Sons just heard the message from Cavs owner Dan Gilbert...HE WENT OFF

[midnightpulp]

Yes. There is no other way.

If you're going to quote me, quote the whole post.

I ask again, how is James supposed to do anything remarkable with the teams he's had from the day was drafted to 2008?

How can you really take James to task for being a failure when he's had exactly two teams anywhere near worthy of contention.

[Zelophehad]

Whats strange is Cleveland fans acting like Lebron owes them a goddamn thing. He's the only reason their ty city hasn't been annexed from the United States and turned into a nuclear waste dump. People cared more about Haiti before the earthquake than Cleveland.

This post cracked me up.

[v2freak]

i worked with a guy years ago... he marches in to the presidents office and asks to talk about his future. He was a good worker, smart, and always got his job dpne. He was upset about others making more and doing less. He says, you need to pay me what you are paying them. I could get a lot more done and i could step it up even more and really show you what I am worth.

The boss wrote some things down and then handed him an envelope and directed him to payroll. The guy struts his way to payroll and hands the docs over to the clerk. After 20 mins or so the clerk comes back and asks for the guys work badge. He hands it over thinking my new le will look good. Clerk comes back with a severence check, a letter, and an escort to the door.

In the letter....

I cannot have anyone working for me that does not give me 100% all the time. You admitted that you have more to give our company if you were compensated better. I wish you all the luck in finding a future employer.

This may just be the opposite of what I learned in Management theory. I bet people love working under him.

I really stopped trying to decode whatever the you're trying to say a long time ago.

His posts make less sense than the first season of LOST. Don't even try. But in this case, I agree with Guiseppe - at least I agree with what I think he is trying to say. Free agents come and go, even when they're home-grown. But the way he made such a big deal about it was disgusting. We're talking about a guy who's ego is so big he has CHOSEN tattooed to his back.

One question: is he still King James now that he has 2 superstars next to him in Miami? When Bryant continually failed without a decent supporting cast, LA brought in Gasol, Artest etc to help him. Can a player be praised for doing it all, and having help?

[DMX7]

How funny would it be if LeBron didn't win a championship in Miami?

[ffadicted]

Cleveland - Miami first round matchup?? Yes please

[mudyez]

Cleveland - Miami first round matchup?? Yes please

you thing miami will only finish 8th?

[Basketballgirl25]

from all of this I'm come to this

Lebron and Dan Gilbert are both idiots, now I don't blame Lebron for leaving but the way he did it come on really now it's a joke for the NBA, I can now see why more people like Football and Baseball then Basketball. And Dan Gilbert it was stupid of him to write that, but you know a lot of people around the world were prob thinking that anyway so got to say he has some balls to say that.

[pauls931]

It's all about the players and where they can get money. LOL, I have CNBC on right now and they just mentioned this story.

[Giuseppe]

Like I said before, athletes from all sports have had their will broken and belief shattered at some point in their career, which is what I think happened to James.

That's weak & puny, Mid.

James quit. It ain't the end of the world. Nash quit. MJ quit. Kobe quit, Wilt quit. Rodman quit. Amare quit. The list is long & distinguished.

[Mike-in-brazil]

How are you supposed to be "the man" when Mo Williams is the second best player on your team, and before that, Zyldrunas Ilgauskas?

You Laker fans constantly excuse Kobe for not delivering in the Smush era, blaming his lack of help, but conveniently change your standards when it comes to Lebron.

In all his time with the Cavs, Lebron had exactly two legitimate teams that were capable of winning a le, and not many people in '09 believed that they could go all the way with Mo Williams as his second option. Last season's team was more than capable and just didn't get the job done. It happens. But let's not sit here and act like Cleveland has gone to the far ends of the earth to surround James with the best talent possible.

James in no way "failed" Cleveland. What have they really done for him roster wise during his tenure there?

so u don't think he had enough valid players for any so called Goat to take it any team ...?..

i see your point midnight ,but come on doggie...please don't put those lakers supporting role players same catagory as cavs not even close...
lebron didn't fail Cleveland he's just not the Goat people assumed he would be . Dude just failed yalls expectations !!! period!!!
Dawg i don't get this claimin king and goat b4 u win anything amazes me everytime..media ..fans etc da puck man!!!

not making an excuse for kobe nobody can win a ring with trash around them never happend , and never will

no excuses for nobody dat ...stop it with cleveland didn't give james what he needed ...what they didn't give him a mini all start team wtf!? u need that dawg to get a championship?!?!...seriously!??!

[JamStone]

I ask again, how is James supposed to do anything remarkable with the teams he's had from the day was drafted to 2008?

How can you really take James to task for being a failure when he's had exactly two teams anywhere near worthy of contention.

That's the problem. The last two seasons take that argument away from James. After making it to the 2007 NBA Finals, he's had good enough supporting casts the last two seasons to have the best regular season records both years. Sure, it was mostly due to LeBron, but if he had enough help to have the best record in the league two straight seasons, he loses the excuse that he doesn't have enough help to win a le.

LeBron quit against Boston. He stopped attacking the basket. He settled for long, lazy jumpers. Stopped staying involved in offense. He still put up stats, but it was pretty clear he stopped trying to win in that series I believe from game 4 on. He scored. He still grabbed some rebounds and assists. But it was clear as day that he had quit on his team and was no longer trying to win. You keep asking where the evidence is. If you watched that series, you wouldn't need to ask for evidence.

