LeBron James turns heel

Posted by Jaemark Tordecilla on July 9, 2010 at 12:25 | Comments (15)

Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh will all be playing for the NWO, este, the Miami Heat

There’s a new world order in the NBA today after LeBron James announced that he’s joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. If you’re on Twitter you’ve probably seen the letter from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert – written in Comic Sans, no less – ripping James a new one. The letter is way, way over the top, but apart from expressing Gilbert’s anger, it was calculated to appeal to spurned Cavs fan to still care about the team.

Everyone’s getting their shots in – Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski still has nosebleed from the high horse he rode on for his column yesterday before the LeBron decision – but I really enjoyed the take of Will Leitch at NYMag.com: “Fans of teams in the LeBron Derby were disappointed — though no one as much as Cavs fans — but mostly they were flabbergasted by the tone-deafness of the whole enterprise.”

So now that we’re all going to hate LeBron and the Heat, do we all go on the Kevin Durant bandwagon? He’s kind of the new superstar du jour, even though it’ll be weird rooting for Oklahoma City after the whole Seattle debacle. For the true hater, rooting for Kobe is, of course, out of the question.

UPDATE: The excellent Joe Posnanski sums everything up perfectly at SI:

I can understand the draw to Miami, beyond the sun and beach. Dwayne Wade, when healthy, is in the conversation as the third-best player in the NBA behind LeBron and Kobe. Chris Bosh is — well, I’m not entirely sure why he suddenly gets talked about like he’s an all-time NBA great or in the Wade/LeBron league (he’s not), but he’s obviously talented and was a very good scorer and rebounder as the No. 1 option in Toronto. I think there are some major questions about the team and how those three will play together, but it’s obviously very promising and I understand and appreciate why LeBron James would put his chips down in Miami.

...

But, his apparent lack of feeling for his old city … that I don’t understand. He just seemed utterly unfeeling about it all from the start. He mouthed a few words of thanks to the City of Cleveland, which he said with all the emotion that baseball announcers use when reading airport parking advertisements. When asked how he thought Cleveland would react to him, he mostly shrugged and said his friends would stick with him. He simply did not seem aware that he had broken the heart of a city that always feels just one heartbreak away from collapse.

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Tags: Basketball, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, National Basketball Association

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#1 The Legendary Skyflakes25 on 2010-07-09 14:30 (Reply)

There are several factors that led to his transfer.

1. Danny Ferry traded for Shaq a little too late.

2. He was not surrounded with reliable teammates for the most part of his stay in Cleveland.

3. He did not have a very good coach in Brown.

4. His camaraderie with Bosh and Wade during their Olympics stint was a strong factor.

Fans of other teams really are flabbergasted. Can't fault them. The chances of their team to win the Larry O'Brien trophy next season, or in the years to come, are threatened.

As it has been for the last 3 decades, championships are won by a triple threat combo. We saw GOAT, Pip and Grant; GOAT, Pip and Rodman; MJ, KAJ and Worthy; Bird, Mchale, Parish; Malone, Bird, Cheeks; Isiah, Dumars, Laimbeer; Wade, Shaq, Zo; Shaq, Kobe, Rice/Grant/Horry; Admiral, TD, AJ; TD, TP, Manu; KG, PP, Allen; Kobe, Pau, Odom; and the list goes on and on.

One superstar alone cannot do it.

LBJ just went to where it is best for him.

#2 Rodolfo Obniala on 2010-07-09 15:11 (Reply)

Good observations, skyflakes25. But most of the trios you've mentioned either started from duo's or have played a few seasons together, and have played in post-seasons for quite some time. Only the KG-Ray-Pierce managed to win the title overnight.

#2.1 The Legendary Skyflakes25 on 2010-07-09 15:29 (Reply)

Nakalimutan mo na yung 1996 Bulls team? lol
kalilipat lang ni Rodman nun ah.

#3 Rodolfo Obniala on 2010-07-09 15:39 (Reply)

yes, but as I've said, most of the trios were once duos. Pippen and Jordan have been teammates since 1987.

#4 Rodolfo Obniala on 2010-07-09 15:45 (Reply)

But I'm not saying this Miami big three won't win the championship in its first year. It just won't be that easy. They still have to get a good quarterback because Wade is more of a two, LeBron is two or three, Bosh is four or five. PG na lang talaga ang kulang and they're good to go.

