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LeBron should head back to Cleveland

LeBron James. Is he headed back to South Beach? (Image: NBA)
Roar Guru
8th July, 2014
21

At the end of the 2010 NBA season, LeBron James left his Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat in a move that shook the NBA.

Known as The Decision – he now faces another tough call on where he will play the next phase of his illustrious career.

The Decision came about because LeBron was frustrated trying to win a championship on his own. Universally acclaimed as the best player in the world by 2010, LeBron was 25 and had played seven years in the NBA, yet only made it to the Finals once. The lack of playoff success was no fault of LeBron’s, rather the perpetually a poor supporting cast of players around him.

In his last playoff series in Cleveland he was accused of quitting on his team due to his uncharacteristically passive play. The truth seemed more that he was worn down by a savvy Boston Celtics team who would mentally and physically attack LeBron while the other players on his team where simply not good enough to lend any support.

Tired of fighting the top NBA teams alone, LeBron teamed up two of his best friends from the 2008 Olympic Team, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, at the Miami Heat. They formed a team like no other before it, with three superstar players in their prime years.

Their time together has been huge success, making the NBA Finals every year and winning two titles.

However, Miami was smashed in the 2014 Finals by the San Antonio Spurs, losing by the highest average margin in NBA Finals history. LeBron’s next contract will be for five years, which will take him to age 34 and the end of his prime.

Dwayne Wade, a top ten player in the league when LeBron joined the Heat, has a degenerative knee which is weakening each season and cannot be counted on for superstar levels of output on a regular basis.

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Chris Bosh is still a great player, but when all the big three have signed, it leaves little in the way of flexibility to sign big name free agents.

So far this offseason they have added Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger and added rookie Shabazz Napier to the roster. These players are hardly game changers that would push Miami over the top against the top echelon of teams which come out of Western Conference.

Meanwhile, Cleveland can offer LeBron an enticing roster to play with due to the club’s youth, talent and salary cap situation. They recently re-signed their star player Kyrie Irving to a six-year contract. Irving is already a two time all-star at the age of 22.

Andrew Wiggins was the first selection from the highly rated 2014 Draft and locked into a low-paying rookie deal for the next four years. They also have Anderson Varejeo in the front court, who is the only remaining player from the previous LeBron era. He still effective at 31.

Added to this roster they have young player Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, and Anthony Bennett. Each of these players is highly talented being high draft selections over the last couple of years.

NBA rules restrict the amount of money younger inexperienced players can make, giving the team flexibility with its roster.

The Cavaliers are in a position to see how these young players develop. Alternatively it won’t be hard to package them in a trade along with the many draft picks they have owed to them over the next couple of years for a more experienced player.

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LeBron grew up in the Cleveland area and was beloved by the whole state as the homegrown hero, the local kid who came from nothing to make it big. When LeBron left for Miami, he broke Ohio’s heart.

They burned his shirt in the streets. A return to Cleveland will return him to the godlike status he once had in the state he still calls home.

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