I don't believe LeBron James.
I don't believe he wrote the essay in which
he delivered the news of his decision to go to Cleveland. I don't believe a lot of what was written in
the document either. But you know what?
It doesn't matter.
He could have said "I'm going back to
Cleveland because I love marshmallows and there's no better city in this
country for marshmallow eating than Cleveland."
Fine.
Go ahead. Enjoy Cleveland. Enjoy
your marshmallows. It's a free country.
LeBron James lived up to his contract with
the Miami Heat, and by the rules of the NBA, was entitled to choose where he
wanted to play next. Two years from now, he could move on again -- maybe he
will choose Phoenix. or Brooklyn. Or
Indiana. Yeah -- Indiana. I hear some
key players in the marshmallow industry are thinking of setting up shop there.
The essay that LeBron "wrote" did
resonate with most of the media-consuming public. Really, who can fault a guy
who wants to go back to his home city to make a positive difference while
making amends for leaving in the first place?
Thing is, that letter was too perfect. It has the unmistakable stink of a publicist,
manager, agent and ghost-writer all over it. Having learned the hard way how
much reputational damage a poorly executed public decision (or, rather
"Decision") can do, the James camp expertly crafted the antithesis of
"The Decision" television show.
The disastrous made-for-TV special that LeBron put on in 2010 upon his
departure from Cleveland taught those cats a lesson -- a lesson from which they
learned and adjusted.
The Bye-Bye Miami essay checked all the
boxes: thought, humility, solid reasoning, appropriateness, grace,
appreciation… it was as close to perfect as a letter like it can be. Props to
whoever actually wrote it.
And the Heat, well, they're left to move
forward without the best player on the planet.
For a team that demands nothing less than an NBA title, and fell short with that player … good luck with that.
The issue I would have if I was a member of
the Heat, or even a fan of the Heat is … if the decision was so clear to
LeBron, and so heart-felt that it (according to the essay) "is not about a
roster and is not about an organization. It is a calling far above just basketball,"
then why didn't it come sooner? Why did
my team have to spend, err, waste the
first 11-days of the free-agent signing period chasing this cat around the
country with bags of money in tow?
The Heat's free-agency plan was to fill in
the pieces around LeBron. They signed
Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger, and drafted the James-annointed "best
point-guard in college basketball," Shabazz Napier -- in large part to
appease LeBron. Those are some nice
pieces to an NBA team puzzle, but they are not quite as attractive without the
super-duper star to lead them. The
saving grace of LeBron's departure is that the Heat now have a lot more money
to spend on big name free agents. The
flip-side of that argument is, "What big name free agents?"
In the 11-days that Miami spent chasing
LeBron, all the other high-level talent either signed elsewhere, or got so deep
in talks with other teams that the Heat are left on the outside looking
in.
So, round and round the free agency wheel spins. 2010's big winners are 2014's big losers and vice versa -- all because of the whim of the best player in basketball. Surprise, surprise... turns out that Cleveland-Miami trip LeBron booked four years ago was actually a round-trip ticket.
