So is Cleveland

on the asshole meter, michael has to be around 6 and lebron is 100.

i doubt that he will even win one. d-wade has injury issues and he is 28. in three years he will 31, and like t-mac his talent will diminish.

I understand the frustration and hate for LeBron right now, but I don't think it's really necessary. I feel bad for the fans in Cleveland, but would he ever have won a championship there? From what I understand he would have made $30 million more if he stayed. I know he makes a ton from endorsements, but he went where he felt he had the best chance to win. How can you blame him for wanting that?

who says he is even going to win? but, yea i am mad that he (along with bosh and wade) had this decision before july 1st. they wasted 5 teams time and wade lied to chicago about playing for them.

i bet lebron is going to have a similar conversation with his 'people' with his legacy tarnished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0waNRaz6wU

Blib

I in no way mean this disrespectfully to you. Doesn't it bother you as a fan that one of the best athletes in sports, at age 25, has thrown his hands up and said "I can't win by myself and am not up to the challenge?" Where is the competitiveness in James? Look in your own state at the Lakers. Kobe toiled with a few years of bad Laker teams after Shaq left. But Kobe aspired to be one of the game's greats and now has two titles as the unquestioned leader of the Lakers.

Go back to the 1992 Dream Team of MJ, Magic, Bird, Barkley, and Isaiah. Imagine if 3 of those guys conspired at the Olympics to sign on the same team in 1994? Doesn't that put into question of the sport's integrity?

Again, LeBron leaving was not the major offense. It was the charade of having 5 other organizations fawn over him, not telling his employer of 7 years of the decision until the public heard about it.

If he had just an ounce of class, LBJ could have said (on the day after the Finals concluded) "I'm not going to waste everyone's time. I have already decided to sign with Miami. I tried for 7 years in Cleve but it did not work." That would have avoided all the bullshit of the past few days, all of which LeBron authorized.

man this has to hurt lebron now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOsamobHeMc

It should hurt his ego, but MJ is right.

5 rings or 0 rings? That's not exactly a hard choice.

Besides, many things have been said about Kobe (prick, egomaniac, rapist) but has anyone ever called him a quitter?

Jesse Jackson Defends LeBron Against Cavs Owner

Jesse Jackson has come to the defense of LeBron James -- even though no one asked him to -- and compared Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to a "slave master."

In a harshly-worded statement, Jackson took Gilbert to task for his open letter to Cavaliers fans which slammed LeBron's decision to sign with the Miami Heat. Jackson says, "He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave."

He goes on, "LeBron is not a child, nor is he bound to play on Gilbert’s plantation and be demeaned. He has been a model citizen and has inspired the children of Akron, Cleveland, the State of Ohio and the United States."

Not sure if Cleveland fans would rush to LeBron's defense right now.

he has no reason to get in the middle of this

Like that ever stopped him before.

Camera + Microphone = Jesse Jackson

I've never understood why you New York guineas have a problem with DO THE RIGHT THING. Well I do actually, I just consider it trivial. That or I just don't care.

Remember, it inspired KING OF THE HILL. And anything that inspires KING OF THE HILL is A-Okay in my book.

And an awesome Public Enemy music video too.

hey lilo rip hamilton might get traded to the bulls or the nets for a draft pick...hopefully the bulls wont do this trade.

I'm sad to hear that Anthony Morrow is no longer with the Warriors and signed with the Nets. He probably won't ever be an All Star, but Nets fans are going to love this guy. He's as pure a shooter as they come. As soon as he is invited to a three point competition he'll win. His shot is a beautiful thing.

I make a lot of fun of Joe but I'm nowhere near as harsh as local talk radio callers. It's a tough job. I don't know how much leeway he has given that the team is up for sale.

That aside, he's got to rebalance the team. Joe loves shooting guards, small forwards and jelly donuts too much. You combine those three things and nothing good can come of it.

Watching the NBA finals where Gasol, Bynum and Odom basically did tap drills on the offensive rebounding end was illuminating. We need bigger players-maybe not a traditional back to the basket center-although that would be nice but we need some guys that can bang down low and clog up the middle. That means lots of draft picks. I don't know how Joe gets back or once the team is sold if it's even his concern any longer...

the bulls should have got this guy, but there were too many shooters to get. at least golden state has a good power forward in lee.

whats with all the bad teams getting rich owners now?

i guess blib is jumping up and down about having the richest owner owning golden state.

http://bayarea.sbnation.com/2010/7/13/15...-warriors-owner

You almost gave me a heart attack. That's not official as far as I can tell, but yes I would be ecstatic to see Larry Ellison as the new owner! Not only is he rich but supposedly a huge Warriors fan being a Bay Area resident. I don't think there could be a better owner for the team because he's so passionate about them and wants them to win!

In the movie "The Blues Brothers" after Aretha Franklin has failed to convince her husband (guitarist Matt Murphy) to stay with her and not go on tour, there's a pitiful looking short order cook/saxophonist who's watching her sideways because he wants to leave too. Aretha's like "Go on!" and that guy bolts.

I imagine that must be what Cleveland fans are thinking about Big Z deciding to head on down to Miami. I always liked Z's game/persona. If Miami can find a few more complementary pieces, watch out...

