The Damage left in Lebron’s wake




This has been the most publicized off season in the storied history of the NBA. Lebron James is the most high profile free agent in the history of sports (just ask him). Six different NBA franchises executed organizational plans that were designed around bringing James to their franchise. Only one was successful. As this process played out, James inflicted plenty of damage. And to the same extent, five of the six of these organizations did damage to themselves. As you’ll see in this column, some hurt themselves more than others.

I’m going to divide this column into two parts, the damage that James and his tentacles (advisors, business interests, etc. ) inflicted and the damage that others inflicted upon themselves by hitching their wagon to Lebron Inc. The second part will be how these teams allowed the allure of Lebron Inc to damage their own organizations. Before I proceed, I would like to acknowledge that I had been telling anyone and everyone who would listen (even some that wouldn’t), that James was going back to Cleveland. I was dead wrong. Although, I still believe the smartest move would have been for him to remain in Cleveland for a variety of reasons that are not relevant for the purposes of this column, but I digress. Any criticism that I level at James in this column is not sour grapes. As a Knick fan, I never believed he was coming to New York, even when told that by reliable sources. And I actually am in the minority in believing that Miami’s assemblage of egomaniacs is good for the league. As a society, we like to love, but we love to hate. This version of the Miami Heat have given us a team that’s very easy to hate. That level of hatred will make for compelling theater, which I always favor.


Lebron’s Share


There’s a scene in the movie “A League of their Own” when Geena Davis’ character Dottie Henson is going to leave her baseball team to go home with her husband from Illinois to Oregon right before their World Series is to be played. Tom Hanks’ character, her manager Jimmy Dugan, tells her in his plea to get her to stay, “ I am in no position to tell someone how to live but….” That kind of sums up my feelings about James.

The NBA players association works very hard on the players behalf when they collectively bargain. Free agency is some thing that the players association fights hard for and is successful in accomplishing. If a player, ANY player, becomes a free agent, said player has a collectively bargained right to play wherever said player chooses. I just can’t jump on this bandwagon of criticism directed at James for choosing to play for Miami. As a member of the players association, leaving for Miami was well within his rights. The players association could take issue with the Three AmEGOS, taking less money right before another CBA negotiation, but that’s a discussion for another day. For anyone, especially the Cleveland Cavalier organization, to accuse him of an act of betrayal is patently absurd and unfair. I heard Eric Snow on NBA TV recently make a point that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert ought to look in the mirror when he publicly accosts James for treason considering that he just punted a head coach who led his team to consecutive 60 win seasons with a finals appearance and a conference final appearance in the last 4 years in the name of making James happy. Gilbert threw Mike Brown to the wolves. Karma is a tough broad. Eric Snow has it on target.

I have no issue with Lebron leaving Cleveland. The actual decision to sign with the Miami Heat and join his two friends in and of itself is really beyond reproach. However, there are times in our lives when what we do matters a lot less than how we do it. To say the very least, the methodology that James chose to employ to execute this decision left a lot to be desired.

Throughout this free agency process, the basketball watching world learned a lot more about James than we ever did…or maybe ever cared to. We found out that James was an enormous fan of Family Guy, The Sopranos, and passing wind. Since I don’t watch the Family Guy and I don’t really have any wisdom associated with passing wind, I’m going to use a Sopranos quote to illustrate that Lebron may have been watching, but he definitely wasn’t listening.

In the 12th episode of Season Two of the Sopranos, Tony Soprano is hosting a meeting under a few umbrellas about a particular township garbage contract. As he delivers the news that this contract will not be going to his future brother in law Richie Aprile, he lets Richie know in no uncertain terms, “Those that want respect, give respect.” Keep in mind that later in this same episode, Richie took a bullet from the chest courtesy of Tony’s crazy sister Janice, but I digress. James wants the world to respect his decision. It is very hard to respect a decision made by a person who showed no respect in delivering that decision.

