LeBron learns plenty in year after 'Decision'

LeBron learns plenty in year after 'Decision'




One year ago today, wearing a purple-and-white checkered shirt and a look as uncomfortable as the year he was about to unleash, LeBron James went on live television, uttered the following words and changed everything.

"This is very tough," he said. "This fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat."

Yes, no doubt, The Decision was tough. LeBron was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers after seven seasons as its star player. He was leaving his hometown of Akron. He was letting a lot of people down.

All of that was surely difficult.

Just not as difficult as what was about to unfold.

It turned out The Decision wasn't the easy route LeBron had envisioned to "not one, not two ... not seven championships."

Instead, The Decision turned out to be a complete rewrite of the NBA and how (despite Dallas' ultimate triumph) its stars believe they now must cluster together to try and dominate a league still boasting a Big Three.

The Decision was also a total rewrite of life as LeBron knew it. That grimace-worthy announcement became an ugly, anger-inducing kickoff of a yearlong foray into public-relations ineptitude and recurring frustration and doubt. It ultimately ended with a historic choke job in the NBA Finals.

This story had it all: News, drama, arrogance and the ensuing rage of Cleveland fans coupled with the less intense, but equally lasting frustration of most everyone else.

All of these things happened when King James transformed himself into more rascal than royalty, when he changed the NBA right along with him and when an announcement that was meant to earn money for children and trumpet the next stage of his career instead became a punch line.

Assassinating his own reputation on national television – and morphing from arguably one of the world's most talented athletes to certainly its most interesting – also offered insight into a coming year that would further batter his reputation and psyche.

It did not take long for the wheels to start coming off.

Everything The Decision had shown about LeBron – the recklessness, an inability to grasp the consequences that stem from unchecked pride and ego, pressure's impact on him, the deep-seated fear of not winning a title that drove him from home and into the arms of Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade – began to emerge in real life like some kind of grotesque reality show.

LeBron and the Heat got off to a rocky 9-8 start, which bred bickering and doubt and foreshadowed the brutal meltdown they would endure in the Finals eight months later. LeBron bumped his head coach. A story was leaked, clearly by someone in LeBron's camp, which had the intention of getting coach Erik Spoelstra fired.

The season continued, and so did LeBron's mistakes.

LeBron tweeted that the woeful Cavaliers, the team he'd scorned, deserved an early-season 55-point beat down at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers because of "karma."

He too often displayed poorly concealed contempt for his coach. He told reporters he thought contraction was a swell idea, forgetting that with contraction would come more suffering for more fans who would have to watch something they loved about their city leave.

That fact, you know, LeBron probably should have been in tune with by then.

He launched a cartoon featuring multiple versions of himself that seemed as narcissistic as his staunchest critics claimed him to be. He was booed everywhere he went. It went so poorly for him, he said he'd accepted the fact he was a villain.

And, largely dismissed but ultimately critical, he often failed when it was his turn to try to close out games in the regular season.

All the while, opposing teams didn't just want to beat LeBron and the Heat. They wanted to humiliate them. Pundits reveled in the chance to put him in his place. Even retired Hall of Fame players seemed to take quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) joy in LeBron's struggles.

Forget The Decision. In its aftermath, LeBron experienced The Descent – a season-long plummet from beloved athlete to reviled bad guy.

And then the Heat started to win. And gel (even LeBron and Spoelstra, who formed a genuine bond with each other late in the season). And redemption, sweet redemption, seemed more and more certain as Miami and its star player dispatched Philadelphia, Boston and then Chicago from the playoffs.

With last month's NBA Finals featuring a confident-seeming LeBron James and his hard-charging Miami Heat against an older Dallas Mavericks team, The King seemed certain to claim his crown, the people's love and a royal place in the game of basketball.

And then came the worst part of all, final proof that The Decision was (for now) the start of a tragedy rather than a triumph.

In June, with his ultimate goal of winning it all so close, LeBron unveiled The Collapse.

LeBron simply vanished from the Finals, particularly in fourth quarters. With games on the line – with a championship riding on his play as time ticked toward zero – he might as well have been me out there. And so it was Dirk Nowitzki who took on the mantel of champion, Dirk who basked in redemption, Dirk who got the love.

And it was LeBron, in the moments after his historically poor Finals performance, who seemed to criticize most everyone else when he pointed out they'd have to go back to their lives and problems.

