Many people have e-mailed us here at Zeus of Sport to inquire about my opinion regarding all of the statements LeBron made this past week. I apologize for my slow response to all of the LeBron information circulating out there, but I really had to digest it all a bit and get ready to give my two cents.
LeBron came out and addressed three important things surrounding him this summer. First of all, with regard to "dunkgate", which I have already spoken about, LeBron said:
"I never told anyone to confiscate any tapes. Nike has a no videotape policy at pick-up games. They've always done that. Now that LeBron is involved, it's blown up. It's a play that happens in basketball all the time. You can go on YouTube and see me being dunked on by a lot of guys. I like to call myself a shot blocker and [getting dunked on] tends to happen. Jordan Crawford is going to be a good basketball player..."
LeBron being "dunked on" by Crawford is just an example of a star athlete being scrutinized by the media for anything that comes up in the news about them. If that had happened to someone like Dwyane Wade even, I don't think it would have been anything more than a 5 second blurb on PTI. Instead, because of LeBron's stature in the world of sports, it became a daily debate on shows such as Jim Rome, Around the Horn, Sportscenter, etc... We can finally let it go now. Maybe it will come up in a few years if Crawford manages to make the NBA, at which point I'm pretty sure we'd see the exact opposite on a professional court.
Here's what LeBron said about the end of game 6 against Orlando:
"I wouldn't have done it the same. I would have done the media. Looking back on it, without you guys, there's no LeBron James, D-Wade, Tiger Woods or no Peyton Manning. If I could have started over again, I would have done the media. As I thought about it I could see why people were talking about because your job starts when mine ends."But as far as the dunk or whatever car I'm driving, some things you shouldn't comment and some things you should. I look at the no
handshake like this — during the regular season, no one ever shakes hands. You move on to the next game. I congratulated Dwight Howard(notes) through email and told him good luck in the Finals. Shaking hands is not a big deal to me. It's not being a sore loser, it’s moving on. Sometimes people want you to accept losing and I'll never accept losing"From the second LeBron didn't shake the hands of anyone on Orlando, he was immediately called a sore loser. But come on now... why does he have to do that. Sure, he should have gotten up on the podium and acted sad, pissed, disappointed, frustrated, whatever; but he didn't have to shake Dwight Howard's hand. Dwight had just taken a 3 at the buzzer of a game his team was winning by 13, how is that any better sportsmanship than what LeBron displayed by being angry. If anything, I think LeBron deserves some respect for this. He was pissed off at his teammates for underachieving, and he showed the fire and passion that some people claim he doesn't have.
Now... there is one offseason piece of information about LeBron that worries Cavs fans, LeBron fans, and just Cleveland citizens in general: what he said about staying in Cleveland...
"I hope so. I signed a contract in 2006 with a three-year extension to leave my options open. Hopefully everything works out. I'm not ashamed of anything in Cleveland ... I'm looking forward to this season and we'll see what happens."
I'm not exactly qualified to talk about salary caps and contracts in the NBA, but I'm pretty sure this is either a really stupid financial move by LeBron, or he could possibly be leaving C-Town. With the salary cap expected to lower next season, the largest amount of money LeBron could sign a contract for with any team would be an extension this summer with the Cavs. There are, in my eyes, a couple of scenarios I think we might see within the next year...
1. He is lying and he signs the extension this offseason after the Cavs make another signing or trade to solidify a great roster.
Likelihood: Unlikely
2. He plans on exercising his player option next summer, staying in Cleveland for at least one more year. Some people have said that the summer of 2010 could move to 2011 with all the players with 1 year player options (Wade, James, Bosh, and the lowering salary cap projected for next season. I believe he would make about 20 mil with that option, and then he could worry about his long term contract in 2 years.
Likelihood: Possible
3. He's leaving Cleveland if they don't win this year (possible that he even leaves if they win).
Likelihood: Unlikely but possible
4. He isn't terribly concerned about making that most amount of money he can with a contract because he wants to win championships and wants to be able to attract another star to Cleveland. Therefore, he plans on signing a max contract (25% of the salary cap, I believe), or perhaps less next year in order to be able to spend a good amount of money on another free agent target in 2010 or 2011 (2011 is more likely and more possible).
Likelihood: This is what I think he's going to do (maybe I don't understand it perfectly, but I expect him to stay in Cleveland)
There could be more, and probably are so let me know what you guys think. And to Cleveland fans: at least you'll still have Kid Cudi if Bron leaves...
Cramer. Out.
this is a good read thanks
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