[Spurs Brazil]

LeBron's unsavory 'Decision' spectacleHe chose the Heat for justifiable reasons, but the way he announced it wasn't prettyEmail Print Comments891 By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com
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And now I'd like to present & The Column on The Decision, which was announced by The Egotist, who has lost The Respect of The Columnist for jacking around The Cavs, The Bulls, The Knicks, The Nets and The Clippers (yes, even The Clippers) before deciding on The Heat and milking it for every Favre-like minute as he talked about The King in The Third Person.



Please tell me it's over -- or is LeBron James still blabbering away about the agony of free agency?



[+] EnlargeChristopher Capozziello/Getty Images
The writing was on the wall for the Heat, despite the writing on this fan's sign.

If nothing else, the James Team's manufactured saga makes you yearn for simpler times, like when Michael Jordan, who actually won things such as championships, announced one of his monumental career decisions in a concise "I'm back" fax.



But no, we got 27 minutes of TV appetizers, followed by eight seconds of LeBron steak ("This fall -- man, this is very tough -- um, this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat"), followed by 33-plus minutes of Worcestershire sauce. The whole thing was semi-ridiculous, although it did reveal a vain, self-absorbed side of James that's as attractive as braided nose hair.



Anyway, he's going to Miami to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh! Whooee!



Duh. Where else did you think he'd sign once Wade re-upped with Team Riley and Bosh followed? To Cleveland? Sure, because everyone wants to play for a team with little cap space and Mo Williams as your point guard. To the Bulls and a rookie head coach and a sometimes-dysfunctional front office? To New York and the countdown to Amare Stoudemire's next injury? To New Jersey and more question marks than in this paragraph? To Los Angeles and Donald Sterling and the shadow of the Lakers and Kobe Bryant?



The minute Wade and Bosh chose Miami is the minute The Decision was made. James can (and did) frame it any way he wants, but if winning a championship was his No. 1 priority -- and he said weeks and weeks ago that it was -- then the Heat made the most sense, followed closely by the Bulls.



Nearly five months ago, I wrote a column outlining how and why a James-Wade-Bosh signing could happen. At the time, the Knicks were the team best positioned to pull off the audacious move. But that was before Heat president (and eventual coach?) Pat Riley started dumping salaries into Biscayne Bay. Then he kept Wade, recruited Bosh and that was that.



[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Mark Duncan
These Cavs fans at the Harry Buffalo in Cleveland on Thursday had some trouble appreciating LeBron's seven-year contribution to their city.

I don't have a problem with James' choice. Had he selected anyone but the Heat or the Bulls, he would have backtracked on his free-agency campaign promise of caring only about wins, not money. By signing with the Heat, he'll get both -- maybe not as much money had he stayed in Cleveland, but in the short and long run, he'll have a better chance at an NBA le.



What bothers me isn't so much the contrived nature of the announcement, but that James was such a willing participant -- if not the creator -- of the spectacle. He is an immensely gifted player, the best in the NBA, but he has won nothing. Zilch. Goose eggs. At least Wade has a championship ring. Whatever James won in high school doesn't count.



Can you imagine what Kobe was thinking as he watched Thursday evening's announcement? He must have been seething. He's probably already counting the months, weeks and days until the Lakers play the Heat during the regular season. Knowing how Bryant uses such things as motivation, he's almost surely hoping the Heat win the Eastern Conference and face the Lakers in the Finals.



James did the Heat, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (with a reported $2.5 million in donated revenue from the telecast of The Decision) and the Lakers a huge favor Thursday night. As for the Cavs, Bulls, Knicks, Nets and Clippers, those franchises deserve better than the dog and LeBron show.



If, as James said Thursday night, he made up his mind that morning, then he owed those franchises the courtesy of a phone call. If it leaked before the TV show, then it leaked. It's not like it was a secret. ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reported ALL day and night that James was a virtual lock to join the Heat.



[+] EnlargeChristopher Capozziello/Getty Images
Not much doubt about LeBron's clout outside the Boys & Girls Club, at least in this fan's mind.

And is it just me, or is anyone else stunned that James informed the Heat of the decision minutes before the broadcast, but didn't do the same for the franchise that had been his only professional home? He apparently had one of his business partners place a call to the Cavs.



This was a James production, filled with James-endorsed products, coordinated by James employees. Was it news? Absolutely. Was it narcissistic? Absolutely. Was ESPN a partner of sorts? Absolutely.



I don't think less of James' basketball skills, but I do think less of his instincts. He didn't grow his brand Thursday night; he grew his ego. It was clumsy, ill-conceived and unnecessary. I watched and winced.



In Cleveland, Cavs fans were burning his jersey. Dumb. Northeast Ohio ought to thank him for his seven years of loyal, blue-collar service, just as James thanked Northeast Ohio for its support. It is, as James has reminded us repeatedly, a business.



But the business of James has become a little less pure and a lot more mercenary. It wasn't who he chose, but how he chose them.



Maybe a championship, if he wins one, will make it all worthwhile. Maybe James will learn a lesson from this botched exercise in marketing. Until then, the way he handled his free-agency announcement will be known by two words:



The Mistake.



Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at [email protected]. Hear Gene's podcasts and ESPN Radio appearances by clicking here.

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