Cavaliers’ Summer League Team Ready to Begin Action in Las Vegas
July 12, 2010While We’re Waiting… Art and Artists, NCAA Polls and Pollsters, and Cleveland’s Character
July 13, 2010The LeBron James thing has been played (and re-played) over and over again non-stop. As Rock said in his summer league post, we can’t promise we are done yet either as details come out. But now for something totally different with less hatred than most postings, let me suggest how it should have gone. It is time to stop analyzing it and restating the same things over and over again. Just wanted to put together, simply and easily, what LeBron could have done to make it slightly more palatable. It still would have tasted about as good as a plate of cow feces, but instead of shoving my face in it at least let me eat it with a knife and fork, right? Right???!?!!? OK, that was a bad metaphor. Anyway…
This is assuming LeBron truly did make his decision sometime either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Obviously the authenticity of that fact is somewhat questionable, but let’s just assume that LeBron wanted to make his announcement in a relatively similar time frame. Here is how I think it should have gone down.
Thursday Morning at, say 10 AM, LeBron should have called the Cavaliers and the rest of his suitors first thing and told them “Thanks, but I am going to Miami.” Obviously LeBron should call Dan Gilbert personally and probably all the rest of the teams too.
The news would have started leaking through Twitter and onto the Blackberries and iPhones of NBA reporters. It wouldn’t matter.
10:30 AM LeBron should have done a press release that stated the following:
“After much soul-searching, I have decided to join the Miami Heat.
I would like to take a moment to thank Dan Gilbert and all the fans back in Cleveland and most importantly my hometown of Akron. The Cavs family has been so supportive of me over the years, and Dan Gilbert, Danny Ferry and Mike Brown worked hard to enable us to compete for championships. I am just sorry we didn’t get it done.
I also want to thank all the other teams that spent time with me last week in the free agency process. All the teams that came to Cleveland to present have great things to offer, and I know that it won’t be easy for the Heat to compete with you all in the coming years.
Ultimately, though, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play with two players of the caliber of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They are two of the greatest basketball players on earth and it will be very special for me to share the court with them on a nightly basis. Also, I felt that the experience and expertise of Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra really put the situation in Miami over the top.
I would also like to thank my mom, girlfriend and kids. They have been very supportive and understanding as I went through all the life-changing options presented by my free agency. We are all looking forward to making Miami a part of our lives the way Cleveland and Akron have been.
Friday night at 9 PM the Miami Heat will throw a party at American Airlines Arena for the fans. You can watch the festivities on ESPN at 9:00 PM. Portions of the advertising proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of America thanks to Vitamin Water, The University of Phoenix, and Nike.”
And that’s it. LeBron could have done an interview with ESPN or SportsCenter, or just held off until the Sunday Conversation, which he did anyway. Ultimately, if LeBron had done things this way it still would have been the biggest story in America. LeBron would have avoided all the negative publicity he has taken the last few days. Dan Gilbert wouldn’t have felt disrespected and wouldn’t have ever sent that heated email after being forced to watch LeBron’s decision on ESPN.
Last but not least, LeBron wouldn’t have done “The Decision” which seemed to everyone watching was built around nothing more than Cleveland’s misery. The ignorance of using the same wording as every one of Cleveland’s sports nightmares was tragically ignorant if not horribly vindictive.
Hindsight as they say…
47 Comments
This seems pretty “pie in the sky”…..too soon? Ok, I’ll put that one back in my bag for a bit.
Craig, are you trying to say you are leaving us for Miami?
This is my not-so-subtle application for employment as President and CEO of LRMR.
Indeed. A little humility and gratitude would not have preempted the backlash from Cleveland fans, but it certainly would have taken some of the edge off of it. I continue to be dumbfounded at how tone-deaf Lebron and his handlers were through this whole process. It’s almost pathological ignorance
Agreed. The same tired repetitious rehash is boring. I’d be interested in reading something I don’t already know, but I’m maxed out on all the stuff we already do know. Besides, talking about him constantly just feeds his megalomania.
YES! yes yes yes yes. If he HAD to leave, this would have been the most respectful way to do it without hurting his teammates, fans, or that sacred brand of his.
