"James is a paradigm shifter who believes in player empowerment."
Wrong. He believes in doing whatever it takes to win.
There are four basketball beat writers in south Florida, LeBatard, Ira Winderman, Greg Cote, Dave Hyde. Every one of those pencils missed the 2014 Decision because the only people they talked to were "Heat" people; they did not talk to, had no line of trusted communication open to, LeBron James' camp. So all you read after the exit interview last summer, after Pat Riley's appalling "I'm pissed" press conference was the "Heat's" insulated, out-of-touch spin and this gang of four chortled that Pat Riley had made James a challenge he couldn't refuse. They wrote that without talking to James. That is poor journalism.
In the 2014 Finals Greg Cote made an observation that was ominous: James was disengaged, his body language betrayed him in a game in Miami against San Antonio. He had seen the light. He was the same in a playoff game in his first stint in Cleveland and that was his last season there. "We need upgrades at every position," James said after the 2014 Finals, and he was right. Then Riley slapped the desk and said he was "pissed" and challenged James' "guts" and said the "Heat" didn't need wholesale change, just some retooling. That was bullshit. The gang of four gave Riley a circle jerk four man handjob and let Riley spew his bodily essence all over their faces after that insulting press conference. "LeBron, how'd you like that, huh? Gave you wood, I bet, huh?" No it didn't. He didn't take it as a challenge he couldn't refuse at all. He looked with those supremely intelligent eyes and decided "They need glasses and they don't make lenses that powerful." That was the beginning of James' exit. James wants to win every year and he saw, and he was right to see, that without upgrade at every position, he would not win again with Miami. They had no point guard, Dwyane Wade was too creaky, not dependable enough, not Wade's fault, just a fact. Chris Bosh was good but the Big 3 had been reduced to a Big 1 1/2.
"James, alleged employee, wanted to be a boss and the boss while taking an axe to some familiar constructs. He got that power in Cleveland in a way he never could have it in Miami."
Wrong again. There is consistency in what James did in leaving Cleveland for Miami and Miami for Cleveland: he wants to win. If he has to be "boss" to win he will do that but Cleveland 2014-15 was not to James' liking. It was too much responsibility as player/coach/assistant general manager, it drained him physically and mentally. James would like to have a coach who knows how many time outs he has, who knows when to call time out, who can draw up plausible winning plays, who can manage the minutes of players who determine winning and losing over a 100-game season, in short, he wants a competent basketball coach and instead he got David Blatt.
"There is this insulted feeling in the Heat organization that James used Riley as legendary leverage at the end, as a public pawn, flying him across the country and making him wait in Las Vegas for a short meeting with an already-determined outcome -- so James' men could negotiate all the power they wanted from Cleveland in the interim with the very public lie that Miami was still in play -- and to show Riley who was really in charge. That may or may not be accurate..."
No, that "may or may not be accurate," that is inaccurate. James did not negotiate power with Cleveland to decide his coach, he accepted the one knucklehead Dan Gilbert hired. James did not "use" Riley, James decided after that press conference that Riley was a blind tinkerer when what was needed was a visionary who saw what he saw, the truth, that Miami didn't need mere "retooling," Miami needed a new tool box entirely. If Riley had gotten that 20/20 vision and had overhauled instead of retooled, James would still be in Miami. Instead Miami is in the lottery and LeBron James carried the Mistake by the Lake closer to the brink of a world championship than Miami got in 2014. It's "the vision thing." James has it, Riley did not. And so "With the 10th pick in the 2015 NBA draft the Miami "Heat" select"--who cares?
Wrong. He believes in doing whatever it takes to win.
There are four basketball beat writers in south Florida, LeBatard, Ira Winderman, Greg Cote, Dave Hyde. Every one of those pencils missed the 2014 Decision because the only people they talked to were "Heat" people; they did not talk to, had no line of trusted communication open to, LeBron James' camp. So all you read after the exit interview last summer, after Pat Riley's appalling "I'm pissed" press conference was the "Heat's" insulated, out-of-touch spin and this gang of four chortled that Pat Riley had made James a challenge he couldn't refuse. They wrote that without talking to James. That is poor journalism.
In the 2014 Finals Greg Cote made an observation that was ominous: James was disengaged, his body language betrayed him in a game in Miami against San Antonio. He had seen the light. He was the same in a playoff game in his first stint in Cleveland and that was his last season there. "We need upgrades at every position," James said after the 2014 Finals, and he was right. Then Riley slapped the desk and said he was "pissed" and challenged James' "guts" and said the "Heat" didn't need wholesale change, just some retooling. That was bullshit. The gang of four gave Riley a circle jerk four man handjob and let Riley spew his bodily essence all over their faces after that insulting press conference. "LeBron, how'd you like that, huh? Gave you wood, I bet, huh?" No it didn't. He didn't take it as a challenge he couldn't refuse at all. He looked with those supremely intelligent eyes and decided "They need glasses and they don't make lenses that powerful." That was the beginning of James' exit. James wants to win every year and he saw, and he was right to see, that without upgrade at every position, he would not win again with Miami. They had no point guard, Dwyane Wade was too creaky, not dependable enough, not Wade's fault, just a fact. Chris Bosh was good but the Big 3 had been reduced to a Big 1 1/2.
"James, alleged employee, wanted to be a boss and the boss while taking an axe to some familiar constructs. He got that power in Cleveland in a way he never could have it in Miami."
Wrong again. There is consistency in what James did in leaving Cleveland for Miami and Miami for Cleveland: he wants to win. If he has to be "boss" to win he will do that but Cleveland 2014-15 was not to James' liking. It was too much responsibility as player/coach/assistant general manager, it drained him physically and mentally. James would like to have a coach who knows how many time outs he has, who knows when to call time out, who can draw up plausible winning plays, who can manage the minutes of players who determine winning and losing over a 100-game season, in short, he wants a competent basketball coach and instead he got David Blatt.
"There is this insulted feeling in the Heat organization that James used Riley as legendary leverage at the end, as a public pawn, flying him across the country and making him wait in Las Vegas for a short meeting with an already-determined outcome -- so James' men could negotiate all the power they wanted from Cleveland in the interim with the very public lie that Miami was still in play -- and to show Riley who was really in charge. That may or may not be accurate..."
No, that "may or may not be accurate," that is inaccurate. James did not negotiate power with Cleveland to decide his coach, he accepted the one knucklehead Dan Gilbert hired. James did not "use" Riley, James decided after that press conference that Riley was a blind tinkerer when what was needed was a visionary who saw what he saw, the truth, that Miami didn't need mere "retooling," Miami needed a new tool box entirely. If Riley had gotten that 20/20 vision and had overhauled instead of retooled, James would still be in Miami. Instead Miami is in the lottery and LeBron James carried the Mistake by the Lake closer to the brink of a world championship than Miami got in 2014. It's "the vision thing." James has it, Riley did not. And so "With the 10th pick in the 2015 NBA draft the Miami "Heat" select"--who cares?
