stephen a smith claims Lebron may leave Cleveland after this season

[alldaboston]

if he comes to Boston as a FA we win the championship!!!

Ew. No. I hate the attention he gets all the time. True, we would probably have a lot better time with the refs, but I much prefer having an underdog/under the radar team that stuns others. At least until we get a star(homegrown or signed/traded for (and not LBJ))

[hwangjini_1]

What is Blakely's sauce of choice?

whatever goes with crow i suppose. 

[crimson_stallion]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

[crimson_stallion]

I've always felt that Lebron is stuck in Cleveland.  He cares way too much about his image, and he really hates being considered a villain.  And he knows that if he leaves Cleveland AGAIN without delivering a title, he'll be crucified.

However...I do admit that I'm started to be coaxed into taking the other side of the argument.  Lebron knows his team can't win a title this year.  I think he has started to realize just how much he underestimated how hard it would be to bring a title.  I fully believe he thought it would be MUCH easier than what it's turned out to be.  It's also just bad luck for him that when he decided to go back, the Warriors weren't the Warriors yet.

I also think deep down, he's struggling with the idea that this isn't his league anymore.  He began losing it to Steph Curry last year, and that's been fully cemented this year.  So because of that, he honestly may not care anymore what people will say if he leaves again.

What makes you think Lebron gives the slightest hint of a 'bleep' about what anybody else thinks of him? 

How much selfishness did it take for him to leave a Cleveland team that has been built entirely around him (after initially saying he had every interest of returning) to go forge a new superpower in Miami?  He clearly knew that was his intention, so he was obviously lying to Clevleand fans all along when he said he intended to return. 

How much selfishness did it take for him to walk away from Wade, Bosh and Riley (the group of warriors he forged a unit with and went to battle with for four straight finals appearances) and leave them fading away in a declining Miami team while he went off to pursue his own agenda and chase the next potential ring?

Lebron James is the purest definition of selfish, egotistical and narcissistic.  He doesn't care what the hell anybody else thinks.  The guy thinks he is god.  His level of arrogance is in the real of the great MJ. 

As far as he is concerned he was born to win titles, and if he can't win them then his team shoudl just try to buy them.  The NBA should just cancel the NBA season and hand him the trophy.

Why on earth would such an arrogant, narcissistic individual give two 'bleeps' about what anybody else in the world thinks of him?

i assure you, he doesn't.  If he did, then he never would have left Clevleand originally, or Miami a couple of years ago.  Both teams were strong playoff teams when he left, it;'s not like they wre going through a rebuild.  They just weren't clear favorites anymore, and he knew that, so he left for greener pastures.

It's what he does, and he does it with no concern for anybody else.   

Can a guy dream about Lebron leaving and Kevin Love being stuck in a losing Cleveland for the next several years?  That would be tremendous.

This really would be fantastic - I would have a smile on my face the size of the grand canyon lol

[D Dub]

Mentally, he's probably ready to retire.  Stressful being a player/coach/gm/agent. 

[SHAQATTACK]

LeBron is use to Gettin his way , he sulks and pouts and must have his way.

He he doesn't win a title this year ,  can see him leaving.  , but I think he stays one additional.

Window is closing ,  there are only so many players Cavs realistically get who will or can join LeBron to defeat the Spurs or Warriors  They are not getting Durrant in Cleveland.

I think if LeBron senses he can 't win in Cleveland , he ll bolt for another team .

Winning titles equals money and fame ......that means more to him than hanging out in Cleveland and watching his title year hopes fade away.

He is only so much of a homer ....he saw a chance to kill two birds with one stones .....leaving Miami back to Cleveland......right a wrong and title a title sounded like a great idea.

I think he try ONE more year in Clevland if he fails to win the title.  Then he will leave for the best situation.

