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Entries in Lebron James (37)

Saturday
Jul102010

LeBron James Hopes For Better Sex From Miami

LeBron James By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

When I was 21, long before Blackberrys and easy stalking, I had to use my wall-mounted Sports Illustrated sneaker phone to try to find my girlfriend on Memorial Day weekend.

I finally caught up to her I think on Sunday or Monday. We were students at the University of Cincinnati, and she was a native of Dayton, just an hour up the road. She may have even fucked known Kirk Herbstreit.

It took me calling her off-campus apartment for 48 straight hours before I finally reached her at her mother's home in Dayton. She told me she went to a wedding with an ex-boyfriend.


MORE: Complete LeBron James Coverage


Needless to say, this particular telephone conversation was the break-up conversation. After she concluded her I'm-dumping-you speech -- I repeat: after she concluded her I'm-dumping-you speech -- she then told me I didn't make her happy in bed.

In the long run it actually was somewhat beneficial to hear such a terrible thing. I'd like to think subsequent girlfriends enjoyed being with a guy who learned -- better late than never -- the importance of being attentive and unselfish.


ALSO: World Cup Coverage From One Great Season


But the salt in the gaping wound still was painful, far more painful than losing a girl whose west-pointing left nipple resembled a dog's chew toy. And this is the breakup in my dating history that most closely resembles the unnecessarily ugly split between LeBron James and my beloved hometown of Cleveland.

I don't mind that a star athlete chose to take his prime to another team because he feels he has a better chance to win multiple championships there. Sure it's disappointing but it's logical and most of us would do the same thing.

Some have written that LeBron didn't owe Cleveland anything. He made that franchise what it had become and he made owner Dan Gilbert many millions of dollars. While the self-proclaimed King James didn't owe that desperate city more years, I can't say he owed it nothing. LeBron owed them respect and grace and he thoroughly failed in that endeavor.

He and his camp planned a nasty divorce and in front of millions of ESPN viewers, LeBron James told the nation that Cleveland didn't make him happy in bed.

By all means, make an unpopular decision if you must, but please know that Cleveland deserves far better than what you did to it on Thursday night.

Thursday
Jul082010

List: Who Thinks LeBron James Is An Attention Whore?

LeBron James

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

According to a source, the following is a partial list of people who think LeBron James is an attention whore:

+ Heidi Montag
+ Carmen Electra
+ Julia Allison
+ Jon and Kate Gosselin
+ Everyone Named Kardashian
+ Snooki
+ Every Real Housewife
+ Lindsay Lohan
+ Bobby Trendy
+ Vuvuzelas
+ Debrahlee Lorenzana
+ Carson Kressley
+ Chad Ochocinco
+ The Situation
+ Rachel Uchitel
+ Alex Rodriguez's perfect hair, orange face, purple lips and overall girlish look
+ Alex Rodriguez
+ Ashley Alexandra Dupre
+ Terrell Owens
+ Tila Tequila
+ 24-year-old single hot NYC girl
+ 25-year-old single hot NYC girl

Thursday
Jul082010

LeBron James: I Have Some Questions For You

LeBron James By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Dear LeBron:

I saw on your Twitter page Thursday morning that you opened the floor for questions, assuring your followers that you'll try to answer some of them during your self-orchestrated LeBron-A-Thon on cable television later this evening.

As you might imagine, some people have questions for you that they can't fit into a 140-character Tweet, so I'm just going to post mine right here. I know you like to check One Great Season from time to time. You ready?

+ Who is advising you? Kim Etheredge? If you're staying in Cleveland, then put Cavs fans out of their misery and say so. If you're leaving Cleveland, is a one-hour ESPN special the best way to say goodbye to a city and an organization that have been so loyal to you?

+ Can you picture Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant planning -- and naming -- a television special to make such an announcement?

+ If championships are more important than money, as you claim, is maximum talent definitely the right answer? One thing I've always recognized in champions of team sports is that they always have impressive chemistry. Can you and two other superstars share just one basketball -- and for those mindful of ego -- and one spotlight? That team and that town belong to Dwyane Wade. Are you prepared for that?