That brings us back to the beginning, to Friday's anniversary of The Decision and to its stark reminder of how thoroughly one of Earth's most talented athletes has been changed by his own words and choices.

One year ago Thursday, LeBron James was a beloved star.

One year ago Friday, LeBron James was a loathed athlete.

Today he is still that, only with the title of historic choker added to his résumé.

Odds are Friday's anniversary will usher in something just as compelling for him. Will it be a chastised and highly motivated LeBron quietly working so hard on his game that redemption surely follows, or, instead, another season watching a tottering talent stumble once more?

Either way, everyone other than the self-proclaimed Chosen One – the Heat, the NBA, fans – have benefited from The Decision.

The past 365 days of LeBron James and the NBA were a villain's tale that captivated the sporting world. Perhaps the next 365 will turn into an equally powerful story of redemption and lessons learned

LeBron James buys huge Miami mansion

LeBron James is obviously a selfish jerk who only cares about his own fame and fortune. But like every other living breathing human being, he needs a roof over his head and a place for other people to make him delicious food.

James isn't planning on leaving Miami anytime soon, no matter how many losses the Heat rack up in the early going. So he bought a house. In case you were wondering, it is extremely nice.

The specifics, from FXRealty.net:

Yachter's Paradise. Bayfront, contemporary, 6BR, 8.5BA, 12,178 SF 3-floor estate has water views from every room. 2nd floor has living & dining rms, gourmet kitchen, wine cellar, paneled library, great room w/bar & home theater. 3rd floor has balconied master suite with 2 baths and dressing rooms plus 3 bedrooms, guest suite and guest house. State-of-the-art A/V, security, lighting, exclusive amenities, infinity pool and bar, 3 wetbars, summer kitchen, generator and concrete dock for two 60 ft yachts.

The Miami Herald reports the house cost him $9 million and that it's ballerific.

The 12,178-square-foot estate, at 3590 Crystal View Ct., has six bedrooms and eight and a half bathrooms and boasts water views from every room. There's a wine cellar, library, home theater, three-car garage and guest house. Outside, there's an infinity pool and bar and a dock that can fit two 60-foot yachts.


AllMiamiRealEstate.com paints an even prettier picture.

The 1st floor has a handcrafted, mahogany paneled library, living and dining rooms, bayfront Great Room with custom wet bar and Nana Wall wood-framed wall system that opens the Great Room to the terrace for a continuous indoor/outdoor space, a gourmet kitchen with mahogany cabinetry, two granite countertop islands, commercial-style Wolf gas range, three ovens, two Bosch dishwashers, two Sub-Zero refrigerators, breakfast area, custom-made wine cellar, magnificent laundry room with two washers and two steam-dry dryers, opulent powder room with gold leaf and Nacar Dorado on walls and fossil encrusted marble countertop, custom theater with all-leather seats, acoustical panels, private bar, bath and seating area.
On the 2nd floor, the grand bayfront master suite has covered terrace and private sundeck, His and Hers white onyx baths with Duravit, Hansgrohe, Kohler fixtures and Victoria Albert Napoli freestanding tub. On the same level, there are three more bedrooms with private terraces and balconies, decorator-designed bathrooms with gorgeous marbles, custom-made closets, and a mini bar with Sub-Zero and microwave. There is also an impressive guest suite with two walk-in closets, marble bath with free-standing tub and two separate sink consoles. Pass through a large two-story breezeway to access the private balconied guest house with a lofty foyer, gracious bedroom complete with mini bar with Sub-Zero refrigerator and microwave, large walk-in closet and soothing Ming green bathroom, and free-standing tub.

LeBron-James-bashes-Trent-Dilfer-on-Twitter

LeBron James is a sensitive soul, so sensitive, in fact, that his thin skin extends to other star athletes who are getting criticized. The two-time NBA MVP was watching "SportsCenter" the other night when he saw NFL analyst Trent Dilfer(notes) breaking down Peyton Manning's(notes) recent disappointing performances. As Manning has thrown eight interceptions in three straight losses, Dilfer obviously wasn't too complimentary with his remarks.

