The best basketballer on the planet, LeBron James, has made the decision to return to the franchise he started his career with, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The move back to his home state of Ohio had been rumoured over the last week or so, though most pundits expected him to remain in Miami. That includes yours truly – I was 98 per cent sure LeBron would be playing for the Heat again next season.
But on Saturday morning, Australian time, the bomb dropped – LeBron was going home.
Once again, LeBron had shocked everyone. Say what you will about The King, but he’s never boring. There was no live television special this time, but rather a carefully and thoughtfully crafted letter to Sports Illustrated.
It was a shock for a number of reasons.
LeBron departed Cleveland in 2010 under fairly acrimonious circumstances. When he announced he was leaving, there were riots in Cleveland, fans burned his jersey, and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wrote a scathing letter calling LeBron, among other things, a ‘coward’. The letter, in particular, always seemed like it would prevent a fairytale ending of LeBron returning to Cleveland.
There’s also the point that LeBron is leaving his best friends, and championship teammates, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. ‘The Big Three’ had carried the Heat to four straight Finals appearances and two NBA championships. Though they came unstuck in dramatic fashion in the last three games of the 2014 Finals against the Spurs – losing by an average of 19 points – they remained, essentially, the second best team in the league and primed for more success.
Or perhaps not.
The Big Three alone was not enough to topple the Spurs, and Wade had clearly began to show his age, while Bosh had hit 30. And the salaries that all three commanded collectively left the Heat with little flexibility to dramatically improve their roster.
LeBron is a savvy guy. He would have looked at the Heat situation, and decided that while the team would have still been successful next year, it was definitely in decline. More championship glory was far from guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Cleveland offered not just a brighter long-term future on the court, but a romantic tale. The narrative quickly became ‘LeBron comes home’, and coupled with the notion that it somewhat atones for the way he left, and it’s a story every bit as dramatic as The Decision.
Though while LeBron gets the maximum contract he desired, and the redemption angle one feels he still needed, things won’t be super smooth on the court next season.
As old as the Heat started to look in the Finals, they were still a better team than this Cavs outfit currently is.
Cleveland has lots of nice young players, but the pieces don’t all fit perfectly at present. LeBron’s versatility can certainly help fix that. But, for example, Kyrie Irving – recently signed to maximum contract – has thus far in his career needed the ball in his hands to be most effective. Needless to say, good things also happen when LeBron handles the ball. The ideal balance will need to be figured out.
There are some other solid players, like rookie Andrew Wiggins, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, but if the Cavs want to compete for the title next season, additional player moves are required, and are being considered.
Disgruntled Minnesota All Star Kevin Love would be a perfect fit, as a rebounding mad man who also spaces the floor with his three-point shooting, and the whispers are becoming screams that the Cavs are trying to trade for him.
When you have a player that commands as much defensive attention as LeBron, surrounding him with good shooters is essential, so Ray Allen and Mike Miller are in Cleveland’s sights as well.
If the team can also get a ring-protecting big man, they’ll have more than enough to become the best team in the East – which isn’t saying much these days, but it does allow an easy path to the Finals, where anything can then happen.
The bottom line is that as rosy at the Cavs future looks, they still have some work to do to bring that future forward a season or two.
Yet for now, the story remains LeBron.
Prepare yourself for numerous ‘Prodigal Son’, redemption-angle stories. I’d also suggest that we’re going to hear Diddy, Dirty Money and Skylar Grey’s song. A lot.
Another LeBron free agency period has finished. In this one, LeBron gets his money, his homecoming story, and a new challenge.
And as always, we’ll all be watching.
astro
Guest
I know this has been mentioned a bunch of times, but for me, the interesting part in all this is how the overall view on Lebron will change as a result of his coming back to Cleveland. Bob Ryan mentioned on PTI that we won't look at Lebron any more in terms of 'rings' and argue his position against MJ. By going to Miami to 'win championships' (not 5, not 6, not 7 etc) with the best roster in the league, that became how we judged him, and MJ's mark became the yardstick. But by going to Cleveland, Lebron's legacy will now be about him winning (or trying to win) in his home city which hasn't won in forever. He's now chasing 1 title, not another 4. In a way, he has made us re-evaluate how we position him historically, which I can't think of any other athlete doing in this way...
