Vancouver Metro Basketball League

By Clint Lomax

By Clint Lomax A.K.A. Mjlover23

Three years ago, Lebron James was 22 years old. Somewhere in that time, he came through with a Herculean type performance in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs Detroit in double OT! He went from “mesmerizing” and “overpowering” to “wet behind the ears” and “not ready to be coroneted” after his team was swept by San Antonio in the 2007 finals. Immediately after that loss, ESPN almost immediately began the “Summer of 2010” campaign. With increased ratings, ad revenue, and web traffic in mind, this campaign was nearly a daily pounding of speculation on what he was going to do with free agency.
Fast forward to today.

The hour long special dubbed “The Decision” will air on ESPN at 9pm est/6pm pst. How much of this was ESPN begging to get the exclusive announcement, Lebron’s personal hands on ego, and/or the master plan of Maverick Carter. Carter is the CEO of LRMR Innovative Marketing & Branding. I will be writing a full article on Mr. Carter later today or sometime this weekend. Mr. Carter is a subject that may make you feel good, bad, or indifferent about the rise to his current position. Anyway, Lebron ultimately owns this situation as it unfolds today. However, I’m reminiscing about a previous PR snafu that happened about 3 years ago. If you forgot about that I’ll give you a hint…”Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive.”

Speaking of career altering missteps, this may be one of the biggest in Lebron’s career. No other free agent has ever garnered attention of this magnitude. I’ve read that this is more like the press conference on which university he was going to choose…that he never had. The suspense is the only genuine thing about this whole process. Even with all the rumors and speculation going on, the one thing that we know for sure is that we don’t know what he is going to do. Let’s run down the potentials from about a week ago to today:

-NJ Nets – With a new billionaire majority owner and the mega superstar Jay-Z, the Nets have all facets of the Global Entertainment angle sewed up. The Nets had decent cap space, but with the big pockets that organization has now they could make any move they wanted to make it work. Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Derrick Favors, and Lebron sounds like a formidable lineup but not a championship lineup.

- NY Knicks – The Knicks had enough cap space for two max players. With their pickup of Amare, Lebron James would have meant the end of their playoff drought at the very least. Wilson Chandler, Eddy Curry, Toney Douglas, Gallinari, Tracy McGrady, Al Harrington, and Eddie House still leave you needing to maneuver a little bit. Who am I fooling???? NY would have to maneuver a lot to make this team into a contender! I think the media scrutiny would rip into Lebron too much to bring a title to NY. Can anyone name the last big time FA that “WILLINGLY” went to NY and flourished? Don’t worry…I’ll wait!

- Chicago Bulls – They were the front runners from the very start! They had the cap room, the young talent, and a new defensive coach. The problem is that the Bulls would still need a legit both ends post player. The signing of Boozer is not the championship piece needed, plus the Lebron/Boozer combo was tried before and didn’t show signs of working long term. The beginning of the end was when rumors of Wade backing out of Chicago as an option surfaced. No Wade, no Lebron.

- Clev Cavs – Cleveland is the obvious, but not so obvious choice here. Hometown guy, economy booster, feel good story, etc. The media is so in love with the hometown hero playing his whole career in his home state. I challenge anyone to name 10 players in the last ten years that spent their whole career with the same team! Now everybody is asking a 25 year old to stay on a team that is in the state where they haven’t had a championship in 46 years…..IN ANY SPORT! Everybody’s view of what he should do is what they want him to do, instead of what he should do. Which is put himself in the best situation to win multiple titles. We know Danny Ferry added: Mo Will, Shaq, and Jamison. I have never wanted to anoint Ferry as one of the top GMs. Partly because he played at Duke (when I hated Duke), but mostly because he is a bargain shopper on a team that should have top talent. I’m sure would of loved to have Ben Gordon, Brandon Bass, and/or Trevor Ariza instead of Mo Will and Anthony Parker. They already have shooters off the bench; they needed more playoff experienced players which Mo and Parker are not. Cleveland still has the inside track on getting him back, but where do they go after they get him? Shaq is being shopped, and I know Ferry isn’t going to go out and get a Rondo type PG that Cleveland needs.

- Miami Heat – The Heat were in the driver’s seat as soon as Wade chose not to go to Chicago. With Bosh having the same agent as Wade, you already knew how that was going to shake out. The issue that people keep thinking is the truth when it is not is that there are not enough balls on the court for all three of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lebron is and always will be a “PASS FIRST” guy! Probably to his detriment right now, because he is title-less because of it. Once you trade Beasley out to get Lebron in, that’s when the fun will begin! There will be a truckload of 2nd tier specialty players begging to play with the New Big Three! Not only that, but you never know when Pat Riley is going to bogard the coaching duties like he did when Shaq came to town. Championship coaches give you the best chance to win year in and year out. The only reason he would go to Miami is because of the pressure to stay in Cleveland. The loss in potential salary means less to players like Lebron than you think. Especially when you have super duper endorsement deals.

In my opinion, the wait and suspense is a little bit much. However, if I was 25 years old in his position I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. At 25, I thought I knew everything when I really didn’t know anything. Put yourself in his shoes. Factor in being 25 years old (if you are older than that, this won’t work if your 25 or younger) and the following:
- You’re the most physically imposing player at your position in NBA history
- You have your most trusted friends and relatives in your inner circle, and they are solid (for the most part).
- You are stinking rich.
- You are guaranteed a future nine figure contract with opt out power in the last 2 years of your contract.
- You have your own clothing and shoe line (that need to be redesigned like a buddy of mine pointed out to me on FB).
- You pay for next to nothing that doesn’t involve high end cars, jets, and houses.
- You are VIP almost anywhere in the world, and I don’t mean strictly nightclubs.
- You are 6’8” 270 lbs, and have a body that looks like it was chiseled out of marble.

What would you do….if you were 25 years old?