Will Lebron Ever Be Liked Again?

The Chosen One.  The next Michael Jordan.  Destined for NBA greatness.  These names were replaced with Quitness, The Frozen One, and Prince James.  A player who once led a group of mediocre players to the best record in the NBA and a Finals appearance has become a hated, championship winning bad guy.  Once loved by his native Ohio fans, he is now despised and booed when he enters the arena.  All it took was a move from the plain, hard working city of Cleveland to the flashy, stylish shores of Miami.  The question is what can he do to gain back his fans or the public in general?

Personally, I went from being a doubter, to a fan, to a hater in the past nine years since he was drafted in 2003.  When he was taken with the number one overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers, I thought he was another over hyped high school star who had the athletic traits, but not the basketball IQ or skills to be able to excel in the NBA.  Since the turn of the millennium, there had been eight high school players drafted by an NBA team.  Darius Miles, DeShawn Stevenson, Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, DeSagana Diop, Ousmane Cisse, and Amare Stoudemire.  Amare is the only one on that list that should be considered worth it.  Some could make an argument for Chandler or even Curry, but they were taken second and fourth overall in the 2001 draft.  They should have accomplished more during their NBA careers at this point.  Similar to these players, Lebron was an athletic freak in high school, a men amongst boys.  He made an instant impact in the pros, scoring 25 points in his first game, which was the most points scored in a debut by a high school to NBA player.  Impressive considering the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady had also gone high school to NBA.  Even then, I was not convinced.

Even after he won Rookie of the Year, made the All Star game in his second year, and became the youngest player ever to get a triple double, I was still not convinced.  It was not until the 2007 playoffs that I became a believer.  Lebron led the Cavs to the second seed in the Eastern Conference and the NBA Finals.  All this was accomplished with the likes of Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, and Anderson Varejao helping him.  No offense, but ouch!  He had his spectacular Game 5 performance against the Pistons when the series was tied 2-2 in Detroit.  He scored 29 of the Cav's last 30 points en route to a victory with the Cavs eventually clinching the series in 6.  They were swept by the Spurs in the Finals rather uneventfully, although this was a Spurs squad with Tim Duncan in his prime, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Michael Finley, and "Big Shot" Robert Horry.  They were doomed from the start.  But it was then that I accepted him.  I thought, 'Okay, this kid's got skill.  He's not a hot shot or gets in trouble off the court.  I'll cheer for him and I'm excited to see where he will take the Cavs.' 

For the next three years, it was more of the same.  The Cavs finishing at or near the top of the league record wise, only to be thwarted in the playoffs.  No titles, no problem...for me, as a fan.  Even Jordan had to wait seven years to win his first title, so I figured it was a matter of when, not if.  Everything changed in the summer of 2010. 

Lebron became a free agent and it seemed like everyone from the Miami Heat to the Cleveland Browns thought he was going to choose their team.  Mistake number one came on July 8th when he decided to air a special on ESPN called The Decision.  I actually watched the whole thing, as did other people even if they won't admit it.  It was a lot of hype, eventually leading to Lebron choosing the Heat where Dwayne Wade already was and where Chris Bosh had announced he was going as well.  This special killed his popularity outside of Miami.  The reaction of Cleveland fans, although a bit over the top and frightening at times, was understandable.  They felt betrayed.  This special felt like something you would see on the Bachlorette where the choices have been narrowed but she can only choose one.  The owner wrote a letter ripping Lebron and questioning his effort in the final playoff series he played for the Cavs against Boston.  Could both sides have handled it better?  Yes.  But free agent moves should not be announced via television without telling anyone except your closest friends and family.  It should be discussed with ownership and executives to let them prepare for the loss and part on good terms or at least address it to the public in a positive light.  Instead they, and myself, saw it as a superstar who could not get it done in one place, moving to team up with two other superstars to win a title.  Cowardly to say the least.

My thoughts then are the same as they are now, even after the fact that Miami has won a championship.  He should have stayed in Cleveland.  Some people think I'm crazy for this, but hear me out.  Although not technically his hometown (Akron, Ohio claims that honor), it was basically home for him.  The fans embraced him from his rookie year and packed the arena every night to see what miraculous play or dunk he would have in store that night.  He could do no wrong.  Playing in Cleveland also would have helped him from a championship perspective.  All he had to do was win one title in Cleveland, and I think that would have meant more than five or six titles in Miami.  Why?  Cleveland has a now legendary history of losing.  Their last title was in 1964 by the Cleveland Browns.  This was actually an NFL Title, not a Super Bowl Title which they have yet to win.  The Indians last won a World Series in 1948 and the Cavaliers have never won a title.  Add to that moments like this and this, and you can imagine what a title would have down.  He would have become an immortal in that city.  Forget the huge banner they had of him that they took down when he left for Miami, there would have been statues, streets, and buildings named after him.  Every baby in Cleveland would have been named either Lebron or James.  The parade would have been one to remember and the discussion would have started for if he was one of the all time greats. 

