ESPN: Name the crimes of LeBron James

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"LeBron James, by objective measures the best player in the NBA, and a strong candidate to be the best ever in the sport, has created an experiment. Instead of joining the best team he could, he cast his lot with two very talented friends and a savvy organization.

The rest of the roster is essentially a mystery, and cheap one at that.

Could that possibly work?

Maybe. No one -- not Pat Riley, not Erik Spoelstra, not LeBron James -- really knows. But they're about to try.

It ought to be fun to watch, especially as there's a feel-good, almost fairy-tale angle: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh really like playing together. This is sports at its most basic. You and your friends feel good when you meet at the park? You like how your skills mesh?

Often the difference between superstars and other NBA players is work. It's not a hard and fast rule. But a lot of superstars have unbalanced lives. They put work first. They have more passion, more drive, more willingness to improve every little thing. In this, these players saw birds of a feather, and they flocked together.

And it was no small whim. While their actual salaries are yet to be determined, they will be taking fairly massive pay cuts -- tens of millions -- to bet on their conviction that they'll find what they want playing together.

Before this whole thing started, I was asking all kinds of NBA people what they thought would happen. An agent told me confidently that you almost never go wrong assuming every player will go where they can get the most money. So Wade would stay in Miami. James would stay in Cleveland. And Bosh would go somewhere by sign-and-trade.

That is not what happened at all. Instead, the three united in the only city of the six on James' list which, according to a sophisticated study presented by the Knicks, gave James a zero percent chance at becoming a billionaire. In many ways it's one of the most amazing, selfless and unabashedly positive stories in sports.

But that's not how people are seeing things for now.

Instead, people are livid at the reviled James. The feeling is that the arrogant James has finally revealed his true self.

I get that from Cleveland. This is a divorce. Miami is the new girl. Cleveland is the high-school sweetheart who did the hard work of raising the kids. Cleveland was always going to be pissed.

But somehow strong emotions have been stirred all over the country. People hate the Heat. I have heard people say they will buy NBA League Pass for the first time in their lives just to root against the Heat. Poke around on Twitter, or even on the Cavaliers' official team website, and you'll see that James is being called every name in the book, from cowardly to egomaniacal."

more

[joeybee12]

1. He had every right to leave, he had no right to bill it as the Second Coming...n/t

[trumad]

2. Wow Joey---

every thread you're whining like a little titty baby.

[joeybee12]

3. And you've suddenly become a devout believer...I have never liked Princess James...

..his actions this week reinforced that.

And how is this considered whining? I am a Celtics fan...not Celevland...just poitning out what a dipshit you are now worshipping.

[trumad]

4. No shit you're a Celts fan

and I'll say it again---if the Celt's didn't have the big 3 that they currently have, and if they pulled off the coup Riley just did, you'd be the first to stroke yourself.

I could fucking care less how LaBron quit the Cavs.... the dude plays for my fucking team and boy it's gonna be fun to watch.

Dumbasses who say they Heat won't do well with this set up are just that---fucking dumbasses.