While We’re Waiting… O’Brien’s Firing, Turner’s Triple-Double, and Brown’s Game Worn Helmet
November 10, 2009The J.J. Hickson Conundrum
November 10, 2009
Mo Williams Hugs Gloria James (Tony Dejak - AP)
As the major media outlets continue to speculate on the future of LeBron James, Cavaliers guard Mo Williams recently attempted to rein everyone back in with his thoughts on what just may be going on in the head of LeBron James.
“I’m not really too concerned about it, because I know his heart and his love is here in Cleveland,” Williams told [David Aldridge] last week. “I know that. Just like anybody else, we love the New Yorks, we love the Miamis, we love the L.A.s, we love the Torontos. That’s probably the most underrated city. We love those cities. But you can’t underrate home.”
Which has me thinking. For every time that the ESPN’s of the world want to play Empire State of Mindon loop to the point where Jay Mariotti has to pretend to be hip, where’s Kanye West and Chris Martin’s Homecoming?
Instead of the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of,” what about “Every interview I’m representing you making you proud/Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud.” Yes, I know that the West track is about Chicago, but since he explicitly does not call the song Windy City State of Mind, we can use some poetic license, no?
How about Of a Revolution’s I Feel Home? There are few things pure in this world anymore, and home is one of the few?
Countless other artists have written songs about home. Unfortunately, none of them partially own the New Jersey Nets.
“Home is home,” Williams said. “And on top of that, he got to move all his people out there. New York’s expensive.” Not that a contract nearing $20 million per season would not help alleviate those cost hurdles, but the fact of the matter is that Williams is providing at least some sort of balance to the thought that James simply has to play in a big market to succeed.
Naturally, Williams has to believe this for his shot at winning a ring also depends on where James calls home after this season.
If you are curious as to where Aldridge has pegged James to reside, he joins Sam Smith in the thoughts that Los Angeles is the destination. But unlike Smith, Aldridge has the Clippers as the team of James’ choosing due to a young core and cap space.
But for Cavaliers fans piece of mind, Aldridge did wrap up with the following:
“Tim Duncan has had several chances to leave small-market San Antonio this decade. He signed a four-year extension in 2003, a three-year extension in 2007 and has since agreed to a two-year extension through 2011-12. Short contracts, designed to give Duncan maximum leverage — improve the team, or I walk — time and time again. Duncan was fiercely loyal to the people, and the city, that picked him first, and built a championship caliber team around him. He was the consummate team player. He listened to the siren call of bigger, more “cosmopolitan” cities, but he always came back to San Antonio.”
It is this multiple shorter contracts that many are starting to believe will be the future of James – and likely the rest of the big named free agents that chose to follow his footsteps into their current respective deals. It keeps Danny Ferry on the hook – and rightfully so. It keeps the NBA’s best player in Cleveland, and it continually gives this city a chance to win a title.
Like home, you can’t underrate the chance to win a title.
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LeBron keeps teams on edge [NBA.com]
35 Comments
Motley Crue is upset that they failed to be mentioned in this post.
I hope LeBron is smart enough to realize that he would be going from one of the best NBA owners to one of the worst if he went to the Clippers (or the Knicks for that matter).
“Motley Crue is upset that they failed to be mentioned in this post.”
They were grouped in the “countless” part with Daughtry, John Denver, Paul Simon, CSNY…
“attempted to rein”
“But unlike Smith”
You got a sticky g key.
Whither Lynard Skynard? Sweet Home Cuyahoga…
The Clippers might have a nice young core, but that core can’t win games yet, Blake Griffin hasn’t seen the court, and do you know who their coach/GM is? MIKE DUNLEAVY SR. That guy is by far the worst coach in the NBA. That franchise is a joke and he’d always be second fiddle in a city where the Lakers reign supreme. Yea, I’m sure LBJ goes there. Plus LBJ knows he can win here, the casinos thing was big for Gilbert in trying to keep James and No player is going to turn down all that money, in his hometown’s backyard, with all his people, and a winning attitude from the franchise.
S-Dub.
“the casinos thing was big for Gilbert in trying to keep James”
First person I’ve seen bring up the casino thing since it passed.
Your statement sounds to me like it may have a basis in theory or in fact, but I can’t put my finger on it. What is the link that you see?
Any truth to the rumor that Gilbert is including LBJ in the casino action? And perhaps naming rights?
I actually thought that James might be giving a halo effect to Gilbert, which halo effect may have drawn yes votes on Issue 3.
This is going to be a long year if there is at least a LeBron 2010 story a day on WFNY. Not faulting WFNY, by the way: it’s not your fault LBJ gets media fellatio with regards to leaving Cleveland.
LBJ to the Sacramento Kings. BOOK IT!
I don’t know if Gilbert can legally give James any action in the Casino’s based on the NBA’s CBA. I’m no lawyer. But it does show James that Gilbert is building this city, making a commitment to be supplanted here long term, and will have cash flow to always improve his organization. With The Q selling out almost every night, casino’s in town, and this sort of downtown revival; Cleveland is going to be resurrected. James could have a lot of potential real estate investments around town, get land and buildings cheap and turn them into a profit with Gilbert on future projects.
@ Jordan – I imagine all of this will cool down in the coming days, definitely on WFNY and even amongst other talking heads. The Cavs have a large break between their last game and next, and it just so happens that their last game was in New York against the Knicks, so this was bound to be a topic of conversation during the off days.
i dunno why anyone would want to play for the clipper’s racist owner
Jack,
I would think that, under some NBA rule, there is, to prevent leverage detrimental to the league, a high wall between a player’s involvement in an owner’s non-NBA business operations and that player’s involvement in basketball.