Instead, he chooses Miami where the weather is hot and the beaches and women are hotter.  He makes mistake number two before he even plays a game in Miami.  The famous intro party/press conference/publicity killer where he, Wade, and Bosh came out to confetti and smoke with Lebron hyping up the fans with, "not one, not two, not three, four, five, six, seven."  Where did this cockiness come from?  Who are you to say something like that?  They had not even played a game together yet, the rest of their roster was made up of scrubs at best, and there were still teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Orlando Magic who were title contenders. This move seemed out of character and worrisome about things to come.

Their first season together brought promise as they finished second in the Eastern Conference.  Then they dispatched the Philadelphia 76ers, Celtics, and Bulls losing only a game to each.  They were up 2-1 in the NBA Finals against the third seeded Dallas Mavericks who did sweep the second seeded Lakers but avoided a dangerous top seeded Spurs side who were upset by Memphis in the first round.  Not saying they did not deserve to be there, but you never know.  The Mavs then went on to win the next three games in the series, dispatching the "Dream Team" four games to two.  Never had I felt so good about a team losing, not really the Mavericks winning.  At that point the winning team didn't matter, only the losing team or rather the losing player, Lebron.  It was at this point that he made mistake number three.  Instead of humbly accepting defeat, he made these comments after they lost.  I know what he is trying to say and I truly do not think he meant for it to come off as mean.  He's trying to say that this was a choice of mine to play for Miami and you can feel how you want to feel but I'm trying to live my own life while supporting my family.  An acceptable message.  But it came off as James putting himself above other people.  The common folk will still have problems and have never be as rich as me is how it came off.  Not the best way to win over fans.  But at least he won't win a title right?  RIGHT?

Unfortunately, we (Lebron haters) were wrong.  He finally got his first over the Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City Thunder.  In a way, however, him winning a title with Miami justifies why I think he should have stayed in Cleveland.  I cannot speak for other people, but it feels like his mission in Miami is still incomplete.  You won a title Lebron.  Congrats, but so what?  You were supposed to.  You have Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on your team.   You predicted a lot more championships so this first one was indirectly downplayed by yourself.  Also, people still don't like you, myself included. 

How can you change this, you might ask?  For starters, get off the Heat.  Even if Wade and Bosh leave the Heat and no superstar joins James, people would still not like him simply because the Heat as a team are seen as disliked.  While I think Bosh is one of the more overrated players in the league, I actually like Dwayne Wade.  While I was disappointed he did not come to Chicago in that 2010 free agent frenzy, I could understand him staying as he won a title there and it was his team.  But now people will dislike him simply because they see Heat and they think bad.  Next, you have to win a title with that team.  Tall task I know.  But until that happens people will always bring up that he played with two of the best players in the league to win his title(s).  And before people bring up that Jordan played with Scottie Pippen, remember that Pippen was drafted by the Chicago Bulls, (well, not technically but the Seattle Supersonics traded the rights to him) not picking and choosing the team based on skill.  He needs to go to a team where he is the unquestioned leader with good role players.  Finally, he needs to do something to patch things up with Cleveland.  The emotion they showed when he left was real.  Crying eyes, burning jerseys, people in a state of disbelief.  Since then, he has done nothing, at least publicly to mend ties with that city.  He tries to give Cavs fans hope about how their team has up and coming stars and they look good, but never directly refers to him leaving.  I think that once Cleveland forgives him, a lot of other people will too.  On top of that I think that Cleveland will embrace him once again as their own and cheer for him to win.  How he does that, I do not know.  But regaining his hometown would do wonders for him.

Perhaps this article has changed your own mind on how you feel about Lebron.  He actually is a good guy at heart and his actions have been misinterpreted along the way to an extent.  But for now, I still cannot cheer for him which is unfortunate.  I would love to rock a Lebron 23 (yes, go back to number 23) jersey.  I would love to see him win a title and say to any nay-sayers "told you so."  But for now, I wait, along with millions of other fans.  To fail?  Maybe.  To come back in our favor?  Without a doubt.