WRAL Sports Fan

This guy just can't win

By Mike Maniscalco
Jun 9, 2011

LeBron James did what we want every athlete to do. He took less money to try to win a championship. It is how he did it that has made him a target for people to question what kind of player he is.

James is a bonafide superstar and his basketball ability is off the charts. So, what has he done to deserve the lifetime membership in the “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t club”?

Now, before you go off thinking that this is a 'Leave LeBron alone!!!!', Youtube rant, it’s not. James made a messy bed when he divorced his pseudo hometown of Cleveland with “the Decision” (although in James' biography he said that guys from Akron hated guys from Cleveland) But anyway you slice it, “the Decision” was a bad one.

James didn’t just scorn Cleveland; he, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade turned their noses up at the league. Throw in the fact that James blew off New York City and I can see how a few fans and media-types get irked. It brought on the scrutiny that the Heat felt during the regular season of epic proportions, but the playoffs have brought a new kind of biblical disdain towards them - specifically James.

Of course the WWE entrance to Miami and the boasts of winning several titles in South Beach didn’t help. The feeling that James turned heel on both Cleveland and New York, hit them with a steel chair, and it is easy to say 'hello' to the bad guy.

There was a two-year build up of hearing how big the off-season was going to be and how many NBA franchises would be jockeying for James' service. If he was going to leave a team and a town that would do anything for him, it would not be the right move to do it publicly. Just show up in a new city, hold a press conference and tell us how difficult it was to leave the only place he knew as a professional.

He deserves all of the criticism that came from "the Decision", but he didn’t become a lesser player because of it. If anything, a megastar had to change his role because of it. How many players are willing to swallow their ego to win a title while they are in the prime of their career?

James did what a lot of athletes in the past have done, went to a better team trying to win a ring. He couldn’t win in Cleveland, and knew it. He played by the rules of free agency, left for a better team and it has worked out for him. The Heat they are two wins away from a title.

His play against Boston and Chicago put them there, but all year his play has been under the microscope, and that is where we have a problem.

If LeBron misses a shot or makes a bad pass this post-season, the ravenous media hounds and bitter fans point out how James isn’t clutch. If the Heat win a game and James comes up big, it is quickly pointed out James had to abandon the Cavaliers to get this done.

Did anyone point out the Cavaliers, with pretty much same cast minus James, were one of the worst teams in NBA history this season? Of course not, everyone was too busy dissecting the 24 losses the Heat had - ignore the fact Cleveland only won 19 games.

Which leads to the worst part of this year’s NBA playoffs, the Heat win and LeBron does nothing. Questions get asked repeatedly on what’s wrong with LeBron. Excuse me, didn’t his team win? James has to score 40 points per night as the Heat win by 30 to justify the move. Even if the Heat win the NBA title, James will be saddled with the comments that:

• It is not his team.
• He had to leave to win, couldn’t do it by himself.
• Dwayne Wade hit the clutch shots in the final.
• James can’t take the pressure.

Go back to 1980, who was the last NBA title team that one with just one player? Answer: None. Even Michael Jordan needed help.

So why is all this venom spewed towards James and the Heat?

Is it because James is a bad guy? He has never attacked a coach or teammate, has never been in trouble with the law, or went Tiger Woods off the court, ruining a happy family image. James just tried to better his chances of winning a title - what every player wants to do.

The one thing he didn’t do in Cleveland. The thing we kept hammering him about. The thing that is keeping him from greatness and being crowned best ever.Simply put, winning the NBA Finals and a championship. A title.

So James left for Miami to win his title. But because of a bad PR decision, I mean choice…there really is no winning at all.