+ There's nothing wrong with wanting to take your career elsewhere while you're still in your prime. Sheesh, I left the Midwest for a job in New York at age 35. But you realize that a frail town like Cleveland, with its heartbreaking history of sports almosts, probably is the last city you'd want to do this to, right? There's got to be a better way to leave than to orchestrate a nationally televised circus and all the sideshow carnival acts leading up to it. You're seriously going to string Ohioans along like this?

+ You've sent four Tweets since joining Twitter this week. Do you realize that there's no humility in any of them?

+ I don't disagree with Chris Broussard's fair take that an hour-long special is fitting considering how we've hyped your impending free agency for two full years. It is certainly proportionate. But LeBron, didn't the show idea come from you or someone in your camp? Are you or ESPN making money after the check goes to the Boys & Girls Club?

+ On a side note, wasn't it funny when Amar'e Stoudemire put on a Knicks cap the other day and proclaimed, "The Knicks are back?"

+ OK, back to you, which is where I know you prefer things to be. Anyone remotely familiar with the great game of basketball should know a little something about John Wooden, the legendary UCLA coach who died last month. Do you think he'd support a circus like this? Do you think you're not setting the worst example possible for future sporting divas who think they have some significant development to share?

+ Do you have good home insurance in Akron?

Thursday
Jul082010

The 11 Words Or Phrases LeBron James Will Use The Most Tonight

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

LeBron James Below are the words or phrases you can expect to hear the most during the LeBron-A-Thon on ESPN Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET:

+ Myself
+ LeBron James
+ My Family
+ My Fans
+ My Home
+ Miami Heat
+ Speculation
+ Rumors
+ Media
+ Privacy
+ Not About The Money

Thursday
Jul082010

Is LeBron James Really Only 25 Years Old?

LeBron James

Though He Sure As Hell
Doesn't Act Like It,
NBA Star Looks 35

By CAT SUPERNAVAGE
One Great Season

Of all of the LeBron James facts, stats and blurbs I've read this week, the only one I remember is this one: "LeBron James is 25 years old."

I remember it not because he is a gleaming pillar of achievement to be admired for the amount he has accomplished in his short life through perseverance and hard work. I remember it because there is no way that LeBron James is 25 years old.


ALSO: Complete World Cup Coverage


If asked a week ago, I would have said he was 35. I know nothing of the average age of a basketball player, or how long James has been playing, or when he was first signed. And it's irrelevant anyway; he just looks 35.

Add that to my own recollections of being 25: living paycheck-to-paycheck, happy hours and hangovers, roommates and IKEA furniture. Still surprised I didn’t get summers off. But I guess comparison is the wrong approach.

Maybe I'm supposed to just bathe in his youthful fame: the young celebrity toying with the emotions of entire cities; "The Decision" to call a press conference to formally announce his next job.

He's got some gigantic stones, that LeBron James. And as far as the Heat or the Bulls or maybe even the Cavs are concerned, maybe he should have a birth certificate handy as well. Either way, I'd like to be there the day he realizes the world no longer revolves around those stones. Which could very well be tomorrow.

Wednesday
Jul072010

Twitter Recap: Who's Saying What About LeBron?

LeBron James

NBA Star Getting Blasted
All Over The Internet

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

LeBron James is getting killed in the bloggersphere Wednesday. Here's what some are saying on Twitter about the basketball star, who plans to announce his NBA future in a one-hour special on ESPN Thursday night at 9 p.m:

@ramzyn: "My sources say destroying a fanatical sports town can be done safely IF the detonator does it in plain sight while donating to charity."


ALSO: Complete World Cup Coverage


@realfreemancbs: "'Dear Cleveland: You guys okay out there? Anything I can do to help?' Signed, Art Modell."

@Justin_Stangel: "LeBron Special Prediction: 5 Seconds after LeBron James announces he's not signing w/ Knicks, Cablevision drops ESPN."

@AndyResnik: "I bet ESPN is currently updating its Cleveland sports heartbreak montage."

@TheSportsHernia: "FIFA to LeBron: Please fuck yourself"

@HowardKurtz: "LeBron overload: Not since Babe Ruth left Boston has there been this kinda hype over an athlete. And one with no championship ring."

