[GodfatherParticipant]

[Player: LeBron James] – 2x MVP, 2004 ROY, 4x All NBA First Team, 2x All NBA Defensive Team, 1x Scoring Champ, 3x PER Leader.

1x Breaker of millions of hearts.

I am a Knicks fan. Die hard, I had waited the past three years of my life for July 8th at 9pm when LeBron announced his decision. As much as I wanted LeBron to come to New York, I still said I would be content if he stayed. Cleveland needs a championship, and who better to deliver it to them than one of their own? Obviously not him. We all know how heart-broken Cleveland is. However, besides my own biases as a Knicks fan, I was heart-broken when LeBron did not join the Knicks. Was this because I was personally sad? No. This was because 9 year old underserved kids at the Boys and Girls club who have not EVER seen the Knicks succeed just saw their potential hero deliver a fat middle finger to them. Every single kid sitting behind that interview was a Knicks fan. The fact that LeBron did not choose the Knicks was not a big deal to those kids. The fact that LeBron sat in front of those kids and did not choose the Knicks was heartless and as cold a choice as he could make.

LeBron ruined himself. Although nobody can deny the obvious talent that he has, he will never be the Jordan many people thought he would be. He will never even be the Kobe people thought, (and maybe even still think) he is better than. I assure you that while LeBron was getting his dick sucked and shit-faced drunk in South Beach, Kobe was watching tape and hitting the gym. LeBron is not just immature in this way. He simply does not have the fire power that these starts have. Had Jordan been in the league now during the 2010 free agency, he would have been more pumped than LeBron was that Wade and Bosh joined forces. Jordan would not have joined them. Jordan would have been happy because this would be a new team to deliver an ass-kicking too. LeBron preferred partying with his friends. In ten years as LeBron puts on a lavish 3 hour ESPN special to announce his retirement (Just a sidenote, one of my favorite athletes, Mike Piazza, yea I know it sucks I’m a Mets fan too, did not even announce his retirement. He simply retired. Come on, he is so classy. Gotta love him, even if that facial hair was an abortion) I will not look back at his career as a success. I will look at it as a failure. As shown already, he has the resumé of a hall of famer, which he will be. However, with the amount of talent he has shown the world, he should be a top five player. Easily. He will never reach the top 15 player mark. If you cannot win as the man of the team, you cannot be considered top 15. He will always have one fewer than Wade, who singlehandedly won four straight against a 67 win Mavs team. He will always be remembered as not much better than Iverson. This decision ruined him and the NBA.

He calls himself an historian of the game. Maybe he would have learned a little something in college, or was he too good for that too, just like he is too good for Cleveland. Yankees, Cowboys, Heat. What a douche.

[gregoden08Participant]

I agree with some points, but I do not feel that LBJ’s career is a failure. If he can win multiple championships and be the main guy…Than how can you say his career is a failure?

[GodfatherParticipant]

Because, I consider a failure anything short of his potential. This isn’t saying per say that Ken Griffey is a failure – he was injured. If a guy who has #1 talent never wins as the best player on his team, how can he be considered a success? And he has expressed that Wade is still the main guy in Miami.

[gregoden08Participant]

Well of course he’s going to say that…What do you expect him to stay? He is better than Wade and always has been. Especially when you factor in Wade’s duarability issues.

[ZeroParticipant]

He’s not the main guy though. I totally agree that his career will be a failure because he has the skills to be a great player and to lead a team to a championship, but he wasted his talent by going to the Miami Heat where he took the easy way out to a championship, and will forever be a 2nd option.

[gregoden08Participant]

HOW IS HE THE SECOND OPTION? God…you people are nuts if you don’t think LBJ will be the first option. LBJ is the best player on that team, period. He’s not the second option…Christ you people are already saying that a 25-26 year old is already a failure when he won 2 MVP’s and got to the Finals.

[GodfatherParticipant]

Even LeBron said himself that he will be the second option

[gregoden08Participant]

Again, what he said doesn’t mean a damn thing. What do you expect him to say? That he’s the best player on that team and will be the first option? Lol think for a second.

