LeBron James Revealing Harsh Realities in his Refusal to Speak to Tom Izzo

Matt S – go down to the bottom of the first page, click #3 and then scroll down a story or two. The story is still there. Now who is spreading falsehoods? If you like the site so much don’t give the recent home wrecker commenters reason to whine and complain.

if lebron is all about ‘winning’ shouldn’t he sign with kobe for the mle?

all we know for sure is he’s not ‘about winning’.. in cleveland. if he were, we’d have ariza, probably stoudamire, and izzo by now.

what he is seeming to be about is being told how great he is and figuring out a way to retain his nice-guy image when he leaves cleveland.

3) LeBron cares more about keeping all this free agency hype and nonsense going strong than he does about making sure the Cavs get the best coach available.

sounds about right

I’m with Matt S on all of his points. I just want one of my favorite sites to justify my respect for it. Without acknowledging their blunder, its hard to do so.

Stare at the monster we created, Dr. Frankensteins.

#3, no bout a doubt it. The way he’s nurturing his little plan without regard to impact on the org that has slavishly catered to him for 7 years … would have been nicer to see such single-minded devotion to a ring. I admit, I had this kid wrong.

His inner circle is not going to set him right. There’s no Cus D’Amato there. He already knows everything, he’s a mentor to all the young players and all that. Watch how the inevitable backlash stuns him. None of us will be the same after this, not us and not him. That’s about the only good thing right now. Let Narcissus fall right into the drink, and let’s finally come back to reality after non-stop genuflecting to the man-child savant. If we continue this relationship, let’s hope it’s a little more reality based.

LeBron doesn’t have to do anything before July 1st, other than tell the Cavs he isn’t going to pick up his option.

Only in today’s press-driven culture can the LACK of action be construed as offensive to people, just because they’ve been waiting too long, and their delicate psyches can’t take it.

LeBron never said he was going to do anything other that what he has done. The Cavs chose to put themselves in the position where they wouldn’t have a head coach before LeBron made his decision when they fired Mike Brown. It is not LeBron’s obligation to help the Cavs in wooing Izzo, any more than it was his obligation to help the Nets get Avery Johnson or the Bulls get Tom Thibodeau.

I hope that LeBron James stays in Cleveland. But he doesn’t owe anything to you or the Cavs organization to make that more likely.

Why are you all so worried about this? Izzo told his MSU players last week that he was taking the Cavs job. That’s why he has made his announcement… err, wait… no he hasn’t.

@MSU school of journalism or whatever fancy name paid to be associated with it:

not sure why everyone is so worked up over getting a retraction. MSM report from their sources and as long as they believe they were not completely deceived move forward without retraction all the time.

don’t believe me?

KC news station puts out what was immediately refuted as BigXII members joining the Big10. No retraction.

Chip Brown puts out almost daily columns from his sources some stating definitive conclusions, which he himself contradicts the next day with no retraction other than this is what his sources are now saying. And, generally, he is a well-connected guy with good sources.

Things change, things happen. We won’t know what happened in that locker room because we weren’t there. It’s up to the guys here to believe their source and move forward, or, if they believe that he deceived them, offer a retraction. They obviously believe their source. End of story.

And we’ll miss you guys once Izzo ends his vision quest to determine his future. It won’t be the same without a bunch of random comments beating a dead horse over and over again (even on posts about the Tribe and commenter profiles). Stop by from time to time; hopefully, to check on the progress of Izzo’s Cavs.

Glad to see people finally waking up. I said after the loss to Boston he could care less about winning yet homers bashed me for being ridiculous. I said he was a prima donna and egomaniac too. Glad to see people in Cleveland see it now with this ridiculous free agent crap.

mike, 61: Indeed.

How exactly is LeBron supposed to handle this? If he talks to Izzo, he is construed as a meddler and someone who runs the team behind the scenes. We’ve already heard that. Everyone already believes he was the one who got Mike Brown and Danny Ferry fired. Now, if he doesn’t talk to Izzo it’s because he’s a drama queen. Someone explain to me the middle ground here, cause I’m not seeing it.

Anyway, this brings up a bigger problem. Cleveland, specifically the Cavaliers, are not a good destination for seemingly anyone. It requires LeBron James to recruit people to come and play with him in Cleveland for people to actually come. Avery Johnson is coaching the Nets with no guarantee whatsoever that LeBron is coming. Tom Thibodeau is coaching the Bulls with no guarantee that LeBron is coming. Now, why did those guys accept so early, but yet no coach wants to come here w/o a guarantee of LeBron staying? It points to a much bigger issue, this franchise isn’t attractive whatsoever and that is a bigger problem than just one guy.