@THE_DANNY_FAIRY: "Are any downtown CLE hotels offering a Looter Discount for tomorrow night?"

@SethDavisHoops: "Gosh @KingJames you really think a TV special is enough? Maybe 3D closed circuit show? Write it in fireworks? Pathetic need for attention."

@wsjcouch: "Can someone send Mick Jagger to LeBron's announcement?"

@NunesMagician: "If LeBron does go to the Knicks, no way Andy Rautins will stand anywhere near him during the chalk toss. Not after the hair gel sets. "

@MikeVacc: "If you're the Nets, wanting LeBron and settling for David Lee is like wanting Eddie Vedder and settling for David Lee Roth."

@countingcrows: "God, I am SOOOOO tired of all the media frenzy. We're proud to announce LeBron James has decided to play with Counting Crows."

@dpshow: "I would love to see Favre announce his retirement at 8:55pm on Thursday night."

@AndyHutchins: "Essential difference between Durant and LeBron: You root for KD because of KD, and LeBron in spite of LeBron."

@FisolaNYDN: "Too bad LeBron didn't put this much thought and energy into Game 5 against Boston."

@SI_ChrisBallard: "Funny that LeBron, who is so caught up with managing his public image, just got a lesson on how to do it from Durant, who is not."

@buzzbissinger: "Do we literally need a minute by minute update to The Decision as LeBron team calls it? Of course we don't. A sickening farce. PR orgie fest."

@fitch87: "@jemelehill I think lebron should take the top three teams and give them roses like the bachelor."

@aimclemson: "LeBron has the right to do what he wants to with his future, but this has become a circus, plain and simple. What's wrong w/simple presser?"

@PDcavsinsider: "Suddenly it is clear to me. LeBron has changed. A new website. Starting Twitter. This announcement. This isn't the guy I know."

@sharapovasthigh: "And if even if he wins 6 now, everybody will say it's because of him, Wade, & Bosh together, not him leading a team to the titles."

Tuesday
Jul062010

LeBron James: Is He Annoying You, Too?

LeBron James

King Of Queens Loving
Attention From NBA Suitors

By BEN JACKEY
One Great Season

Just make it stop.

It's worse than a month of vuvuzelas. It's worse than the Brett Favre will-he-or-won't-he stories. It's worse than listening to Chris Berman talk about, well, anything.

This nauseating media frenzy can all end if a 25-year-old starts acting like a man.


ALSO: Complete World Cup Coverage


It's time to grow up, LeBron. I know you love the spotlight. I know you love the attention. But this is just absurd. I'm sure your ego is getting a kick out of the parade of executives to your business headquarters, (Thanks for getting dressed up, by the way; nice shorts and sweatpants) the reports about who's having dinner with whom and the hundreds of people lining the streets of Cleveland pleading for you and your economic impact to stay. If your ego was only 99 percent sure of the notion that the NBA revolves around you, these last two weeks have cemented it. So, now that all the hot chicks have shown that they want you and can't live without you. It's time to choose one of them.

It's time to grow up, LeBron. An ESPN special to announce your decision? Could you be any more full of yourself? By now, you know good and well where you'll be getting every fricking foul call in your favor for the next five years. Man up. Call a press conference right now and say, "I'm staying." Or, say, "I want to be a winner, so I'm leaving this dismal town, this Zagreb of the Midwest, and its history of sporting mediocrity," and then push the proverbial lever that blows up what was once a revived downtown Cleveland.

It's time to grow up, LeBron. There's no need to draw this out longer if you're staying. Your fans don't deserve it. There's no need to appear to be struggling with a decision to make the blow to the city of Cleveland any more palatable. No one will begrudge you for leaving. I can't stand you and I wouldn't even be mad at you. Your ego needs a big market where you can win rings, and you can't do that at home. Kevin Garnett said it best: "Loyalty is something that hurts you at times, because you can't get youth back." But you can stop behaving like a teenager.

Click here for Ben's bio and an archive of his previous stories.