[ZeroParticipant]

LeBron is a first option and is better than Wade, but it’s Wade’s team and LeBron respects that. He is a failure because he cannot win a championship on his own and is basically wasting his talents to become a 2nd option.

[gregoden08Participant]

So is Kobe’s career a failure for playing with Shaq and being a 2nd option? Is Worthy a failure for being a 3rd option? I don’t get it. LBJ is putting himself in the best possible situation to win.

[GodfatherParticipant]

Kobe won as the best player – twice.

And Worthy isn’t a failure, he never was good enough to be the clear cut best player. He reached his potential. LeBron will never do that and win.

[llperez]

lebron’s career is not a failure by any means. But he did make it real hard/damn near imposiible to reach jordan comparison based on the fact he joined wade. What people need to understand is that it is one thing for a great player to join another great player who plays a different role such as kobe having shaq and magic having kareem becasue they brought different hings to the table. But it was always kobe and shaq that ultimately had the ball in theri hands and had to run the show and be the guy to take the last shots. Wade and lebron both fill that role so its like having to alpha males together who both want the ball and to make the decisions on the court.

[marcusfizer21Participant]

He did put himself in the best possible to win but is it worth breaking the Clevelanders’ hearts? The millions who supported him all the way? Call it whatever you want but the way he left Cleveland will forever be put in infamy… He just spit in their faces like Vince McMahon did in that Montreal Screwjob…

[ZeroParticipant]

Kobe then won a championship as the first option. Kobe also didn’t become a free agent and ran to Shaq for a championship. Never followed the NBA back then though, so not sure about Worthy. Yeah LeBron is putting himself in the best possible situation and I understand where you’re coming from, but LeBron arguably is the best player in the league and has the talent to be one of the best in the NBA, but going to a team where there are 2 great players shows that he won’t be as great as everyone thought he would be, leading HIS team(not to mention his hometown)multiple championships.

[Michael.S.Participant]

You are way off.

If you think he will not be considered a top 15 player you are sadly mistaken. He is also already ahead of Iverson not even halfway through his career.

I don’t get this, how could he be a failure for not winning that Cleveland team a title? Jordan wouldn’t have won with that team, nor Kobe, nor Wilt, or anybody. he didn’t want to leave and that was obvious but it was turning into his only choice. Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert and Danny Ferry are who to blame for LeBron leaving . The best player he ever played with was Mo Williams, seriously. That organization had 7 yrs. to build a core aroud LeBron and they did just as bad as anyone could. Constant disheartening loss after heartbreaking loss took a toll on LeBron mentally and even after that he still tried to stay in Cle. by trying to get Bosh to come to Cleveland, so what do you want him to do?

[Michael.S.Participant]

And I don’t care what anyone says, LeBron will be the first option and best player WHEREVER he plays…Its Wade’s team by default almost, just because people say it has to be, but when push comes to shove LeBron is the best player on that court every night.

[stanford hoops]

wade is the first option and lebron is on some nights but he will be the second option alot more in the way magic was with kareem. magic is still a top 5 player right even when he was the second option behind kareem?

[llperez]

lebron is the best player on miami agreed. If he decides to be a pass first player, then maybe wade leads in scoring, but that’s pretty much up to lebron.

[KU PRIDE14Participant]

“What a douche” lol

[billykParticipant]

Lebron James addressing his HATERS:

“What you lookin’ at? You all a bunch of fuckin’ assholes. You know why? You don’t have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin’ fingers and say, “That’s the bad guy.” So… what that make you? Good? You’re not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don’t have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There’s a bad guy comin’ through! Better get outta his way!”

