It’s not “The Decision”…it’s the egregious way it was handled

July 9, 2010 By 2 Comments

Wanted to chime in quickly; on vacation so haven’t had much time to write about this other than on Twitter.

Regarding LeBron’s decision to go to Miami…fine. Go.

If that’s what you want to do and what you think is best, who is anyone to begrudge you that? We can all wish you’d stay in Cleveland but no one can hold it against you if you leave.

A lot of NBA players fought hard for free agency so LeBron, Chris Bosh, et al could make choices like they’ve made. So make your choice.

But, what I think really galls everyone – especially the citizens of Cleveland and Akron – is the complete disrespect shown to the organization (quitting in playoffs, not calling Gilbert) and the city (saying Cleveland had “the lead” despite this plan being hatched two years ago; going on national TV to rip the city’s heart out) with the egregious way this whole thing was handled.

I cannot remember something so public being handled so callously and with such immature disregard for the feelings of anyone but the principal character.

I think that someday, maybe with the wisdom and humility of age (if LeBron’s life is set up for him to ever attain it) LeBron will look back on this and regret it…like some of the things we say or have said to our parents in our teens and 20s when we’re trying to forge our own identity. This is what this seems like to me. And it’s just unfortunate that so many people in Cleveland had built up LeBron in their own minds and placed so many hopes and expectations on him.

It’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality, and he disgraced it all last night.

So, in summation: it’s not “The Decision”, it’s the way it was handled, which could not have been done more egregiously.

As for Dan Gilbert, I liked his letter when I first read it. Reading it again today, I think he made a huge mistake. He definitely met the tone of Cleveland fans last night, but the unintended consequences of the letter – i.e. players not wanting to play for such an owner – could haunt his genuine desire to bring a title to Cleveland. He needed to sleep on that one, but I don’t think anyone can begrudge him the right to feel betrayed and angry. I do, and I’m not from Cleveland or even necessarily a Cavs fan. So I can’t imagine what the people of Cleveland are feeling like.

And with that, it’s off to a water park here in Orlando for the day. God willing, I won’t have to listen to anything more about LeBron James.

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Filed Under: NBA Tagged With: lebron james
About Jerod Morris

A proud graduate of Indiana University, Jerod Morris founded Midwest Sports Fans in August of 2008 and has been its Managing Editor every day since. Follow him on Twitter (@JerodMorris) for MSF updates, sports discussion, and a compelling daily assortment of funny and interesting links.
In addition to his work at MSF, Jerod hosts the fast-growing Indiana basketball postgame show The Assembly Call and provides regular music recommendations at IndieChristmas.com. He also helped develop the Synthesis Managed WordPress Hosting platform on which MSF and all of his other sites are run.

  • Harrison

    Idunno JRod, i didn't see things that way.

    Gilbert's note made him come off as the most immature of all and not just because it may have been bad for business.

    While James' clearly made some PR mistakes (as evidenced by public judgement) it could have been far worse. He did NOT disregard peoples feeling totally, rather he took the high ground when given multiple opportunities to opine on Cleveland. He did (in the end) provide candid reasoning for the decision, even though fans didn't want to hear it.

    CLEARLY Mistakes were made. Stringing fans along for a dramatic finale was probably not the most conscientious approach. But, I think we're vilifying him far to much. Would Cleveland fans be less upset if they had found out earlier? Would their feeling of betrayal be any less acute? Or, are they just looking for a legitimate reason to hate and grasping at a mistake?

  • http://twitter.com/mcsey @mcsey

    Best use of egregious ev4r. It truly is the perfect word to describe "The Decision". It should be the example sentence in the dictionary for the word with a note along the lines "see also: hubris".