Sadly the only thing people will take from Mo’s comments is that now LeBron is considering Toronto because they love that city. Any response from ESPN’s ombudsman?
I have come to the conclusion that I would rather see 50 stories on here debating Quinn or Anderson than LeBron leaving ones. Maybe because I am not living the daily gloom and doom of living in NE Ohio anymore but my thoughts are he is going nowhere. Now if the same thing happens to Quinn and Anderson, as in they go nowhere, then we have something to truly worry about.
@ #3 – “They were grouped in the “countless” part with Daughtry, John Denver, Paul Simon, CSNY…”
Motley Crue and Daughtry? My soul just died a little while reading that.
i dont think gilbert can official give lbj any part of the casino thing. i doubt it actually. it would be akin to the dumb knicks rumor that they would give lbj his own cablevision channel. i did hear a dan gilbert interview on the radio about it and the host asked what connection/affect the casino would have on the cavs. gilbert said something (diplomatically) along the lines of “there is no direct connection at all, but the casino revenue will allow us to do alot of different things in other areas.” if you read between the lines, i think he was basically saying the casino revenue will allow them to not care at all about the luxury tax and spend, spend, spend.
There has to be a rule prohibiting Gilbert from giving Lebron action with his casino. Otherwise the salary cap means nothing. Any team owner could just offer stock options in their company or something to circumvent the rules giving preference to the home team.
there is, ez. brian windhorst was all over it when the rumor about cablevision giving lbj his own channel was going around.
What about Cleveland’s own Bone Thugs n Harmony “Home”?? it even has Phil Collins in the video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoLB_U0YPOg
If Lebron thinks he’ll move closer to a ring by hitching his wagon to Don Sterling instead of Dan Gilbert, then those two are just made for each other.
@#23 Yes! thank you!
also, maybe Ozzy’s “Mama I’m coming home”?
The thing that I have been thinking about is this. I would hate to see LBJ leave. Then again, do you think Dan Gilbert is going to continue to find ways for this team to be successful even in a post-LeBron universe? I would never choose to be without LeBron, but I would also not choose to be without Dan Gilbert from what I have seen so far.
Gilbert is the guy I want as our owner if and when Cleveland says goodbye to LBJ. Maybe I will write that story soon.
YAY! Architecture and Infrastructure talk! My contention is that the long term success of Cleveland Casino hinges on the total Cleveland attraction package: Medical Mart/Convention, Flats, Mall, and Casino. I think all things together ensure each other’s collaborative success and one can not stand alone to bring Cleveland’s status up. For instance, an organization comes to the Medical Mart for a convention on the thought that their patrons would also be interested in going down the street to blow off some steam at the Casino…and so on.
That said, the Casino revenue will pad Gilbert’s assets. It’s hard to say how he’d bounce around those funds. I’ve never been under the impression that he’s unwilling to spend on the Cavs front regardless of his other ventures.
Maybe LBJ would give some more credit to the Cleve with the development and some more eyes on the city due to the new attractions but I’ve got to believe that Gilbert is going to be willing to pay LBJ whatever he wants when the time comes.
@ Craig – a fantastic point. Plus, don’t you think at the very least that if LBJ insisted on leaving he would give the Cavs an opportunity to try to pull off a sign and trade? That way LBJ could still sign the max deal. I don’t think he’s leaving, but it’s something to think about.
@ Jason – I’ve never seen that video before, but after watching it, I’ve got some “bones” to pick. First, why are the rappers, from Cleveland wearing a Jerome Bettis jersey and an old school White Sox jersey? It’s not like they couldn’t have repped Jim Brown or something. And second, why the hell is this video filmed in Europe instead of Cleveland? Phil Collins looks superimposed in most of the shots anyway, so I don’t think it would have mattered logistically.
@ 20-
BINGO. The extra revenue that Gilbert is bringing in–between his new-for-this-season Chinese investors and now the extreme casino windfall–will allow the Cavs to make a mockery of the soft cap in order to surround LeBron with the talent that he now has the leverage to command.
Or… maybe in non-LeBron-related dreamland… the casinos will give him enough money for a hostile takeover of the Indians. PLEASE?
I’m just looking forward to the Cavs playing another game so ESPN can stop all this “LeBron to New York” talk.
/kidding himself
And don’t forget the immense popularity in Cleveland of MSB’s “My Town.” Wait, the Tribe seem to have that one covered.
O. A. R.?!
How about Road Outside Columbus, son!
@AMC
I was trying to convey that “Home” connected the whole music + Cleveland + home theme. The link to the video was just so folks could hear the song and was easier than pirating the mp3 and distributing it illegally to the WFNY community. Thank you for the careful critique of the video and the clever pun.
As for rappers and their outfits and why the video was shot in Europe, I’m going to plead the 5th on that one…
F.I.F – FIF! I PLEAD THE FIF!!
Dunno if anyone else watched SC tonight, but Chris Broussard was actually talking like a sane person tonight RE Lebron. You know, pointing out stuff like the fact that NY is terrible, the Cavs are the only team that has proven they’re willing to spend and build a winning team around him, etc. It was refreshing to have someone who looked like they actually had a clue of what was going on.
i like broussard because he seems to be in cleveland’s corner. on the other hand, i feel like broussard might do it because he is a cleveland guy (went to oberlin; started with the plain dealer? or abj?) and may feel an obligation to support cleveland when everyone else there doesnt give 2 you know whats so i tend to take what he says with a grain of salt. maybe im just being cynical about it. but yes, its nice to at least have him on our side.