And I totally agree about the title of his special. That was no innocent mistake, and in NO WAY could that have been taken as a playful joke… Even non-Cleveland fans knew that was a fully intended slam against the city and it’s misery.
THAT’S why we’re pissed. Not because he left and we thought we owned him.
You forgot to replace the word “me” in the fake press release with the word “myself”.
I choose to believe LeBron was not vindictive in the way he left but auto-intoxicated in the hermetically sealed world of himself and his “team.” Unlike Modell, he does not understand the rage. If we really loved him, why wouldn’t we love the great drama and his ESPN thing just like every other adorable thing he ever did or said.
We made this frankenstein. Wonder if everyone else is as sick of looking at his face right now as I am. That precious smirk is all for himself, always was. Shame on us.
I think he couldn’t do a press release because of the exclusivity of the whole thing with ESPN. But you could’t even warn your employer? This is just not the way to handle ‘buisness’ as he calls it.
For me it’s like i’m proposing to my girlfriend and she’s not giving me an answer and then goes to all of my friends and family and says them she’s gonna marry another guy beacause he’s richer and she could have a brighter future with him
lebron does not need to adjust his actions to suit the white man – j.jackson
Couldn’t be more right on.
yeap…thats how it should have gone.
at the same time it is almost easier now that we can hate him for it.
Still no mention of the Walker Family and the Akron Community who had his back when his mom “went away”.
NEEDS MORE THIRD-PERSON PERSPECTIVE
can someone please answer this question:
did lebron actually take LESS money to go play with Miami? I thought he got a max contract via sign-n-trade. I just want to figure that out because Miami people are treating him like some sort of martyr for taking less to play with a winner. Lots of columnists also are saying this. WHO IS RIGHT?
–gracias
I don’t think he meant any harm. I think he has no clue. He’s like a kid, who has no concept that everything has a cause and effect. He thinks he’s loved unconditionally, but he’s loved because of what he brought to us. He thinks that there are no consequences, and now he’s shocked that there are. He lives from one party to the next. He was partying when he made his decision, he took a brief break to announce it, then went back to partying, this time in South Beach. Normal people don’t operate like that.
Saggy – he did take less. Although it was a sign and trade, he didn’t max out the six years for 130 mil he could have gotten. He got something like six years (only possible with s&t) and $110 mil or so.
Yay!! Denny’s back!
@Alex – he didn’t actually say that did he?
had it gone down like that, i would still be a lebron fan. but instead he decided to smash the cow pie right in our faces, i don’t like cow pie smashed in my face so i no longer support lebron in anything he does unless it’s a big fat apology and he himself eats a cow pie of similar flavor
This pisses me off more because I now see how well it could have been done. What a jack-a**
/Thanks Craig
Up until the “I spoil people with my play” comments, it always seemed that this guy always said the right thing. Regardless of whether it was always the politically correct, canned response or not, it was always the right thing to say, and his reputation was nearly spotless.
Then it all just unraveled and blew-up in his face.
So, yeah, this article shows a way he could have done it with more class and the way I would have expected him to do it about 3 months ago.
@18 – no he dint not say that, but the fact that you asked only proves what a blithering idiot j.jackson is
Craig – Well put. He essentially says the same thing, and has the spotlight, only I am no suffocating in a plate of cow feces like you stated.
Dan Gilbert isn’t writing nasty letters and I am not throwing haymakers at Anti Cavs fans out here in Portland.
I gotta get rid of this picture by the way….Lebron 6’s…..disgusting.
Total agree with Robbie @ 21. And I think that’s why, for me at least, “The Decision” pissed me off even more. Not only was it at best a disrespectful act of self-promotion, but it was a new side of the LeBron we didn’t really know. I mean I thought his MVP speeches were flawless and most of his interviews were “politically” savvy. The guy always knew how to handle the media. Then he just goes on ESPN like he’s wearing a Modell Rules shirt and pulls his best Ron Burgandy, “Go *&%$ yourself, Cleveland.” It’s amazing at how wrong he got the announcement, but had he done it like Craig suggested I might only secretly hope he loses every Finals game and not blow out his knee as well.
Well, we know whose side Stern is on. As I predicted, he knows it’s a player’s league.