So fired up was LeBron about this, that his thoughts stretched out over two Tweets. (140 characters can't hold him!):

Cavaliers probing Heat’s signing of James

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has hired a law firm to investigate whether the Heat violated NBA rules in their recruitment of LeBron James.By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
Dec 1,



CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a high-powered Midwestern law firm to investigate their suspicions that the Miami Heat broke NBA tampering rules while pursuing LeBron James(notes), and owner Dan Gilbert has privately vowed he won’t relent until he has a thick binder of findings to drop on the desk of the NBA commissioner, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The NBA won’t launch an investigation into a tampering case without a formal request from a team, but sources say Gilbert’s plan is to give commissioner David Stern a detailed case that includes meetings, phone calls and contingency plans that date as far back as 2008. Gilbert will implore Stern to use his powers as commissioner to get access to phone records and testimony of key people surrounding Heat president Pat Riley, James and others potentially involved.


Gilbert will spare no expense to uncover whatever evidence he can to take to the league office, two sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Yahoo! Sports. The law firm staff includes several former prosecutors with backgrounds in investigating and constructing cases, sources said.

Prior to the start of free agency on July 1, no Miami Heat representative – including star Dwyane Wade(notes) – was allowed to discuss with James the specific circumstances around Wade, Toronto’s Chris Bosh(notes) and James joining together with the Heat.


[Rewind: Gilbert attacks James in letter]


One focus of the law firm’s probe includes an alleged Riley-James meeting in Miami in November 2009, and a meeting of James’ inner circle with Wade in Chicago in June 2010, sources said.

Riley, James, Wade and Bosh have denied there was a predetermined collusion in the historic free-agent binge, although the players have admitted to discussing the possibility of playing together as far back as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

When approached about the story on Tuesday night at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, Gilbert declined to answer questions from Yahoo! Sports.

As one league source told Yahoo! Sports: The Cavs are “determined to get everything out there. They’re not letting go of this. They’re not going to just let this die.”

Potential penalties for tampering could include front-office suspensions, fines and losses of draft picks. Many teams are suspicious of the league office’s desire to investigate these kind of cases because of the potential embarrassment to the league.

This revelation makes for one more dramatic storyline to James’ return to Cleveland on Thursday night. Gilbert escalated Cleveland’s fervor over losing James when he issued a scathing email about James on the night of the two-time MVP’s television decision. For that diatribe, Stern fined Gilbert $100,000

LeBron compares himself to Brett Farve

LeBron's football follies: Favre comparison, heckled by Browns fans
By Kelly Dwyer



If you needed any further proof into how out of its gourd LeBron James'(notes) marketing "company" is, here is your latest example. James has now taken to likening his situation to that of Brett Favre's departure from Green Bay. Because that turned out so well.

And it's an insight into how little Maverick Carter has prepped this guy for how life works in the real world, and what people actually think of LeBron these days.

Rather despised, around the sporting world, LeBron? Just find the only guy in sports with a lower favorability rating than you, and dream up your own comparison to the guy just because you feel guilty about leaving Cleveland Cavalier fans in the lurch.


Via Pro Basketball Talk and the Huffington Post, here is what LBJ said to the Associated Press Monday while in Wisconsin to play the Milwaukee Bucks:

"Brett (had) great years here in Green Bay, and any time a great competitor like that leaves, no one wants to see that, but they've done a great job of regrouping with Aaron Rodgers and I believe that Cleveland will do the same," James said.

Come on, man. COME ON. So many of those.


Nobody likes Brett Favre, LeBron. Any time the guy takes a hit in a football game, the entire Internet chortles with unabashed glee. And while it's nice that you feel guilty and are hoping the Cavs find their own Aaron Rodgers, this isn't really helping a city whose main concern is finding its own Aaron Rodgers-type for its football team, much less basketball outfit. I think you became familiar with a few of these fans the other day (from the New York Post):

The pack of 30 Browns fans, who were in town to see their team take on the Dolphins, chanted, "Traitor, traitor," inside the restaurant Saturday night, and were asked to leave. The rowdies waited outside to continue harassing former Cavalier James, who was forced to sneak into his car to avoid a confrontation. James' reps didn't get back to us.

Also, LeBron? When you're in Los Angeles to play the Lakers or Clippers, try to refrain from comparing your situation to that of Mel Gibson's. Or Fatty Arbuckle's, even.

http://queenjames23.com/

http://queenjames23.com/

'What Should Lebron Do?' Spoofs 11/22/2010 5:13:42 PM

'What Should Lebron Do?' Spoofs 11/22/2010 5:13:42 PM
The Nike ad in which former Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James asks repeatedly, "What should I do?" has inspired numerous spoofs attracting millions of viewers to YouTube.