There was no excuse for a one hour TV special. Paying a TV interviewer to lob softballs to you while you announce a decision that begs several difficult questions is disingenuous at best and downright insulting at worst. It’s a transparent tactic. James endorses several products that the basketball watching public purchase regularly. James treated his customer base like ignorant sheep. And ESPN ought to be ashamed of themselves for completely ignoring the line between entertainment and journalism by indulging this conceited child and his empire. On the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio Friday, Stuart Scott spun a tale that Lebron staged this one hour special exclusively for philanthropic reasons. Pull this leg and it plays jingle bells. The worst part about it for ESPN is that if they are asked to participate again in assisting a superstar athlete in contriving a reality show and trying to pass it off as reality, they will say yes again.

The existence of a one hour special to announce something that could have been addressed in a 20 minute press conference on its own is indulgent and nervy. But when you combine that with the role it played in James treating his old team like a dog treats a fire hydrant, you have narcissism at its absolute finest. For the exception of the meeting that the Cavaliers had with James, same as five other teams, Lebron did not have contact with the Cavs organization since the season ended. Dan Gilbert claims to have called and texted several times. Tom Izzo, a bystander in all of this, called because he was a candidate to coach the Cavs. James called no one back. The Cavaliers were informed of James’ decision at 9:01PM the hour the decision was being announced publicly. And Lebron didn’t make the phone call. He was primping for Jim Gray to be his ego’s prostitute. The member of Lebron Inc., who drew the short straw got stuck making the call. And as inappropriate that Gilbert’s open letter to Cavs fans was, I completely understand his anger at the extreme disrespect. This story was leaked first thing Thursday morning. People like Chris Broussard, Stephen A. Smith, Alan Hahn, Michael Wilbon…even Mike Francesa of WFAN in New York knew that James picked Miami before Dan Gilbert knew.

James reserved his worst disrespect for the loyal fans of Cleveland. He’s a hometown boy. He’s supposed to identify with the people of that region. They did not deserve to be collateral damage in a reality show gone bad. They deserved more of an explanation from him than the horse manure he shoveled onto Robin Roberts on Friday’s Good Morning America. James made an analogy to “ending a relationship with a lady” in explaining his decision to Roberts. Now I’ve seen some hit and run artists in my time, but I’ve never seen a guy bail on a 7 year relationship, by not calling anymore and waiting to tell the girl they broke up until 27 minutes before he was about to get engaged to someone else. But Lebron made it all about him. When asked by Rachel Nichols of ESPN if he spoke to anyone with the Cavs personally, is answer was, “I didn’t speak to anyone personally. I wanted it to be all about me. “ If that was the goal, then it was a smashing success.

The saddest part of all is that maybe if Lebron had somebody advising him besides his high school buddies (i.e. yes men) , there was a simple, polite, respectful, and compassionate series of actions James could have taken that could have preserved his image as a likable guy. Firstly, and quite obviously, bag the one hour special. Next, before you even tell your Mom, tell Dan Gilbert face to face. It’s a business decision. Gilbert understands business, even if he doesn’t agree with it. Shake his hand and look him in the eye. Be contrite. Thank him for the last 7 years. He wouldn’t have been happy, but he would have respected the approach. Next, leak it to Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He earned it. Next, announce it in a traditional press conference. Answer the reporters’ questions. Use this forum to celebrate your future. Next, write an open letter to Cleveland fans and put it in a full page ad in the Plain Dealer. Thank them. Reinforce to them that they were great and were not the reason you left. They still might hate you, but deep down they would still respect you. Then, lastly, sell a one hour no holds barred interview to the highest bidder. Answer everything thrown at you with no restrictions on what can be asked. Use an interviewer who’s not on your pay roll. And donate the proceeds to the charity of your choice.

Instead we get the silliest hour in the history of television. We get Dwyane Wade telling an arena full of people that they are the best trio in the history of basketball, even though there is one championship between the three of them and one of them wouldn’t know what the playoffs were if they bit him on his backside. And most of all, we get Lebron on stage wearing that silly headband with diamond earrings. Frankly, he looked like Luke Wilson’s character from the Royal Tennenbaums, Richie Tennenbaum. Richie was the character who tanked the finals of the U.S. Open because he had a crush on his adoptive sister. Insert Delonte West joke here……..


