Courtesy: ESPN
For the life of me I just can’t understand why ANYONE with an inkling of sports knowledge, would think that Lebron James could ever want to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is a guy whose only goal on the basketball court is to win, win, win!
He’s made that abundantly clear with his choices over the last 3 and a half seasons. He left a desolate and stagnant team where he could’ve easily been selfish and chase individual accolades. After guiding the Cavs to countless trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one NBA Finals appearance, he realized that one superstar has NEVER won a championship on his own. Not one throughout the history of the league has hoisted that Larry O’Brien trophy without the help of another star teammate.
Barkley tried and failed in Philly. Dominique Wilkins scored tons in Atlanta but walked away ring less. Tracy McGrady put up mind boggling numbers in Orlando and Houston, only to leave the NBA empty handed. I watched an interview with Charles Barkley where he was saying how it would be a perfect ending to Lebron’s career if he were to retire as a Cavalier. That’s preposterous!
The perfect ending to King James’ career would be with him leaving the game with at least 5 championships, to add to his 11 plus all star appearances, his multiple Olympic gold medals, his 4 plus league MVP awards, and his countless highlight plays. Why would he return to an organization that has no direction and obviously no knowledge of how to evaluate and acquire talent?
Just look at their 3 previous drafts. With the exception of the magnificent Kyrie Irving, they have received a big fat F! Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett? Really? On the other end of the spectrum, the Miami Heat have done a marvelous job of putting complementary pieces around the “Big Three”. Ray Allen, Norris Cole, Chris Andersen, Shane Battier, James Jones, Rashard Lewis, Mike Miller, even Greg Oden.
That’s the organization a superstar would want to belong to. A franchise that knows what it takes year in and year out to be successful during the post season. An organization that doesn’t fire a head coach on the heels of winning 57 plus games in 4 consecutive seasons, including a Finals appearance. An organization that hires that same coach back a season removed from being fired after only 5 games into the season.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
Mike Brown apparently wasn’t the right man for the job when he was winning over 70 percent of his games, but when he was stinking it up out in Los Angeles, these geniuses in Cleveland felt he was the right man to lead a talent deprived, Lebron James-less squad. Although no one player should ever be placed ahead of the team, Lebron James gave the Cavaliers stability and credibility. Tell me when was the last time you watched a Cavs game and saw Jay-Z, Beyoncé, or Nelly at their game?
James accomplished that without another superstar teammate to assist him. He was the face of the franchise and he led them admirably. His job wasn’t to add stability to the franchise, that’s the organization’s job. They’re suppose to give their resident superstar a foundation he can build on. You can’t have a single superstar and expect him to exhaust all of his efforts every season and in return, he constantly hears about changes instead of seeing them.
As great as MVP Kevin Durant is, the Thunder organization tries to upgrade that roster every season. When they traded James Harden, they made sure the pieces that came back could help their franchise in the near future. The Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert was so clueless, even his great GM Danny Ferry left the team and opted to take the same job with the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks.
Fast forward just 3 seasons after he and Lebron escaped Cleveland, Ferry’s Hawks were back in the post season with a new roster, and pushed top seeded Indiana to an exciting game 7. Meanwhile the Cavaliers haven’t tasted the playoffs, let alone recorded a winning season. So refer back to my opening line, why would Lebron want to return to an atrocity like the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise?
Besides new Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, there’s nothing “Hot In Cleveland.”
