LeBron James is coming home again and it hasn’t taken long for long suffering, passionate Cleveland Cavaliers’ fans to forgive the King for leaving four years ago for the Miami Heat.
The hottest selling item in that city by the Lake today is a Cavs’ T-shirt that says, “Forgiven. The Kingdom Restored” and fans celebrating throughout the city. All circuits were busy at the Cavs’ ticket sales office after James made his announcement in a letter that appeared Friday on the SI.com website.
“My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball,” he said in an eloquent essay co-authored with sports writer Kris Jenkins.
The Cavs have gone from being one of the worst franchises in the league in the post-LeBron era, to the co-favorite in Vegas to win the 2015 NBA championship, along with the San Antonio.
“I’m not promising a championship,” James wrote “It’s hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. ”
Cleveland hasn’t won a championship in any professional sport since 1964 and the suddenly giddy fans in that city are surprisingly see the powerful 6-8, 250-pound James– the best player on the planet– as a savior who can rectify that and re-solidify his image as the ultimate hometown hero.
The 29-year old James won two NBA championships and led the Heat to four consecutive appearances in the NBA championship series before he reassessed his situation following a 4-1 loss to the Spurs in the NBA finals. He opted out of the final two years of his contract and eventually decided to return home to the Cavs, where he played for the first seven years of his already storied career.
This latest decision wasn’t about championship rings. It was about family, legacy and the need to be loved again in the state where he grew up.
Four years ago, when James publicly dissed his home town by filing for divorce during a badly thought out nationally televised special that aired on ESPN and was billed as “The Decision,” it didn’t seem like a moment like this was possible. The day afterwards, James promised “not one, not two, not three, not four, not five . . . championships” as he partied with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade at a Miami pep rally.
The backlash was visible in this beaten down rust belt town with Cavs’ fans burning LeBron jerseys in the streets, tossing his memorabilia in dumpsters, booing James’ every success. Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert penned a vitriolic letter on the Cavs’ web site that blasted the superstar, calling him a traitor and referring to his actions as “a cowardly betrayal.” Gilbert also naively pledged the Cavs would win a championship before the Heat. Earlier this week, Gilbert’s letter was finally removed.
James felt compelled to address his past in his letter. “My emotions were more mixed,” he said. “It was easy to say, “OK, I don’t want to deal with these people ever again.” But then you think about the other side,” he said. “What if I were a kid who looked up to an athlete, and that athlete made me want to do better in my own life, and then he left? How would I react? I’ve met with Dan Gilbert face-to-face, man-to man. We’ve talked it out. Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge?”
If the humility James displayed in this letter is any indication, James wants to mend fences. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do things differently,” he said. “but I’d still have left.”
That’s fair.
This time, there was no press conference, no parties, just a personal phone call from James to Miami officials and then a a second call from his agent Rich Paul to the Cavs before the news went public. James made no promises the way he did in South Beach, but insisted his goal is to bring “one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.” It will not be easy. James, who has been in the the league for 12 years, considers himself “the old head” on a young team where new coach David Blatt, who has experienced enormous success on the European circuit, has never coached an NBA game and none of the young stars on the roster have ever played in a playoff game. “I feel my calling here goes above basketball,” James wrote. “I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more here.”
James is an enormous talent who has won four NBA MVP awards, but this Cleveland team, as currently constructed, isn’t as good as the one James left in 2010.
The Cavs have a young, talented nucleus that includes Kyrie Irving, a 22-year-old point guard who recently signed a five year, $90 million extension with the team, and Andrew Wiggins, a 6-8 forward who was the top overall pick in last month’s draft. It is also possible that the Cavaliers will now move aggressively to upgrade its roster with veteran players like Ray Allen or Mike Miller or perhaps even a star from another team if they can generate enough cap space, in an effort to speed up the team’s development. In his statement, James referred to his new teammates, saying, “I think I can help Kyrie Irving become one of the best point guards in our league. I think I can help elevate Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, and I can’t wait to reunite with Anderson Varejao, one of my favorite teammates.”
James, interestingly, did not mention Wiggins, an indication the Cavaliers might be willing to trade him this summer for an established player like All Star center Kevin Love, who wants out of Minnesota. A lot will depend on whether the T’Wolves are willing to take on the contracts of either forward Anthony Bennett or Waiters in addition to Wiggins, a player Minnesota fall in love with this spring, to free up cap space.
There are so many variables, but James seems happy with his decision and Cavs’ fans appear to have already forgotten what life was like without him these past four years.
