THE BASKETBALL SAMURAI: The Hated LeBron James

“You’re nobody ‘till somebody kills you” – Biggie Smalls

Last week during the unprecedented mega-media presentation of his free agent decision LeBron James said he didn’t want to make an emotional decision. If he had he might still be a Cleveland Cavalier today. Instead, James rocked the state of Ohio with his preference to join Dwyane Wade and newly acquired power forward Chris Bosh in Miami to play for the Miami Heat, completing what could possibly be the most talented summer-seasoned trio of in-their-prime stars the league has ever seen. However, in the process he scorned an entire city in the only state he has ever called home.

Ohio has been the site of every major James announcement and public push since he entered the league seven long years ago. It is where he has been crowned king a hundred times over from his accomplishments and feats as a high school phenomenon in Akron to becoming one of the most adored athletes in the world. It is where he has been loved to death by Cleveland fans whose longing for a professional sports championship has been built up over 46 years. That’s how long ago Jim Brown led that city’s NFL Browns to a championship and James was expected to end the famous curse that began the day after that triumph.

James once said he would not leave Cleveland without winning a championship first and fans, even the organization, believed it whole-heartedly and now it seems, to a damning fault.

“I’m going to take my talents to South Beach,” James finally said Thursday night from Greenwich, Connecticut no less.

Those words ripped out those once whole now broken hearts in an incomparable nationally televised dumping of a city wary, but nonetheless blindsided by the decision of their favorite son. Shortly after the initial carnage Cleveland fans reacted with venom. James was shown live footage of his number 23 Cavaliers jersey being burned in the streets of a city where the very thought of doing such a thing before then would have been blasphemy.

From Cleveland - blue collared C.L.E. - LeBron, with all his talent and media savvy and “destined-to-be” write ups, was still the underdog. Even with his superstar status LeBron remained a man of the people and despite his greatness was still identified with the hard working people of that place. He carried the franchise on his back accordingly, through some unlikely playoff runs and some devastating exits as well. LeBron was Cleveland. Cleveland was LeBron. Maybe it still is in some covert ways but it will never be the same.

James, perhaps the most unselfish player in the NBA, for the first time in his career made a decision that was all about him. He made that point several times during his television special, that this one wasn’t going to be for Ohio or his hometown of Akron. It was about happiness. It was about winning. It was about legacy. Based on his decision James didn’t see enough of either in Cleveland.

And with that very public shunning of the place he calls home James has become something he has never been - hated. In reality it is perhaps the truest mark of being a superstar in the vein that James himself is a student of. The hate motivates, polarizes and in some cases creates rivalries. Rivalries have much to do with building the kind of legacy James has always talked about. The hate is almost required for a player of James’ ilk. Natural and quite possibly exactly what he has been missing.

As loved as Michael Jordan became, it wasn’t always the case. Jordan steadily gained intergalactic love but on the court and within NBA player circles and in opposing cities there was hate. The source of it came mostly from his feats on the court against teams like the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz and perhaps most ironically versus James’ old Cavaliers. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson carried on a rivalry throughout their careers and the divide amongst fans, between Boston and Los Angeles, was more than geographical. It was in the soul. Under the skin. There was “sport hate” for each of those icons.

Up until Thursday night James was universally loved, cheered in opposing arenas like only Jordan was. And now James is hated for very different reasons than Jordan, Magic and Bird ever were. None of those guys ever left the city that drafted them while in their prime and when Jordan did it - the only one of them to ever leave his original team – it was when he came out of retirement and well past his best days. Chicago didn’t even want to see him as that tainted version of “his Airness”.

Kobe Bryant earned his “sport hate” in a variety of ways, first as a cocky youngster waving off Karl Malone picks in All-Star games and then as a sulking star playing in Shaquille O’Neal’s shadow during the early millennium Lakers dynasty era. Of course his sexual indiscretions in Eagle, Colorado and following rape charge (eventually dropped) gave him a whole new legion of haters both in and out of the game. A brilliant public relations effort rebuilt his image - including the changing of his jersey number from 8 to 24 – but it is doubtful it would have stuck as well if he wasn’t already champion and if he hadn’t since put more rings in the bank. Bryant gets booed the loudest in Philadelphia, his hometown. After capturing the Most Valuable Player award in the 2002 All Star game played in Philly there was Bryant shaking his head as he made his way off the court and staring wide-eyed at then SLAM scribe Scoop Jackson, bewildered at the abhorrent reception. Bryant may be James’ closest comparison, the only one he can relate to on this level. After all, it was LBJ who announced he would be switching his uniform number from 23 to 6 for the 2010-11 season. Another sign of the impending “decision”? His own Bryant inspired pre-emptive strike against the backlash? If James can follow in Bryant’s improbable footsteps, one that led him back to the top of the basketball world, then it would be as great a feat as creating that elusive and career-defining dynasty and legacy. Alas, there are few who doubt that Bryant is a Laker for life.

