Don't Fall For the Hype

Ok, so King James is still trying to hold everyone hostage on this whole ‘where will he go?’ subject in free agency; however, I’ll give you two reasons why you shouldn’t have allowed yourself to get suckered into the LeBron-mania that’s been going on for nearly a week now.

For starters, he’s not leaving Cleveland. No, I don’t have a reliable source close to LeBron; I haven’t spoken to his mother or his best friend’s barber’s cousin; I just have common sense. I could be totally wrong in all of this, but just look at the facts: he’s never played for a team outside of Ohio his whole life, his family and friends all live there, the Cavs can pay him more than anyone else in the market, and out of the four or five teams that are pursuing him (Cavs, Nets, Knicks, Bulls, Heat) two of those teams didn’t even get close to the playoffs and only one team got past the first round (the Cavaliers).

So the guy is a little frustrated, and the Antawn Jamison trade was a complete bust (duhhhh), that doesn’t mean the guy just up and leaves the Cavaliers. Think about the three major reasons a guy would leave his current team in free agency: money, championships/wins, close to home. The Cavs can offer the most money, they have led the NBA in wins the past two seasons, and they are the closest team to his home in Akron. So tell me why he should leave again?

Oh yeah, I forgot, to go to Wade-County and play second fiddle to his 6’4 clone. No wait, it’s to go play even deeper in the shadow of MJ out in the CHI; or could it be to go and kick it with Jay-Z after every home game (which would likely end in a loss). I’m taking none of the above; the only team that makes a little sense would be Chicago, but I don’t know if he wants to risk going to a young team like the baby-Bulls and trying to be their savior. Besides, the Bulls are more than a LeBron James away from winning a championship.

Reason number two is that he has a quality head coach who won’t take any nonsense back in Cleveland. You look at what Byron Scott did for a team like the Hornets who were reeling from the Katrina tragedy and only had one star in Chris Paul, yet he took that team to new heights and was rewarded with the Coach of the Year award. Pat Riley is the only coach on any of the teams courting the King that has a more impressive résumé, and he coached Byron Scott for 6 years with the LA Lakers. That is to say, great minds think alike and there's no doubt in my mind that Scott uses some of the same techniques as Riley did back in the day, and still uses now. But, like I said, Miami doesn’t look like a realistic possibility for LeBron. That’s D-Wade’s territory.

Now, if I’m wrong, it’ll make me look like a fool; but at least I won’t be wasting every five minutes checking up on the latest LeBron news. It’ll be a surprise, which to me is much better than a relief. I don’t want to be relieved that it’s all over; I want to have my jaw hit the floor so hard it’d make Kanye West cringe. I don’t want to be disappointed if he stays a Cavalier, because that move makes the most sense for him right now. So what do you really lose by joining me and the rest of the Ohio community in assuming LeBron takes back his throne in Cleveland? Nothing, it’s really a win-win situation.

by Aaron Hilton