PDcavsinsider
Stern to fine Dan Gilbert 100k for his letter. Which Stern called ill advised and inprudent.
3 minutes ago via TweetDeck
Dan Gilbert will be fined $100,000.
That’s like fining me $1.00 for an overdue book at the library.
@ Jake / 24: what are you doing with your shoes? I have 2 pairs and can’t quite decide.
And according to windhorst lebrassier has done more recruiting in the last 5 days then he did in the previous 3 years. Just a solid individual. There is no justice
@Harv 21.
Auto-intoxication? Sounds fun.
A couple things:
-Anyone notice that Nike really wasnt involved in “The Decision”?
-I’m starting to understand why bron acted, what seems like immaturity, in the last 2 months. I really think it has to do with not going to college. Some of you are right that he’s acted and given very PC interviews in the last 7 years. But I think it all goes back to him being immature. Look at the whole losing to the Magic and storming off the court thing – immature. I can see why Stern wants kids to go to college, and not just for one year as we’ve been hearing. College teaches kids how to act in the real world. Yea Kobe didnt go to college, Yea Garnett didnt go to college. I dont think they would have gone this far for self promotion.
@31
yep, saw nike not being there. bad year for nike. pretty much skunked on their world cup proteges (rooney, ronaldinho -didnt even play-, ribery, drogba, cannivara). they hung with kobe (and seemed to have come out ok). would love to see them drop lebron… and feature durant. may happen but doubtful.
(but state farm HAS to drop lebron… it’s gotta happen.)
as far as college. my personal feeling is college ed is overvalued in general (eg, i’m 25 years removed from practicing my degreed profession, and i’m not unique.). but there the value of being able to hang in mainstream culture is indeed a benefit.
that said… i’m not sure ballers of lebron’s stature get much of that benefit. at least not in the basketball mills. (see: iverson, a.)
i think his advisors aren’t advancing his stated goals. to be a billionaire?
the best option is to be the ‘hometown kid’ with ‘community values’ who humbly eschewed glamour and the easy path to become the best baller ever.
second best option, take on the mantle of savior of new york basketball.
there is no third option.
but that’s my opinion on the best way to meet his stated goals. where his advisors are failing him — IN MY OPINION — is that the goal is not defined. ‘lebron, how do you want to be remembered?’ ‘lebron, what’s most important to you?’ ‘think about this seriously and let’s talk about how to get there.’
this whole thing smells like 25 year olds who want to get laid in a spectacular environment.
don’t get me wrong, i may have made the same choice at 25. and geez, the evidence, the only frame of reference they have, suggests he can’t make a wrong move.
he and his crew don’t realize that they can make a mistake. mistake being that his ‘fans’ start saying… ‘geez, he’s not as nice as i thought he was.’ ‘i don’t want to be identified with a narcissist.’ ‘i think i’ll pass on that vitamin water and go with gatorade because peyton is a regular guy.’
i want to pre-empitively say that YES IT WAS HIS CHOICE. i want to let any trolls know that it’s fair to take loyalty to community out of it and discuss this as a ‘business’ decision. and on a BUSINESS basis… he blew it.
for the record, i’m not hiding behind his heinous ‘decision’ production as the reason i think he blew it. it made him a d.b. nationally, and i’m ok with that. but even if he’d conducted this departure with class, i’d feel betrayed (yes) on a personal level.
but i would also feel as though he simply made the WRONG decision because he had the chance to be the best ever. and he pissed it away to party in south beach.
“This was the most public of our many humiliations”
-Jackie Chiles
@31 – “College teaches kids how to act in the real world”
No it doesn’t. I agree Jim, it is very overrated. Tell me where in the real world would it be acceptable to see half the stuff that college students participate in.
Second, do you really think (most) Professors have a clue of what the real world is like? They sit in their bubble of Acadamia and discuss the issues of the world like its an easy problem to fix. In theory, ya, its great. In practice, unless they have had actual experience in the field, they are clueless.
@ Stinkfist – Amsterdam is a place in the real world. And I disagree re: academia.
@34 Sounds like the “book smart” verse “street smart” debate.
OH NO!!! ACADAMIA HAS STOLEN DENNY TOO!!