[dahoodrecruiterParticipant]

stop comparing him to magic and kareem …….magic did not lost and say yea im leaving so and so because i cant win here so imma go play with kareem….magic was drafted to the lakers …….its ah big difference compared to wat lebron did …….

you guys can sit back and play dumb all you want…its obvious lebron stopped playing and played when he wanted to just so we all would not point the finger and say yea he quit…..he knew he was going to play with wade ,bosh …all that bs about them not knowing until he said it is garbage…..his camp put up big smoke screen about him trying to get bosh to sign with cleveland all because they aint wanna make bron look like the bad guy cause he is frm cleveland ….so it looks as if he tried to get him to cum to cleveland and he didnt cum so hey its not my fault i tried ……garbage!!!!!!
period man lebron took the easy way out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chicago1980Participant]

Has anybody even considered that he does’nt care about being compared to the other great players I think that he just wants to win a championship. If he wins 5 championships in miami I dont think it will even matter in the end he is still going to the hall of fame the media is making this to be a big deal Lebron is not Kobe he is not Jordan he is Lebron James and he didnt want to waste the best years of his playing career in a city where he wasnt going to win a championship. He gave cleveland 7 years and they didnt give him another star they gave him Mo Williams and Antwan Jamison. What if he wouldve signed the 6 year deal and stayed in cleveland and not won and then left at 31 would it have made a big difference then just a question I have.

[llperez]

chicago, even as a non fan of lebron, i have to admit your post is very fair and something not enough people are considering. Maybe he puts his personal happiness that he will have by playing with his friends and potentially winning titles over what everyone else thinks about him or how it will impact his legacy. If he was done playing in cleavland, then as a man, he should do what will allow him to feel at peace instead of trying to plaese everyone.

[dahoodrecruiterParticipant]

how can you say he does not care about being compared to other great playerrs??? its obvious he does and thats why he wants to win NOW!!!………AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION I SAY YES I THINK IT WOULD HAVE MADE AH HUGE DIFFERENCE IF HE WOULDA LEFT @ 31

[marcusfizer21Participant]

If he would have left at 31 without winning a title, then the fans would have understood… Imagine that he’s been in Cleveland for 13 years without a championship… That sucks… But right now? 25 years old? Not yet in his prime? I bet he could have done something to save Cleveland… I truly think that it’s too early to leave, man… He could have done more… And to think he embarassed the Cavs fans on national TV…

[Chicago1980Participant]

I guess I stated it wrong I dont think its as much a big deal to him as everyone else I believe that he knows what his legacy is gonna be when he is done playing ball and what other people say about him is not a big deal to him. I am not a lebron fan but i genuinely think that he wants to win championships and he went to the team that he believes can win right now. Like I said why waste his best years playing with 2nd teir stars and not winning when he can go to miami and play with 2 of the best players in the league its not a hard decision to make. I also believe that he knew where he was going from the beginning and all this publicity that he got for the decision was just something to appease his ego.

[sc0rebuckets11Participant]

will not be the number 1 option next yr, and thats by choice.

He’s easily the best playmaker on the team, and his scoring is gonna come naturally.. and not as forced as it was in cleveland.

the triple double watch is on..

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

What player has ever been considered a true all-time great that didnt give the team that drafted him his prime years before leaving? LeBron left to play on another mans team and nobody is saying it but I will he knew he would not be able to beat Bosh and Wade so he joined them as a cop out move they would not had been hurt at all if LeBron didn’t join them keyword JOIN! Could you ever see Bird joining Magic or Russell joining Wilt? Legacys are made on you being the best and beating the best not you being the best and playing with the best him and Wade were rivals they have given us classic battles now they are teammates. I guess im glad he joined the Heat cuz if not he might have tryed to get a sign and trade done with the Lakers.

[ChrischiParticipant]

@sc0rebuckets11

I totally agree. I see him averaging around 22-25ppg, 9-11 apg and 8 rpg. The Heat really lack good rebounder expect for Bosh. That’s why I see LBJ with 8, maybe even more and D.wade with 5+. I just hope Spoelstra gives him the ball. I see everyone from the Heat talking about getting back up PGs. Why do they need PGs??? they have LBJ, Wade and Chalmers to handle the ball, concentrate on getting a good Center.

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