[max215]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

What's wrong with chasing rings? If he had remained in Cleveland all along, never winning anything, people would chastise him for having no interest in winning. He makes the right choices for himself (in terms of basketball, business, branding, etc.), and what's wrong with that? At this point, I think remaining in Cleveland is in his best interest, so I think he's there for a lot longer.

[crimson_stallion]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

What's wrong with chasing rings? If he had remained in Cleveland all along, never winning anything, people would chastise him for having no interest in winning. He makes the right choices for himself (in terms of basketball, business, branding, etc.), and what's wrong with that? At this point, I think remaining in Cleveland is in his best interest, so I think he's there for a lot longer.

I don't think ANYBODY would be criticising Lebron if he stuck around in Cleveland from the start instead of skipping to Miami.  I don't know why you would think that they would.  Clevleand were a deep playoff team every year while he was there, and a perennial contender.  Why should anybody criticise him for staying there?

Kevin Durant hasn't won a ring in how many years in OKC.  Does anybody criticise him for not leaving OKC?  Not at all, nobody does.  But I bet if he leaves and goes to Golden State (just as an example) he'll cop no shortage of criticism for jumping ship.

It's called loyalty. 

Clevleand built there entire roster around him.  They fired coaches for him.  They hired players for him.  When asked about his intentions as a free agent, he told the entire world that Clevleand was his home, and he had no intention of leaving.

He lied right through his teeth, and showed no signs of empathy whatsoever.

Then just when Miami were struggling, rather than saying "guys, I will stick with you - we'll try to add some guys and we will try to win together", he walked.

How can you not see the obvious selfishness in those actions?

Kobe never left the Lakers, even through the struggles.  Did anybody ever criticise him for sticking around, or complain that he "didn't want to win"?  No. 

What about Paul Pierce?  Never.

How can you criticise a star for sticking around and trying to carry his team through good and through bad? 

That's a big part of why I have no respect for Kevin Love, and complete respect for Demarcus Cousins.  When things got bad, one of those guys forced a trade and tried to take a free ride to a contender...while the other has stuck it through the toughest of times, and remained loyal year after year.   I think that's admirable.

[Snakehead]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

What's wrong with chasing rings? If he had remained in Cleveland all along, never winning anything, people would chastise him for having no interest in winning. He makes the right choices for himself (in terms of basketball, business, branding, etc.), and what's wrong with that? At this point, I think remaining in Cleveland is in his best interest, so I think he's there for a lot longer.

I don't think ANYBODY would be criticising Lebron if he stuck around in Cleveland from the start instead of skipping to Miami.

So you weren't paying attention when everyone killed him for not being able to beat the Spurs with his second best player being Larry Hughes?  You're talking as if this is a hypothetical when it already happened before.

In addition to the constant criticism in that vein, the many players who constantly get the "oh he can't be a winner" label or greats like Barkley consistently being looked down on for never being champions.

He wants to win titles and he went where he needed to go to make that happen.  Everyone needs great players around them to win.  Reality check.  If you aren't even paying attention to what already happened before with LeBron though I'm not sure you're going to get any of this.

And you even said no one criticized Pierce before (he was regularly called selfish and there were people that wanted rid of him).  Pierce was also VERY close to being traded.  Look at Melo right now, being criticized for sticking around in NY through that mess.

It says a lot about this crazy mind set that you have that you applaud Cousins wasting away in Sacramento like that's his duty and he should stand by with that mess and continue losing.

[Ilikesports17]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

What's wrong with chasing rings? If he had remained in Cleveland all along, never winning anything, people would chastise him for having no interest in winning. He makes the right choices for himself (in terms of basketball, business, branding, etc.), and what's wrong with that? At this point, I think remaining in Cleveland is in his best interest, so I think he's there for a lot longer.

I don't think ANYBODY would be criticising Lebron if he stuck around in Cleveland from the start instead of skipping to Miami.

So you weren't paying attention when everyone killed him for not being able to beat the Spurs with his second best player being Larry Hughes?  You're talking as if this is a hypothetical when it already happened before.

