So it's done. The years of hype as to where LeBron is going--is done. During his 1 hour ESPN special, LeBron transformed Cavalier fans to barbarians, Knicks fans to LeBron haters, Bulls fans to either (a) disappointed or (b) happy that no one could try to overshadow Jordan, and the "self-proclaimed King"--as the Cav's owner Dan Gilbert would say, brought even more fire to the Heat.
James, Wade and Bosh are the new big three--completely trumping the tri-force of Allen, Pierce and Garnett. The Boston Three-party consist of a 35, 34 and 33 year-old. The hottest three of the Heat consist of three players in their mid-20's--at the peak of their career.
Suddenly, fans and sports-analysts have converted into believing that the Heat are now the team to beat in the East. Is it fair to the Celtics to count them out all of a sudden? If I felt strongly enough about the Celtics, I'd debate--but I truly dislike the Celtics so I won't really talk about that. Although I will say that the Celtics won games because everyone scored--I don't know if the fourth player in the Heat will average a double unless it's rebounds.
What I really want to talk about is how James' move affected his place in basketball history. Let's be blunt here; there was a bunch of analysts riding on the James ban-wagon claiming that he would be one of the best players to every play the game. I'm a part of that, I thought that if he continued to grow and mature as a player--he would be an unstoppable force. He still might be but it's no longer a true testament of challenge to him. He has now entered the realm of being a player who can win a championship (but not with his team). When marquis players move, it's interesting to see the dynamic of the players performance afterward. James is now a part of Wade's team. The king left his throne, he's now a court gesture.
Many people I have been talking to say that he took the "easy" way out. Well, I'd like to say no--he took the easiest way out. LeBron could have gone to Chicago and it would have been a great fit playing with Boozer (needed big man) and Rose (the Rondo-compliment to a star) and that would've been a very fun team to watch. Or he could have gone to the Knicks and played with Amare under the spotlight of MSG. Or he could have taken all the money he wanted in Cleveland and asked the owner to find another guy he wanted--he was the king of the city. But no, he decided to join two superstars in order to create a dynasty. He took a pay-cut and humbly became a South Beach player.
I am frustrated. As you can tell--all of this venting leads to no true point, it's a bunch of jub-jub (as Joe Buck would say). LeBron could never be the best player in the league, nor can he ever be considered as such a dominant force. Once a player leaves his legacy in a state after 7 years, there is a cloud above how dominant he was--and when that player leaves by taking a pay check for a team that signs two other stars, it shows that the player could not do it "on his own." Of course that figure of speech is ridiculous because no player could win a Championship on his own; you need an entire roster. But no matter how amazing Pippen was or how crazy Rodman was or how sharp Kere was--it was always Jordan's team and it was always Jordan being Jordan (a.k.a. winning another title). Jordan was a winner. James potential to win might have increased but he can never be a winner.
Of course James is nothing like Jordan and should/can never be compared to Michael, but things could have been different. James could have actually been a winner. But he's not.
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