Robbins: The Future Is James for Team He Hated

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April 30, 2006
The Future Is James for Team He Hated

By LIZ ROBBINS
LeBron James and his buddies used to drive from Akron, Ohio, fill a few of the empty aquamarine seats in Cleveland's downtown arena and cheer loudly. For the visiting team.

"I didn't care for the Cavs," James said last week with a grin.

He was recalling a bleak time not so long ago when it was unfashionable for an Ohio teenager to cheer the dreadful Cleveland Cavaliers in their tacky blue, orange and white uniforms.

But now that the 21-year-old James — heralded in Cleveland as the Chosen One — has brought national prominence to the Cavaliers and to the city, the team wants to make sure that he never says those chilling words again in any context.

James can sign a five-year maximum extension with the Cavaliers as early as this summer, or wait until next summer for a six-year deal, when he would become a restricted free agent.

Then, he could also choose to go to another team.

To prevent that, the Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert, General Manager Danny Ferry and Coach Mike Brown have created a winning environment throughout the organization, with the subtext of catering to James.

They have hired a waffle maker and an omelet maker for pregame brunches on the road. They put an Xbox 360, a television and a stereo in each player's locker. James's business managers from Akron have access to team areas and courtside seats. The Cavaliers have signed the free agents approved by James, and Brown has given him freedom on the court.

"He's certainly our main priority, the player we now want to build the future on," Gilbert said Friday in a phone interview. "It's a special situation. How many guys in their own hometown are able to be That Guy? It's just kind of like the stars and moon aligning."

Gilbert bought the Cavaliers last year for a reported $375 million, the value having increased more than $150 million after the Cavaliers drafted James out of high school in Akron in 2003.

Gilbert has spent more than $12 million to renovate Quicken Loans Arena (bearing his mortgage company's name and nicknamed the Q), installing wine-colored seats and a new scoreboard. A $20 million practice facility is planned for suburban Cleveland, accessible from the city and especially from James's house near Akron.

The Cavaliers say their upgrades — including plans for a larger team jet next season to reduce refueling stops — promote a championship culture to attract premium free agents, James included.

But in the end, all this could be window dressing to an empty flagship store if the Cavaliers do not win. Thanks to James, who had 41 points, including the game-winning shot Friday night against the Wizards, the Cavaliers take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series tonight in Washington. For the team, the pressure to win takes on a profound urgency.

"You win ballgames, you take that into consideration to stay," James said before the playoffs.

"It will help your mind decide if you're going to be a part of that organization," he said before Game 3. "Right now, I'm feeling great about what's going on in the organization and about where we're at, at this point."

The Cavaliers won 50 games this season for the first time since 1992-93, mostly because James improved and Ferry surrounded him with better talent.

"I know it's years down the line, but I always talk to LeBron," said Donyell Marshall, among the Cavaliers' biggest free-agent signings last year along with Larry Hughes. "I tell him, 'I know you didn't bring me here to leave me.' He just started laughing, saying, 'Come on, why would I?' He's not going to let us know. But I keep putting that in his head."

James has many people whispering in his head, from Nike, which signed him to a seven-year, $97 million deal as a rookie, to his three best friends from Akron, who are now his management team. Last year James fired his agent, Aaron Goodwin, and replaced him with Leon Rose. But James's friends work far more closely with him: Maverick Carter is his business manager, Randy Sims has been hired as the Cavaliers' player liaison, and Rich Paul assists them.

Carter said the Cavaliers' upgrades "mean a lot" to James, adding, "Now there is a winning mentality from the fans, the coaches, the players and the people who work there."

Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the only player left from the Cavaliers' last playoff team in 1998, has the perspective to judge James's effect.

"Obviously, he is the face of the franchise," Ilgauskas said. "We all hope that he stays for the rest of his career. I don't see why not. He loves being here, he's a hometown kid, people treat him like a god. We are going in the right direction."

James advocated the re-signing of Ilgauskas, and the Cavaliers went to great lengths to secure him.

When negotiations stalled last summer, Gilbert, Ferry and Brown took a frantic flight to Los Angeles to intercept Ilgauskas at the airport. They ran through the terminal with flowers and balloons for his wife (Brown held them) while trying to throw Howard Schultz, the SuperSonics' owner (who was coincidentally at the airport) off the trail. It was straight out of "Mission: Impossible," and it worked.

"He's done a great job getting the group of guys I needed, the guys Z needed and Eric Snow needed to become a great team," James said of Ferry, careful to include the veterans.

Despite his superstar status, James does not act en led, his teammates say. He has become a vocal leader, while making passing a priority. On the bus, he is the one laughing the loudest.

"He makes sure everybody is taken care of, everybody's having fun," Marshall said. "He never acts like, 'If you don't do this, I'll get you traded.' "

James is the Cavaliers' best recruiting tool. Marshall said that during his visit, the team showed him a video featuring James's highlights and the way "he brought the franchise from what they were before."

The Cavaliers won 35 games in James's rookie season, an 18-game improvement from 2002-3. The Cavaliers won 42 last season but missed the playoffs. Gilbert had fired Paul Silas as coach, and Jim Paxson as general manager. Ferry, who began his playing career in Cleveland and was a San Antonio Spurs executive, inherited $28 million of salary cap space to sign free agents.

"If he leaves, it will be a disaster," point guard Damon Jones said of James. "But they are doing the necessary things to make him comfortable here, bringing in the necessary players to make him successful. It's kind of a no-brainer, I think."

Financially, it would seem that way. Since the 1999 collective bargaining agreement, teams have had the advantage of giving their current players higher annual raises, totaling about $20 million more. Many high-profile free agents — Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Jason Kidd, for example — have stayed put.

But if a player wants out, he can force a sign-and-trade deal to get his maximum contract, as Tracy McGrady did in going from Toronto to Orlando in 2000.

Gilbert, encouraged by what he called James's body language, does not wonder whether James will leave. "We really don't think that way because we've never had any reason to believe that," Gilbert said.

James's contract with Nike includes a provision that would pay him more if he were he to go to a larger market like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. But the Cavaliers' record this season was better than that of the teams in those cities.

No doubt, the 12-story Nike mural of James on the side of a building next to the Q would get more exposure in a larger city. But fans and opponents cannot ignore such a statement. Last week Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan admitted to being intimidated by James's looming figure on the mural.

"We are all witnesses," the tagline reads. Nike gave away "Witness" T-shirts at the playoff opener in Cleveland.

Witness the evolution. The Cavaliers sold out 17 home games this season and were the third-biggest road draw in the N.B.A., behind the Heat and the Lakers.

"It's been quite a transformation, really, since Dan's taken over, and even more so since LeBron got here," Ferry said last week. "Even more so for the city. This is a kid from their backyard. It's a good thing to be around."

As Ferry looked around the renovated locker room and the revamped roster, he expressed caution.

"By no means is this finished," he said. "It's still a work in progress."


Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[polandprzem]

Thanks for posting.

Looks like LeBron will stay and try to build a contender team for years to come. Hughes, Murray, Gooden , Z. Plus Ferry must to think about better interior defenders....

One thing I have to say. This season we saw how LeBron James grew up during the year. Now he is more able to put the team on his shoulders and get the win. Still it's not compleate team-play what he does but the most important is the wins.

Now in PO he has got a chance to lead his team to 2nd round so good so young.