Is Loyalty a Virtue or a Curse? Why LeBron James Is Trapped in Cleveland
We have all spent the last two days hearing (ad nauseam) about LeBron James and his decision to stay in Cleveland or leave for "greener" pastures.
Every talking head and ESPN analyst, with the exception of Skip Bayless, seemingly agrees that LeBron's decision completely alters the NBA axis for the next decade. Well, like Bayless, I disagree.
I disagree not because I hate everything and anything that anyone else enjoys like Bayless, but because of one simple reason: LeBron James is staying in Cleveland.
Why do I say that with such certainty? Well, I could sit here and give you the same plethora of reasons everyone else will or give you the same hare-brained theory I gave you during my mid-season summer of 2010 evaluation ...or I could simply give you the obvious reason: LeBron is trapped in Cleveland for the foreseeable future.
I know what you're thinking: How in the hell, in a summer where 29 other teams will vie for his affections, is LeBron James trapped in Cleveland?
The answer is simple: loyalty.
We have all been taught by our parents about loyalty being the most virtuous characteristic we can possess. Be loyal to your family. Be loyal to your friends. Be loyal to your teammates/co-workers. Hell, we even love dogs simply because they're more loyal than humans.
That's why any less-than-loyal act or decision is seen as the ultimate betrayal. Loyalty is so ingrained in our inner psyches that we automatically empathize with the scorned and villainize the offender. We have no time for the reason or explanations behind the betrayal.
LeBron is currently in the wake of the worst week of his professional career. Fans, media members, and even his owner feel he quit on his own team in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
He followed-up quitting on his own team with a near quadruple-double (including turnovers) and his entire team quitting in the final minutes of Game 6. Criticism of the media's golden boy has never been higher.
I have even gone as far as to say LeBron is more like Vince Carter than he is Michael Jordan .
Hyperbole aside, if LeBron were to turn his back on his city after the stink-bomb the Cavs put up in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, King James would instantly go from hometown hero to pariah.
Cleveland Plain Dealer beat writer Brian Windhorst made the point on Bill Simmons' B.S. Report podcast that Cleveland fans have never forgiven Art Modell for moving the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore.
If LeBron goes to New York or Chicago, multiply the hatred for Modell times about five billion and you'll have Cleveland's hatred for Bron Bron.
With that in mind, do you think someone with the goal of becoming a "global icon" would willingly alienate his home state/city and all of Middle America in the process? Not unless he's a complete moron.
Obviously, not everyone agrees that loyalty is always best. And sometimes it isn't.
After Cleveland's Game 6 loss, LeBron and Celtics' forward Kevin Garnett had an extended embrace in which KG basically told LBJ to "get the hell out of Dodge while you still can."
One might wonder why KG thought it was within his rights to offer LeBron free agency advice.
Well, LeBron's current situation is not unlike the early years of the KG era in Minnesota: constant contention, revolving door of a surrounding cast, entire weight of a city on his shoulders, MVP awards (one for KG), and no NBA championships.
Like Garnett, LeBron's loyalty (and a massive contract) will cause him to stay in Cleveland. It remains to be seen whether LeBron will waste his entire prime trying to carry a mediocre supporting cast and an entire city on his shoulders.
If KG's career is any indication of what the future holds for LeBron in Cleveland, he should bolt to either Chicago or Los Angeles immediately and never think twice.
I'm sure that if Garnett had to do it all over again, he would have taken advantage of the Joe Smith fiasco and forced his way out-of-town. But loyalty forced Garnett to toil away the greatest years of his career on a Minnesota team going nowhere fast.
Garnett's Celtics are eight wins away from winning his second NBA title in three years since leaving the Timberwolves. Just imagine if he had forced his way out five years earlier.
Make no mistake, LeBron James will ignore KG's advice and return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sure, James will ask for a "King's" ransom in order to return (most notably, the firing of coach Mike Brown and/or GM Danny Ferry) but in the end, his heart will tell him to stay in Cleveland.
It also won't hurt that Cleveland will pull off a sign-and-trade this off-season for another superstar.
It just remains to be seen whether the loyalty LeBron feels for the city of Cleveland is a virtue we should applaud or a curse that will rob us from seeing the game's greatest player succeed on the biggest stage.
Let's hope it's the former.