What LeBron really should have done was to tell management a few years ago that he really wanted to play with his buddies and that if they were smart they would start dumping salaries like crazy so that he could help them bring the Wades and Boshs to Cleveland.
Instead, he kept saying that winning a championship was the only thing that mattered to him. Clearly, that is important, but with who he wins it is at least as important to him.
Had he said that to management and they had ignored him, then they deserved what they got, but because he held them hostage by not treating them with respect, well, we know what happened.
What should have Lebron done?? Not make promises he couldn’t keep. I keep hearing that Lebron’s decision was just business. So it’s a business and he is the product. Well, guess what? I want my money back for false advertising of that product. He advertised loyalty until he brought me a championship and that product did not live up to its advertisement.
I have decided, which I encourage many other folks to do, to box up every shirt and jersey I have of Lebron the product. I will be sending my product back to his home address and asking for a refund because his product was not what I was told.
I wonder what Chris Paul is thinking. He just dumped his agency for the guys over at LMRM. They’ve probably been selling CP3 on all the great capabilities they have, how ingenious they are and all the juice they have becuase of LeBron. They have been telling him that they are so powerfull they wrangled an hour of Prime-Time from ESPN/ABC for a special that is going to be basically an hour long brand rollout for one of their clients and they can do the same from him. Then it airs, not only does it come off badly in sincerce, it’s basically boring and a really bad interview. Then the reviews come in and LeBron and LMRM gets hammered. Do you think CP# is trying to get signed back with his old representation? Becuase if this was their idea of a great idea, what’s a not so great idea look like
From someone with 29 years in the PR game, this is an outstanding post and dead on.
I am a true clevelander on vacation in ohio and heard about this mess in hampton va…Lebron should have made his annoncement from cleveland and had some humility he was givne the opportunity to do what most people never get the chance to do is play sports for a living…Yea he has every right to play where he wants since he is a free agent i just think he owed cleveand a little more graxious respect and should not have handled his leaving the way he did it made us feel betrayed that he would think so little of the fans who spent money to see the team sports is big in cleveland i miss that here in va even though i am having fun and can’t wait to be home again…yes i think that this issue is blown big since i had to ask my friends back home about it and it did make the paper down here in the sports page there was a small article about it. I was angry not had him but at the way he chose to leave cleveland if he would have come to cleveland and said hey i love the fans here and they were a great support for 7 years but i want to expand my horizons i would not have felt betrayed since i left cleveland to see if i could learn stuff in va and find work but didn’t so i learned how to get around but i learned that family friends are priceless no amount of money means more that what you have in your ouwn back yeard yes i wish him luck and hope that he dose well in life but i am not happy at how our city was treated like we are the poor ophrphan child that no one loves well clevland rocks the best place in the nation we have snow up the ying yang and a cool some times hot summer but here it is over 105 on some days only 7734 turn that up side down and you know what i mean is 2 degrees cooler than we are ha ha
As a native Clevelander, I know I’m biased. But I honestly can’t understand why some people across the country don’t get why Clevelanders were so mad. What Lebron did was inexcusable on any level.
A guy I play soccer with called me a “heartless prick” because I thought LeBron’s charitable live TV announcement was narcissistic and cruel. The nerve of me! He’s from New Jersey, so I tied to dismiss it.
I nominate Theresa for the “Run-On Post of the Year”
Guys get a grip. I’m from Miami and if Wade had made a move to the Cavs I would have been upset but at the same time I would have wished him well. These players have every right to go where they please what difference does it make how he would leave. I’ve never been to ur city but was this guy (Lebron) ur life, this is a game, that’s all just a game. These r players, have self respect and pride one guy doesn’t make ur city. Burning shirts nasty letters anger ect… makes his choice a good one. Rebuild and regroup and don’t let one person or choice affect ur lives so much, im sure there is more to ur city than Lebron, I hope.
Great article. Simply and classy – it’s amazing that LeBron’s handlers, who do this for a living and get paid six (seven?) figures to do stuff like this could not manage to draft a one page letter that probably took you fifteen minutes. Keep up the interesting, well-written work, Mr. Lyndall.
A press release would have served he and Cleveland well. What a bang up job by his PR staff.