Thursday
Jul012010

NBA Free Agency: Let The Drama Begin

LeBron James

Hype For 2010 Class
Began Two Years Ago

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

My opinions are worthless on LeBron James, so I'll get right to it. Here's a collection of some of the better stories about NBA free agency today now that dollar days have finally arrived:

+ Q&A: Where Will Top Free Agents Land? -- ESPN.com

+ Knicks' Biggest Game? Landing LeBron -- Ian O'Connor, ESPNNewYork.com

+ Chicago Is Ready For A New King -- Jon Greenberg, ESPNChicago.com

+ Breaking Down How LeBron And The Cavaliers Got To This Point -- Brian Windhorst, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

+ Wade, Heat Will Be The Big Winners -- Israel Gutierrez, The Miami Herald

+ Bulls GM Gar Forman Must Deliver Signature Moment -- David Haugh, The Chicago Sun Times

+ Raptors Have A Bit Of Leverage -- Michael Grange, The Toronto Globe And Mail

+ NBA Free Agency Begins When LeBron James Says It Begins -- Evans Clinchy, NESN.com

+ Cash Likely Keeps LeBron In Cleveland -- Peter Vecsey, The New York Post

+ Gallery: Biggest Free-Agent Signings In Sports History -- New York Daily News

+ Capsules: Sizing Up The NBA Free Agent Class -- USA Today

+ Pros, Cons Of Teams Hoping For Big Signings -- Chris Mannix, SI.com

+ Are Johnson, Stoudemire Enough For Knicks? --Bethlehem Shoals, Fanhouse.com

+ End To This Free-Agency Saga Thankfully Near -- Phil Taylor, SI.com

Monday
May312010

Is Paul Pierce The NBA's Third-Best Player?

Paul Pierce

Celtics' Star Just As
Dangerous As LeBron, Kobe

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

If LeBron James is the reigning two-time MVP and Kobe Bryant is going for his fifth NBA championship, what do we do with Paul Pierce?

Surely I considered him one of the better forwards in the NBA prior to the 2007-08 season. Then, after watching him lead the Big Three and the Celtics to the NBA championship that year, it was difficult not to consider Pierce an elite player.

And he's struck again this postseason. After a pair of lukewarm games early in the Cleveland series, Pierce got back on track and carried the Cs to the Eastern Conference semifinal-round triumph.


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+ NBA: Cleveland Needs To Show LeBron Some Love Now
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And he was just as dominant in the conference finals at Orlando, leading visiting Boston to a pair of wins in Games 1 and 2, then saving his best effort for the sixth and final game of the series in which he had 31 points and 13 rebounds in a blowout of the Magic.

Pierce can beat you many ways on the offensive end. He's got good enough range to be considered a serious threat from three-point range, he can knock  down the mid-range elbow jumper, he can slash or at least craft his way to the basket and he can bang underneath for some garbage scraps. He truly is a quadruple threat, and he's not a bad defender on the other end. And though he never smiles, he plays with huge heart and passion and that does matter.

While the NBA's great debate continues to ask one simple question -- LeBron or Kobe? -- I think it's time we start to recognize that Pierce just might be the league's third-best player.

Tuesday
May252010

Cleveland Needs To Show LeBron Some Love Now

LeBron James

Drastic Times Call For
Drastic Fawning Over LBJ

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's been nearly two weeks since the Cavaliers completed their season in a disappointing Eastern Conference semifinal-round loss to Boston, and I've heard surprisingly little coming out of Cleveland since.

If that city wants to keep LeBron and thereby continue to think its first pro sports championship in more than 50 years is still within reach, it needs to do something drastic.

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Making sports headlines for more than 18 months have been reports of what rap mogul Jay-Z, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other Gotham greats have had to say about LeBron moving his NBA game to the media capital of the world.

And since ESPN's Chris Broussard started reporting two weeks ago that James had taken a liking to Chicago, now that city's luminaries -- even President Barack Obama -- are weighing in on the prospects of LBJ taking his broad shoulders to Chitown.


EXTRA: More LeBron James Coverage


The NBA's Nets, Clippers and even Heat also appear to be in the running to sign James after he becomes a free agent on July 1.

