2010 NBA offseason draft, FA, etc etc...

I'm sure he'll be very surprised when he's booed in Chicago and NYC and just about everywhere else next season.

I think Shaq did this the right way when he left Orlando for LA back in 1995. He was signed within minutes and he said, "It was always my dream to come to LA."

 

I just wonder if the BronBron camp estimated the amount of backlash this has/will generate.

Certainly, they are getting the level of interest/attention they wanted--this is the sporting story of the day/week, and maybe month.

But, he's clearly strapping on a bullseye for a whole new group of people who might have enjoyed watching him play or rooted for him in the past--the abandoning Cleveland angle, the selfish, look at me approach, the I'm bigger than the game inference.

He won't be the likable marvel to watch in opposing arenas next year--he'll be donning the black hat, playing the heel.

Tagging on to that, from a league perspective, going to the Heat seems like the best case scenario. Seeing how good 3 young superstars can be in the regular season and seeing if anyone can knock them off in the playoffs should really generate higher levels of interest and viewing.

 

My marginal interest is limited to the leak factor. Whose "Lebron's going to play with the [insert team name here]" pre-announcement story is correct?

Other than that, I couldn't care less where he goes. Whatever team he signs with will still lose to the Lakers in the finals next year.

 

Is that normally how it's done in the NBA? It seems like MLB and NFL free agency stretches all offseason long and no one bats an eye about it, but LeBron is being shouted down for "drawing it out" for taking a week.

Maybe this really is unusual for the NBA. Some of you would know better than I would. Or maybe the instant gratification society is projecting onto him.

 

In baseball and football, it's usually a phone call between players and there's not a superstar complex for most guys (sadly, including Dye). LeBron James is having team reps fly into Cleveland to give him presentations. If a baseball player demanded teams prove why he should sign with them, the player probably won't find a job.

 

Well, if there is a league that does PR rehab well, it is the NBA.

Just look at Kobe Bryant.

Now he is roundly cheered everywhere and people talk about hugging his family in the tunnel. Not too many mentions now of his "back door cuts" in a Colorado hotel room seven years ago, ala the criminal complaint.

LeBron will be fine, even with this backlash.

 

Party!

http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/lebron-james-plans-weekend-party-in-south-beach-201087

 

That's because of the NBA's structured salary system, though. THey can't negotiate money, so they do this.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100708

Simmons' take on the whole thing. He makes good points, which happens occasionally when he's not talking about Boston.

 

It has never seemed to go the way A Rod wanted it in his negotiations. I remember when Steve Phillips exposed A Rods demands when he wanted to play for the Mets. It was the start of A- Rods PR decline and he has never recovered.

 

There's also the nostalgic aspect of baseball where people expect their ballplayers to act in good faith. Basketball doesn't really have that. A-Rod can be hammered for unrealistic demands and for demeaning the game of baseball while LeBron James is simply described as a great basketball player seeking equal payment for his services.

 

If the baseball CBA was set up in a way that A-Rod could get the same money, and only the same money, from a handful of teams, then it would be the same exact dog-and-pony show as this.