As a Miami HEAT fan, reading the title of this post may strike many as just a classic case of sour grapes after LeBron’s decision to go back to Cleveland. I can understand that. However, a look at the big picture should put it all in perspective.
Back in 2010, when Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh announced that they were signing with the Miami HEAT, I was very happy. At that point, LeBron could go play in China for all I cared. You see, he always struck me as self-absorbed, self-centered, egotistical, entitled, and narcissistic.
But of course, we all know what happened next. Shortly after Wade and Bosh made their announcement, LeBron made his. Now don’t get me wrong. I never liked LeBron, but I was excited about the possibilities. After all, here were three of the best players in the NBA coming to play for my hometown team!
And when I read Dan Gilbert’s letter, ill-advised as it may have been, I actually understood what he meant. I saw LeBron’s behavior in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference finals. I also felt that he quit on his team, even before I read the letter. Because when you want all the glory when things go right but none of the blame when things go wrong, that’s what you do when adversity strikes: you quit! Still, he brought his “talents to South Beach” and that was good enough to not think about all that other stuff too much, especially when watching the Big 3 at their best. I was always aware that the Miami HEAT had put together something quite special, and I never took it for granted.
Fast-forward to 2014. The HEAT just got their asses handed to them by the Spurs in the NBA Finals. And as early as LeBron’s post-game interview, I can see that same detachment I saw in 2010. The dude’s already got one foot out the door, I thought.
And so on the morning of July 11, 2014, LeBron made his big announcement that he’s going back to Cleveland. And like so many others, I tuned into ESPN to watch the coverage. I went on SI.com to read his statement. I went on Twitter to gauge people’s reactions. And I started feeling quite bothered by it all. Not because LeBron left Miami. Sure, I would’ve preferred for him to stay with the HEAT than go anywhere else. What really bothered me was the narrative, which in turn fed into the national conversation. I saw LeBron’s Instagram post “I’m Coming Home” and kept hearing and reading things like “redemption” and “doing the right thing” and “the best possible story” and “making everything right” when people discussed LeBron’s return to Cleveland.
How could people be so naive, I thought? Is American society so empty and vapid that people will grab on to this overt display of cynical opportunism and call it a good thing? Does anybody really believe LeBron is “going home” because his “relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball”? Is this relationship so big that he would’ve left Miami to “inspire” Cleveland if the HEAT had just won their 3rd or 4th championship in a row? Does anybody really believe he would’ve gone to “give them hope” if the Cavaliers hadn’t spent the last four years stocking up on talented young players? If you believe any of those things, then you probably also believe that Dan Gilbert giving LeBron’s gang of cronies a lot more leeway than Micky Arison and Pat Riley ever did didn’t have anything to do with LeBron’s decision, either. And yet, of all the reasons for LeBron to go back, the opportunity for LeBron’s crew to basically run the show in Northeast Ohio is probably the biggest of them all. This has absolutely nothing to do with sentiment and emotion and everything to do with Machiavellian machinations.
The bottom line is, yes, LeBron is going back to Northeast Ohio, and that’s home to him. But to focus on that as some sort of feel-good story and simultaneously ignore what are probably the real motivating factors is the worst kind of ignorance: the willful kind! To see things the way they really are does not make one a cynic. The one who acts selfishly and opportunistically but pretends otherwise is the real cynic… and the ultimate hypocrite!
And that’s why I never liked LeBron!
