James refuses to cry foul
Sees K.D. move as different
LeBron James has the ability to pretty much create a championship contending team wherever he chooses to go. He is, you know, LeBron James.
He didn’t choose the Cavaliers when he was drafted in 2003, but James got them to the NBA Finals four years later, then took his talents to the last series with Miami four straight Junes beginning in 2011. He’s taken the Cavs back to the Finals each season of his second Cleveland coming.
LeBron’s sort of like Bigfoot in sneakers. Yet he stands one game away from falling to 3-5 in the championship series because the biggest free agent move last summer wasn’t him. It was Kevin Durant joining Golden State, 1-1 against the LeBrons in the previous two Finals.
Speaking to reporters in Cleveland yesterday, James said he was happy for Durant, who’s made life unhappy for the Cavs with 38, 33 and 31 points, including Wednesday’s 3-point dagger. He then chose to point out the projects he took on after leaving behind disappointed people in Cleveland and Miami were, of course, more difficult.
“I don’t think that our careers are the same as far as changing teams,” He said. “Their team was already kind of put together, and you just implement a guy that’s ready to sacrifice, a great talent, a guy that’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win.
“But that team, they knew what they were about. He just had to come in and just do what he had to do. And that’s what he’s been doing. For me, when I left here to go to Miami, we had to build something. We brought in eight or nine guys, and we had to build something. And when I came back here, we built something again.
“But I can definitely appreciate the simple fact of him either reshaping his game or just sacrificing maybe some shots here, sacrificing having the ball in his hands all the time. But it works for their team. I mean, who wouldn’t want to sacrifice playing on a Golden State team or a San Antonio team or a Cleveland team when you know the ultimate result is you can actually compete for a championship?”
And if anyone’s going to complain about the alleged unfairness of players in a non-trade situation getting together on a so-called superteam, it cannot be LeBron.
To his credit, he shrugged it off yesterday, essentially saying all is fair in love, war and the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
“I mean, it’s part of the rules,” James said from the podium. “The difference between my situation is . . . well, the best thing with Golden State’s situation is a lot of their guys are drafted. They drafted a lot of their guys. Three of their best players were already drafted, so they were able to hold on to them because they own the Bird rights, if everybody knows the CBA. So they’re able to keep Steph (Curry), Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green) and able to go out and sign someone else like they did this past summer by just getting rid of a couple pieces in Harrison Barnes and not resigning (Leandro) Barbosa and (Andrew) Bogut and guys from last year’s team. So that allowed them to go do that.
“My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn’t have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides (Udonis Haslem) and (Dwyane) Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and (Chris) Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts, and got some other guys. We had (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted. But it was a different situation. Totally different. Totally different.
“But is it fair? I don’t care. I mean, I think it’s great. It’s great for our league. Right now, look at our TV ratings, look at the money our league is pouring in. I mean, guys are loving the game, our fans love the game. I mean, who am I to say if it’s fair or not? No matter who I’m going against, if I’m going against four Hall of Famers, like I said before the series started with Draymond, Klay, Steph and K.D., or if I’m going against two or whatever the case may be, I’m always excited to play the game. And I’m not one to judge and say if it’s fair or not if guys are adding players to their team. So that’s what you want to do.”
James went on to mention his favorite baseball and football teams — the identities of which still rankle some Clevelanders, despite his more recent show of support for the local outfits.
“Is it fair that the New York Yankees in the ’90s was adding piece after piece after piece after piece? I mean, if you have the opportunity to do that,” he said. “Is it fair that the Cowboys added Deion Sanders? I mean, listen. It happens. It’s sports. You have an opportunity to sign one of the best players, and you can do it, go ahead and do it. Why not?”
James then left them laughing.
“If I become an owner,” he said, “I’m going to try to sign everybody.”
Yeah, he probably wasn’t joking. Not completely anyway.