The Price of Chasing Lebron


In reading the abusive and scathing open letter that Dan Gilbert wrote to Cavs fans, there is an anger that comes off the page that seems a little misdirected. No doubt he deservedly felt abused by James. But there is a part of that anger that Gilbert is directing at James that he should be directing at himself. His general manager Danny Ferry did a very poor job of surrounding James with the type of complimentary players From Larry Hughes to Ben Wallace to Mo Williams to Shaquille O’Neal to Antawn Jamison, they could never get him enough help. And in all fairness to James, he’s been saying for at least 2 years that he will explore free agency. They stubbornly held onto J.J. Hickson all of last year when he was clearly a piece who could have brought in help for James.

The acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal was misguided and was a feeble attempt to match up with Dwight Howard. Although James embraced Shaq, you never got the feeling he was all that thrilled with having to play with him. And Shaq’s brick sneakers were a major liability in defending the pick and roll out top. When Ferry did fulfill James’ request and traded for Antawn Jamison, the Cavs identity as a tough half court defensive team was fading. Jamison’s weak defense was a major liability which got exposed even worse once Shaq came back from injury to play next to him. The Cavs did not have Jamison and Shaq together until the start of the playoffs. By the time they realized that these two guarded the rim like those two soldiers guarded the Czechoslovakian border in the movie “Stripes”, the season was slipping away and Lebron was pouting.

They also handled Lebron terribly. They allowed him to break team rules at will. They traded for players he wanted. They allowed his friends to travel with the team. They pressured the coach to give playing to the players Lebron wanted out there. And before you ask the question….yes, my sources are very good. They allowed him to tune out the coach, even to the point of having an assistant coach play go between because Lebron didn’t like the head coach. Yet, they made him accountable for nothing. The Cavs became like an overly permissive parent of a teenager who gets walked all over. As an organization, they didn’t command enough respect from Lebron. It doesn’t absolve Lebron’s actions. But the Cavs are extremely naïve if they don’t examine their own culpability in this organizational disaster.

So, where to from here? Cleveland now has $12 million in cap space. Rumors are abound that Cleveland is talking to Minnesota about Al Jefferson. That would be a hasty foolish move for Cleveland. They have four expiring contracts in Delonte West, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and Sebastian Telfair which, combined with their current $12 million, will give them two open max slots for next year. If they suck it up for a year or two and land in the lottery, the draft picks and cap space will allow them to get it turned around quick, just like Portland did under Kevin Pritchard. To the Cavs credit, they swallowed their pride and did and sign and trade with Miami to grab a max trade exception and two first round draft picks. Cleveland is closer to getting this thing turned around then it appears.

The New York Knicks have undertaken a personnel strategy that was completely focused on getting under the salary cap. Knick GM Donnie Walsh did an extremely efficient job of bringing in players with expiring contracts. And thanks to Donnie’s maneuvers, the Knicks had enough cap space to sign Amare Stoudemire. But make no mistake, the entire strategy was employed to sign James.

This tunnel vision philosophy certainly had its advantages that I will get into shortly. But there was a big price to pay. Now, I am going to spare you the repetitive soliloquy about how misguided a draft pick Jordan Hill was. But, considering that New York was not successful in landing James, it is relevant to revisit the twisted logic behind the disastrous trade deadline deal that moved Jared Jeffries, Hill, and two first rounders for the expiring contract of Tracy McGrady and a much later first rounder. The whole philosophy behind this deal was to create enough cap room to allow James to “bring a friend” as if the Knicks rebuilding process was akin to parents taking their teenager on vacation.

So now that its time to enact Plan B, where has this left the Knicks? Stoudemire was a good signing and one that they needed desperately. And the sign and trade deal that sent David Lee to Golden State was a stroke of genius. Anthony Randolph replaces one of the first rounders that was dealt and has the potential to be a big time player. As far as the trade market is concerned, he qualifies as an asset. Ronny Turiaf will start at center and is a good compliment to Stoudemire. I also really like the signing of point guard Raymond Felton. Although his annual salary is high, the fact that the contract is only a 2 year guarantee allows the Knicks added flexibility. Felton also has a lot of skill. He’s a good defensive player, is adept at getting into the paint in the half court, and shoots very selectively. If they could not get a maximum salary quality player to play point guard, Felton is a great choice.

