Panther's Perspective

I am fully aware that football season is upon us and that the NBA season doesn't start for another month and a half, but I felt the need to write about LeBron James' summer for my first Panther's Perspective of the school year because it is mind boggling to me how botched it was.  This off-season was one of the most highly anticipated off-season's in recent memory for any sport let alone the NBA, and seeing how LeBron James strung everyone along for the ride, he must have loved it.  

The off-season began for LeBron when the number one seeded Cavaliers were shocked by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.  LeBron was suspiciously non-existent in the closing games of that series which made a lot of people, including myself, wonder how such a great player could go missing in such crucial games.  There are a handful of Cavalier fans that are convinced LeBron purposely threw that series because by getting upset yet again in the playoffs, LeBron would be more enabled to leave Cleveland for greener pastures.  By losing prematurely (again) in the playoffs; LeBron could use that as an excuse to leave Cleveland and go to a place where he could win multiple championships (all of which he did).

LeBron then put on an hour-long charade on ESPN to announce his decision that took all of fifteen seconds to announce.  Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy put it best when he stated, "It's gotten ridiculous. It's almost like a parody of itself, this whole situation now. Come on, an hour long? It takes fifteen seconds."  Not only did LeBron play into his own hype with the hour long television special, but what's worse is that he didn't even let the team that had employed him for the last seven years know about his decision ahead of time.  Cleveland Cavalier's owner Dan Gilbert found out where LeBron was going the same way you and I found out.  It was completely classless and bush league on LeBron's part.

What I don't understand is why LeBron chose Miami.  By choosing to play on an all-star team in Miami, LeBron put himself in a lose-lose situation.  If he fails to win a championship, he'll be looked upon as a choker; and if he wins multiple titles, it won't be that big of a deal because he is supposed to win multiple titles playing on an all-star team.  By choosing to play alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, LeBron will never be able to be put into the same category as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.  Jordan and Bryant never left their teams to chase a ring.  And Jordan and Bryant both have won multiple championships being "the man" on their respective teams.  

You know it's gotten bad when Michael Jordan joined the party when it came to bashing James.  A couple of weeks after his decision, Jordan came out and stated, "I never wanted to play with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, I wanted to beat them."