Dan Patrick asked LeBron James on Patrick's radio show if winning a title would make it harder or easier to leave Cleveland.
Said James: "It's hard to answer that question. I think I'm happy in Cleveland. I don't have any plans of going anywhere and playing the game of basketball. These fans have done everything to support me in my career here. I'm excited about being here."
More highlights from the interview are here.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Is he ever going to have it better than he has it here? He's been able to live his life in privacy for the most part and we treat him like a king (no pun intended.) I can't think of anywhere else he could carry on like this.
The national media has brainlock. They are FIXATED on LeBron leaving NE Ohio, unable–for the life of them–to figure out why a great player would want to play for (gasp!) his hometown team.
After Jordan won his first title, did everyone ask: "Does this make it easier for you to now leave Chicago?" After Pierce won his first title last year, did everyone ask: "Does this make it easier for you to leave Boston?" After DWade won with Shaq, did everyone ask: "Does this make it easier for you to leave Miami?" After Robinson and/or Duncan won titles, did the media ask: "Does this make it easier for you to now leave San Antonio?"
WHAT IS THE FIXATION, then, with constantly asking LeBron about leaving Northeast Ohio? It's absurd and insane.
Sean, nobody else other than the "national media" is "fixated?" Every single front-running Cavaliers fan on the planet is fixated. The only difference is the national media guys are the only folks who are willing to say out loud what everybody is thinking.
Bottom line, this guy has absolutely no excuse on the planet not to sign the extension this summer. Zero. If he doesn't sign the extension this summer, then he's all diva chalk-throwing talk.
And actually, Duncan was inevitably posed similar questions about leaving San Antonio. And, of course, the Jordan, Pierce and Wade questions never happened because they are in three prime NBA markets for players, so I don't even know why you would raise such ridiculous comparisons. Cleveland is a prime market only if you happen to be investor in foreclosure properties and/or a buffet salesman, that coach/real GM of the Browns seems to enjoy investing in a few of those.
Oh, also, what in the hell is going on on that show "Lost?" I've never missed an episode of that show, and it never fails to confuse me. They are all over the place in time, and now some dude is impersonating a Locke doppleganger? And what's with this Jacob guy? I hope they're not going to get all existential with the explanation.
Somehow I just *knew* alan t. would chime in with some ridiculous take. Any chance we can find the Lost secret and transport him back in time 30 years? His sports takes might be more relevant there.
What is "ridiculous" with my take, Sean?
"…three prime NBA markets for players." Have ya cruised thru the Windy City, err, crime-infested tenement high-rise slumtown lately? Or would ya rather live with a city full of penniless-n-desperate Cuban refugees in Miami…to the point, it's called "Little Cuba?" I realize the above serial poster doesn't get out much, but why, exactly, can't LeBron and Co. establish their OWN basketball dynasty right here in Cleveland/Akron? Funny how people who live here are just so quick to dismiss the entire area and fuel the ridiculous notion that no one could possibly ever want to live or play here.
Oh, please. Only somebody with patented Northeast Ohio self-esteem issues would be loony enough to compare the cities of Chicago, Miami and Cleveland.
Again, if James does not sign the extension this summer to kick in in 2010-2011, then he's all talk.
Come to think of it, terje should post those Cleveland tourist video links again. I got a chuckle out of those.
if you click on my handle i have them posted there.
sorry jason, chicago is ten times the city that cleveland is and although i hate miami with a passion as long as weak people are scared of a little cold weather it will always trump cleveland.
lucky for cleveland lebron is used to northeast ohio living. i'd be a little surprised if he didn't re-up this summer.
Alan…Here is my LOST prediction for you.
All of the survivors are now trying to change the past with their actions. They will soon realize that they cannot change what has already happened. Sometime in the final season, it will be shown that their lives are in a perpetual loop.
They will leave the island and be drawn back. They will try to do things differently, but it will not matter.
It truly is the most frustrating show of all time.
Alan, you're a moron. If everyone continually focusus on "where will LeBron go when he leaves Cle" its only natural for Cavs fans to be in turn extra sensitive about it.
If LeBron is so set on leaving Cleveland, why on earth did he sign the last extension?
Borgon, he signed his last "extension," if you want to refer to a puny two seasons as technically an "extension," is because there were no other viable options for him at the time. Where was he going to go, Sacramento?
Besides, if you would kindly take a gander at the second terje tourism video link, you'll notice why folks around Cleveland are so "sensitive" about anything and everything, not just James. Actually, that first link is also extremely representative, but the second link actually mentions the name of the guy who's presently throwing a tarp over, in the words of Spinal Tap, a "Hellhole."
And Lost Blog, I don't know what all the biblical references are now all about (they also mentioned Moses in that Jacob/fake Locke scene), but I have a feeling there will be a finale where they all end up back on that plane like that bomb was supposed to cause, but now they're all somehow mentally and physically healed. But what do I know, the show is nuts. (By the way, how in the hell was it possible for not only the bomb failing to explode on impact (as if banging it with a rock is going to make it explode instead), not to mention Juliet surviving a million-mile fall? I mean, I'd die just tripping down the steps in my house.)