Acquiring Felton would have been harder without the Jeffries trade, although far from impossible. Jeffries contract expires at the end of this season, just like Eddy Curry’s. In the NBA’s crazy convoluted system (where a retired Rasheed Wallace is an asset because of his contract), Jeffries and Curry qualify as assets. They get a team out from under a longer contract that they no longer care to pay. To sacrifice 2 potentially high first round picks (the Randolph signing cancels out Hill’s inclusion), to dump a contract expiring at the end of next season is a great way to run an organization into the ground. First round picks are insurance against underachieving. The Knicks would be much better off if they didn’t decide that Lebron would be happier here if he got to bring a friend. And this will be the main reason that the best the Knicks can hope for in the next 3 years is to occupy space in NBA no man’s land.

The Chicago Bulls were a team that gave us an all time first round series last season in their 7 game loss to the Boston Celtics. They looked like a team on the rise, but they certainly took a step back this season, even though they lost in the first round again. They made a great decision in last year’s off season in deciding not to re-sign Guard Ben Gordon, who ended up getting absurdly overpaid by Joe Dumars’ Detroit Pistons. Even though they did not have a great year, they still understand that they have a very bright future ahead because of point guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah.

The Bulls decision to clear cap space to make a run at James was the best option for their organization. Rose and Noah provided for a very enticing core. So, midseason, the Bulls shipped out John Salmons for expiring contracts. It hurt them on the court, but it made sense. James alone would have made the Bulls a title contender. And if they didn’t get James, there were other premium players available to them. That end worked out nicely for the Bulls. They didn’t get Lebron, but they were able to sign Carlos Boozer, who is an excellent fit and also makes them a title contender. I also want to give the Bulls a lot of credit for not caving into James’ need for special accommodations. According to Brian Windhorst, the Bulls refused to allow James’ friends to travel with the team. They refused to employ any of James’ friends as the Cavs did. And they made it clear that James was not going to have input on how the franchise was run.

Where the Bulls hurt themselves in their pursuit of James was not as severe as what the Knicks did, but damaging nonetheless. They too fell for the “let Lebron bring a friend” trap. Getting two premium players is a great thing if you can pull it off. Ask Pat Riley, who managed to sign three. However, when that is not a guarantee, a franchise needs to carefully examine what they are going to lose just for the ability to chase a star. In the Bulls case, it was versatile guard Kirk Hinrich. On draft day, the Bulls shipped Hinrich and the # 17 pick in the draft to Washington for essentially nothing (a future 2nd rounder). This created enough cap space that was close to a maximum slot. In the end, the Bulls still only got Boozer. They signed Kyle Korver as well, but they could have done that without trading Hinrich. And even though Washington used their pick on Kevin Seraphin, the Bulls could have easily drafted James Anderson, who was a better fit for them and been much further along in their quest to win a title. The Bulls have signed J.J. Redick to an offer sheet, but all signs point to Orlando matching it, and the Bulls having that cap space tied up for the better part of a week. The Bulls will still be a contender for the Eastern Conference title this year, but they could have been in a much more advantageous position if they did not swing for the fences. No matter who else they bring in, it is going to be a tall order for the player to be an upgrade from Hinrich.

Less than two short months ago, everything was looking up for the New Jersey Nets. It was Tuesday May 18th, 2010 and the Nets were had the best mathematical chance to win the lottery and the right to select the consensus best player in the draft in Kentucky guard John Wall. The Nets had ample cap space to add a premium free agent and Jersey was starting to be considered an attractive free agent destination largely because of their new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. The ping pong balls didn’t fall the Nets way as they ended up with the third pick in a draft when they coveted two players.

