Do Real Kings Ever Switch Cities?

WOW! I thought this whole summer free agent frenzy would be pure hype, ultimately ending with most of the major pieces staying where they were. That was not the case. In efforts of saving time, let me first begin by saying, I agree with pretty much everything that Dan Gilbert has been saying, including the bit about self-promotion, crowning himself "King", and him quitting on the team in the playoffs. I will say though that an owner can't come out and make that kind of statement. Your level of class should be above that of trash-talking your former star. Moreover, I find fault with two other pieces that he mentioned. One, this event shouldn't have been able to motivate him more, as he said in his statement. If there was room for more motivation & effort, and he wasn't doing everything in his power to improve the team, then LeBron was well within his right to leave. Two, he is delusional if he thinks he will bring a championship to Cleveland sans LeBron. He couldn't lure anyone there with one of the best and least selfish guys on the court, how are you going to get anyone there without all of this?

Now listen to how he released the news. "This fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach to play with the Miami Heat." Please understand gentlemen that we are dealing with a big, big, BIG, kid. Being a follower of of College football recruiting, I immediately had thoughts of National signing day in February and kids all across America holding pressers because this is the only thing significant that has positively happened with their families. It was complete with the same corny line of, "I will be taking my talents to...". I'm just surprised he didn't have 3 hats on the table, pretend to pick up the Cavs hat, and then grab the Miami hat (I promise you all that when Mohsin chooses to be the 2nd coming of Maurice Jones Drew and go to UCLA as a 5 star rb recruit, there will be no press conference or hats or whatnot. I digress. The only difference between the two situations is, he is a 25 year old man pulling the same act as 17 year olds! How sad is that?

His next statement that I love: "I gave alot to that organization and taken them places where they have never been before." Where exactly did he take them? What has he accomplished? He has done nothing and he left them with nothing. All that he accomplished were individual awards (MVPs, etc.). I think that he is too self-absorbed to realize that though. He went on to commit the cardinal sin of self-absorbed athletes, speaking in third person. "LeBron's gotta do what is best for LeBron!" M#$%*$F%$%(* , you ARE LeBron!

Okay, let me land this plane. LeBron made his bed, and now must lie in it. Him painting himself as a hometown boy, the whole "Witness" campaign ($5 says that building has been painted over already!), the two year-long speculation, the press conference, the going to Miami to be DWades bitch, etc. LeBron was well within his right to leave. Thats his choice. People do it all of the time. What he did wrong though, was to make a huge spectacle of it. I think we all would have respected him a lot more if he simply ended his time in Cleveland and said he wasn't coming back. Then quietly went about finding a new team. No primetime specials. No recruiting process. No team LeBron holding interviews in basketball shorts and t-shirts with business execs. No pretending that, "this is a hard decision...". No "I woke up this morning and felt that this is the right thing to do." None of this. The only thing that he did accomplish was, he made us all "Witness" the real LeBron. A self-centered little boy who desperately needs to grow up. He's that same kid who preened and posed with his teammates before every game. He's the same guy who refused to shake hands with the Celtics ('08) and Magic ('09) because he "doesn't shake the hands of people who beat" him. He's the same guy who in high school, selfishly took jerseys and lost his eligibility as an amateur (ultimately being reinstated) and let down his teammates. He is the same guy who in High School, after creating the controversy of tooling around in a new Hummer as a high school student with no J-O-B (nor did his mom), decided it would be good form to sit under the basket while his team was warming up for a game being shown on ESPN, and drove around his remote control replica Hummer as an in your face move. He is who we thought he was.