LeBron's Decision, My Reaction

I've spent most of my first week back in the States talking about LeBron James, and I don't want to do it anymore.  I woke up this morning in a bad mood, knowing that I have at least a weekend of "what do you think about LeBron?" questions to answer and unhappy fellow Knicks fans to console.  My friends and family know that I work in professional sports, launched this blog to write about sports, and spend the bulk of my free time following sports; in the first twelve hours since "The Decision, brought to you by the University of Phoenix and Bing," dozens of people have approached me in person or in writing asking for my thoughts.  What do I think of the final chapter for LeBronathon 2010, you ask?

I'm disappointed. Of course, as a Knicks fan, I'm disappointed that I won't find the streets of New York City flooded with #6 "James" jerseys this summer.  I'm disappointed that I sacrificed the last two cold winters in Manhattan watching countless Knicks "contests" (if you've watched, too, you know why the quotation marks are there) featuring the likes of Earl Barron, Larry Hughes, Jordan Hill and Al Harrington, all with the hopes of landing a killer roster headlined by LeBron in 2010.  I'm disappointed that a team I grew up despising, the Miami Heat, is the beneficiary of three twenty-something year-old buddies' desires to play together, as if they were assembling the roster for a 92nd Street YMCA intramural team.

I'm surprised.  After hearing the rumors for two years since the USA won gold at the Beijing Olympics, I'm surprised that Miami was actually able to land James, Wade and Bosh.  I'm surprised that Wade, a player I actually liked and respected, wanted his team to gut its roster so that he could flank himself with two other top stars, rather than try to build a well-rounded roster of which he could be the unquestioned leader.  I'm surprised that LeBron was so willing to accept the role of Robin to Wade's Batman, joining a team where Wade is top-dog and a city where #3 is a beloved icon.  I'm surprised that people still attach the "superstar" moniker to Chris Bosh's name, when any sports fan knows that a true NBA superstar would never accept a role as third fiddle over the chance to be a team alpha dog.

I'm confused.  I'm confused to hear that these three stars, and tons of professional NBA analysts, see Miami as an NBA favorite after watching well-rounded clubs like Los Angeles, Boston and Orlando succeed over the past three seasons.  I'm confused to learn that LeBron James, a man who has been groomed for basketball greatness for the past decade, doesn't see the difference between winning an NBA title as the leader of a strong supporting cast (like he attempted to do in Cleveland) and winning an NBA title by stacking your team with other NBA All Stars - and seemingly doesn't have any interest in pursuing the latter.  I'm confused as to why God likes Mario Chalmers so much, and why he hates Michael Beasley.

I'm worried.  I'm worried that the Knicks have at least another half-decade of futility ahead of them, and that the 2010-11 roster might be even less impressive than the 2009-10 one was.  I'm worried that this announcement is going to extend the trend of top-tier athletes stacking the deck in order to play together, creating premeditated scenarios whereby they can collectively try and guarantee themselves a championship.  I'm worried that sports fans are going to perceive the NBA as a joke, a league run and controlled by overpaid kids who lack respect for true competition, great rivalries and organic roster building.  I'm worried that many NBA owners are going to be very upset this season, and even more incentivized to lead the league into a lockout before next fall. 

I'm curious.  My grandfather was the biggest Miami Heat fan I knew, and I'm curious about how he would have felt about last night's announcement; would he have been thrilled to see his team's roster feature three of the sport's best players, or ashamed to call himself a fan of a team that so brazenly rejects the traditional notions of "team basketball?"  I'm curious to see how good the Heat will be this season, and whether their lack of team depth will end up haunting them.  I'm curious to see how the Cavaliers, and especially the city of Cleveland, will recover from LeBron's defection.  I'm curious to see the public reactions to Dan Gilbert's open letter to Cavs fans, which will undoubtedly range from supportive to shocked.

Most of all, though, I'm relieved.  I'm relieved that this spectacle is finally (sort of) over, just like I've been every time Brett Favre makes one of his patented "earth-shattering" announcements.  I'm relieved that next season when I go to a Knicks game, I can cheer on the guys wearing blue and orange with the pride of knowing that they're doing the best they can with what they have, even if their best is losing by double-digits.  I'm relieved that sports news outlets can go back to reporting actual sports news, rather than merely broadcasting rumors as if they were facts.  Last, I'm relieved to learn that baseball, my first love, isn't the only league with a completely screwed up competitive structure, and that the New York Yankees, New York Rangers and Dallas Cowboys aren't the only high-priced teams that I can now hate.