IF he wanted to leave Cleveland, he would have played out his original contract and left. Sure, mayble only Sac had cap room at the time but
a) a LOT can happen cap-wise in 1 year, let alone 3. If you dont beleive me see what Detroit, New York, and Portland as three examples of teams whos cap situation changed overnight.
b) if he was so dead set on leaving cleveland he certainly would have realaized the above and NOT have signed the extension.
No, the only think (I believe) matters to LeBron is ability to win, and if cleveland would provide that, he'll re-sign.
That's silly to believe that … no other good market would have had the cap space last summer, and he sure wasn't going to sign with anybody for the midlevel exception. So why not get the huge raise while he can.
And I don't understand that last paragraph, although everybody around Northeast Ohio uses it. That's silly, too. I mean, the only reason LeBron has the ability to winsis because of LeBron.
I also think this current roster is a template for all he needs wherever he goes, or whether he stays. Essentially, a collection of role players who would not get starter's minutes on any other upper-tier team except a team with James on it. Really, they're no more talented than the players before them. But the key with these role players, as opposed to the assemblage of out-of-control knuckleheads Ferry put together from 2005 through 2008, is that the only knuckleheads remaining are Pavlovic, to a much lesser extent Gibson, and Ilgauskas, albeit the latter isn't really a knucklehead. From where I sit, getting mad at Ilgauskas for doing something dumb is like getting mad at something dumb a kid with Down's syndrome occasionally might do. It's really not fair to the kid.
So basically, when Donnie Walsh, and I assume Chris Mullin, are recruiting him next year, they'll likely sell that he'll have a knucklehead-free roster, with talent, totally willing to be submissive to the top dog. I'd also show LeBron videos of the great Knicks teams from 1969 through 1973 and what it's like to win on the world's biggest stage.
If he really wants to take his career and his legacy to the stratosphere, I think he'd be a fool to reject the opportunity. Nothing would prevent him from chartering a plane and visiting Akron whenever he wanted. He's going to win a championship for Cleveland, so only dumb insecure local folks who are offended by those two terje tourism videos would hold it against James.
"That's silly to believe that"
Actually, its silly (and downright idiotic) to believe the opposite. What you're proposing is that rosters remain the same for year and years and years…..which is so far from the truth its laughable.
Fact is, if James truly wanted to leave Cleveland, he would not have re-signed for three years but rather for 1 year and see how the market shakes out.
As far role players, disagree. Ilgauskas is one of the top 10 centers in the leauge, Williams is a 26 year old all start point guard, and West would start on most teams.
What? The Cavs wouldn't agree to that. For that matter, I'm not even sure the CBA would have allowed the kind of money he got from signing the extension by going year to year. Otherwise, every freakin' star in the league would go year to year.
And what are you talking about? The Cavs, as could any team now, could put together a similar team for years and years with James. Role players without knucklehead tendencies. Doesn't matter who, so long as some of them can shoot outside when James is double-teamed, and occasionally drive when necessary. Any team can also sign a former star on the downslope of their career for a one-off. And do the same thing year after year after year. They could do it forever. Or at least until James is so old that he himself becomes a role player.
With James on your team, it's not rocket science. Just get him guys for whom he won't have to give an evil eye. I mean, if I had a nickel for just the times he gave Gooden a dirty look, I'd be able to afford James' house with a gaudy statue of myself instead of a gaudy statue James in front of it.
And please, Ilgauskas is one of the "top 10 centers in the league?" Well, at least you aren't echoing Windhorst with his weekly "top 5 center" silliness. Fact is, most of the centers aren't even centers anymore. Which is why a lumbering soft role player like Ilgauskas is ineffective unless he's on the very type of team he's on right now. He has far too many weaknesses that only now are being covered up. And it only took them, oh, about 10 years to figure out a way to keep him and the rest of the team from being exposed. Better late than never, I suppose.
And West would never get starter's minutes on an elite team. Only because of James, West's glaring weaknesses aren't exposed. He can just be himself. He's neither a shooting/scoring guard nor a point guard. He's a classic seventh, eighth guy on any other very good team. He'd find himself in the exact same predicament he was in in Seattle, which is on the bench pouting.
Oh, and one other thing, since you brought up Williams and described him as an "all star point guard." Not really. Not when the small forward is almost doubling the point guard in assists. On this team he's just another of the many NBA combo guards, albeit Williams is far better than most combo guards. But without James and left to his own devices, he's certainly no all-star.
Which is the beauty of James, he makes everybody better and covers up their individual weaknesses and prevents those weaknesses from ever being exposed. Ilgauskas, at long last, can now finally just be himself instead of being a role player forced to be a major cog in the wheel while he's being paid like he's Dirk freakin' Nowitzki. West can finally just be himself instead of being forced to be a point guard or a shooting guard, like he was forced to be with both Boston and Seattle. On no other team in the league would it even be possible for Williams and West to be in the same backcourt, unless you intend to lose 50 games.
James is great. Point blank. Without James, because of the actual underlying talent of the guys surrounding him, they would never come remotely close to being able to pull off what Boston and Houston are now doing. But together with James, it's a beautiful thing to watch. Although, I do wish they would be more entertaining and run more with a guy who could have beat most of the horse in the Preakness, it's sorta dull the way they all plod along in Mike Brown's plod-a-long offense.