Ryan
Guest
How is that interesting? Why would he not be pleased?
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I could see him playing a George Lynch/Cedric Ceballos type role, where he just cuts and hustles, and gets cheap points. He's got more range then both of those guys, but he's nowhere near as fast.
josh
Roar Rookie
Interestingly Kyrie seems pleased to have James on the squad (based on 2 tweets).
mushi
Guest
If he played on Jordan's bulls I think they'd cancel his life insurance.
mushi
Guest
I just don't see what he does. I admittedly didn't see squat of him in college but reading sites like draft express his strength was a lack of weaknesses. Now he's out of shape I was being glib with his upside. I can conceivably see him as a chippy bench scorer who exploits over matched 7th/8th best players weaknesses but given his lack of court vision and defined skill I just don't know what he does that helps when bron is on the floor? I mean I see a Mullens fitting in more than Bennet
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
It's a brilliant story. It could not have been scripted better.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Yikes . . .
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I kinda like him. I don't think he'll ever be a superstar, but I think he could be a really solid player. He reminds me of George Lynch a little. The other thing is, LeBron makes people better. There are few players that are easier to play with than LeBron, and if Bennett plays smart and hustles, LeBron will make him look good.
mushi
Guest
Also his superior rebounding allows the cavs to run more - didn't happen as much as it should have at the wolves because his team wasn't that athletic or skilled
mushi
Guest
I think his upside is turning the "worst ever #1 draft pick" back into a conversation rather than the mortal lock it is right now. I think the #1 pick also create false expectations that are going to crush his confidence. It wasn't his fault - but then Darko didn't make Dumar's pick him either (and Bennet makes him look like Hakeem)
astro
Guest
It'll be interesting...as much as Lebron is asking for patience with a young roster, the pressure will be there from day 1, so it remains to be seen how the young talent handles that. And I stand by my earlier comments that this is not as great Cavs roster...Rim protection is certainly an issue. Varejao hasn't played a full season since 2009-10 and Thompson is very inconsistent. Also not sure what Brendan Haywood has left in the tank, if anything, after spending all of last year injured. I agree that Love is a critical piece for Cleveland, especially if he's indicated he re-sign there. His floor spacing and passing would be a great match with Lebron.
mushi
Guest
Even if you don’t full “believe” +/- it is hard to mount an argument against this (especially if you watch some of the tape of him “sticking” with his man He was 416th in real +/- on defense. 416th Consider for a second that 360 guys dress to play at any one time and yet there were 57 more players not playing in the NBA at any given time that were better than Kyrie To be fair to Kyrie if you only narrow it down to the 104 guys that played 30+ minutes a game he comes in a far more respectable 100th, so there was 4 more guys across the other 29 teams regularly getting starter minutes (calderon, middleton, Jennings and Gordon) that were worse than him
AR
Guest
Gerard Wheatley observed that in making this decision, LeBron has gone from being one of the most derided "heels" in American sport, to one of its most popular heroes. It's a dramatic turnaround - and the narrative that will follow the 'destiny' of the Cavs, with LeBron leading the way, will become one of the most enduring subplots in any sport around the world. And it's already worked on me. There's an historical symmetry here which feels almost irresistible. Go Cavs.
mushi
Guest
I've got no love for players that are super talented and quit on their team mates for half of the game which is what Kyrie does. Year one forgivable as most of these guys come in not having been made to play D. but he's been in the league three years now and the Cavs have pandered to him and allowed him to continue to play one way ball.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Jee not much love for the Aussie born superstar. He's only a young fella. Lebron coming back also serves the purpose to teach them and a few sprays and glares from him and they'll be busting their cahunnahs for him
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Hahaha. As soon as I saw the king James Instagram I knew they were gonna play the song to death. At least I don't mind the song. For now
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Mate, he actually wasn't too bad at Duke (very small sample size, to be fair). I think it might be an effort issue rather than technical deficiencies on D. But I'll be honest and say that I haven't watched him closely on the defensive end.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
What do you think of Anthony Bennett?
mushi
Guest
And to be fair to Kyrie - his D could be fantastic, he just hasn't bothered to play it in his first ~12,000 NBA possessions