Kwabena,
I think it's good PR for him. I think his fan base.. his black fan base is alright
with his decision.. they just want to see him play. But he just messed with a
lot of white folks' money.. and that is what will keep the media pressure on him.
You can't mess with their money. Like Jordan, he took a relatively worthless
franchise and made it incredibly valueable.. but because of the slave plantation
system they have in place in pro sports he wasn't offered a partnership.. a piece
of the team.. he was offered a tiny fraction of the money that he generates for
that team.. for that city.. for that state.. and as a result, he bounced.. he has
no loyalty to his "owners". question: Would you rather live in Miami or
Cleveland? What young man would choose to live in Cleveland Ohio? It's a small
market.. it's not nearly as exciting as Miami.. and that's really what it came
down to. Wade and Bosh will be gone as soon as their contracts are up.. or
sooner.. Miami will be Lebron's team.. and by the end of his career folks will
forget that he was ever in Cleveland.
Well first since you mentioned it, i'm gonna preface this by saying it is interesting to me how LeBron's former agent is now Kevin Durant's current agent, so that explains the business-end of both players.
Personally I hold LeBron to a higher standard because he accepted and swallowed all the hype he received, and when it comes time for him to meet the expectations he can't do it and everyone makes excuses for him. Now I do realize he is human, but for someone who wants to be up there with MJ and Oscar and Bill Russell, his career thus far is nowhere near that. Did Kevin Durant swallow the hype? No. For example, he said I want my teammates on the
Sports Illustrated cover with me, allows his coaches to teach him the game, and only serves to get better. Ever since LeBron stepped into the NBA, he has been the coach, leader, and main voice of the franchise. As good as Kobe was back then, he was and is not the voice of the Laker's franchise, let alone the coach on the bench. LeBron and his fans at that need to take a lesson from Kevin Durant - humble yourself and allow your coaches to teach you and let your teammates share the hype.
Another thing - I highly disagree with comparing the Heat to the Celtics, and Skuderjaymes made the case for me. Paul Pierce is not the coach, face, and everything of the team; Doc Rivers did not go from team photographer to championship coach via learning from a guy like Pat Riley. Doc Rivers is an all-business coach and that year the Celtics won they had size and defense. We enter this season questioning if the Heat can play defense. Plus as skuder said and i'll re-mention it briefly - Ray Allen and KG are role players who just happen to play their roles very, very well. We knew KG's defensive background from his T-wolve days; there was no hype about that and Ray Allen has always been a sharp-shooter. Then again as I continue to say about the Celtic's squad, it's ridiculous how people keep giving credit to the Big-3 alone and not give credit to PJ Brown and his defense, Kendrick Perkins and his defense, and Eddie House n' James Posey for their bench production not to mention Rondo handling the ball.
The Heat will get there, but just not so soon. I am dying to hear how with superstar talent alone this team will live up to the hype and be crowned Champions in June...
