Redemption. As early as last year, a story surfaced on Yahoo! Sports that LeBron James might be clearing a path for a return home to Cleveland during the summer of 2014, when he has the option to opt out of his much maligned 6 year deal that he signed with the Miami Heat following the 2010 season. Even if you aren't from Cleveland or Miami, or a fan of the NBA for that matter, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't witness some part of LeBron's nationally publicized break-up with Cleveland in an hour-long ESPN special coined "The Decision". It was insensitive, self-centered, egotistical, and just plain stupid. The fallout was incredible, as most of the basketball world turned on James for orchestrating such a thing. Even LeBron couldn't have imagined the venom he would receive. He tried to fight it, justifying his every action and reaction to everything that was going on around him. The greatest thing that happened in all of this; it all got LeBron's attention. But I feel the need to digress for a moment.
The story. Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) first broke the story. When I read it, I went still, my heart pounding. Since July 8th, 2010, I've watched about 4 NBA games from start to finish. I'm not even sure that number is accurate, but what I can say is that I lost all taste for the NBA after that night. Some of it, well a lot of it, had to do with James' act of self indulgence. Cleveland sports fans have endured a great deal of torment from the national media, but this was the end of the line for me. I was no longer going to fully invest in anything professional sports-wise. As I continued to read through the story, I dismissed most of it as a writer doing nothing more than taking various quotes from LeBron, creating his own connections, and drawing his own conclusions, thus telling a different story. Sure, the scenario sounded interesting, especially the part where it was reported that members of LeBron's camp were rumored to have carried a message or two back to Dan Gilbert that LeBron had a desire to return to Cleveland. This was 47 weeks ago.
The return. A few days ago, another story surfaced, this time from multiple sports outlets, stating that the Cavaliers are positioning themselves to make a run at LeBron after the 2014 season. I quickly retweeted the story, tagging a few of my basketball junkies along the way via Twitter. The responses started coming in. I read things like "why don't you grow a backbone and hold a grudge", "Dan Gilbert still owns the team, right? Then LBJ will never be allowed back", and "we don't need him, we can do it without him". The Cavs record in the post-LBJ era; a staggering 49-139, including an NBA record 26 game slide during the 2011 season. Basketball had seen better days in Cleveland. The story has legs, it seems to be a real possibility, and it's less than 2 years away. Maybe.
There are really two sides to all of this. The Decision, and the state of the Cavaliers franchise after the 2010 season. I'm not here to defend the idea of that television spectacle. Not going to do it. Ever. As for LeBron's former employer, that's another story. The team had reached a breaking point following the game 6 loss to Boston during the 2010 playoffs. Most would argue that the series ended after game 5. The current mix of players wasn't going to achieve its goal. The design was flawed tremendously. Aging players, bad contracts, a lame duck coach, and the weight of 46 years of sports tragedy sitting on one superstar's shoulders. I'm not sure what happened to LeBron James that playoff season, only he can answer that. As a fan, I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm never going to get the true story. It was bizarre. I know what he was called afterwards by the owner, the fans, and the national guys. The Cavs were going to have to take a step backwards to fix this. There was no quick solution that could be drawn up. At this stage of LeBron James' career, going backwards wasn't an option. His time was over here.
Some fans will contest that the Cavs were a desperate organization, and they were being manipulated and held hostage by their superstar. After all, LeBron could do no wrong in the eyes of the fans. He was their king, their savior. Maybe they were the real victims in all of this. If that was the case, and that was their thinking, shame on them. If anyone needed to grow a backbone in all of this, it was the Cavaliers. Everyone from the owner, to the GM, to the coach, to the players, to the media, all the way down to the damn ball boy. In hindsight, these things are easy to say now, but all first class organizations conduct themselves in a manner that doesn't allow them to be controlled. The Decision was as much about the failures of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization than it was about LeBron James' ego and thirst for championships.
So Dan Gilbert went John McClane and fired off a letter in defense of his own ego, and what happened? He was glorified for it. All he came off looking like was a spoiled little child who lost his favorite toy. I guess he had every right to be angry, after all, he lost $400 million in a little over an hour. As time has gone on, I think that both these men have learned a great deal from that experience. LeBron has stated publicly that he regrets the course he plotted during that free agency period. Was he completely contrite? Who knows, and who cares. Dan Gilbert has since expressed the same feeling of regret for his tirade. Both men may have an opportunity, if they choose, to come together again to deliver something more fantastic, to a city that deserves a storybook ending for once. Privately, I believe that Dan would tell you that he's a better owner due to this experience. The Cavs are building a young team, with a young superstar at the center of it. They've got a good coach, and the team hasn't added any disastrous contracts to the payroll, all while shedding each and every bad one. They're in the game, waiting, doing exactly what they should have been doing for all those other years...making the Cavaliers an inviting destination for LeBron James.
Let's dispel a few paradigms here. Dan Gilbert would absolutely take LeBron James back. Dan's a business man, and as a successful, smart, innovative business man, he knows exactly what he stands to gain from a LeBron James reunion. Franchise value. Sold out home games. Concessions. Merchandise. Packed Casinos and hotels. Vibrant nightlife in the city. As for the fans, some will stand their ground and rue the day LeBron James comes back to town. I once answered a question from a Boston fan of "When will this whole LeBron thing be over with for you" by simply stating "When he dies". Honestly, I don't feel that way anymore. LeBron James taught me a few things about the dangers of investing in professional athletes. It's a bottom line business these days. There's no loyalty anymore in this "culture of me". I'll invest for my own personal reasons, not because a Nike banner tells me I should be a "witness". Not because the guys on First Take tell me that I should be grateful that LeBron gave my team and city 7 great years of basketball. The majority of fans would jump off the Key Tower for another run with LeBron. In this world of second chances, this would be just one more instance supporting it. Everyone deserves a second chance, everyone loves a story, and this would be the greatest story of them all. Redemption.
Then again, it could all be a ruse.
TR
