Well… They were right.
“The Decision” would change the NBA.
But not in the way “they” expected. Both the mass media and fans alike expected the long awaited announcement from LeBron James to rock their world. A single free agent on the move could shift the power of an entire league to a city like New York or Chicago. It was a given, because as far as we knew the world’s greatest player was thinking about finding a new home.
What “they” didn’t expect (and what none of us expected for that matter), is this Decision would change the NBA for an entirely different reason. We learned something the past few weeks: The world’s most gifted athlete and talented basketball player was never the world’s greatest player.
He tricked us. He fooled us. He let us down.
Since that fateful telecast, everyone and their mother has argued (and rightfully so) that LeBron James turned his back on the city of Cleveland. But what they aren’t mentioning is that he also betrayed the rest of us. We believed that, in LeBron, we had the total package. A more selfless Kobe. A more powerful Wade. A physically dominating hybrid of Michael Jordan/Magic Johnson/Bo Jackson.
With one poor decision we learned that we were wrong.
Sure he can jump like MJ, run the court and dish it like Magic, and plow through people like Bo.
But he doesn’t have the GUTS to become the legends they are.