My first inclination when LeBron James said he wouldn't talk anymore about free agency was to think, good for him, he shouldn't. Especially if he meant what he said about not doing so for his team.
But then you get to thinking, and you realize that James has done nothing but talk about his impending free agency for some time. He talks about it in New York, he has conversations with Dwayne Wade about it, he talks about it in Cleveland … and he has Cavs fans wondering what will happen.
It's a little disingenuous to think it's not worth asking about, no? This is going to be the greatest glut of free agent talent in NBA history. Players could almost collude to make one team into a title team, be it in Cleveland or Miami (I don't think James and Wade would join Chris Bosh in Toronto) or elsewhere. James was asked at the team's media day how he would not let this be a distraction, and he basically said, "I just won't." Wednesday night he grew weary of questions about Wade and him and said "No mas."
Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski really took James to task.
"This has been a game to James, an exercise in self-love that finally transformed into sheer loathe at Amway Arena," he wrote. "'He can’t feed the monster, and then get pissed when the monster wants more,' a Western Conference executive said Wednesday night."
There are some pretty good points in this column, including: "Around the league, rival executives, coaches and players have considered James’ willingness to enthusiastically play out his free-agency scenarios in public as disrespectful, if not a distraction, to his Cavaliers. Around the Cavs, they mostly considered it the price of doing business with the game’s greatest young star."
And: "James’ balancing act between his coy and downright overt suggestions on a future elsewhere has been both a public and private embarrassment to the organization. But the Cavs never dared to tell James to stop with the 2010 talk. They don’t tell him anything."
Three thoughts about James:
—If he says he won't talk about it anymore, he won't talk about it. He'll be asked, for sure, and how he reacts will be interesting.
—It is understandable he'd grow weary of the questions. They come often and everywhere. But perhaps the best time to make this stance was prior to the season. Just my opinion.
—James is going to do what he wants to do. I've kind of learned that all the guessing and speculation with him is nothing more than guessing and speculation. He's going to analyze the situation, make the decision is best for him and that will be that. In the offseason, I wrote a lot about James giving up money if he didn’t re-up with the Cavs, and that the cap might get lower … now I imagine him hearing those things and laughing. It doesn't mean squadoosh to him. He's going to do what he wants to do.
LeBron has played the media, the league, and the fans, for a long time now. He has openly said that he and his friends get a kick out of all of the doublespeak, the uncertainty, and the cryptic statements that James gives off in an interview.
I, for one, don't listen to a word he says about anything, as he can't be trusted. And personally, I think it is hilarious that he does this. Look at Wojnarowski's reaction: he is just pissed that he is/has been getting played like a PS3, and so he is crying about it on his national pulpit. That is EXACTLY what LeBron is going for.
He plays basketball, for buddha's sake. He isn't in the UN, or NATO, or running a country. We talkin' 'bout basketball.
breaking news: the earth is round! the sky is blue! lebron's a narcissist!
I have a feeling he's realized what many have, and the media (for the most part) haven't: there isn't going to be a lot of money out there to be played with and isn't the labor agreement coming up for discussion.
I'm sure it gets old – it has been for me for the last three seasons – and maybe he would like to concentrate on his team.
and just think, even if he signs here, he'll put everyone through it again at the end of that contract.
I'm sure it would get old talking to the local media as well. Some of them seem to lack an ounce of creativity, and tend to harp on the same topic day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day.
BOTTOM LINE: LeBron is completely disrespecting the Cavs ownership, his teammates and loyal NE Ohio fans who've supported him since his HS days. This area is "down on itself" enough without having to worry—for YEARS now, mind you—whether their basketball star is gonna skip town like every other loser athlete who professes their "love" for Cleveland, but can't wait to sniff some other city when the chance comes. They all make me sick to my stomach. It's time we stop the adulation of these egotistical teases. We simply enable them. They obviously don't give a crap about us, LeBron specifically, or he'd put our minds at ease and say without question: THIS IS MY TEAM, MY TOWN, AND I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE. PLEASE STOP ASKING. THE ANSWER ISN'T CHANGING.
Would that really be so hard? Or is a little class and respect too much to ask from the King?
So he owes you just because he was born here?
