The LeDecision Fallout

So the King will reside in South Beach, and razor blade sales will go through the roof in Cleveland.  What will this do to Cleveland?  What has LeBron James done to his home town?

The answer to the first question was pretty clearly answered by Dan Gilbert's letter - they will become like scorned ex-girlfriends lashing out.  Maybe they can get together with those ex-girlfriend websites that people load old sex tapes onto as revenge.  As this guy pointed out, it could be some sort of niche market.  But apart from the initial gut reaction of anger, what will their lasting impression of LeBron be?




When Brett Favre unretired and went to the Jets, Packer fans, and most of the NFL, decided that it wouldn't really impact on his Green Bay legacy.  The same when Michael Jordan went to Washington.  But then when Favre went to Minnesota, the hated enemies of the Packers, that was too far - Green Bay turned on him and abandoned him - he became a foundling.  He was a player without a legacy in the minds of his former fans.  Will Cavaliers fans take the same step?  Are they entitled to be that bitter?

LeBron belonged to them as much as any player has ever belonged to a team.  But in professional sports, that belonging is not everything.  Dan Gilbert's letter was extremely candid, using words to describe LeBron like "heartless", "cowardly betrayal", "selfishness", "callous".  Sure, the ridiculous, contrived process may have been heartless and callous to Cleveland if he knew that he was leaving.  But as for the decision itself, why shouldn't LeBron have control of his life and career?  Simply because he was Cleveland's favourite son doesn't deprive him of the ability to change his team.  People go on about saying that Cleveland had their 7 years, and had their chance to build a team around him, but that isn't the justification for his decision.  The justification is that this is professional sports.  No one owned LeBron, because his contract had expired.  The whole publicising of it, with the constant updates and coverage, and the culminating joke of a show masked what actually happened.

All that happened was that LeBron changed teams.  He didn't betray anyone - there was no one to betray.  Cleveland might feel like they were betrayed, but they are unjustified in feeling that.  They didn't own him.  How far should a player feel bound by loyalty?  Should they pass up on an opportunity that is greatly in their interest?  We wouldn't expect anyone to make a professional decision like this, not in sports, not in life.  Sure, we can all feel for Cleveland fans.  But only in the same way that we feel for any fans when they end up on the wrong end of an opportunity.  The Clippers are cursed, poor Clippers.  Greg Oden just can't stay healthy and Kevin Durant is a much better player than him, poor Portland.  Minnesota has David Kahn, poor Minnesota.  And Cleveland lost their hero, poor Cleveland.  I can't bring myself to blame LeBron for what his decision has done to Cleveland though.

Even in other sports, these decisions are accepted as part of professionalism (MLB, Soccer).  It seems like in this case, the spectacle overshadowed the decision to the extent that Cleveland fans feel betrayed by the spectacle.  In that respect, they might be justified.  But, without the spectacle, a lot of the raw anger and bitterness would have been avoided.  No way Dan Gilbert would have written that letter if it was a simple announcement to change teams.

No matter what LeBron goes on to do with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, his legacy will forever be tainted by the spectacle of this free agency.  If the tapes of Wade's and Bosh's team meetings come out and get made into an ESPN Original Documentary, then it will be even worse.  And although we can't blame BronBron for the decision to change teams, we can certainly blame him for the show.