But what exactly has Cleveland done to show its love? Inexplicably, not much at all, it turns out.

During his seven years in Cleveland, the city has added giant, several-stories-tall images of LeBron on the sides of downtown buildings. But those are more the doings of his biggest sponsor, Nike, than they are of the people of Cleveland.

Which is why those in the 216 need to do something and do it quickly. They only have five weeks or so to show LeBron that they desperately want him to stay, that just because of two subpar playoff games, they still love him and that they'll shell out their hard-earned meager wages to continue to fill Quicken Loans Arena all 41 nights next winter.

So Cleveland, if you're listening, here are some steps you can take to show the greatest basketball player on the planet that you want him to re-sign with your Cavaliers:

+ Announce a LeBron James Day -- perhaps June 21 to mark the first day of summer -- where Mayor Frank Jackson hands over the keys to the city to LeBron, and residents flock down to Public Square for a big rally. Maybe change the name of the city for that day to LeBronland.

+ I'm not sure what the tourism marketing slogan is for the city of Cleveland, but maybe change it to LeBron On The Lake or Loyalty On The Lake.

+ If you don't like that line, how about, "Cleveland: We Might Light Our River On Fire, But At Least The World's Greatest Basketball Player Lives Here."

+ New York has its Canyon Of Heroes and Chicago's got Grant Park. I'm not sure where Cleveland would ever honor a championship team, but maybe it should plan that now and call it LeBron James Way.

+ Send Spencer Tunick back to Cleveland to shoot a gaggle of hot women lying naked on the ground in front of the Q, spelling out P-L-E-A-S-E S-T-A-Y L-E-B-R-O-N. Cleveland's got to have enough hot naked women to spell that out, right?

+ Urge Earnest Byner, Craig Ehlo, Brian Sipe and Charles Nagy to visit King James and regale him in the tales of their near-postseason successes. Surely they've thought many times since their high-stakes disappointments what things would have been like had their individual failures not led to heartbreak. Perhaps they can convince LeBron how great it would be to finally bring that starved city a championship. Could any town love one man more?

If Cleveland doesn't take some drastic measures soon, those WE ARE ALL WITNESSES t-shirts will take on a drastically different meaning shortly after July 1.

Sunday
May162010

Older White Guys Know What's Best For LeBron

LeBron James

Middle-Aged Writers
Need To Stop Posing

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Aahhh, to be 25. Most have been out of school for a few years -- or in my case, a few months -- some have already earned a promotion or two at work, others are still trying to get a foot in the door, and still others are tending bar in New York or Los Angeles waiting for agency calls about the next audition.

Whatever the goal, 25 is a great age to be working toward it. You're old enough to be smart enough, but you're young enough to still have everything in front of you. At the very worst, you can still live cheaply with mom and dad while you get your situation sorted, and then go confidently in the direction of those dreams.*


RECENT NBA GOODNESS

+ PLEASE STAY: An Open Letter To LeBron James
+ TELEVISION: How ESPN Ruined The Cavs-Celtics Series
+ LEBRON JAMES: How Great Is He?
+ WHO'S BETTER: Kobe Or LeBron?

You've got friends aplenty and perhaps a healthy social life. You hit the bars with the fellas on Fridays and take out that pretty girl on Saturdays. Life is largely care free.

But what if your name happens to be LeBron James? What was Friday night like for him, just 24 hours after his season and perhaps his career in Cleveland ended? While most of us don't have any idea how he kicked off his weekend, the entire sports world seems to know what will be best for him come July 1.

A quick Google News search of "LeBron James" turned up 11.1 million results, the most recent of which was a Tim Cowlishaw column headlined, "What Exactly Is LeBron James The King Of?"

What I absolutely hate about sportswriters is their ugly habit of building people up only to tear them down without any regard for the fact that they were the ones who slid in the pedestal in the first place. Am I the only one who sees the joke, in this case at least, isn't on LeBron James but on Tim Cowlishaw?

