I wish failure on Miami

[Int3rested]

follow the money...

[Randall Creed]

What the hell is all this Hatorade on Lebron? Like someone pointed out, Dude's been living in Ohio all his life. Give him a break. It's a state that overrates its sports teams, which is why they're always set up to crash hard when they lose. And who wouldn't get tired of playing around a bunch of scrubs who can't win unless he has a great game. With D Wade and Bosh he can have a bad night and still win, and save some legs for the playoffs. Lebron had to do what was best for Lebron. Trying to be Superman on a bad team for 10 years is a career killer (ask Garnett). To win in this league you need a couple of superstars on a team, or 1 superstar and a couple of fringe stars, and at least two clutch role players. One man armies may win a couple battles, but they don't win wars.

[Int3rested]

Yea, I hear you, it's all about Lebron...

[Mopar71]

LBJ doesn't owe CLE a thing, no way can CLE complete with Miami, hell...how many times has that "mistake by the lake" caught fire!!! If he handled it any different do you really think the fan's would have reacted better??? Doubt it!!! The Heat willbe very successful for yrs to come, I just feel sorry for Dirk-he will NEVER see a ring while with Dallas.

[FriscoKid]

This whole Lebron thing is what is wrong with professional sports/athletes...what happened to the days of a player showing his loyalty to a city/fan base and sticking with it (good or bad) for an entire career? These guys ask "what can the city do for me?" rather than "what can I do for the city"? That's why athletes like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Cal Ripken, John Elway, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman, and many others like them will always be CLASS in my mind. They were about TEAM, COMMUNITY, LOYALTY, and RESPECT. These prima donna athletes today think so short term (IMHO). Lebron's decision has tarnished his legacy forever! He had OHIO in his corner...what the hell was he thinking? (And NO, I'm not a Cavs fan)

Go MAVS!

[Randall Creed]

What 'happened' is that winning has become the end all be all for players of Lebron's stature. Barkley, Malone, Ewing, Stockton, and a few other stars back in the Jordan Era never won an NBA championship, so in the eyes of many, their careers are basically tainted. Same goes for Marino, Fouts, and a few other NFL greats. Loyalty's cute to have...on paper. But make no mistake about it. These guys play to win championships, and if they have to do it in another city on another team, so be it. I'm pretty sure Marino would've jumped ship if he thought he had to do that to win a title.
Personally, I don't think Cleveland worked hard enough to keep him in town. Firing the coach and GM looks like fingerpointing, when the truth is the team didn't play well enough to win. If Lebron had stayed, say another 5 years and rotted, not winning a championship, some of the same people bashing him now would call him a fool for not leaving in his prime.

Again, ask Kevin Garnett about loyalty.

[LazurusLong]

Originally Posted by FriscoKid

...That's why athletes like ... John Elway, ...and many others like them will always be CLASS in my mind.

Let's not include Elway in that bunch. The others yes.

Elway was drafted and refused to play for the team who drafted him and threatened to play baseball instead unless traded to the team he wanted to play for, which turned out to be Denver. Of COURSE he stayed in Denver because he refused to play anywhere else.

[TexTushHog]

Originally Posted by Mr No Confidence

Exactly, Chris Bosh is just Jermaine O'neal of some years ago. I don't get the hype either. He's good, but I've seen him play like trash defensively many of times. Kinda irrelevant though since hes got James and Wade to carry the load. He better not play center that's for sure.

Bosh has defensive weaknesses. But if he plays for Spolstra/Riles, he'll learn to play defense better. He may never learn to play it very well, but he'll be better.

[Joe Smith]

Originally Posted by Rambro Creed

Again, ask Kevin Garnett about loyalty.

I am not sure why you bring up Garnett and loyalty. Garnett made a shit load of money in Sota and he's also the reason why rookie contracts were completely changed in the most recent collective bargaining agreement back in 1999, (after he signed his 6 year, $121M deal extension after a whopping 2 years of service at 21 years old and after averaging 17 points.) Garnett was very loyal. He was paid a ridiculous amount of money to be loyal. He stayed with the Wolves until he was 31 years old. Not everyone can win a championship. It's not a coincidence that the Spurs and the Lakers dominated this decade with Detroit and Boston getting one as well....Garnett never let his contract run out so he could go sign with another team so that he could pick his all star teammates. He tried his best to actually earn a championship the right way. I respect him for that. He welcomed a trade only when his team was rebuilding and when it was clear that he was getting up there in age and was too old to actually go through a rebuilding process. Lebron's Cleveland team has had the best record in the league the last 2 years. They weren't rebuilding.

