Sucker

I'm gonna start this rant by saying I don't blame Lebron James for one thing, and one thing only. If I were a star athlete buried in a city like Cleveland, there is no way I'm staying there once my contract is up. He signed a short-term deal with them to try and bring them a championship, but he knew full-well that he was bolting town once he inevitably failed to do so. Over the years, the Cavs have tried everything to give this guy what he "needed" to bring the city the title it had long waited for. They had Ilgauskus when he showed up, they traded for Shaq, Mo Williams had an All-Star year, and then they went out and brought in Antawn Jamison. In his seven-year tenure with his hometown team, James only reached the NBA Finals one time! For those of you not keeping track...Wade won one, and Kobe went to four and won two. Oh, and that one time Lebron made it to the show...he got swept by Tim Duncan and the Spurs. During the last seven years, it has been obvious that James has cared more about his "brand" than winning.

Now, like I said, I don't blame him for leaving Cleveland. But, signing on with two other superstars in South Beach is the most laughable part of all this. To me, it never really was a debate. Kobe has and will always be the best player of this generation. I'm not really a big NBA guy, in fact, I despise the league, but it's been my firm belief that a guy with two rings during a given period will always trump a guy without any. A lot of people thought Kobe needed Shaq to win on the big stage...he thwarted that argument fairly quickly. Where Bryant was able to do it himself, James could never elevate his game to win it "by himself," despite the fact that he was "the best player in the world." Watching Celtics playoff basketball was never about watching the Green win, because I don't care. For me, it was all about watching them knock Lebron out of the Playoffs. Especially this year. Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert said it right, Lebron quit. He knew the Celts were a hard matchup, so he fabricated an injured elbow and used that as an excuse to take a Sunday-stroll through the series...bravo Lebrick!

But lets get back to the current situation. Had he ditched the Cavs for a team like Chicago, it would have been fine. He would have done what any other "real" superstar would have...go head to head with your enemy! Instead, he chose the easy rode and said to himself..."Well, I guess I can't be Dwayne and Chris when they're together, I guess I'll just join them and hope they can get me a ring!" Can you imagine if Magic, Bird, Jordan, or Kobe did the same? You can't? Me neither, because those guys are competitors. Instead of trying to cement his legend as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Lebron was more concerned with the Lebron James brand. He would rather have all the spotlight put on him in Miami, where me might be fortunate enough to ride D-Wade to a title, instead of being the lone-stud in Chicago, New York, or even Cleveland in an effort to vault himself into the category of all-time greats. He has said time and time again that he is all about winning, and that it was the reason he chose South Beach. But don't be fooled, his decision was made from a marketing stand-point...anything to be the most recognizable face on the planet. Oh, and Lebron...Kobe already dominates the world market in terms of fanfare. Why? Because he wins, and he wins by himself! That is something you'll never be able to do.

Now, the most questioned aspect of this whole ordeal is how 3 "stud" players who all love to score are going to distribute the basketball. The NBA has been and always will be a league where one player can drastically change the face of a game. More than any other sport, it promotes the play of superstars. A team can win with a single player taking control of a game. For Lebron, it was much like that during his tenure in Cleveland...it's just too bad he isn't Kobe-good or else he might already have a ring. But now you've got three of those guys on one team. Two things that all of those types of players have in common is that they are selfish and they're cocky. It will be a matter of time until James or Wade starts getting uncomfortable when the other gets to take the last second shot. It'll only be a matter of time before Chris Bosh gets sick of going under-noticed in Miami when he could have been the "IT" player in another city. It will only be a matter of time before the ego's of all 3 get in the way of winning. So, for the Heat, I hope you enjoy it. For Bosh and James, I hope both of you regret your decision come this time next year.