Big Z heads South

By attacking James in a personal way, Gilbert ceded the high ground. If he'd limited his statement to the promise of celebrating a championship before Miami, Gilbert would have emerged as a sympathetic figure because James had very few supporters (apart from Miami fans, obviously) who liked his decision or the way he announced it. Not only did he not personally inform the Cavaliers or their fans that he was leaving -- apparently because he didn't want to ruin the suspense of his shameful TV show -- but he also was viewed as walking away from the challenge of leading a team to the championship (his hometown team at that) in order to take the easier way out (as Charles Barkley, Orlando general manager Otis Smith and others saw it) by teaming with Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

A league insider who is African-American explained that Gilbert actually did James a favor by attacking him in a personal way.

"The players were all mad at LeBron," said this insider, a former player of enormous influence. "Nobody respects him for going after a championship like that. They want to beat him now more than ever.

"But when the owner acted the way he did, he was letting LeBron off the hook. Now the players feel like they have to come to LeBron's defense and back him up against Gilbert."

Sports Illustrated Column

No offense, Lilo, but playing the race card is fucking ridiculous. And in this case, quite offensive to the white fans, like myself, who plunk down hundreds of dollars for NBA tickets, year after year.

82% of the league is black, and that percentage will only increase with time. So if a white owner takes a shot at a player, there's an EIGHTY TWO PERCENT CHANCE that player will be black. Pretty good odds, wouldn't you say?

Yes, Gilbert did cede the high ground, and I agree with you, he should have handled it differently. But making this a racial issue is just fucking ridiculous. Why not just bring out "Reverend Al" or "Reverend" Jesse to remind us that the half a BILLION dollars that Lebron will likely make in his career is actually just a slave wage?

So to the "African American League Insider," Shame on you for being a race baiter .

PB, you do realize that this entire last post was an excerpt from the Ian Thomsen SI column? It's not my thoughts.
My take is that slave metaphors are not relevant in the situation and that both LeBron and Gilbert should have done things differently. But perceptions will always differ around race/class/etc.

There's actually a pretty heated ongoing discussion on Jackson/Lebron/Gilbert here at one of my favorite blogs:
Lebron doesn't need your help shut up

off topic here, but i believe that jessie jackson is a wanna be malcom x with all of the hate.

Jackson comes out of a completely different background/social network/political structure than Malcolm did. The two had relatively little in common politically. In any event arguing about Malcolm X would almost be like arguing about religion, especially since I was brought up in the Nation. We'd just have to agree to disagree.

The only thing Gilbert said that was not factually correct was that LeBron quit on his team for the last two postseasons. He did not quit last year, but he most certainly did this year. The Cavs excellent beat writer, Brian Windhorst, posted that LeBron hosted a huge party after the Game 4 loss in Boston that lasted until 6:00 a.m. That party preceded the worst game LeBron has ever played, his disastrous and completely disinterested performance in Game 5.

I have heard African-Americans on the radio here in Cleveland and one of my co-workers completely slam Jesse Jackson for his comments. It is quite insulting to compare a multi-millionaire to slaves. Whyisn't Jesse Jackson decrying racism for the arrest of Lawrence Taylor or when other black athletes get into trouble? How about because it doesn't always exist. Jackson has cried wolf far too many times to be taken seriously by middle America.

Dan Gilbert catered to nearly every whim of LeBron James in the past 5 years he owned the team. That was dumb on Gilbert's part because he enabled James and all of his handlers. So Gilbert's statement would have had more teeth if he would have enforced some discipline on James and showed stricter rules to James rather than granting free reign.

And lost in all of this, which is why I believe LeBron should be investigated for point shaving, is what happened to that mysterious "elbow injury" from the playoffs. I personally think he was full of shit and there was nothing wrong with LeBron physically. Rather, he mentally checked out of the Boston series after Game 3 and wanted to have an excuse as to why he wasn't playing up to his potential.

I'll tell Miami fans this. They'll be hyped and the glamour pick, but deep down you know Boston and L.A. are grinding their teeth waiting for the chance to play Miami. In 2004, the Lakers had the so-called "Dream Team" of Malone, Payton, Kobe, and Shaq. They couldn't put their egos aside and lost to a complete team - the Detroit Pistons. I hope that the same thing happens in Miami. I see the Heat much like the Tony Romo-era Cowboys. Every year the Cowboys are the "sexy" pick to win the Super Bowl and every year they fall apart in crucial playoff situations.

Of course, Lilo! I saw the web link. I'm not that dumb .

I apologize if the slave metaphor offended you in any way. But it wouldn't be the first time that Jackson or Sharpton used one.

Reminds me of that galling sports bio published a few years ago: "Curt Flood: A Well Paid Slave," which was of course written by a lilly white liberal college professor (Brad Snyder) .

the only reason i use malcom x is because that he wanted to fight the whites unlike martin luther who wanted peace. i probably should have compared jackson to who ever created the black panthers instead.

but, anyway lets get back to basketball. and pizzaboy be nice to lilo. he had a tough year with michigan football and all detroit teams