LeBron James Is a Witness to the Quintessential Quitness in Cleveland
"We were all quitnesses!" It became the mantra of the Cleveland fanbase after LeBron James left. The message of course was that LeBron James had "quit" on the Cleveland Cavaliers. It mattered little that the Cavaliers' teammates had quit on James prior to that. It was an easy explanation, and a salve to the wound.
The thing is, reality has a way of catching up with you, no matter how hard you try to hide from it. A look at today's Hollinger Rankings reveals that sad reality, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are now the worst team in the NBA. With a rating of 88.01 they are dead last, more than a full point behind the second-to-last Sacramento Kings, a team which has lost nine of their last 10. It''s ironic that even the Kings are on top of them.
The next time Charles Barkley wants to tell James that he could have done something great by staying in Cleveland and winning a championship, all James needs to do is point to the Hollinger Rankings and explain that he's already done something great there; great is one thing, impossible is another.
LeBron James actually, literally, provably had the worst supporting cast in the NBA and led them to the NBA's best regular season record two consecutive years. That is something great. Asking him to win the NBA championship is not asking for something great; it's asking for something impossible. It's as though he benched-press a bus, and then doubters said, "If you want to impress me make it a double-decker."
Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert likes to claim that he gave LeBron James "everything he asked for." Of course the one thing that he didn't give him was a worthwhile team. LeBron asked for a team, Gilbert gifted him with a parking space. It's not Gilbert's fault though.
Gilbert says that James stopped trying to recruit players to Cleveland. What players did Gilbert try to bring to Cleveland though? Intriguing is the word stopped there too. It's a vast difference between "stopped" and "never started." Stopped implies that at one time James had. Maybe James stopped because Gilbert had quit long before James ever made his decision.
Where was Gilbert with his parking spaces and benefits then? What stars did he ever try to lure? For all his melodrama and Comic Sans script, the comic promise of winning before James does has already gone by the wayside. Gilbert gave up on that before preseason. Yes, rant all you want Dan Gilbert, but your hypocrisy is evident.
At the onset of the season, buoyed by emotion, the Cavs scored an upset win over Boston, and eked out a few more wins. They struggled, fought and scrapped. They managed to win five of their first 10 games.
Sure, wins two through five came against some of the worst teams in the NBA. It didn't matter. They were a mere half game behind the loathsome Miami Heat. It was vindication. It was evidence that the King was not really that great after all. It was the team that was winning those years, not James.
When James finally came back to Cleveland, the teams were still not that far apart in the standings. Cleveland was 7-10, Miami was 11-8. LeBron James had arguably his best night of the season as the Heat blew out the Cavs. Gilbert pouted.
This isn't really about what happened that night, though. It's not really about what happened before then either. It's about what has happened since then. Plain and simple, the Cleveland Cavaliers have quit.
Cleveland has failed to even get within single digits of its three opponents since— opponents who have a combined record of 19-45. Cleveland's getting blown out by the weakest teams in the NBA. The Cavs aren't just bad; they are quitters.
Clevelanders have a tendency to defend their city, perhaps because it's the most maligned city in the USA. I have nothing against the city. Heck, I got engaged at Pier W! I think their fans are some of the most loyal on earth. This isn't an attack on you. It's a cautionary tale. Be careful where you bestow that loyalty. Look at the team your owner has given you. The team has quit.
The more the Cavs play like this, the more they vindicate James' "Decision." Cleveland isn't just a bad team without him, it is the worst team. The Cavs aren't just the worst team, they're a team of quitters. If James did quit, he was the last to do so. The thing he quit on though was waiting for Dan Gilbert to start trying.
