Welcome to the first post of my new Monday / Friday posting format!  So far, so good, except for the fact that I tried to post this last night for two hours, but the darn WordPress kept timing out, LOL!  Regardless, I wrote it on Monday, but couldn’t post it until now.  Hopefully, Friday will go better…

Being an ardent Cleveland fan, you might think that I’d post a scathing commentary about what LeBron James did to fans of the Cavaliers.  You might think I’d resort to calling him “LeFraud James” or “King Lame.”  Well, that’s not the case.  Although I wasn’t happy with LeBron’s decision, and I was astounded at the way he went about announcing it, credit must be given for what he accomplished in his 7 years in Cleveland.

First, the good…  James took the Cavaliers to unprecedented heights, including its first ever finals appearance in 2007, and the best record in the league for the last two regular seasons.  He gave us many memorable performances, and was worth the price of admission on most game nights.  LeBron has a pretty positive public persona, is seemingly pretty honest, and hasn’t run afoul of the law.  Granted, no one outside his “circle” knows what he’s really like, but he seems to have fun and do a lot of the right things.  He was honest about what he was looking for in free agency, and I do believe he gave at least some consideration to Cleveland.  For the most part, I think he gave his best in his seven years in Cleveland, save that dreadful game 5 performance in the playoffs against Boston this year.  He’s stayed with his girlfriend and mother of his children, and seems like a decent human being.

Now, the bad…  He is an absolutely self-absorbed diva.  Over the last few years, it’s become apparent.  He went from playing on a “team” to playing with “his supporting cast,” despite the fact that he never achieved the greatness he claimed for himself (“King” James,” “The Chosen One,” etc.).  It culminated with his “look at me” free agency saga topped off with a ridiculous hour-long ESPN-driven special where he basically stabbed the Cavaliers and all of their fans in the heart and back simultaneously.  LeBron had the right to make the decision he made, and I don’t fault him for that.  However, he could’ve done the decent thing and least commented to the Cavs and fans regarding his intentions, instead of dragging all of us along for the last 8 weeks just to cut our legs off.  Although I’m not thrilled with the scathing email sent by owner Dan Gilbert after LeBron’s departure, I think there was a lot of truth in it.  Rumor has it that James and his “posse” had the run of the Cavs organization.  Granted, Gilbert must’ve enabled him.  Lastly, and I’m not sure if I can totally blame this on James, the Cavs offense stunk during his entire tenure.  Either Mike Brown can’t coach offense (not likely; I could draw up a pro set, or find one in any NBA video game or on the ‘net), or LeBron had the team run the offense according to his desires, which often times led to him holding the ball for 20 seconds and then putting up an ill-advised shot – at least against playoff teams.

So, in short, even though I may not like it, LeBron certainly had the right to make the decision he made, although the way he did it sucked.  One thing I don’t understand is his logic.  For a guy so concerned about his “legacy,” he must understand that since he switched teams, he’ll never be considered at the same level of “greatness” as Jordan, Bird, or Magic, because they all did it on their team.  He talks about wanting a new challenge, but certainly it was a greater challenge to win in Cleveland.  He promsied to bring a championship to Cleveland, yet failed to deliver.  Instead of staying around to finish what he started, he took the easy way out and put himself on a team with two of the NBA’s top ten players.  Ironically, by all appearances, he will be a member of Dwayne Wade’s supporting cast if he wins a title!  Frankly, I don’t think he has the heart to win a championship.  He carried the Cavs in 2007; he quit in 2010.  I think he got caught up in his mission to become a “global icon” and forgot what it takes to become a champion.  So, he can ride Wade’s coattails to the title, but I think he’ll look back to regret it.  Given his ego, I’ll be surprised if the three of them can work together well enough to win a title, anyway.

I’m thrilled that the Cavs now have a proven winner as a coach in Byron Scott (3 titles as a player, 2 finals series as a coach).  I believe that they will eventually rebuild the franchise to be more competitive than it has been in the LeBron era.  Scott knows what it takes to win, and he’ll build it in Cleveland with a passionate, supportive owner like Gilbert.  There is still some talent here, and with “the King” gone, they’ll be a better team for it.  I don’t know if Gilbert’s prediction will come true, but I think I’ll enjoy watching the Cavs more over the next few years, because I think they’ll look more like the Cavs of the Mark Price/Larry Nance/Brad Daugherty era.  Now that was a team worth watching…