The LeBron James Decision: Understanding Why the King Had To Leave

Talk about having a pair. LeBron James stood before the world and simply said, "This Fall, Imma take my talents to South Beach and the Miami Heat."

Shortly after his statement, he became one organization's partial hero and the other's ultimate villain. How this can be boggles even me. The monster that is often regarded as "King James” or "Team LeBron” was created by the media, was no longer in their fav five.

Last night I watched and listened as so many of the same folks who overstated his accomplishments and abilities do everything but commend him for making the best decision of his basketball life. They couldn’t, they felt to betrayed.

In a day and age where the good ol' folks at ESPN, NBA TV, Fox Sports, ABC Sports,  etc. focus on individual play and accolades, LeBron slapped them all in the face last night.

Changing the Sporting World Landscape Forever

I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one who understands how this is going to change the way we view athletes for the greater good of the NBA brand.

With James' sacrifice of himself and jettisoning of his worshippers into limbo, no longer can stats be used to define greatness. No longer can a MVP candidate be defined by the success of his team.

We all know that his talent and domination of the NBA from a individual standpoint is as good as those of the All-Time greats. However, his individual numbers won't reflect that next season.

But the team he plays for may win a NBA championship. The question is, will he once again be your MVP?

James basically told the media to keep their stats and player-worshipping nature. He's choosing to fill his fingers with shiny things. You know, championship rings.

Yet apparently Charles Barkley and Eric Snow can't respect that.

How can you fault a guy for wanting to win? It just isn't logical. I remember hearing the saying, "Winning over everything." Well James just chose that.

With James teaming with Wade, the NBA has its first pairing of the top two players on one team. Never in the history of the game has this happened. I don't think it's ever even happened in the modern day sports era.

How can one not see the self-sacrifice? How can anyone view this as being cowardly?

He told Robin Roberts from Good Morning America, "I've won at every level, won championships at every level. It won't be fulfilled until I win at the highest level."

So apparently James is chasing his dreams.

Isn't that what we teach our kids? Isn't that what those who cared for us the most as kids and young adults urged us to do?

If your answer is yes, explain to me, what is the problem with him making a decision for himself.

What people seem to be refusing to understand is that it's his life. We as humans struggle to understand that no one owes another individual anything but an honest answer and a fair shake, and even that is debatable.

Saying Good-Bye to Cleveland

For the record James is from Akron, Ohio. Not Cleveland, Ohio. So technically he didn't leave his hometown team.

People act as if James owed the Cleveland organization something. He doesn't, and he shouldn't he feel he does.

They drafted him with the hopes of turning around that club and revitalizing that community. He did that and then some.

The average fan isn't even aware that he doubled the value of that franchise the moment he was added to the roster. If anything the Cavs owe him some gratitude. The money that the organization made because of him isn't even 10 percent of what they paid him in salary.

So spare me the curse that Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert placed on James. He called James classless, as did many Cleveland fans (or should we say LBJ worshippers.) Well, if making a personal decision that makes him happy makes him classless, then so is the vast majority of the free world.

James owed it to himself to go to the situation that afforded him the greatest chance of winning the most NBA Championships. How can any adult not understand this?

The Backstabber and Egotistical James

The media members who benefited from and created this big free agent frenzy did a complete 360 over LeBron James. Most stated that he could have handled things better, and others stated that they were relieved it was over.

Last time I checked, they had a choice of whether they would or wouldn't cover James and anyone else for that matter. How can they be mad at James for helping to feed their families?

He never asked to be covered the way he was. I dare anyone to show me a statement where he said, "Follow me or miss out on the journey."

All LeBron James should be regarded as is a guy who loves to play basketball and has worked very hard to be extremely good at it. Somewhere along the way people forgot that it's his journey and not theirs.

Hopefully, this will teach people to not live their lives and even dreams through the accomplishments of others. I won't hold my breath though.

With that said, he had to leave Cleveland. He wants to win NBA Titles, and Miami gives him the best chance to do that for the long haul.

You don't have to respect his decision, but you do need to understand it.

Again, it's his life and not any of ours. He owes it to himself to do what makes him happiest.

So please close-minded and bitter individuals: Grow up!!!