The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Don’t expect LeBron to get booed out of Q
LeBron James will make his only appearance at Quicken Loans Arena this season when the Lakers visit Nov. 21, so the question is, how will he be received?
There was little uproar — this time — when James used free agency to leave the Cavaliers in July.
The attitude of most fans seemed to be, “Thanks for the 2016 championship, LeBron. You earned the right to go wherever you want. Enjoy Hollywood.”
That was before the Cavaliers totally collapsed to start this season. Fans foolishly duped into believing the Cavs could compete for a playoff spot without James have a right to feel cheated. Along with the question asking how James will be received — ironically on Thanksgiving Eve — is the question of whom do you blame for the Cavaliers current mess?
The Cavs are 2-13 and own the worst record in the NBA. The last team to go to the NBA Finals one year and finish with the worst record in the league the next season was the 1964-65 San Francisco Warriors.
The Warriors won the Western Conference with a 48-32 record in 1963-64 before being eliminated by the Celtics in five games in the NBA Finals. They were 17-63 the next season.
The NBA was 10 teams 53 years ago, which makes this Cavalier Collapse even more historic.
James played seven years with the Cavaliers, bolted to Miami and then after four years with the Heat re-signed with the Cavaliers. He vowed to retire a Cavalier when he resigned in 2014 and then broke that promise when he signed with the Lakers.
James could still finish his career with the Cavs by signing with them in the summer of 2021, but by then he will be 36 years old. He would be leaving a $41 million player option contract for 2021-22
with the Lakers on the table to return to the Cavs in 2021, so that does not seem likely.
James clearly blames Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert for the Cavs’ current catastrophe. He blames Gilbert for breaking up the team that won the NBA championship in 2016 by trading Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in August of 2017, according to a story by Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
“Everyone knows that when Kyrie got traded, it was the beginning of the end for everything. It’s not a secret,” James told The Athletic in a story published Nov. 19.
James said Cavs general manager Koby Altman assured James that Irving would not be traded and then traded Irving the same day, according to Vardon’s story. James believes the directive to deal Irving came from Gilbert.
Irving wanted out because he was tired of playing second fiddle to James.
Irving’s trade demand followed a falling out between Gilbert and thengeneral manager David Griffin. No one knows for sure, but the general belief is Griffin might have convinced Irving to stay with the Cavaliers had he been retained as general manager. And if that happened, who knows if James would have been so eager to leave the Cavs after a fourth straight NBA Finals appearance in June 2018?
“You realize at that point in time, take nothing from Koby, because Koby (was new on the job), but at that point in time, you realize that Koby’s not the only one running the team, as Griff had done, and that’s why Griff was let go pretty much,” James is quoted saying.
You could blame Altman for pushing the fairy tale about expecting this mish-mash Cavaliers team to overachieve. He is adamant in saying the Cavs
won’t tank to increase their chances of winning the lottery to get the first pick in the 2019 draft. The way they are playing in the first quarter of the season they will earn that right without losing on purpose.
There is another difference between James returning in a different uniform in 2018 than when he returned in 2010 with the Heat. He joined the Heat to be with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to win an NBA championship. He did not join a dream team in Los Angeles.
The Lakers are 9-7, currently eighth in the Western Conference.
They are 13th in the NBA.com power rankings, so at least James hasn’t instantly transformed the Lakers. That might be some comfort to Cavaliers fans.
Schudel can be reached at JSchudel@News-Herald. com; @jsproinsider on Twitter.