Now that the NBA Finals are over and the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off the greatest upset since San Antonio won the championship two seasons ago ruining the greatest season in NBA history the offseason has begun and just as expected LeBron James has exercised his player option to “enter” into Free Agency. One might think that 29 teams are rejoicing at the opportunity to sign the best player on the planet, however you’d be wrong, because The King is not going anywhere. Sure there is a slight chance he may entertain offers from other teams now that he has brought a championship to Cleveland, but I would be more than surprised if he went anywhere. Exercising this option is just another one of his brilliant career strategies.
Since entering the league at the tender age of 18 LeBron has demonstrated a great amount of skill on the court, showcasing incredible athleticism, dedication, and determination. Heralded as the next Great One LeBron entered the league under a great deal of pressure with the bar set extremely high, being compared to every great player that came before him.
For every move that LeBron makes there is someone waiting to criticize him by stating if he was as great as he said he was he would have done things like this player. Quite frankly the comparisons are unfair. This comes from a man who has been disappointed by LeBron on so many occasions, beginning with “the Decision” six years ago. I never thought he would leave Cleveland as that was his home and I stood in surprise mouth agape as he announced he was taking his talents to South Beach. I watched in awe as he, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade sat on their stools mikes in their hands talking about how they were going to win championship after championship together.
To say I was disgusted would be putting it mildly. This was a player that I had vehemently defended for years saying that he was the greatest player on the planet; using factual evidence as to why I would choose him over Kobe Bryant to build around. His resume up to that point had been incredible, with his best work of art being dragging a haphazardly put together Cavaliers squad to the NBA Finals to face off against Tim Duncan and the Spurs. While they did get swept in that series; the fact that they made it that far needed to be respected.
The King put the Cavaliers on his back in his typical manner and carried them through the playoffs even pulling off a gutsy series win over the Detroit Pistons. In his usual manner LeBron was a Swiss Army Knife, doing a little bit of everything, grabbing rebounds, creating good opportunities for his teammates, playing defense and scoring points in bunches. Simply put he showed why he deserved to be called the King and perhaps with better talent around him he would have gotten his first championship that year, however fate had other plans and LeBron left his hometown to join forces with two other superstars, not that I count Chris Bosh as a superstar, but the rest of the world does and my arguments on that are best saved for another day.
Watching him fly off to join other elite talent instead of staying put and drawing talent to him angered me along with millions of others. This is a man that we heralded as the greatest player alive and he took the easy way out. Not only was this difficult to watch as an adult, but imagine what this shows children? If you can’t win on your own, team up with other’s so that no one has a chance and once your original team has gathered enough talent through the draft you can return and call the shots and make the team you want to lead.
After four seasons away LeBron returned home to a team that had received the number one draft pick in three out of his four seasons away including the last two number one picks consecutively. He wasted no time in trading away players that he felt did not fit his image of a team that could win right away. The number one draft pick in 2015 Andrew Wiggins was traded away and Kevin Love brought in, not the greatest trade in my opinion. Dion Waiters was sent away midway through the first season with Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith, and Iman Shumpert arriving in Cleveland, before the firing of their head coach who had just led them to the finals and the best record in the NBA at the time with a promotion given to the man LeBron had wanted for his coach in the first place.
While I can never say that LeBron is not a gifted athlete I can say this, the major difference between him and many of the other great ones, cannot be shown in any statistical category. One cannot even question his commitment to winning. What one can question are his methods, which is why I have lost so much respect for him. While many superstars have a say in personnel, none have manipulated their franchises management to the degree that LeBron has. None have partnered with other players to create super teams.
Teams with multiple stars’ trade for them, draft them, or sign them or a combination of each method. No truly successful player has demanded their management go out and bring in other elite talents, mortgaging the future for wins now. Unlike LeBron most greats brought talent to them or allowed Management to make the necessary moves. Unlike LeBron the other greats that he is so frequently compared to did not manufacture their championship squads and earned their titles and places in the history book through their own sheer determination. It would appear that after the heart wrenching sweep at the hands of Tim Duncan and company The King lost his edge and his ability to deliver clutch performances and carry teams on his back.
