Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports offered up this marvelous opinion of LeBron James’ looming free agency:
Because in LeBron’s view, the projections don’t work. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade will make too much money, eat into too much of the salary cap, for whatever production they’ll give the Heat after the 2013-14 season. Bosh just isn’t as good as LeBron (and the rest of us) thought in 2010, and Wade is getting old, fast. Wade has another few good years left, but he doesn’t have any great years left. He’s still capable of an occasional great game, but those will become less frequent. And less great.
And LeBron didn’t come to Miami for this.
He didn’t come to Miami for it to be hard. He came to Miami because he wanted it easy. He wanted a sure thing. Compete for NBA titles? He already had that in Cleveland. He’d have that anywhere he goes, because any roster with LeBron James will compete for an NBA title. That 2009 team in Cleveland was terrible, utter dreck, except for LeBron. And that team won 66 games and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron doesn’t want to compete for titles. He wants to win titles, and that’s not a subtle distinction. His remarks to ESPN confirmed he’s the same corner-cutting guy he was in 2010 when he teamed up with Wade and Bosh, the other top free agents on the market.
So let me say this just one more time, and get it out of my system: LeBron wants to rig the game. He says he “would love to spend the rest of my career in Miami,” but ignores the fact that nobody’s stopping him. The Heat would sign him to a lifetime extension this second, if he’d do it. But he won’t, because he wants to see what the Heat will do with Bosh and Wade. He wants to see how easy the Heat will make it for LeBron to win titles in 2015 and beyond before he decides to sign the extension he could have signed yesterday.
So well done, Mr. Doyel. Can you imagine such insight and opinion coming out of anyone at ESPN?
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