POLL: Will you blame Lebron if he leaves this summer?

[bee-eazy13]

I think he’s going West just to screw the nba up and force Adam silver to change the playoff format to 1-16.

Cuz F the warriors

 

[Triple-S]

If he comes up to Gilbert after the finals and says "hey man, I'm gone, plan accordingly", then no, I won't blame him or be angry at him a bit.

If that does happen, then I think an effort to tank would probably begin very soon.

-I don't know...Trae Young or Mikhail Bridges are likely taken as step 1 of the "4 year tank" plan.
-Tyron Lue is fired. (fuck it, through money at Izzo or something).
-Thompson. Love, and J.R. are likely gone. Probably off to a team that needs some veterans to aid them though a playoff push.
-Larry Nance Jr. likely stays. (part of year 1 in tanking)
-Tank in 2019, Tank in 2020, Tank in 2021.

I think by draft night? We'll get an inkling of what's happening. If there's rumors the Cavs are looking to trade (even if they don't that night). He's here. If not? Well, yeah. He's gone.

I'm not sure the Rockets would be the smartest move. Chris Paul is old and made of glass, how many playoffs in a row now has he gotten injured in? Harden is not a fully reliable star in the playoffs and I wonder how he would adjust to playing with Lebron. Beyond that they have Gordon, Ariza, Capela, PJ Tucker. I'm pretty sure that they would have to give up at least one of those to get Lebron -- they are in salary cap hell so it won't be easy. Plus Tucker and Ariza are getting old along with Chris Paul. Houston is a lot more fragile than they appear, if they were going to do it then it needed to be this year.

Plus, Houston is a miserable city that floods all the time.

It's not a very good city to play in. The Rockets probably the 5th most popular sporting event there behind College Football (UT, Aggies, Cougars, LSU for some reason), Astros, Texans and High School sports.

I mean if you're an NBA player? You dream of Los Angeles, New York, Boston (pukes), Miami, and now (pukes) The Bay Area.

But..they offer a coach, a front office, and a team that took GSW to 7. He can get his 4th ring there and then perhaps get some "peace" in terms of being compared to Jordan, Magic, Bird, etc. Plus the whole "China's NBA team" aspect that I'm sure Silver loves and the reason why he wants it.

They probably not only beat GSW, but sweep them with LeBron on the roster. That's my take.

I can't blame him at that point. There's not much the Cavs can do to counter that sort of chance at a ring.

 

[Mr. Orange]

How about this for a novel idea? Why obsess about beating the Warriors? Forget the Warriors. Make decisions for you LeBron, don't even worry about those guys. You have nothing to prove.

If you are comfortable here, want your kids to go to SVSM, are having fun being in Akron, your wife likes it, you can make max money, then stay.

 

[Jedi Osman]

I wouldn't blame him but on the other side, he is one of the responsibles for the current roster...so if he leaves, he would let a slight flavour behind him.

 

[Jake]

If LBJ goes I don't think it's west. Staying East, say Philly, gives him a chance to stymie Boston and the West at the same time.
But I still think it's a good bet he stays here. His people and the Cavs need to talk soon enough to see if their goals are mutually aligned and possible. We can still contend but clearly not as constructed.

 

[Nphan]

I think LeBron should leave if another star does not want to join him here. He's chasing a ghost and as a fan, I want him to pass Jordan.

 

[Coyote850]

Moz I get what you are saying. Lebron is in his last few years. He is still insanely elite. But he can't do it all by himself. He will rapidly go down hill as far as being able to dominate. He desperately needs help. The Cavs management/ownership has not done nowhere near enough to get talent around Lebron. If he stays he needs major help to beat GS. Remember, they were built to beat one person: Lebron.

 

[MirORich]

Gilbert should get the blame. He gets LeBron for 7 years, doesn't surround him with a good supporting cast, and then loses him. He gets him back, and four years later he has somehow managed to give him a supporting cast that's almost as bad as the one from 2007. You really have to suck to screw things up with the GOAT twice. But hey, at least Gilbert got to hang on to the 8th pick in the draft.