In addition to the constant criticism in that vein, the many players who constantly get the "oh he can't be a winner" label or greats like Barkley consistently being looked down on for never being champions.

He wants to win titles and he went where he needed to go to make that happen.  Everyone needs great players around them to win.  Reality check.  If you aren't even paying attention to what already happened before with LeBron though I'm not sure you're going to get any of this.

And you even said no one criticized Pierce before (he was regularly called selfish and there were people that wanted rid of him).  Pierce was also VERY close to being traded.  Look at Melo right now, being criticized for sticking around in NY through that mess.

It says a lot about this crazy mind set that you have that you applaud Cousins wasting away in Sacramento like that's his duty and he should stand by with that mess and continue losing.

It's a little different because Lebron penned this whole "I'm coming home" narrative. If he leaves out after 2 years because he couldn't win a title it proves all that too be bullEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. which can really hurts him.

He clearly cares about how he is perceived etc and leaving Cleveland for a second time would destroy how his reputation.

[crimson_stallion]

Seems far-fetched to me as well. It would have catastrophic effects on his reputation, legacy, and probably business interests. .

What Legacy? 

Lebron is a sell out who has no loyalty to anybody but himself.  He goes where he thinks he has a chance to in, and when he feels his window is starting to shrink he moves to the next team...leaving the previous one to wither away and die.

Lebron was the hero of Cleveland - dumped them to run to Miami to chase titles.  Then when Wade and Bosh started to decline and the Heat had no cap space to add talent, Lebron saw the window was closing and jumped ship back to another promising situation which just happened to be in Clevleand.

I don't think he will move on, but i sure as hell wouldn't be shocked if he did.

What's wrong with chasing rings? If he had remained in Cleveland all along, never winning anything, people would chastise him for having no interest in winning. He makes the right choices for himself (in terms of basketball, business, branding, etc.), and what's wrong with that? At this point, I think remaining in Cleveland is in his best interest, so I think he's there for a lot longer.

I don't think ANYBODY would be criticising Lebron if he stuck around in Cleveland from the start instead of skipping to Miami.

So you weren't paying attention when everyone killed him for not being able to beat the Spurs with his second best player being Larry Hughes?  You're talking as if this is a hypothetical when it already happened before.

In addition to the constant criticism in that vein, the many players who constantly get the "oh he can't be a winner" label or greats like Barkley consistently being looked down on for never being champions.

He wants to win titles and he went where he needed to go to make that happen.  Everyone needs great players around them to win.  Reality check.  If you aren't even paying attention to what already happened before with LeBron though I'm not sure you're going to get any of this.

And you even said no one criticized Pierce before (he was regularly called selfish and there were people that wanted rid of him).  Pierce was also VERY close to being traded.  Look at Melo right now, being criticized for sticking around in NY through that mess.

It says a lot about this crazy mind set that you have that you applaud Cousins wasting away in Sacramento like that's his duty and he should stand by with that mess and continue losing.

i never said people wouldn't criticise him for not winning a title.  I said people wouldn't criticise him for for staying in Clevleand. 

They are two different things.

Also, having to have

There is a big difference between needing great players around you to win, versus leaving your team to join great players to win.

Lebron could have stuck around, given Cleveland more time to put great players around him.  His teams there were always strong - they were one great player away from being a championship team.  It's not like he was playing for an ageing lottery team and winning 30 games a season, or like he was 33 years old and wanted to jump to a "win now" situation while he still could.  The guy was in his mid 20s with his entire career ahead of him, he had plenty of time to allow Clevleand to add guys around him.

The Miami situation was even worse because he was on a team that had already had two great players, and a team who had just made four finals appearances (along with two titles) in the space of four years.  If he stayed in Miami, they still would still be contenders to this day.  They may well even be better than the current day Cavs - but he was too greedy to stick around and see.  He was so desperate to add more rings that he HAD to jump ship to a team with a bigger window.