If I’m LeBron, I see these other teams able to get solid coaches w/o a promise from me. Then I look at Cleveland and wonder why they can’t do the same. It doesn’t look good for the Cavs.

Oh, and if he is really just wanting to test the market, then he simply can’t talk to Izzo. If he talks to him, and then Izzo decides to not come to Cleveland, what will be your response? Something along the lines of “ZOMG LEBRON IS LEAVING.” If he does talk to Izzo and then Izzo comes to Cleveland, you can obviously see the other response. It totally renders his free agency pointless, and that doesn’t make sense for him to do that.

Weak. Just got back from bonnaroo thinking lebron was likely going to endorse Izzo and sign.

Ty, LOL

I mentioned his height a little earlier. I guesstimated about 6’6″ (sarcasm)

Rich#71 made a good point about LBJ being in a conundrum. I would also like to state that the Cavs could hire Byron Scott right now if they wanted to. But, Izzo is Gilbert’s number one choice.
Now if Gilbert balks this could get really ugly with Byron Scott.

The ole Lebron is selfish article. *Sigh* Will someone please explain why Lebron should commit to any team before the draft or trades are made? Can someone explain why he should sign his career away without looking at all his options? Does Izzo want to be Lebron’s coach or does he want to be an NBA coach?

Andrew, If you are not saying Lebron needs to commit now, then what is the purpose of complaining about Izzo not being able to make a decision about his future because doesn’t know Lebron’s decision? In a round about way you are saying Lebron needs to commit if for no other reason than to give Izzo a better undestanding of his options *Sigh* indeed! Andrew, I don’t think you understand what you wrote.

Andrew, what would they talk about other than a commitment? The weather? Hotspots in Cleveland?

It’s starting to seem like we don’t want Lebron to resign… Certainly, he’s brought a lot of this onto himself, but to worry about the fact that he won’t talk to a potential coach hire is over the top. Just a few weeks ago everyone was up in arms, saying that a well functioning organization should make upper-office decisions without player input and if LBJ was calling the shots on coaching/GM then this organization was doomed, etc. Now people are pissed because he won’t say anything.

To me LBJ is doing exactly what he said he was going to do: test the free agent waters. The fact that he’s been pretty quiet is actually respectful to Cavs fan. Maybe he thinks his lack of involvement one way of another is best course of action, so nobody get their feelings hurt? If he starts dabbling in Cavs operational decisions then leaves he’s the bad guy who played everyone and snuck off in the middle of the night. If he dabbbles in the organization decisions and stays then he’s the diva who had to have everything his way, is running the Cavs organization, and responsible for when decisions go awry.

He’s a player. His job is to show up and do what the coach tells him to regardless of who that may be. Let the GM (and owner now) worry about the coach. The reality of the Cavs job is that you may have to commit without LBJ’s blessing. Everyone in the front-office knew that when we fired MB. But now it’s Lebron’s fault it’s hard to find a coach? That’s silly.

Maybe he wants to see if the Cavs organization can stand on it’s own 2 feet without his input? After all, they lost their coach and GM and all stability… So maybe LBJ wants to see the organization make some solid decisions on its own before he commits to anything????

This is a non-story. Izzo told his players last week that he decided to take the Cavs job. That was confirmed multiple times by WFNY. OK, so school’s out, that’s not why he was holding back making an announcement. It will come….any minute now…wait for it…I’m sure it’s imminent…I mean he did tell his players he was taking the Cleveland job….right? Hello? Didn’t he?

@72 – Rich

Until WFNY sources say they were lying and that they did not hear Izzo tell his players he was leaving there will be no retraction article.

Please build a bridge and get over it.

I FEEL LIKE I AM TAKING CRAZY PILLS HERE!!

Lebron has really hurt “his” team with his antics over the past two seasons. Remember, he once called the CAVS “his” team. If he chooses to leave Cleveland he’ll never be held with the same respect as the “great” players who stayed with one team and eventually led them to championship(s). Seems he’s a quiter. I see it as Lebron feeling he needs to shop around for the best talented “other” team to help him win a championship. I think it would be a greater feat to win a “first” championship for Cleveland than it would be for him to win in a city where it would be just “another” championship. At this point in time I’ve lost respect for the so called “king.”