Lets get back to this whole marketing ploy for a second. Lebron just couldn't bear to be like everybody else. Instead of us reading that he signed with the Heat on the bottom-ticker of any sports channel, Lebron had to take it to new heights. He couldn't just break the heart of every person in that horrible city in Ohio (which he still laughably calls "home") in a normal way. Instead, he had to call a one-hour "The Decision" special so that he could make a mockery of all the fans that had given him everything over the last seven years. And as much as I understand the marketing aspect for ESPN...they should be embarrassed for the whole ordeal. Yea, I know they wanna boost their ratings, it's their job. But to promote James' selfish and self-promoting behavior is something I thought even ESPN was above...guess not. The worst part about the whole thing was that ESPN was fake-reporting for weeks. Just to get those viewers for their Thursday-night Primetime Special, they just kept churning out new headlines saying Lebron was going here, or Lebron was going there! If there was one humane-feeling person with any sense of a brain at ESPN these days (aside from John Buccigross and Barry Melrose) it has to be Michael Wilbon. You could tell that during the whole special, he was just sitting in his chair thinking to himself how stupid the situation was and how childish James' behavior had become. Wilbon, you're still not a very sports-reporter, but it's nice to see you have a brain.

Then, to add to the whole joke, the Heat held a "party" for their 3-headed "monster." Smooth move, Miami. Lets have three grown men elevate onto the stage with their backs to the crowd with music blaring and smoke and neon lights! What the fuck is this? A fucking Lady Gaga concert? For that ordeal, the Heat should be embarrassed. You would think that their strategy to bring in those three players to play on the same team would be enough to garner plenty of fan support and attention. Nope. Instead, they had to go overboard with theatrics like the NBA usually does.

The only person in the whole situation who has gotten my respect is Dan Gilbert. Owning an NBA franchise generally leads to me disrespecting that person (save for Mark Cuban), but Dan Gilbert was spot-on with his comments. Lebron ditched the city, ditched the team. Instead of thanking the fans for their support, he took the low road and went with the simple: "They'll have mixed feelings in Cleveland. Some will appreciate me for all that I have given the city, and some won't because they'll feel I have turned my back on them." News flash you fucking dipshit: YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR THAT CITY! You play basketball for a fucking living! People pay HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS, sometimes THOUSANDS, to come watch your whole fucking charade! All for what? A couple early playoff exits? You giving up on your team against the Celtics? Yea, you gave them a ton, didn't you? It's amazing how self-promoting the NBA and it's players are. It's actually laughable. Dan Gilbert knows that Lebron sold-out. He knows that Lebron only cares about himself, and he isn't afraid to expose it. One of the best parts of this is that Fathead (owned by Gilbert) reduced the cost of Lebron James "wall-art" from $99 to $17.41 (the year Benedict Arnold was born). James is the modern-day Benedict Arnold! Instead of trying to beat his rival, he joined them. Not that it's going to happen, but I wish Gilbert and the Cavs all the luck in the world in trying to uphold their owner's guarantee of a championship before the Heat.

There are no winners that come from the 2010 NBA Free Agent class. The Cavs are the obvious losers. The Heat should be embarrassed for the after-party. Lebron will never be in the class of "all-time greats." Bosh will never again be a front man, he'll just be the bass player. Dan Gilbert, even though he's right, will now be looked at as a "sore-loser." The Knicks, Nets, and Bulls all scrambled to clear the cap space necessary for Lebron, and they all came up short. ESPN will now have the tarnished rep for allowing Lebron's diva-campaign to continue. And, most importantly, the NBA is diminished. Where other sports celebrate "home-cookin'" and loyalty (Ok, not Curtis Martin or Johnny Damon, but you get the point), the NBA promotes slash-and-burn. More importantly, the whole cap-situation in the NBA, with "max contracts" and "mid-level exceptions" and "soft-caps" is an absolute joke. Cool, you've got a $50 million dollar cap. Well, the Lakers just won a championship with a payroll of $91 million. They beat the Celtics, who had an $83 million payroll. Good job NBA, way to be a capped-league with teams operating at $30 million over the "cap."

The biggest question I have for basketball fans: How can you possibly take the NBA seriously?