Like Bryant, for James this all goes beyond “sport hate”. Rivalry hate. Fake hate. This is as real as it gets for a player who promised to stick it out and did not. Yet, everything about the young man told you it was always going to be about business and the business of winning. In the end LeBron James was just too damn big for Cleveland and maybe even too damn humble to know that was precisely the cause of the itch he was feeling, pulling him to Miami.

It was not supposed to be emotional. It was a cold hard business delivery and no doubt Cavs fans will be sure to return the same whenever the Heat will make their way up to the house that ‘Bron was building. By then they might be a shell of the team James left behind, left alone in the darkness once again, this time by one of their own in a public execution no less.

The seething hate is real and there are many fans, media (and players) who feel like James and others disrespected the process of free agency, tugging strings – both heart and purse alike – into the wee hours towards a date with destiny.

We should have known. We should have trusted him. Then maybe he wouldn’t seem so “Benedict” to so many today. Then maybe Cleveland isn’t reeling in real pain over his departure. You think that city wasn’t just kicked in the stomach? Another blue collar dunking?

James is only the second reigning MVP in NBA history to leave his team after winning the award and in his case it was after winning two straight. If Boston got picked to instantly win the eastern conference when they put their big three of paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett together with similar questions about supporting cast, it is reasonable to expect the same of the Heat. One would even be justified in going a step further and predicting a championship. You do not put a team like this together unless you plan on competing for a title for the next 10 years. Unless you are banking on a dynasty. Anything less and leaving Cleveland will have been a mistake.

It is hard to fault James’ decision with the recent turnover in ownership, coaching and roster in Cleveland. The view from here is that the Cavs were never going to have quite enough to allow any Cavaliers team to consistently be on par with the Celtics, Bulls, Knicks, Lakers and Magic (Thunder?) in the foreseeable future. The South Beach union was a cry for help.

Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cavaliers and the man directly responsible for allowing James to own his castle, ripped into his former star in a letter to Cavaliers fans just hours after the big exodus, essentially calling out James as a coward, quitter and someone deserving of fan venom reserved for enemies of the state. Here are some key points he made in the release:

“As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier. This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

“The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you. You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.”

“… I want to make one statement to you tonight: I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

And that spewing of viciousness will set the tone in Cleveland for years to come. Gilbert didn’t count to ten before responding publicly to a phone call he received just moments before the decision. A phone call James didn’t even bother to make himself. He let fly with his barrage and went so far as to call James’ departure “the antidote to the so-called ‘curse’ on Cleveland” and punctuated it with a promise to capture a title before the Heat. If he sticks to his words and gives it the gusto, it is a great thing for Cleveland and the NBA (and poor Antawn Jamison). That Gilbert hate is a mere qualifier for the big picture. There is potential for the most intense rivalry since Lakers/Celtics, no doubt, but only if Gilbert continues to spend on a team currently without a superstar. How likely is that in Cleveland?

Now James isn’t so unlike Wade who is wanted in Dallas on multiple charges of stealing the 2007 championship. The anger in Toronto towards Bosh, who like James has spent his entire career in one city, is fully charged too - a twitter instigated disdain for Bosh’s showmanship tactics during a courting period that saw him practically sever all ties with the franchise that drafted him. And now LeBron has crossed Cleveland.

The hate can be a right of passage, and only a player as universally loved as LeBron would have to crush his own city to earn the privilege. He’s a little more human now, a little less of a king without his kingdom. But despite the weighty, prophetic moniker James was always more ironworker than privileged royalty. That’s a compliment. He’s Rocky Balboa, the people’s favorite, the basketball Obama… but not in Cleveland. Not anymore.

“The road to history starts now!” James tweeted under his new account in the wee hours of the AM following the decision.

That road will be rocky and more distempered than many believe. Talk of the pressure being less for James in Miami with so much star power in assistance is foolish. With this decision James has hurled himself into the space of the casual fan and the diehards alike, that rare space where the two cultures breath the same air and follow the same amazing stories.

Despite all the concessions of cash, stats and marquee space he has and will need to make for this plan to work, he’s also on the way to becoming even bigger than anybody ever thought, including the good people of Cleveland, Ohio.

“The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south,” wrote Gilbert, who has since been fined by the NBA for his address to Cavaliers fans. “And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

“Just watch.”

And so the world shall, lovers, haters and the undecided alike.

The most interesting question of all is one that likely will not be answered for many years. How many of the disenfranchised will James be able to get back? If history has anything to do with it, it will all depend on how many titles he is able to capture before his legacy is sealed for good. After all, everybody loves a winner.