*FAN SUBMISSION by Jonathan Bannon of Utah.*
Courtesy: CBS Sports
Stop Hating LeBron for Making Business Decisions…Because it’s just stupid to stay with a bad team.
When LeBron James first entered the NBA in 2003, there seemed to be little to no animosity for the future Hall of Famer. He was an exciting player practically playing for his hometown fresh out of high school. The media had been hyping LeBron up for years, and he was basically living up to it. For the first few years, LeBron was carrying a team into the playoffs that had no business being there.
Sorry to all the fans of Ilgauskas and Delante West, but those Cleveland Cavalier teams that LeBron was carrying were loaded with role players who were thrust into major roles. These dynamics left LeBron with the burden of winning playoff series virtually on his own. Now I know that no one man can win games on his own, but LeBron’s time in Cleveland was about as close as you can get.
Even with previous champions like Ben Wallace and Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James couldn’t win those championships that the NBA world was waiting for. In his last few years with the Cavs, LeBron saw the Boston Celtics claim the East as their own. A team of All-Stars came together in Boston and had success. I don’t know LeBron at all, but I assume once he saw the Celtics change the game; he was determined that he would not be left behind. As much as he may have wanted to stay and fight it out in Cleveland, he saw that another freak-athlete, Dwight Howard, couldn’t do it on his own in Orlando. LeBron saw that the Cavs were making moves to try and help him, but they weren’t good enough.
LeBron decided that a change might need to be made. I don’t know when he decided. I’m just saying that these circumstances probably didn’t go unnoticed. So when LeBron got the chance to team up with two of the best in the game in Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, he took it. Like any intelligent person trying to excel in their field. We don’t criticize doctors for leaving smaller hospitals to join the Mayo Clinic.
There are a number of variables involved when one is faced with a make-or-break career decision, and LeBron had to deal with all those decisions with cameras in his face and the world watching his every step. Yes, “The Decision” on ESPN didn’t help his case, but it’s not like nobody would have cared otherwise. Just listen to sports radio right now. LeBron hasn’t said a word about his status as a free agent, and that’s all anyone can talk about! I have no experience with this, but when you are LeBron James, you have to face the fact that everything you do will be examined and analyzed by people who know next to nothing about you (like me).
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
So LeBron took his talents to South Beach, and became a villain or something. (Btw, how can you be mocked for choosing Miami over Cleveland? Go to South Beach in January and you may wish someone were offering you a job there too). Now after having gone to four straight Finals and winning two championships, he is checking out his options. He would be stupid not to. I don’t go to the cereal aisle and just pick up Corn Flakes without checking to see if there’s a sale on Coco Puffs. That would be silly and irresponsible.
This 2014 Heat team was old and beat up. LeBron had the option to cut ties from his contract and see what options were available to him in his field of expertise. LeBron wants to play with good players, a good coach, and a good location for his family, etc. Don’t condemn the man for doing what is best for him and his family. Now that teams are making moves and talking with his agent, LeBron can make some decisions on his future in the NBA.
This isn’t the first time someone’s done it. Yes, MJ, Magic, Bird, Kobe, and many others just played for one team. Tim Duncan played for one team. Duncan is the quintessential good guy in the NBA, but if he’s such a good person, why did he almost leave for Orlando to pair up with Grant Hill under Doc Rivers? Because Tim Duncan is smart. He saw an opportunity and investigated it thoroughly. He eventually stuck with the Spurs, and continued his boring dominance. The situation is very similar, but the best option was to stick with his current team.
He wants to win, and he wants fair compensation. Don’t you want fair compensation? Or would you rather take a pay cut so the company you work for can hire other people? We’re all in glass houses here staring at LeBron. I know that he makes more from Nike than I will in my whole life, but that’s not the argument in this article. There are too many variables to even discuss completely, but if his goal is to win more championships, shouldn’t he go somewhere that can give him the best opportunity to do that? We also hear that he wants a max contract, and as the best player in the league (please don’t waste time arguing this), I would say he’s entitled to it. He has to find the best possible combination of teams that can provide a quality group of players, pay him what he’s worth in the league, and solutions to any personal concerns he may have for him and his family.
Like Tim Duncan, many people think LeBron’s best option is to stick with the team he’s seen so much success with. However, we aren’t in all the private meetings. We don’t know what LeBron and his agent know. We don’t trash teachers if they move on to a better school. We don’t complain about loyalty when a doctor takes a better position at a better hospital with better benefits. Yet, we ran LeBron through the mud last time he made a decision, and so many are ready to do it again.
When it’s all said and done, LeBron will choose and you can be bitter, but you’ll be wrong because the man chose what was best for him. The NBA is a business, and LeBron has to make big-boy business decisions. If LeBron James thinks that moving back to Cleveland gives him the best overall chance to succeed in his profession, who are we to object? We have all been witnesses for years of greatness now, and for some reason the witnesses are putting the King on trial.
