Obviously it has been a while if I am still talking about Lebron, but I'm going to anyway. I have to weigh in, but I've had some mixed feelings on the subject. For help, I'm turning to Tevye. Remember when he froze time so he could consider all the pros and cons of a decision? I think it would help me to take a minute to decide how I really feel...
Should he have stayed in Cleveland? They didn't grab any free agents. Bosh wouldn't play there, they lost out on Amare and Boozer. Their team wasn't enough. His owner and GM had 7 years to put the right talent around him...
On the other hand...
Going to Miami seems like/DEFINITELY IS selling out. "The Decision," aside from subjecting America to the greatest display of narcissism I can remember, was painfully awkward for other reasons. Yes he was disappointing the entire state of Ohio, but maybe he felt the way most of us did--this seems really unfair; like a pickup game where the kid who brought the ball splits up the teams and, coincidentally, the three best players on the court end up on his team.
But on the other hand...
This has never been done before. It has probably never been a possibility. Were Jordan and Barkley ever free agents at the same time? If Jordan didn't
have Scottie Pippen, would he have stuck it out in Chicago? If he has a chance to team up with another top 3 and a top 15, maybe we should be excited to see what they can do.
On the other hand..
With Chris Bosh being thrown onto center stage,
we'll have to look at his StarWars-ian mug on SportsCenter for the next 6 years.
But, on the other hand...
Great players usually have 10, maybe 15 years of build-a-team-around-me talent, barring injury, to win a championship. Lebron has used 7 of those (6 if you want to throw out his rookie year). He probably has 8, maybe 9 years of being good enough to carry a team before he becomes Kevin Garnett (sans title). This is a smart thing for him to do. Besides, is it really that different from Kobe-Shaq or Magic-Kareem?
On the other hand...
Garnett, Pierce and Allen were 31, 30, and 32 at the start of the 07-08 season, and had played 12, 9, and 11 seasons, respectively. They have reached the finals twice, and have a title to show for it. Lebron (25), Wade (28), and Bosh (26) have each played 7 seasons. LBJ and Wade are two of the top 3 players in the NBA right now, which no one could say about KG and Pierce. Good luck living up to the hype. Should have held out for Chris Paul, Lebron!
I must, in the end, echo Tevye while he weighed Tzeitel's matchmaking(<--watch):
"They gave each other a pledge? Unheard of! Absurd!
They gave each other a pledge! Unthinkable!
But look at [these players'] faces. [They] love [this]. [They] want [this].
And look at [these players'] eyes; so hopeful......(sigh)....TRADITION!!!"
