Three Reasons LeBron Chose Miami
Jul 8, 2010, 7:09 PM | Updated: Apr 4, 2011, 7:55 pm
I said today on the show that I thought LeBron James would probably be joining the Miami Heat for a couple of reasons. Actually three good reasons:
1) Win a championship. Dwyane Wade has already done that in Miami.
2) Chris Bosh. LeBron, Wade and Bosh are all good friends, and all came up at the same time, contractually, in this hot free-agent market by design.
3) Pat Riley. Don’t forget, he has seven championship rings sitting there as the lead executive of the Miami Heat. Will he come down and coach the team? It’s a possibility. Remember how good he was at sorting out egos and various talents in winning those championships in that stop there with the Los Angeles Lakers, and then of course, with the Miami Heat.
So those are the reasons he chose the Miami Heat – first and foremost to win a championship. He didn’t feel like he could get it done in Cleveland – they had reshuffled the deck there. They fired Danny Ferry, they fired head coach, Mike Brown. Yes, they had minute-long flirtations with John Calipari and Tom Izzo – all of that by the wayside, and then eventually they hired Byron Scott.
Cleveland did everything they possibly could, within reason, to get LeBron James to believe that Cleveland was going to be the stop, but I think the die was cast when they looked so bad when they lost to the Boston Celtics. He almost looked pathetic himself on the florr in the loss in game 5.
Now here he is with his best chance at winning a championship wtih two quality talents. It puts him right there alongside the Boston Celtics in the East. The Heat are already doing some work trying to clear some cap space to get a guard by the name of Mike Miller – an outstanding shooting guard who provides another opportunity to score. In order to do that, they’ll have to unload Michael Beasley, something they were working on already as LeBron was announcing he was heading to Miami Beach.
What does this do to Cleveland? Well, obviously, it leaves a huge void for the Cavaliers who are in a REBUILDING phase – big time. It leaves the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks out in the cold too – while LeBron kicks it in Southbeach. Not a bad landing spot.
Is it good for the league? We’ll see. I don’t think it’s good for the league that someone of his stature leaves Cleveland behind, but it’s the nature of professional sports. Guys, when given an opportunity, can become mercinaries and either take the highest dollar or go with their best shot at a championship. LeBron James was in the enviable position to do both.
