Topic: The destruction of the Cleveland Cavaliers

[Prelude]

I don't know if we have any NBA fans here but i felt i need to say my 0.02 about yesterday "decision"

If you haven't heard the reigning two time MVP of the NBA LeBron James has decided to skip town and go play basketball in Miami with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

For those of you who do not know LeBron is a Akon, Ohio native (just outside of Cleveland) he was draft out of high school and basically became the most exciting player in the NBA. He was drafted Number 1 overall in the NBA draft to his home team Cleveland Cavs. He rejuvenated the city which had been in the lower levels of pro sport. The NFL team has not been to the playoff in a long while (Browns) and the Baseball team (Indians) and also not made it to the playoff in a while. With LeBron James the Cavs improved to have the best record in the NBA last season but unfortunately that success did not lead to a NBA championship as they were eliminated in the second round.

LeBron has now decided to leave his home in Cleveland for the beaches of South Beach to play with 2 other very good players. He could have made more money ($40Mil) staying at home and he could have brought a championship to Cleveland which was not that far off. Cleveland will have a tough time winning without a true replacement or even someone that can fill in for the hole left by Lebron James. They have a few good players but no one that is even considered a star or a blossoming star.

Personally i feel bad for Cleveland. Think about if you are from Calgary or Edmonton, born and raised, become the number on draft pick in the NHL draft, come in to the NHL, tear everyone to pieces, Get super close to the Stanley Cup then leave to play with 2 other great players would you? Personally i would not leave, i would love to see Edmonton Oilers win a Stanley Cup. And at the Age of 25 i am sure he will get another opportunity to win. IF LeBron decided to leave at the age of 30 to go somewhere to win a championship i think many people would not have a problem.

I hope Cleveland does not stop winning but there future looks to grim.

On a side note the Franchise has been screwed before. Carlos Boozer was a Cav and had just completed his third year in the NBA. his contract was for 4 years but after 3 years the team has the option of releasing the player or keeping him on for the 4th year. He told Cleveland he was going to stay and sign a new contract if they released his Rookie contract, so Cleveland did just that released his contract to make Carlos Boozer happy so he would sign a new Contract. Instead of re-signing he turns around and signs a contact with Utah basically give Cleveland the Middle Finger.

For people who are not fan of the NBA sorry to bore you.

[Flelford]

I definitely feel for Cleveland, it would have been the equivalent of Gretzky (if he was born in Edmo) choosing to leave the Oilers instead of being traded. But it really came down to him wanting to play with other stars. Most players are criticized for focusing on the money rather then winning but he took a big pay cut in order to move to Miami. There were tons of reports of him trying to get Bosh to come to Cleveland, but he had no interest in playing there. I watch a lot of Around the Horn and PTI and they all agreed that Cleveland is not a popular destination for FA's. You get drafted to Cleveland you don't usually request to play there unless it was along side Lebron. Even when he did play there they failed to attract big names, besides Shaq but his haydays are long over.
It had to be a hard decision to leave his home state, but i think the statement released the owner released was a classless act. It pretty much ruined any chance of him returning to the franchise later in his career. But I thought it was funny how he guaranteed a title for the Cavs before the Heat win one, it is just gonna make Cavs fans feel worse when the Heat get a title first.
The Heat are now gonna be a team that ppl love to hate, the Yankees of the NBA

[Claw]

Good summary.  I don't follow the NBA, but when I came across this in my blog readings I thought of what I read last night that you had posted:

http://skreened.com/brike/lebron-lebroke-my-heart