#5 Tiger on 2010-07-09 16:23 (Reply)

They still need a good PG and a good rebounding center if they want to win it all (BTW, good PGs and centers are traditionally the hardest slots to fill in any basketball league).

I don't think the Heat will be able to find players to fill both positions, not with the money that's left. Everyone's looking to a possible lock-out in 2011 and they all want to get as big a payday as possible before the strike happens. So the Heat need to offer up most, if not all of their mid-level exception. So maybe they'll be able to fill in the PG or center slot but not both. And these will be mid-level guys, mostly has-beens and never-weres, not exactly all-stars.

And no, their trading Michael Beasley won't help them out. They did that so that they could pay their new big three a bit more money. Ang masaklap pa niyan is there's talk that the new CBA with the NBA will take out the mid-level exception. So that's one less tool for Pat Riley to use now that he's trying to build a new championship squad.

Anyway, the whole deal made me think less of Bron. I mean doesn't everyone think that his moving to Miami, which already has Wade and is about to get Bosh, is such a cop-out? Lebron's basically saying that he can't win a championship as the alpha-dog, pang supporting player lang siya. The Pippen to Wade's Jordan. You never saw any of the all-time greats do this. Jordan didn't walk away from the Bulls, Magic from the Lakers, Bird from the Celtics. You know Kobe wouldn't have done this crap, especially not via a one-hour TV special. Wala, for me, LeBron is now a LeJoke.

#5.1 jaemark on 2010-07-09 16:36 (Reply)

JoePo had a better comparison: he'll be the A-Rod to Wade's Derek Jeter. It'll always be Wade's town.

#5.1.1 The Legendary Skyflakes25 on 2010-07-10 09:21 (Reply)

Wade Country naman. lol

#6 jquiz on 2010-07-09 22:31 (Reply)

@ Tiger:
They traded Beasley to get more cap space to acquire Mike Miller (announced earlier today)

And no, the MLE is here to stay even with a new CBA. Miami CAN NOT use their MLE because they are under the cap--- and teams under the cap CAN NOT use their exemptions like the MLE or the LLE.

On assumption that the Miami trio gets around 16-17M each (That's ~50M) Miami has still around 8M to work with (that's before the Miller contract which is reportedly at 6M per year.)

To wit, here's the Miami line-up for you:

PG - Mario Chalmers (~1M)
SG - Wade (17M)
SF - Lebron (17M)/Miller (6M)
PF - Bosh (17M)
C - Joel Anthony (~1-2M)

That's roughly 59M.

Now that they are over the cap they can only get vet/minimum guys to fill out the roster (~1-2M each)

And if you care to look at the FA list, there are quite a number of vet FA's that will probably want a championship ring as well. (Also they had a 2nd round pick this year which they can sign)

i've said enough but my point is this: They could sign Jimmy Alapag as point guard and Rob Reyes as center and they can still challenge for an NBA championship.

#6.1 GB3934 on 2010-07-10 11:13 (Reply)

You know they can always go over the cap, the Lakers have what..$90MM in total salary and had to pay $21MM in luxury taxes? I'm sure they are still in the black though.

#6.2 Tiger Gimenez on 2010-07-10 16:49 (Reply)

What you said does make sense, but I still think Miami will come up short against LA in the finals (and no, I dont like LA, Im a Rockets fan actually). If they even reach the finals. Whatever bench they manage to scrape together I doubt if it will be enough to win a ring, or even win the East. Plus I dont consider Bosh to be a superstar. He has gaudy numbers but that's because he's the top banana on a bad team.

But then again maybe I'm just too pissed at how LeBron stabbed Cleveland in the back kaya ayaw ko lang siyang manalo ng championship.

#7 commentor on 2010-07-10 05:17 (Reply)

Adrian Wojnarowski's article reminded me of that FRIENDS episode where joey used the thesaurus for every word on his letter.

ANYWAY, I think Iverson, Reddick, MIller, and Shaq will complement the big three well. Iverson can still be a decent starter and will have a fantastic time passing the ball to the big 3. reddick and miller can shoot. and shaq is probably the best back-up out there. Aside from Reddick, I think they will all play for the Minimum.

#8 entity on 2010-07-10 06:20 (Reply)

Well, all i can about this is.. Lebron is a... Beach... :-D

#9 commentor on 2010-07-10 08:47 (Reply)

oops, Will Leitch's article, not Wojnarowski's.. mali ng basa hehe

#10 deerman on 2010-07-11 00:44 (Reply)

http://deermanrocks.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-big-three-in-miami-curse-of-lebron.html