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LeBron James Spurns Miami for Cleveland
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
July 11, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Rocking the National Basketball Association,
29-year-old all-star Miami Heat forward LeBron James told General Manager Pat
Riley to take a hike, opting out of his $20 million max contract to return to
Ohio where he spent his first seven seasons chasing a NBA championship for the
Cleveland Cavaliers. When James
announced his big decision in a national TV special dubbed “The Decision” June
8, 2010 to joins superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, he broke a lot
of hearts in Cleveland, prompting Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to lash out June 8
in an angry tirade in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “You simply don’t deserve this kind
of cowardly betrayal,” Gilbert told Cleveland fans in his open letter. Revealing his immaturity, Gilbert
carried on. “I personally guarantee that the Cleveland Cavaliers will win a NBA championship before
the self-titled ‘king’ wins one.”
Gilbert, the billionaire owner of Quicken Loans, one of the nation’s
biggest mortgage companies, hopefully learned his lesson in the four years since
LeBron won two NBA titles with the Miami Heat [2012, 2013]. Much of the NBA’s punditry,
including ESPN’s NBA analyst and former Cavaliers beat writer Brian Windhorst,
wouldn’t commit themselves to LeBron leaving Miami before announced today on
LeBron’s own Website. Even after
meeting with Riley Wednesday with LeBron remaining silent, few could believe
that LeBron could say “no” to the ever-persuasive former three-peating coach of
the 16-time-winning NBA championship Los Angeles Lakers. When the reigning NBA champion Miami
Heat were beaten decisively June 16 by the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA free-agent
market went into frenzy, especially the biggest question of all of whether
LeBron would re-sign with Miami.
When Riley delivered his post-finals press conference June 19, it hinted
at what LeBron would eventually do.
After carrying the Heat on his back for the past two years, LebBron didn’t
appreciate Riley’s indelicate public remarks.
Known as a motivational speaker and one the NBA’s most charismatic
executives, Riley violated very principle of persuasion preached in his books
and public speaking. “I think
everybody needs to get a grip,” said Riley, in response to press inquires of
whether or not LeBron would return to Miami.
“This stuff is hard. You
have stay together and find the guts.
You don’t find the [exit] and run out of it,” said Riley, pointing
fingers at LeBron. When you
consider how LeBron put the Miami heat on his back taking them to four
consecutive NBA finals, Riley’s words were so insensitive, so offensive and so
outrageous that it exposed his egregiously selfish side.
Since leaving Cleveland June 8, 2010 and enduring the public flogging by
Gilbert and a good chunk of the national media, LeBron had to get the monkey off
his back about winning NBA championships.
Having been anointed as the NBA’s best player, Miami offered him a way to
finally win championships. Riley’s
clever maneuvers to put a winning team around LeBron paid off but always
followed an asterisk of an artificial group of high-priced free agents. Having played last season with Wade missing 50 games and Bosh barely showing up, James
did most the heavy lifting. Riley’s lecture boomeranged, forcing LeBron to reevaluate his career. With only two or three-years left in
his prime, LeBron realized that life’s too short to win Riley more rings without
fulfilling his goal to bring the NBA’s Holy Grail to Cleveland: A long awaited professional sports
championship.
When LeBron
met with Cavaliers’ billionaire owner Dan Gilbert to mend fences Sunday, July 6,
both sides wanted to get over the past.
Gilbert apologized for his nasty open letter calling LeBron a “coward”
for leaving Cleveland in 2010.
LeBron expressed regret over the way in which “The Decision” offended so many
Cleveland and sports fans around the country.
Returning to Cleveland offers LeBron the opportunity to enjoy playing
basketball again after the four-year grind, where high expectations made winning
a constant pressure. “I am shocked
& disappointed in today’s news,” Heat owner Micky Arison wrote on Twitter. “However I will never forget what LeBron brought us for 4 years. Thanks of the memories,” said
Arison, a far cry from the vitriol and sour grapes once pouring out of Gilbert. LeBron’s decision to give Cleveland
another shot wasn’t only about Pat Riley.
Returning to Cleveland with some unfinished business, James hopes to
fulfill his dream of bringing a NBA title to his adopted home. “I am excited for the fans and
people of Cleveland and Ohio. No
fans and people are deserved a winner more that them,” Gilbert wrote on Twitter,
missing a great opportunity to apologize publicly to LeBron for his past
tirades. “When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission,” said James to Sports Illustrated, explaining
he wanted to rid himself of the NBA championship curse. “I want to give them hope when I
can. Want to inspire them when I
can,” said James, referring to his deep bond to the Ohio community in which he
grew up, winning basketball trophies from elementary school until he won his
first NBA title in Miami n 2012.
Coming back to Cleveland, LeBron showed a rare kind of maturity that helps put
into perspective what’s really important in life.
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