2010 Free Agents: Much ado about nothing, but Lebron.
Two years of hype! The greatest spectacle in free agency is coming in Summer of 2010 we’ve been told in recent times. Talk of free agency has at times overshadowed the NBA Playoffs, the league, not to mention a grueling NBA Finals that featured the best possible desired historical match up in the League.
So now we’ve seen where the chips have fallen.
*Wade: Stayed put in Miami
*Nowitzki: Stayed in Dallas
*Pierce: Stayed in Boston
*Ray Allen: Stays in Boston
*Joe Johnson: Stays in Atlanta where he gets the most ridiculous contract. (Makes Minnesota giving Darko 4 million look like the warren buffet of NBA investing)
*Amare: Goes to NY where he’ll disappear into Oblivion for a while on a bad team without Nash.
Nothing really changed thus far.
There were three big name that stole the show with their antics: Wade, James, and Bosh. Almost conspiratorial, they orchestrated a charade that was the equivalent of giving the middle finger to every sports purist out there. Maybe a double middle finger (coupled with a spit on the face) to every blue-collar worker who shelled out money to take his 12 year old son to a basketball game.
The free agency game turned into a contest of who can get more attention for doing nothing. Worse than drunk bar-skanks kissing each other to garner attention, we saw grown men try to exhaust every possible option. (Gladly, they stopped short of kissing each other, but who knows, maybe the idea was discussed??)
Before the airing of “The Decision”, I texted some friends that I thought Lebron James is going to stay in Cleveland. Part of me thought: He has to now! He has no other choice after all of this. The minute he announced a press conference, he threw away all options except Cleveland.
Otherwise, it’d be an action a villain in a movie would take, like something out of a James Bond movie. Dr. No has lured everyone to his Volcano to announce that he is going to break the heart of Ohio after dragging this process out for weeks, and using it to gain attention.
It’s exactly what a James Bond Villain would do. So then, this is all a sham. Lebron has leaked false stories about going to Miami, and then announce come on his press conference special to tell us he is staying with the Cavs.
It’s the only salvation. “Hey, I was effiing with all of you. Pyche! Gotcha! I am staying with the Cavs! Cleveland, I’m coming home!” There were no other choices. Anything less would have made him a heartless SOB. All of that Miami stuff had to have been a joke. Or so I thought........
Nope, no joke. No sign and trade. Cleveland gets nothing in return. Their best player in franchise history leaves them in lure of chasing an easy title by attempting to stack his team the way playground players do in pickup basketball.
It would be the equivalent of Bird or Magic recruiting each other around 1984. Why play against each other, when you can just pair up?
Lebron could have saved face if he had quietly gone to NYC in a sign and trade. The Knicks don’t have much, but a couple of young players and a few draft picks could have come Cleveland’s way. He could have announced that he wanted to revive Basketball back in NY and bring championship there.
Cavs fans would have eventually forgiven him for that. They would have hated him at first, but would have learned to understand. No one within the states of Ohio (or any stated attached to it) could ever learn to forgive this act.
For better or worse, Lebron has taken himself out of the discussion of being mentioned in the same category of Magic, Bird, Jordan, Kareem, or Russell. He may eventually (his new team is still massively incomplete) win multiple championships but in this manner? Forget about it. That’s done with it.
Maybe it was inevitable considering the people he calls advisers. Most players have had some sort of a wiser father figure to provide a second opinion. Sometimes it literally is their father Ya know, someone older than say 25.
Peyton Manning has Archie Manning. John Elway had his father Jack. Magic Johnson will tell you about Earvin Johnson Sr. If that weren’t enough, he had a close relationship with savvy businessman and Laker Owner Jerry Buss. Michael Jordan had his father and Shaq had the sarge (although it didn't seem to help Shaq so much). The list goes on…
Lebron has a bunch of morons his own age. Apparently someone calling himself “World Wide Wes” provides Lebron with pearls of wisdom. No one told Lebron anyone calling himself “WWW” in a business meeting is the tantamount to introducing yourself by your stripper name. Lebron would have been better off hiring someone who plays a businessman on TV.
The free agent class of 2010 came and went. Most guys went back to their teams. Three guys stole the show and made a “mocumentary” out of it. In the midst of all this, the league’s leading scorer, a humble kid playing in OKC, signed a five year extension that went somewhat unnoticed.
Absent from all of the proceedings was commissioner David Stern who is silently preparing for war. Stern watches these moves with purposeful eyes, reminiscent of the United States & NATO watching Saddam invade Kuwait in 1991. Like the allied forces, he is lining up his troops behind the border to fire.
This was the summer of 2010. The summer of 2011 will be his. Silently, he tweaks his cruise missiles just behind enemy lines. Let the free agents hijack the summer of 2010 and enjoy their debauchery. The new collective bargaining agreement shall be his.
Stern is prepping for war. We all should remember that. He will unleash his forces in 2011, and as an ardent fan of NBA basketball, I am with him. I won’t turn my back on basketball. No matter how long a lockout, I will resume watching and supporting NBA basketball when action returns to court.
Whereas 10 years ago, the players had my support, it’s now Stern and the owners. I’m betting a lot more fans are on that boat after this past summer. It was the final straw.
Lebron and company better enjoy their victory while they can. The cloud of smoke shall settle, but there'll be hell to pay.
