How Lebron James Grows From Here

If you follow sports, then you already know the deal. Last Thursday night, Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers lost their second-round series against the Boston Celtics and ended their season that was predestined to win a championship. Even though Cleveland had the best record of the regular season and Boston was a mere four seed, to call this series win an upset is imbecilic. The Celtics was obviously better than their playoff ranking had led people to believe. They started the season 23-5 (they, in fact, beat the same Cavs on their regular season opener) but rested their players in the end once they were guaranteed a playoff spot. They also had four out of the five best players in the court; some would say (like, I would say) that the best player on the court for the majority of the series was Celtic Rajon Rondo, despite James being the league’s regular season MVP two years in a row. The underlying reason why the Celtics won is because they wanted it more. Urgency is what the playoffs is all about. Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t show any urgency, and when you don’t want it, you might as well not suit up.


A team can get away with not totally being there if your leader has enough urgency for the rest to rally behind. The Bulls in the 90’s weren’t going to lose because Michael Jordan had a homicidal thirst for winning; the Celtics won all those championships in the 60’s because Bill Russell was gloriously competitive; Kobe Bryant, even when he’s battling his inner demons of needing to win in his own terms, wants it badly enough to compensate for his teammate’s apathy. That’s the biggest problem with the 2010 Cavs: we never witnessed Lebron display inextinguishable desire for a ring—even showing a dismal 15 point, 3-14 shooting night in Game 4 where he seemed content to just launch jump shots all night long like the rim had filed a restraining order on him—and his teammates, who publicly admitted that they play off of Lebron’s highs, never really believed they could win once they saw their MVP give up.

Clearly, Lebron wasn’t the Cavs’ only problem. So here’s a bullet-point style, blame game:
(1) Cleveland coach Mike Brown for sucking (I can’t find a more sophisticated word but that’s the only way to describe his “coaching” performance). His crunch time offensive playbook consisted of “pick-and-roll for Lebron” and “isolation for Lebron”. I never understood why he insisted on trotting out slow-as-fuck players like Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, unreasonably giving the Celtics’ old-as-fuck players a speed advantage. Because the word on the street is that Rondo can’t hit jump shots, he gave him an enormous defensive cushion, allowing one of the NBA’s highest basketball IQ’s to freelance without impediment.
(2) Cleveland GM Danny Ferry for botching player transactions throughout Lebron’s career. He surrounds him with hand-me-down veterans that bargain-bin free agents, he never had a player to mature alongside with (think Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green to OKC’s Kevin Durant), and he never had a Pippen to his Jordan (someone that can takeover on offense when he’s having an off-night or being double teamed). During James' entire career, he only had one all-star teammate (Mo Williams).
(3) Cleveland fans for the lack of support. Look, I’m all for booing your home team; if they’re not showing effort, you have a duty as a fan to let them know. But in Game 5, they showed their dissatisfaction way too early, to a point where the players just became uncomfortable on the court. People of Cleveland, if Lebron didn’t re-sign with the Cavs this summer, just remember that your booing didn’t help.

I, myself, was rooting for Cleveland. If you care about the history of the NBA, you were probably supporting them too. Lebron is a one-of-a-kind athlete, an amalgamation of Karl Malone’s body, Allen Iverson’s speed, Magic Johnson’s passing ability, and Shawn Kemp’s explosiveness. He’s a prototype, an android specifically designed to play basketball in this planet. He possesses all the attributes to potentially become the best player that’s ever lived, even better than Jordan. However, in order to become the greatest of all time, you have to win rings. Seeing strong MVP seasons, like the last two seasons, conclude without championships disappoints me as a fan of the league. It’s a fair argument that he’ll have plenty of chances to win because he’s only 25 and he’s only in his seventh season. However, the Rolls-Royce of NBA players should have as many rings as possible after all is written; history books will make sense this way.

Was this the last time we see Lebron James in a Cavalier uniform? That’s the question on everyone’s mind, the trending topic that broke Twitter last Thursday. The way the citizens are obsessing about Lebron’s potential destination after he declares free agency this summer, it’s like the playoffs ended when Cleveland got eliminated (we still have two rounds to go, peeps!!!). King James has several strategies in him once the off-season hits, but whatever his decision is, it will reveal what is most important to him. If he cares about his hometown and being loyal, he stays in Cleveland. If he cares about money, Russian models, and Jay-Z, he goes to New Jersey’s Russian billionaire owner. If he cares about highlights and spotlights, he goes to the Clippers to play with Baron Davis and all the young guns. If he cares about being an icon, he goes to the Knicks to save New York, the Mecca of basketball. If he cares about winning, he goes to Chicago. If he signs with the Bulls, he gets his back-up alpha dog in Derrick Rose, he gets an enforcer in Joakim Noah, and he gets to pick his own coach (because last season’s Bulls coach, Vinny Del Negro just got fired). Just to reiterate, you don’t become the best player in NBA history without winning championships. If he cares about his legacy, he goes to the city where the current best player in the NBA history won his rings.