier (haha) approach impressed the hell out of Bosh though I'm not sure why it would Wade.

 

[beb0p]

Not to say I agree or disagree with Wojnarowski http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/experts...KF7g9hD47Sxw7LTjdIF?author=Adrian+Wojnarowskibut here is a second source:

LeBron James is a self-centered numbskull.


LeBron James has every right to be a self-centered numbskull. Not only that; I’ve known that he was a self-centered numbskull ever since I spent time on the court with him. My NBA career high of, ahem, six points came against his Cleveland Cavaliers, after all. And, despite what my paltry scoring output might indicate, I was playing meaningful minutes that night with the Chicago Bulls, which meant that I was on the court with – or rather, against – James.


I marveled at his size, speed, and grace. He seemed to take up the entire midcourt as he flew toward the basket to make some play or another, all of it done at breakneck speed.


I also marveled at how mean he was to his teammates. His cold-eyed glare when one of them had the nerve to miss a shot. The way he spoke to them; the way he carried himself around Cavaliers staff; the aura of jerkitude that – had we all been in the Army, circa 1952, and not in the NBA, circa 2004 – would have gotten him a midnight date with a sock filled with bars of soap.


http://www.flipcollective.com/2010/07/13/lebron-james-hates-you-by-paul-shirley/

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/espn-greenlights-the-decision-for-22-more-episodes,17743/

 

[bloom]

I also marveled at how mean he was to his teammates. His cold-eyed glare when one of them had the nerve to miss a shot. The way he spoke to them; the way he carried himself around Cavaliers staff; the aura of jerkitude that – had we all been in the Army, circa 1952, and not in the NBA, circa 2004 – would have gotten him a midnight date with a sock filled with bars of soap.

I've always been under the allusion that Lebron was good with his teammates but ever since he left the Cavs there have been reports that he wasn't the nice-est of people to them.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/espn-greenlights-the-decision-for-22-more-episodes,17743/

lol..this wouldn't suprise me.

 

[Gargamel]

You can make changes to your system so that you make it harder on teams to build dynasties, and easier for bad teams to fix their mistakes and get back in the mix. The NBA has done things in that vein for several years now, because they want fans of the Indiana Pacers to pay for League Pass and buy season tickets in hopes that their team will/can contend for a title. Not that they can't, but the league is tilted toward the big market teams. Always has been, always will be.

I don't get the Indiana example vis a vis parity because it's not too long ago that Indy had a healthy streak of playoff relevance, even beating the Knicks one year, and having a 13 pt lead over Chicago in a Game 7. The main reason was that they had something approximating a superstar at the time. Get a superstar and then you can talk about parity. Chris Webber. Tim Duncan. Malone-Stockton. Drexler. Kidd (the Nets made the Finals twice, good God).

How can you legislate making it easy to fix stupid decisions while penalizing more cunning FOs that are able to build a great roster? We're also not far from the dynasty of one of the smallest markets in the league. Should Buford have been hindered during the process?

 

[Gargamel]

I've always been under the allusion that Lebron was good with his teammates but ever since he left the Cavs there have been reports that he wasn't the nice-est of people to them.

Rumor has it that 3 of the 4 coaches on the 2004 Olympic squad wanted to make him the first guy cut from the roster, and not because of lack of talent, either.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

With respect to Supes' suggestions, if the NBA had a player's union as strong as, say, Major League Baseball, it wouldn't be as significant an issue. In my personal opinion, I think that the union should negotiate that free agents should not be allowed to sign for less than a certain percentage below their relative market value, unless they're staying with their original team. Like when Duncan took a little less than the max so that San Antonio could build a better team around him. And, yes, even Dwyane Wade should be commended for doing the same thing... But, while there are all kinds of people trying to defend James and Bosh's decision from a player standpoint, and a free agent standpoint, I think that, overall, it hurts the players' bargaining power to have max players signing for significantly less than the max to form the Superfriends on one team.

I mean, some people got paid this summer, but as you'll recall the chronology of it, that was before James and Bosh changed the game. And, now that they have, it's going to be to the detriment of the "midcard" teams of the NBA. Certainly, the Heat and the gd lakers will still be able to get quality players to sign with the for the vet minimum, or the LLE, and that's good for them, not so good for the Pacers and Bobcats and Hornets. Which, in turn, hurts the players: You're not going to continue to see "glue guys" like Sefalosha end up on a midcard team, because they're not going to sign with a midcarder for low dollars, and midcarders aren't going to pay them a lot when they know that there's only two, maybe three teams that are actually in contention.

This is a completely arbitrary number, but I think ninety percent works: I think that the player's union should negotiate for the next CBA that players cannot sign for less than ninety percent of their market value, unless they're staying with their original team and/or the team that has their bird rights.