There is a fantastic quote from John Candy's character in the movie Cool Runnings:

"Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."[/i]

See, a ring is just a piece of Jewelry.  On it's own, it means nothing.  It's not the ring itself that carries the meaning, it's the accomplishment - the achievement.  It's the fact that you battled through the adversity, and you defied all odds to defeat the very best there is.  It's about being a champion.

In 2008 when the Celtics won the title, I saw the look on KG's face and the way he reacted - you could see from the look in his eye that he cherished that moment.  KG is a champion, and he will always be a champion.  When the Celtics looked like their window was closing, he didn't need to skip town to the 'next big thing' in the hope of trying to collect more rings.  When Ainge decided his future wasn't in Boston, then KG agreed to waive his no trade clause to go to a team that seemed like a contender, but he was perfectly happy to stay in Boston (as was obvious by the fact that he re-signed there not long before).   He never needed 3 rings or 6 rings or 10 rings to justify himself - he won the ultimate prize, and he will go down in history as one of the greatest big men to ever play the game, even if he can count his rings on one finger.

I don't think that Lebron understands that when he was in Miami, he was already a champion. He could have stuck around, and even if the team never won another ring, it would never have taken away from what he had achieved.  He could have stuck around with the two great players he just won two tittles with, and he could have helped to retool and continue contending. 

But he didn't.  He still had a chance to get more rings in Miami, but he saw a BETTER chance to get rings elsewhere, so he jumped ship and left his comrades behind.

See for Lebron, it's all about his "legacy".  All he cares about is the rings, not the victories.  He thinks that if he gets 6 rings, then people will put him on the same level as MJ...and that's all he cares about.  He's not in it for his teammates, for his city, for the victory.  He's in it for the portfolio. 

Sorry, but I can't respect that.

As for your comment about Cousins, you can say all you want but he has been loyal to his team, loyal to his fans, loyal to his city.  If free agency comes he can walk to a better place, and nobody can every criticise him for not sticking around and giving it his best shot in Sacramento.  He tried his best, they never game him a team even close to competitive, so he walked.  That's fine. CP3 did the same thing.  I can respect that.

Kevin Love, had he stuck around until the end of his contract and then signed elsewhere...I could have respected that.  But he didn't.  He caused problems, complained, tried to blackmail his team by saying he'd walk if they don't trade him, and tried to force a trade to a contender.  He could have just waited until the following season and signed in Cleveland, and the could have kept Wiggins too.  But he didn't have the patience to give it one more shot in Minnesota, he had to leave right there, right then, by any means.  Now he's in Cleveland and he still hasn't won.  Where did it get him?  If he does win, what does it prove?  All people will say is "he only won because he played third fiddle to Kyrie and Lebron". 

Lebron might one day win in Cleveland, but he's no winner.

[Hemingway]

Probably a small chance LBJ leaves. But he is a FA after the season so he can. It's kind of funny that it has just been assumed he stays. If someone had posted on here "let's try to sign LBJ this summer" they would a few pages worth of sarcastic one liners and gifs. But if he did want to leave, we would be a great choice for him. We'd still need some help at the 5 and some more 3 point shooters but we would be stacked with assets to get them. I'm not holding my breath, but I do think LBJ is Ainge's (and every other GM's) plan A1 for this summer.

The hate on players leaving is kind of silly too. It's a job. At the end of the day its a job. People change jobs all the time. He wouldn't be breaking any contracts or doing anything wrong an he never said he would stay forever.

[Moranis]

what exactly did Smith say?

[Evantime34]

LeBron needs to be on a team where the GM and coach have enough clout to stand up to him. He had that in Miami (Spoelstra was emboldened by the support of Riley).

To me, this rumor is just LeBron saying to the Cavs "you better improve this roster to compete with Golden State" or I could leave. Since LeBron is a bad GM I think he would be happy with replacing Love with his friend Melo.