What's even more ridiculous than the Cowlishaw piece -- and I typically like his columns and think he's usually the most logical of the "Around The Horn" gang -- is that there are plenty other middle-aged white men who seem to think they know what's best for a 25-year-old black superstar athlete whose currently facing a decision unlike any these sportswriters have had to make in their professional lives. And of the biggest decisions these guys have had to make, none has done it under the microscope by which King James has found his every move and syllable examined for the better part of a decade.

I'm obviously aware the role of a sports columnist is to write about what people want to read about, and if you can present your opinion in a way that elicits debate (read: sells papers or online subscriptions or at least generates page views) then you've done that job well.

By participating in the LBJ conversation on Twitter for most of the last week, I was reminded how many LeBron haters are out there. Is it because he operates dog-fighting rings or sexually assaults teenage girls or simply possesses an ornery personality like some of his colleagues? None of the above. Shoot, he doesn't even taunt his opponents.

The hate stems from his gift, his basketball greatness that causes the very writers who cover him to do what they do with all larger-than-life icons: they saturated us with a new definition of hyperbole.

And if the media thinks that's what its readers and viewers want, then I can stomach such overkill for the most part. But maybe the language these guys use could sound a little less sanctimonious. Instead of "he should do this," perhaps try "he could do that." Why would anyone other than LeBron claim to know what's best for him?

In the same breath that writers acknowledge LBJ's quest to further his global brand and become a post-career billionaire businessman, they criticize the absence of rage in his post-game press conferences after the Game 5 and Game 6 losses. "I didn't see any fire from him. He should have been mad as hell," I heard from a white TV analyst in his 50s the other day. "He just doesn't get it."

No, sir, you and your colleagues might be the ones who don't get it. You want a pro athlete half of your age, a young celebrity who's led a life nothing like yours, to react to losing a sporting contest the way you think you would.

The reality is that while we can have a good time speculating with friends over beers what we'd do if we won the lottery or if Charlize Theron walked into the bar, but none of us has any idea what it's like to be one of the most recognized superstar athletes on the planet. We surely don't know how we'd have reacted after those last two games against Boston, and we're definitely clueless about what will happen on or shortly after July 1.

Write about his game all you want, talk about what NBA insiders will be telling you all summer, but stop pretending to know what's going on inside the mind of a man you will never ever be.

(* = paraphrasing Thoreau, of course.)

Friday
May142010

An Open Letter To LeBron James

LeBron James

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Dear LeBron James:

Cleveland loves you. Ohio loves you. I love you. If I had a dog, I'd train it to love you. Actually, scratch that; it would already know to love you upon sliding out of its mother's slimy birth canal.

Unfortunately for the aforementioned, those big shots in New York love you. And it sounds like Chicago is starting to fall for you as well. Lots of people love you.


RECENT NBA GOODNESS

+ TELEVISION: How ESPN Ruined The Cavs-Celtics Series
+ LEBRON JAMES: How Great Is He?
+ TWITTER RECAP: Who Said What About The Game 5 Debacle?
+ TWITTER RECAP: Who Said What About Game 4?
+ WHO'S BETTER: Kobe Or LeBron?

But who has always loved you? Your mother and your friends, for starters. Those you grew up with in Akron, not too far from your office the last seven years. That's nearly 30 percent of your life so far.

You've done so much for northeast Ohio, LeBron. You've done us all a huge favor by giving us something fun and exciting to cheer about. In the seven years that you've been dominating Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland's Indians and Browns have made one postseason appearance each. Your Cavs, however, are playoff staples and even championship contenders.

But we need that trend to continue. There's so little else in our city that gives us a reason to smile. I know there's a big ribs cookoff on the west side every summer, but that's not quite the same thing. I mean, have you been there?

We don't just want you to stay in Cleveland. We need you to stay. Surely there's the promise of a better life in New York, but can you imagine if what you pulled in Tuesday's Game 5 actually went down at Madison Square Garden? If you thought the Cleveland fans got ugly, just wait until you get a taste of Midtown after a night like that. And don't bother reading the papers the next morning.

LeBron, I know it's only basketball, but it's hard to trivialize it like that when you're standing to earn the biggest contract in NBA history this summer. I know you want to be a billionaire businessman down the road, and what better place is there to reach for such a goal than in New York?

