Somewhat . . . With out Cleveland being a willing partner Lebron will not the MAX MAX deal Unless I am mistake. . .the team with your bird rights can offer you the most [the difference being between a 100 Mill deal and a 80 mill deal . . . or something like that ] So . . .unless I am mistaken . . LeBron will be seeking a sign and trade over just breaking over to NY . . . . .. Is that not correct? That being said If LeBron Bolts to NY . . . is he better or worse than Carlos Boozer ? Rocket River
How many times has Shane worn a Tigers cap to an Astros game? How many times has Shane spoken about Detroit? Once? Who gives a care about Shane in 2010? Nobody. The Rockets may not even want him back. LeBron has professed his love for New York more times than I can count. Google it if you don't believe me. He also knows the press hangs on his every word. It is a completely different situation than Shane and the Rockets. There nothing "nutty" about viewing the two situations differently. Is it a double-standard? I guess, but the differences are bigger than the similarities.
If I were LeBron, I would not be looking to go to the Knicks. If what he's been saying is true, winning is on the top of his priorities list. And unless NY clears up enough space to land another max player in addition to James (such as Bosh), the only motivation he would have to go there would be just to build the LeBron James brand. If LeBron were looking for a change of scenery in 2010, I think the Nets would be a good choice with his buddy Jay-Z being part owner and young talent like Devin Harris, Yi Jianlian, and Brook Lopez. Right now, LeBron feels that his Cavs have a legit shot at the title; and looking at how they're playing right now, I tend to believe it.
Totally agree. LeBron's willingly taken on the responsibilities of a leader and role model that the Chuckster always wanted to pass on throughout his career. Chuck is always desperate to be relevant. Now he thinks he's the conscience of the league or something.
Barkley is a role model....he has personality, opinions and has withstood adversity. He's not like the pampered, colorless athletes of Lebron's draft class.
I don't think there's anything wrong with a player professing his love for another city. If New York was LeBron's home town, we'd be totally fine with that. But, really, that shouldn't even matter. He has some infatuation with that city -- maybe it's the culture, or the mystique, or the history, who knows -- and that's his business. The crucial difference here is that LeBron is a megastar, and if he chooses to leave Cleveland he can potentially sink that franchise. Does that mean he has an obligation to stay with the Cavs? Absolutely not. And if there's no obligation, I don't see where this "disrespect" comes into play.
That isn't the point. Nobody is contesting his right to leave. It's a non-issue because that's how free agency works. He owes Cleveland nothing. The problem is LeBron's big mouth, not his ultimate decision. He still has THIS SEASON and NEXT SEASON to play IN CLEVELAND and yapping so much about New York is jerky on his part. It feeds this media frenzy. Wade and Bosh are also very likely to leave and their departure would also sink their current franchises. But they have the class and maturity not to feed the media beast TWO YEARS AHEAD OF TIME every time a microphone is shoved into their faces. LeBron insulted everyone's intelligence when he said the whole Knicks speculation thing was a pure media creation. Baloney! LeBron messed up and I'm not gonna bury him because he I assume he'll shut up. I've defended the guy against people here who've disliked him for no good reason at all. I'm on his side, he remains one of my favorite players but I won't defend him this time.
Actually, the more time there is between now and Summer 2010, the more appropriate it is for him to yap about it. If he's talking about this stuff in the middle of next season, then it starts to be a major distraction for his team. Right now, this thing is so far off that it has no real consequence for his current team. It's just for media consumption.
Disagree. It isn't appropriate now or next season. I'll grant you that if LeBron shuts up, the issue can still die down.
Biggest blown up non-story ever. How insincere would it be if LeBron said that he'd be a Cavalier no matter what? The reason there's unrestricted free agency is to give a player freedom, nobody hates Shaq for going to LA, do they? You guys are acting like LeBron is tanking. He's the MVP of the league right now and the Cavs are getting 100% from him. The reason that you don't hear anything about Bosh or Wade is that nobody really asks them about 2010, the truth is both guys would leave if the money and situation is right and anyone who says otherwise is naive. Loyalty is the lie we believe in. Teams will trade you the minute you turn 30; players have no obligation to the team except to bust their ass every minute they're on the floor. LeBron does that, let's move on.
I disagree with you. Sports is not just a business. There is an element of loyalty in it, whether it is the fans, the team, and the players. Think about it. Why do fans feel betrayed when a team moves to another city? Why do players feel bad when they are traded? Why is there even a negative term called "fair weather fans"? Without the element of loyalty, sports loses a lot of meaning. It becomes just a fantasy game, about wins and losses and numbers, without real human faces. What LeBron did came across that he only cared about himself and not the fans who had been cheering for him. It is true that he has all the right to just care about himself. Heck, everybody has that right. But don't you despise these people when you meet them?
QFT I have a lot less hate for barkley than I used to, but he is in no position to criticize lebron. plus I think he was pretty critical of philly for the talent they surrounded him with before he left
Lebron is an immature guy and a product of his own hype. I was listening to Rome a while back when a Cleveland caller told a story about Lebron being at some charity game and for whatever reason he was in uniform but was reported not to be playing. At one point the crowd started chanting his name so Lebron jumped up and started walking toward the court while removing his warm-ups. The crowd saw this and started to roar. Then, Lebron starts laughing and turns around and went back to the bench and sat down. It was hilarious to him to tease people who want nothing more than to watch him play.
wow, nice evidence of his immaturity being some clone i'll site the way he's handled his millions from the time as a teenager, improved, and has already gotten his team to the finals a living up to his hype and his maturity the haters are immature
I guess I could track down dozens of other witnesses to satisfy your criteria for evidence. Or I could just present the story as I remember hearing it like I just did.
I don't care how many witnesses you track down, lebron james is the best player in the league, he's handled his situation very well for teenager who got a $70MM plus shoe contract before he signed an nba contract i'll put that up against your little story as evidence of his maturity and living up to his hype. this guy lives in a glass house, has been since he was a junior in hs, and you probably can't name five negative stories about him.
But there is no element of loyalty in sports. I mean look at the Rockets; Stro, Bonzi, Cuttino and to a certain extent Francis all took lesser deals to sign with us. But it was apparent that the better basketball decision was to trade/sit/cut them, the Rockets did it without hesistation. If the owners/team/fans care more for the product on the floor/bottom line than loyalties to the players, I think it's fair for players to lookout for themselves. I'll say this, if you supported the T-Mac - Fraincis/Mobley/Cato trade, you have no right to complain about Lebron. If you think it was OK not to give Hakeem his money and let him go to Toronto, you have no right to complain about Lebron. Heck, if you supported the Bonzi Wells trade that ultimately netted us Ron Ron, you have no right to complain about Lebron James. Those are mostly good basketball moves that a team has to make, and they should make them. But it also lacks loyalty.
As annoying as Barkley is there's no need for LeBron to be so disrespectful towards him especially regarding an argument where Barkley is half-right. LeBron isn't necessarily dogging the city of Cleveland by answering these questions regarding 2010. He's merely answering the question EVERYBODY asks no matter where he goes. He could solve this problem by simply saying "Look, i'll discuss 2010 when the time comes. Until then I will not take any questions about it." If he tells the reporters to back off they will. That's where LeBron is in the wrong.
