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

Blaming the entourage is always the leader's cheap excuse. James made these calls. Nobody else. HE thought this fiasco was a good idea. After seeing Gilbert in action, leaving Cleveland doesn't seem too dumb to me.
PS: Gilbert had better realize James still has a comeback. All he has to do is sadly say it was his conclusion the Cavs could never win as long as Gilbert is owner.

 

I agree James shouldn't be absolved of responsibility in last night's fiasco, but you could tell by how uncomfortable he looked in that chair that leadership is not his strong suit. He was following someone's lead. Ultimately, nothing wrong with realizing you need help to accomplish a goal. People do it all the time. But after all the hype, he appeared sad and pitiful. The "special" proved, as Barkley put it, James will never be "the guy."

 

I understand how from the outside it looks like "Magic fired the coach," but that is simply not what happened. A book written by Scott Ostler and Steve Springer 20something years ago explained it pretty well.

--- Westhead installs new offense. Players have a difficult time adjusting.

--- Team looks like crap. Buss wants to know "Where's my Showtime?" GM Jerry West says he'll find out. They talk to players. They talk to Westhead.

--- Westhead explains how offense is supposed to run. Buss and West basically look at each other and insist, "but it isn't working."

--- Buss calls West and Bill Sharman into his office and tells them, "I've decided to fire Westhead. But if both of you can talk me out of it, I won't do it. But if either of you agree with me, he's gone."

--- All agree that Westhead is gone, BUT West tells Buss to wait a few days to make it official, so he can do some behind-the-scenes work to see who might he available.

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THIS IS THE KEY. Westhead for all intents and purposes is fired. Magic has not said anything yet.
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--- Lakers stink it up against Utah. Magic has his "I'm going to ask Buss to trade me" meltdown in front of reporters after the game.

--- Buss' reaction? Oh, fuck. If we fire Westhead now, it will look like Magic ordered it. But if we don't, it will be to protect Magic because of what he said. We're fucked either way, so let's do what we said we would do last week. Westhead is fired.

--- Shit hits the fan next day. "Magic orders coach's firing" is the myth that will not die.

 

Give Gray a pass because he was clearly the Chosen One's ball washer. But should Wilbon have asked James about his teammates on Cleveland, (Step Daddy to be Delonte) and about the Celtics series?

 

I don't buy that story, not totally anyway. Magic may not have made management fire Westhead, but surely Magic's meltdown was the moment management had been waiting for. I mean, the guy who shot Archduke Ferdinand was the REAL reason for World War I, but he's in the history books all the same. Somebody has to fire the first shot in public, and Magic did.

 

or his elbow. Jeff Van Gundy seemed to be the only one not on his knees the whole evening.

 

Well he was standing up for his brother.

 

I can't agree, simply because the decision had already been made. they were waiting because West said wait a few days. Magic's outburst made things worse from an appearance standpoint. Management had nothing to gain from it.

 

Never heard that whole account before. Interesting.

Nonetheless, bottom line: Magic has public outburst sounding basically like an "it's him or me" ultimatum on his coach. Immediately thereafter, coach is fired.

Can't blame the world for drawing the obvious conclusion.

 

Magic Johnson was not without his own little fits of egomania, then as now.

And, he was also surrounded by a posse of hangers-on, much like LeBron is now.

At certain points, Magic told most of these leeches to get fucking lost and not come back. He's now worth something like half a billion dollars.

If LeBron does not tell the vast majority (almost all) of his posse to get fucking lost, he'll be eating out of tin cans -- or dead -- in 20 years.

YOU made it. They didn't. Tell 'em to go pound fucking rocks.

 

No kidding. There's so many angle we can take with Delonte.

"Hot sauce with my MILF, hot sauce with my MILF!"

 

Sorry, Gilbert lost me at font = Comic Sans.