But you want to win championships, too, don't you? Isn't the now more important than the later? You said an hour after the Game 6 elimination Thursday that "it's all about winning for me," and it should be. Your gift is basketball, not board rooms. Keep using the basketball to fulfill the near-term goals with the team you grew up watching.

And if you want to keep shooting commercials, shaking hands on seven-figure deals and building your brand, well, that's what summers and private airplanes are for. Sightseeing and fine dining are great and all, but once the basketball season begins, it doesn't matter where you live. Your focus should be on your team, whether it's the Cavs, Bulls, Knicks or the Lithuanian touring squad. 

If it really is all about winning for you, you'll definitely be taking at least one step back if you go to Chicago or New York because those teams aren't in position to contend for a championship next year. While your current team has fallen short of expectations the last two years, the Cavaliers are much closer to a ring than most teams. Oh, and by the way, whether it's right or wrong, sports fans are a fickle bunch, and those in Cleveland will hate you forever if you leave.

So if all these things are equal, why not stay in the city and continue to play for the team where you've already built such a strong foundation? After what that city's sports fans went through long before that Game 5 debacle and the 48 crippling hours that followed, imagine what kind of hero you'll be in your own hometown. Everyone I know would kill to have just a sip of that kind of juice. As the King, you'll own the shiniest chalice, and thirsty Clevelanders shall all be witnesses.

Thursday
May132010

How ESPN Has Ruined The Cavs-Celtics Series

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

When I left my apartment to pick up some food about a half hour before game time, Stuart Scott was teasing his typically annoyed ESPN audience with, "Stay tuned for what will be the most important game in the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers."

When I returned 20 minutes later, he was throwing to colleague Michael Wilbon, who was far, far away from the Boston-Cleveland game, getting ready to explain "what tonight's Game 6 will mean for LeBron's legacy."


RECENT NBA GOODNESS

+ GAME 6 PREVIEW: What The Cavs Need To Do To Win
+ LEBRON JAMES: How Great Is He?
+ TWITTER RECAP: Who Said What About The Game 5 Debacle?
+ TWITTER RECAP: Who Said What About Game 4?
+ WHO'S BETTER: Kobe Or LeBron?

The legacy of a 25-year-old basketball player who's about halfway into his prime and barely a third of the way through his career overall?

Working at home all day every day means I get to have ESPN on all day long, which in many ways is a good thing. I obviously get to stay up to date on the day's sports news and so forth, but the overkill is truly disgusting. You take the good with the bad, I guess.

When I used to work at FOX, I heard from several reliable co-workers, including one who claimed she was on the distribution list, that there was some electronic directive emailed out from the top reaches of the company every morning, emphasizing what the day's talking points were to be. Translation: Let's pound Obama for this, or let's praise Palin for that.

I've got to think the high-level folks in Bristol do the same thing, because the LeBron's-last-game-in-Cleveland talk earned a mere mention on "SportsCenter" Tuesday morning, but such speculation -- and until July 1 that's all it will be -- has since ramped up to a level unprecedented even by ESPN's norms. In fact, Jimmy Clausen's pre-draft and draft-night coverage are starting to get a little jealous.

So while I'll be rooting for my Cavs for the next couple of hours, a small -- very small -- piece of me will be relieved if they lose because the postseason hype will be overwith. All that remains to be seen is where LeBron signs over the summer, and I can't imagine ESPN will cover that story too much.

Thursday
May132010

The 4 Things The Cavs Must Do To Win Game 6

Rajon Rondo, LeBron James

Win In Boston Would
Force Game 7 In Cleveland

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's amazing how one weak performance by the world's greatest basketball player has set off a deluge of anti-Cleveland sentiment around the sports world.

But that's the nature of sports media, thanks in large part to ESPN, Frank Isola and of course, Twitter and the blogosphere.


30 THOUSAND HELPERS: Look Who's Donated!


Before we plan our LeBron James goodbye party, however, there's still the matter of tonight's Game 6 in Boston. Some think there's no way the Celtics let the Cavs off the hook, while others are expecting an eruption of Mt. LBJ, forcing a Game 7 back in Cleveland on Sunday that the Cavs couldn't possibly lose, right?

