It is July 7th, 2010. The night before “The Decision”. The Night before Lebron James would announce to a National Television audience, his intentions to “Take my Talents to South Beach”, and the day that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would announce their intentions to return/join the Miami Heat in a interview on ESPN with Mike Wilbon.. What has never been explored, was what led to this decision at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, Connecticut. On this night before the ESPN Special, The Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers are made aware through a direct channel, that they are indeed “finalists” in landing Lebron James’ services for the next several seasons. The Miami Heat having been made aware of this, take this latest news as a foregone conclusion that James has decided to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Several unrestricted free agents are contacted and sold on the opportunity to play with the “Big Three” before any announcement is even made.
What is clear however, is that Lebron James in making a decision is currently not accessible to media or even friends. Dwyane Wade has not been in contact with James’ or any of his advisors, and no last minute recruiting is being done. James made it known earlier in the week to Wade, that any decision to play in Miami will not be due to any recruitment by prospective teammates, but by what relationship he thinks he can cultivate with Team President Pat Riley, Team Owner Micky Arison and his son Nick. While teams trotted out graphs about market size and potential marketing opportunities in their allotted presentation times, the Miami Heat presentation seems to have made an impact. The Miami Heat presents James’ with a detailed plan of roster construction based on (at the time) the current CBA and several projected CBA’s. The analysis revolves around how the team would evolve over the next ten years. Ten years being the window, Pat Riley sees for the Heat to win a plurality of championships. The Miami Heat in their meeting with James, begins by talking about “Family” and inquires about his relationship with the Cavaliers franchise. It becomes apparent after this meeting to those involved that the Heat is a serious contender for James’ services and that there was a good chemistry between James, Mourning, Riley and Arison. What peaks the Heat’s interest is that when Erik Spoelstra talks about how the Heat can incorporate Bosh, Wade and James into an offense, Lebron James then immediately turns talks to dividing cap space between the three and leaving enough over for a pursuit of Ray Allen or Mike Miller. It is July 2nd, and It is not being reported anywhere, but the Heat earlier that day, had received a strong assurance from Dwyane Wade, that he would return to Miami and would be bringing Toronto Power Forward Chris Bosh with him, his feeling, if he could have one, is that Lebron James would soon join them. The reason why, is that the contrast between the two organizations (Cavs and Heat) is becoming rather clear, and according to a league source, The Miami Heat were made aware of details that at this late date become relevant again.
After a couple of “efforts” by media types to push a “Lebron James back to Cleveland” story, these details become relevant, if for no other reason than to show how these stories were most likely planted with fabricated events by entities close to Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert. First, you have to always consider the source. Adrian Wojnarowski is a fine reporter, and he would be negligent to not report what he is told by a credible source. A “credible source” being the operative word. It is no secret that Wojnarowski has an agenda when it comes to Lebron James, and it seems to be born from what a source revealed to me was and has been a testy if not hostile rapport between Wojnarowski and Lebron James’ marketing arm LRMR. A source close to the situation reveals that Wojnarowski would regularly be “bombed” with emails, of which some could be considered insulting, complaining and “correcting” the reporter on the slightest of details in any one of the many perceived Anti-Lebron articles.
While some in Lebron’s inner circle have had personal business dealings with Dan Gilbert, they are fiercely loyal, and I have been assured by someone that I trust who is close to the situation, that there is “no way in hell” that they would “leak” information as depicted in Adrian Wojnarowski’s article and that they would absolutely not plant the idea or the speculation that was pushed by Cleveland’s own Sam Amico of the same vain. As I was told, The events of James’ last season in Cleveland sealed the fate that would manifest itself on July 8, 2010. While the Heat preached “family”and showed it with the example of Alonzo Mourning’s heartfelt presentation about the way the Heat dealt with his kidney illness, the Cavs were very clear to express the importance of a business relationship instead of a personal one between the Club and Player. While the Heat shared their roster construction plans with James, looking as far as 10 years out, the Cavs at one time told Lebron James that he was paid to play, and that the Cavaliers would find him adequate teammates to win a championship. In what a source described to me as a seminal moment, Dan Gilbert had told anybody that would listen that “His failures are all his own” after the Cavs lost in six games to the Boston Celtics in 2010 NBA playoffs. There was a palpable tension that season that culminated at the trade deadline, when as I was told “He checked out then and there.” The feeling was that Lebron James was unhappy with the direction of the team’s talent acquisition and the final straw was the reluctance of the Cavaliers to trade JJ Hickson in a deal that would have netted the Cavs, Amare Stoudemire.
The seeds were planted that day, for his eventual exit from Cleveland. The tension and outright hostility between James and Gilbert was something that seemed to go grossly under-reported. What is not clear is when disagreement turned to hostility. As my source speculated, the “Delonte West innuendo” is believed to have been fostered and pushed by Gilbert himself as a parting gift, after getting a strong indication that he was likely leaving Cleveland after that Celtics playoff series. Dan Gilbert’s Comic Sans diatribe the night of the decision, was a mere release. He was merely getting off his chest, what he had been thinking for a while. I can tell you with a great deal of certainty, that while Lebron James does have a fondness for the Akron area and his former fans in Cleveland, that there is no chance whatsoever that he would ever return, if even for a cup of coffee in his final season as long as Dan Gilbert is still in charge. It is important to note that somebody close to the situation, expressed to me that Lebron James himself, considers any speculation of him ever returning to Cleveland while Gilbert is still owner to be laughable and rather insulting. That Lebron James offers an olive branch to the Cleveland faithful, does not gloss over the real hostility James has for the man that some speculate he wouldn’t mind playing for.