In the days leading up to the draft, Jersey GM Rod Thorn feverishly tried to trade the third pick, but in the end selected Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors. Then, less than a week after the draft, the most stable factor within the Nets organization, Rod Thorn, decided to step down as of July 15th. Not only were the Nets going to be making recruiting visits with a lame duck GM, but they needed to embark on a search for a brand new GM. Essentially, after planning for two years to be players in the 2010 free agent market, they were completely neutralized less than a week before the process began. When the Nets should have been talking to Amare Stoudemire and Carlos Boozer, they were talking to Jeff Bower and Joe Dumars. Now, don’t get me wrong. The Nets had conversations with Stoudemire with Boozer. They even made Boozer an offer. But they inexplicably came up short on the money and lost him to Chicago.

Instead the Nets have chosen to spend this cap space on a potpourri of role players who have never really done anything in the league. They gave Travis Outlaw $7 million a year. Outlaw has had his moments. He can shoot and defend a little, but he hasn’t been healthy and he hasn’t been consistent. They acquired in a sign and trade a one dimensional player in Anthony Morrow for $4 million a year. Morrow can shoot, but he’s an off guard who can’t defend. They signed center Johan Petro, who got eaten alive in the playoffs by Utah’s second AND third string centers for $3 million a year. And they signed former Laker point guard Jordan Farmar for $4 million a year. As much as I’d like to criticize this signing, I really do like Farmar. My problem with the whole thing is that the Lakers are paying the pu-pu platter of Outlaw, Morrow, Petro, and Farmar almost the equivalent of one max contract. These are four players who should be the 7th,8th,9th, and 10th players on their team. They waited for Lebron with all of this salary cap space and they appear to have squandered a great deal of it. Its great to build a bench, but generally the starting lineup is a little more important. This does not appear to be an auspicious start for Comrade Prokhorov.

Speaking of Prokhorov, I kind of figure that he had to do something pretty bad to Thorn for Thorn to leave him in the lurch the way he did. My guess is that it had something to do with not trading the Favors pick because all I hear out of Net land is that the Nets need to sign a power forward. I hate to be the master of the obvious, but they didn’t they just use the third pick in the draft on a power forward. I’m trying to reserve judgment until their roster is complete, but it is not easy. The signing of Farmar could signal that a Devin Harris trade is coming. Avery Johnson tells the media that Harris is like a son to him, then as soon as the microphones are turned off and the pens are put away, he tells whoever will listen that he wants Harris dealt.

The Los Angeles Clippers probably emerged from their failed pursuit of Lebron with the least amount of damage as anybody and there is a very simple reason why. They never really had a chance in the first place and they knew it. Sure, they cleared a max slot and they had a meeting with Lebron, but they knew he wasn’t coming. Unfortunately for the Clippers, they used some of that cap space to sign Minnesota rejects Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes. Foye is an off guard in a point guard’s body and Gomes can score but has not shown much of an inclination to pass or defend. With the pending return of Blake Griffin, the Clippers may have been better off doing nothing and rolling over the cap space to next year. It would have been smarter to give Griffin a year to prove himself and maybe they would be in a position next year to bring in more of a premium player through free agency or in a trade.

And now to the victor, go the spoils. The one team that hit the lottery in this whole bonanza was the Miami Heat. Their President and GM Pat Riley pulled off a coup for the ages. For that he deserves a mountain of credit. It also begs the question, will the Heat be able to win next June like they just won this July.

My short answer is no. I certainly would like to see what kind of group Riley is able to bring in to surround Batman, Captain America and Aqua Man. I refer to Bosh as Aqua Man because he’s the super hero who’s never saved anyone, but I digress. Eventually this group may win a title, but I don’t believe its going to happen next year. I think the Celtics and maybe even the Bulls can match up with them well. And if they do reach the finals, I believe that they cannot play defense well enough to beat the Lakers.

One last thought on the combination of James, Wade, and Bosh. In the interviews they have done since they made a decision to play together, they have frequently referenced their experience together on the 2008 USA Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal. The one prevailing thought that I can’t shake about that reference, is that would these three guys still think that they had such a great experience winning together if Kobe Bryant didn’t bail them out and take over in the last 3 minutes of the gold medal game against Spain?

I’ll be back next week with my own unique perspective on who signed good contracts and who signed bad ones. Giddyap. Y’all be cool.