Deal With It

This will hopefully be my last post about the LeBron free agency spectacle. Obviously I was bummed when LeBron said he wasn't going to New Jersey. But to be honest, there was never a time in the past year when I really thought he was coming. sure, I told everyone about it, but it was always a pipe dream. Stars don't come to Jersey. They just don't.

Nets fans get to move on. I doubt any of us are that angry. However, his decision to go to South Beach has resulted in all sorts of emotions in other parts of the country. I don't know what it's like to go 50 years without a title, to have a homegrown phenom play for my team and become the best player in the league, to have all the hope sucked out of my team. I admit that I just don't get it. That could be the reason why I seem to be the only person not in Southern Florida that doesn't think he made a bad decision.

Say what you want about how narcissistic the spectacle was. It was tacky and reeked of ego. No one can argue that. In my opinion, going to Miami was a perfectly acceptable move by LeBron. staying in Cleveland was the choice most NBA fans preferred, but that decision would have been solely about emotion. He would have stayed because he was comfortable there, because he felt that he the chosen one to bring Cleveland a title. it would have been about loyalty. As I mentioned in a previous post, there is no such thing as loyalty in sports. It doesn't exist among owners, coaches or players - the only loyal people in sports are fans.

LeBron staying in Cleveland was death sentence for his title hopes. In the past years, GM Danny Ferry did an absolute terrible job of acquiring talent. I'm sorry but Mo Williams, Shaq and Antawn Jamison just aren't good enough. Fans and media are ripping on LeBron because he has never won a title. I saw a stat on the bottom line the other day stating that he was the third person to have won two MVP's without an NBA Title. The other two are Steve Nash and Karl Malone. Neither was 25 at the time of their MVP's. People expect a title from LeBron, but no one can win it by himself. Jordan had Pippen. Jamison and Williams can't even sniff Pippen's jockstrap. LeBron left Cleveland to win a title - I know that Ferry is gone, but facts are facts - nothing has been done in his 7 years to put together a title contender. Somehow he is getting killed in the media because he went to a place that could bring him a title.

There were other choices. Chicago, New York, New Jersey, LA. Chicago seemed to be the best fit. Combined with the other pieces - Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng - LeBron would have won a ton of titles. I mean, that team would have been NASTY. New York and New Jersey were fighting each other and I don't think ever had a shot. They could offer LeBron a ton of publicity and would have allowed him to expand his global brand. But neither team is any good and winning a title would have taken a few years. The Clippers, well, why would he want to play for Donald Sterling.

In the end, he decided to go play with in Miami his close friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. All are in their mid-20's. How can any guy pass that up? Seriously. You're rich and famous - what better place in this country to go to than Miami?

Aside from that, he is leaving a lot of money on the table and he is putting himself in a good position to win. It may not be the best - they still have to go through Boston, Orlando and Chicago in the East - but it is good. So why is he getting killed by the average fan? I can understand that Cleveland is mad, but why everyone else?

LeBron's decision was obviously going to be an emotional one - too many teams wanted to get him. Too many fan bases were convinced he was coming to their team. It was destined to be a letdown for someone. But when you take a step back, forget the ego trip lead up and get rid of any emotion, it was a sound business decision. Deal with it.