With your logic, every young stud should let his contract run out and then go find 2 other all stars to play with. How is that good for the league? Every huge market team would be stacked and everyone else would be fucked. The regular season would be a complete joke. Your logic suggests that Bird, Magic and Barkley should have just teamed up together on another team and they could have won it that way and just not worried about doing it on their own.

If Lebron would have stayed in Cleveland and won ONE championship, he would have been an immortal God there. Instead, he decided that he wanted to take the easy way out. And on top of that, he was classless with how he decided to do so by stringing everyone along when he probably knew a month ago where he was going to be.

Having said that, I am a die hard Lakers fan so I really don't give a shit because this Miami team still can't fuck with the Lakers. Bosh is 6'10" and Haslem, (who looks like with be resigned) is 6'9". Good luck going against Gasol, Bynum and Odom-Kardashian with that frontline.

[PT4ME]

Originally Posted by FriscoKid

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Cal Ripken, John Elway, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman....

they ALL played in places a LOT better than CLEVELAND!

[Joe Smith]

Originally Posted by PT4ME

they ALL played in places a LOT better than CLEVELAND!

Salt Lake City and Baltimore are better cities than Cleveland???

And you can't blame the city for why he is leaving, the guy loves the town. And he's always said how much he loves it there.

[Chainsaw Anthropologist]

Originally Posted by Mopar71

LBJ doesn't owe CLE a thing, no way can CLE complete with Miami, hell...how many times has that "mistake by the lake" caught fire!!! If he handled it any different do you really think the fan's would have reacted better??? Doubt it!!! The Heat willbe very successful for yrs to come, I just feel sorry for Dirk-he will NEVER see a ring while with Dallas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River

Let's see....It looks like the Cuyahoga River has caught fire approximately thirteen times since 1868. However....at this present time, I would far sooner swim in it than perform a similar act in the Trinity as it sort of moves gelatinously through Dallas. Drawing a similar parallel between Cleveland and Lake Erie, Dallas could be called the "Pissoir by the pond" (Pond Ray Hubbard) as the alleged "lakes" in Texas pale in comparison to even the smallest of the Great Lakes. There is enough water in Lake Erie alone to cover the entire state of Texas to a depth of about five feet.

Regarding Dirk....don't you imagine local sports fans and the media would have reacted in a similar manner had he decided to pack up and leave Markie and the Mavs in the lurch. Without him they are equally as talentless as the Cavs, maybe moreso!

[Mopar71]

I am a Mavs fan, and maybe I'm the only one who thinks like this but I wished Dirk would have left the Mavs-why?? he deserves a ring! Plain and simple, Cuban and the front office have dropped the ball in getting decent people here, and its obvious Carlile doesn't have a clue, they have given up so much with little in return.

[TinMan]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw Anthropologist

Regarding Dirk....don't you imagine local sports fans and the media would have reacted in a similar manner had he decided to pack up and leave Markie and the Mavs in the lurch.

Yes...if he'd turned it into a media circus as LeBum did. If he handled it in the low-key way that is his nature, I'd have been disappointed, but would likely pull for him with his new team.

Being a big Pudge fan back in the day, I was thrilled for him when he got that WS ring with Florida...so I know I'm not THAT much of a homer.

I've never given two shits about Cleveland, but even I will be pulling for them to somehow turn this thing around...as unlikely as that may be.

[Randall Creed]

Garnett made a 'shitload' of money because they had to pay him to stay up there. As someone eluded to, playing in certain cities is better than others, basically anywhere other than the upper Midwest. It's not always about the money. Tell you what. You get on a team where you're the best player and try going up against the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Spurs, and Pistons (teams that have won 21 of the last 24 NBA titles) when they're 7 or 8 deep and you and your one sidekick player are playing 45 minutes a night trying to keep up. Now try this over 7, 8, 10, or 12 years. Oh, sure. You're a gazillionaire, but every time your name is mentioned they bring up how you can't get out of the first round and lose every series you've ever been in 4-1. That shit gets old.

Could Lebron have given it one more go in Cleveland? Perhaps. But again, he's played ball in Ohio ALL his life, albeit still young. That guy gave Cleveland 7 years. Other than Jim Brown, I can't think of another high level athlete that's done that.