Whatever your opinion about this series or LeBron's NBA future, below are the facts, the four things Cleveland must do to win tonight and push the series to a final game.

+ Play team basketball -- The Cavs have won many games with James dominating while his teammates stand around and watch (see: the last seven years). That can't happen tonight. James needs to attack early like he did in Game 3 at Boston, but his supporting cast needs to be just as aggressive. Ball movement, sharing the basketball, finding the open man and playing good, active, team defense are imperative.

+ Play desperate basketball -- This time of year you hear "desperate hockey," but you don't hear the "desperate" tag as often in basketball because hoopsters don't think it's macho. Whatever. People like Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams need to be aggressive, enthusiastic and even physical. No sense saving their energy for another game because without a win tonight, there won't be any.

+ Play physical basketball -- Shaquille O'Neal has probably given more on the offensive end than was expected in this series, but he's still not even grabbing six rebounds per game. He and Anderson Varejao, and hopefully Zydrunas Ilgauskas and J.J. Hickson, need to keep Boston off the offensive glass. And I'm not only talking about rebounding. I'm talking about an elbow here or a hip check there. I know it's hard to change your personality for one game in May, but it's worth trying.

+ Play with mental toughness -- The last time the Cavs faced elimination in Boston was just two years ago in the same conference semifinal round. The Cavs came up short in Game 7, but it was close, and I'd like to think the Cavs have improved more than the Celtics since then. Cleveland can't think about the fear of elimination. Instead, for inspiration, the Cavs should consider the reward for a win tonight -- a Game 7 in their own barn on Sunday, with all the momentum behind them.

Wednesday
May122010

LeBron James: How Great Is He?

LeBron James

Huge Opportunity For
Redemption Awaits In
Thursday's Game 6

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Through the first four games of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Cavs and Celtics, it wasn't even clear that the greatest player on the planet was the best player in the series. Rajon Rondo had carried Boston to both of its wins in much the same way LeBron James has carried Cleveland for seven years.

The King is largely regarded as the best player in the NBA, but after Tuesday night's perplexing Game 5 in which James scored only 15 points and looked almost entirely disinterested in an embarrassing loss to the Celtics, there are questions upon questions.


WHO'S BETTER: Kobe Or LeBron?


One question I've asked people over the years is whether winning is a skill like ballhandling and shooting are. It's a very subjective topic, and if the answer is yes, than maybe Kobe Bryant -- not LeBron -- is the best player on the planet.

And speaking of Kobe and the guy both he and James were compared to upon their respective entries into the NBA -- Michael Jordan -- there are certain things about Bryant and Jordan that I see far less often in James. The ability to find and step on an opponent's jugular is chief among those differences.

Where LeBron is capable of doing something great every time he touches the ball, Jordan just was great every night he stepped on the floor. People forgot about their lofty expectations of Jordan's greatness because when he was at his peak, never once did he not embody it.

Kobe, though not quite Jordan-esque in that regard -- nobody is -- remains far ahead of LeBron when it comes to being great.

Michael Jordan

What makes it difficult to watch LeBron sometimes isn't the mediocre Game 4 or the abysmal Game 5, but the shortcomings contained within those performances that actually show their ugly heads frequently.

Sometimes James' shot selection isn't great. And on other occasions, shot selection is OK, but the actual result is grotesque. Three times Tuesday night James got good looks from 20-22 feet, yet his efforts were almost air balls, barely scraping rim before bouncing into a Boston player's hands. And sometimes the out-of-control ballhandling will yield a sloppy turnover here or there. Great players don't perform like that.

As Thursday's Game 6 in Boston approaches, there are countless scenarios being talked about in the blogosphere, but I'm only considering these two:

+ LeBron has a huge opportunity to silence the many, many critics with a performance for the ages that sends the series back to Cleveland for Game 7.

+ The Cavs are put out of their misery by a better Boston team and the countdown begins toward the day LeBron decides to stay in Cleveland or take his quest for a championship to Chicago or New York.

What do you think will happen?