The Long Strange Trip of L. James

Well that was satisfying. Watching the Miami Heat get whupped up and down the basketball court never gets old for me. Before they had Lebron I thought the team was overrated, Wade got lots of help from the refs, and the fans were the least likable in the NBA. Miami the town is perfectly nice, but their NBA situation has never earned my respect.

Then my favorite baller – the child king himself – left his hometown team with a collusion resulting in the current Miami Heat. Most of us were appalled, or at best irritated, that the guy went and rewrote the rules and basically formed a “buddy team” with other superstars of his class. Oh and he did it as a self-produced primetime ESPN TV special he named “The Decision”. To this day he is the only ProAthleteInc™ with the balls big enough to try that stunt.

The cherry on top was “King James of Cleveland”, who was already starting to be reviled by foes on and off the court, going to the dark side and leaving his hometown with nothing in return. He couldn’t be traded or otherwise have value if he hid his intentions from his team. And he did just that, screwing Cleveland and forming a super-team in Miami.

And they went to 4 straight finals so far. That’s impressive, even in the weak East. Proves that screwing over Cleveland doesn’t lead you to ruin ;-). I do think if Derrick Rose is healthy, or Indiana gets over their chemistry issues, or the super-Nets form a year earlier, maybe Miami doesn’t come out of the East that often. But they did and they showed a lot of heart over the years.

Lebron stands at 2-3 in his Finals appearances, overall, 2-2 with his super-team. There’s various stats out there to show he doesn’t perform his best on the biggest stage. The post-game press conference with he and Wade was full of body language cues pointing to the strained relationship between the two.

Will he stay is the big question. Sitting here the day after the finals my gut tells me he stays 1 more year then is gone from Miami. Back to Cleveland? I still don’t believe that will ever happen. I also am in the camp of never rooting for him in a Cavs jersey again, so I hope he goes elsewhere.

The drama continues with LBJ…

Meanwhile in the Timmy D camp, life is good: