LeBron James is heading to Miami to create what Harvey Araton in The New York Times calls the Evil Empire in South Beach or Miami in pinstripes, a corporate-behemoth masquerading as a sports franchise (which, in reality, underplays the reality of sports as industry).
Who outside of South Florida wants to root for Miami after the way James walked out on Cleveland and his home territory of northern Ohio in a mercenary reach for championship rings? On the other hand, who won’t want to see the fledgling super team take a big fall?
Araton reminds us that James not only left Cleveland, his hometown team, and followed the easy money to title town (or, that’s how this grouping of expensive superstars is being portrayed so far), where he will play, as Dave Zirin points out, A-Rod to Dwayne Wade’s Jeter (the Heat will always be Wade’s team). In doing so, he forgoes the opportunity to create his own championship legacy (winning a title in Cleveland with long downtrodden Cavs — or even with the Knicks or historically lowly Nets — would have been truly Jordanesque). Instead, a Heat title will be greeted the same way a Laker title is, or a Yankee title, as expected, no big deal, etc.
Wade brought Miami a championship in 2003. Wade would have the ball in his hands for many of the offensive sets. Wade would on some nights be the best player on the court. This is Lebron hiding in Miami. It’s the act of someone who doesn’t think he can create his own legacy, but has to ride on someone else’s. Wade would be Jeter, and Lebron would be A-Rod. It’s the worst possible choice because it immediately puts a cap on James’s career and mind-bending potential.
That’s what James is missing here, I think, is that should the Heat fail to win or win often enough, he will be the guy to take the blame; if they win, it will be Wade’s victory or a team victory (see A-Rod in New York). It truly is a no-win situation from a basketball standpoint, both for James and for the fans.
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I should add something to yesterday’s post on the same subject regarding the NBA pantheon. I left Bill Russell of my list, an purposeful oversight, though not because I doubt his greatness. I just didn’t see him. He, and Bob Cousy and the Big O, and a few others, belong on any list of the the greatest of greats.
My point was that James, if he were to choose Miami, would be viewed as buying his title in a way that the other greats did not (Shaq chased the big payday; the title was never viewed as guaranteed as this still-to-be-won title already has been).
Here is a list of some of the other greats that I left off my list. Feel free to add yours in the comment section: Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bob Pettite, Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, Earl Monroe, Dr. J, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and John Stockton, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Moses Malone, Bernard King, Bob Pettite, George Mikan.
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