HE IS GONE!
HE IS GONE! Mark "our' words….we know in our hearts that he is finished after 2009/10. Jay Z and his glitzy buds with all that glamor which allures such young people more than loyalty has already persuaded him. Look his hope was/is to bring a championship to his "hometown' before bolting and believe me he really is going to give it all he has to do so , so that he can walk away with a clear mind. We are N.E. Ohio, as much a I wish to believe it true he'll stay, I know it not as this is after all Ohio. He will leave and go to say N.J. or N.Y. , they will not only obtain he but a Chris Bosh and win it all the next year, this is just how it goes round here. What is disturbing most of all is he grew up here and what greater an honor to play for you hometown, not only that yet having a very nice young and talented surrounding cast that will contend years to come-so long he stays not to mention an owner willing to give up his left arm for this team he bought, an up and coming star of a GM in Danny Ferry, and a good, not great coach, yet still winning a ton of games, with more playoff wins that any other Cavs coach in history..also said but true, LeBron-turn-coat leaves, we too say goodbye to our beloved Joe Tait..as he will call it a day, knowing futility reins again in Cleveland basketball sports. I am tired and need to do as LeBron, go root for any other team other than my hometown teams as they are certain to disappoint here to my funeral. Good luck "Goldy Bron" – enjoy your reception the 1st time you step on your "hometown" court next year and that white powder you splash in the air will be no more than gray ashes of dust from a fire burnt out…don't let the Arena door hit ya in the a*# on your way out.
Wojnarowski hit the nail on the head (except the part about lebron respecting an organization that would stand up to him, yeah right). LBJ's refusal to talk about free-agency came off as totally disingenuous. Sorry LBJ, that you only got to play in MSG one time this year, otherwise I'm sure you would have had your fun talking about how exciting it was going to be for new yorkers to wake up in july 2010 (while simultaneously claiming, "I've never said a bad thing about Cleveland," of course).
Here I am collecting 15 cents an hour in very generous unemployment benefits, I have nothing to do but collect what pitiful little thoughts I have. I wrote the exact same thing as written here and on yahoo.com a full day before. And yet some Polish guy and Irish guy get a paycheck, but the poor atheist Jew who thought of it and wrote it first doesn't even get the penny Mangini got when he gave away Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards.
I tell ya, life ain't fair. Where's Bernie, I need a drink.
Alan .. that's a very accurate comment … and perhaps one of your funniest. Well done!
Further proof that LBJ is staying in Cleveland. He said he will change his jersey number to #6 next year. If he switches teams, that would guarantee millions of new jerseys sold by itself. Changing his number means new sales even if he stays in C-Town.
Actually, Brian D., it's absolutely brilliant marketing at its finest. The same superhero, but his people think it would market itself better with a new number. Like Jordan with the Wizards, to distance himself from the Jordan with the Bulls. Announcing it ahead of time just gives a kickstart on the marketing.
Phase II of James' career elsewhere begins with a new number, and he announces it ahead of time under the public image guise of honoring a great player.
And you bought it all hook, line and sinker. Which was exactly the point.
I'm not sure who's a bigger d*ck. Michael Jordan punctuating nearly 25 years of d*ckness in all its d*ckness glory with that reprehensible Hall of Fame induction speech, or LeBron James.
Not sure what you are talking about Alan. Neither Jordan nor LBJ ever played for the Oregon Ducks.
What in the world does the choice of 25 different colored uniforms on the same team have to do with the totally bogus pretext of James' pre-escape nonsense?
His people are brilliant, and I mean that. First we get the amazingly coincidental timing of the "I'm not going to talk about the free agency thing anymore," and then immediately thereafter, we get this. Wow, what coincidental timing! Lighting strikes in the same place twice! The only other time I've seen anything like that is on You Tube and The Weather Channel!
You mean D*cks doesn't stand for Ducks?
It could stand for Docks, which is short for Dockers, Ferry's choice of brand for comfortable footwear. Or it could stand for Decks, which Mike Brown will be thrown off after he is fired as the scapegoat if they don't win the title this season. Or it could stand for Dacks, which in Australia is the Aussies' equivalent name for trousers. But no, I did not mean D*cks could stand for Ducks.