Gilbert made mistakes during LeBron 1.0 but please consider this:

-several draft picks in that era had already been traded away in bad moves by Paxsons

-Gilbert was not responsible for Boozers exodus/betrayal

-LeBron was so good as a rookie that we were not able to stack top5 picks in back to back years like OKC was with Durant/Russ/Harden or Philly with Embiid/Saric/Simmons/Fultz

-Even so, we missed Iggy by one pick in 2004. The LeBron 1.0 core should have been LeBron, Iggy, Boozer, Z all before a single trade had to be considered.

That said, Dan defintely has made mistake all throughout his ownership reign. He’s only been mildly saved by two factors: Primarily, LeBron. Secondarily, Dan’s willingness to spend his way through mistakes, which amongst other things, is what got us Kyrie in 2011

 

[billmac91]

I think he’s ultimately going to stay, but if he leaves it’s for Los Angeles.

I do think SVSM is the ultimate pendulum swinger in the equation. He loves his kids and he’s giddy about them having the same experience he did.....just with a stable family, something he never had.

But if he leaves....the city of Cleveland should take out a “Thank You” ad in every city in the country and send him out right. He came back and righted his wrongs. He brought us a title. And he left it all on the court in the moments that mattered.

I won’t hold ANY ill will if he decides to leave this go-around. And this coming from a person who absolutely despised him when he left. He hasn’t been perfect during the return. There will always be drama around him. But ultimately, he gave Cleveland over half his career, as the best player to ever do it....rings or not.

 

[Mdog1]

Not at all. In fact I would help him create a super team in Houston, or wherever else he wanted. Without him we are going straight in to tank mode again, so why not get a couple of picks, and help destroy the whorriers.

This isn't like 2010 to me. Any Miami picks were going to be terrible. This time aroind LeBron isn't young, and picks from his next team could very well be valuable.

I'd do Houston a huge favour, and take Ryan Anderson back for LeBron. Allow them to keep Ariza, and Capella, maybe even make cap space for another decent player.

I'd be far more hesitant with Philly, but I'd take a couple of their young players, and give them the ability to sign CP3/George.

I want LeBron to be remembered as the GOAT. He deserves that.

 

[GreasySpread36]

I think he’s ultimately going to stay, but if he leaves it’s for Los Angeles.

I do think SVSM is the ultimate pendulum swinger in the equation. He loves his kids and he’s giddy about them having the same experience he did.....just with a stable family, something he never had.

But if he leaves....the city of Cleveland should take out a “Thank You” ad in every city in the country and send him out right. He came back and righted his wrongs. He brought us a title. And he left it all on the court in the moments that mattered.

I won’t hold ANY ill will if he decides to leave this go-around. And this coming from a person who absolutely despised him when he left. He hasn’t been perfect during the return. There will always be drama around him. But ultimately, he gave Cleveland over half his career, as the best player to ever do it....rings or not.

I agree with all that, but at the same time I'd be disappointed. For all the obvious reasons, of course, but also because I don't think he has to go anywhere this time around. I understand LeBron wants to win championships, but I don't think he has anything else to prove in this game. This isn't like 2010 when he was 25, still ringless after seven years with an opportunity to play with and win titles with his brother from another mother. He needed to go then. He doesn't need to now. And who knows, maybe he can win another title here.

 

[billmac91]

Not at all. In fact I would help him create a super team in Houston, or wherever else he wanted. Without him we are going straight in to tank mode again, so why not get a couple of picks, and help destroy the whorriers.

This isn't like 2010 to me. Any Miami picks were going to be terrible. This time aroind LeBron isn't young, and picks from his next team could very well be valuable.

I'd do Houston a huge favour, and take Ryan Anderson back for LeBron. Allow them to keep Ariza, and Capella, maybe even make cap space for another decent player.

I'd be far more hesitant with Philly, but I'd take a couple of their young players, and give them the ability to sign CP3/George.

I want LeBron to be remembered as the GOAT. He deserves that.

In a weird way (from a sentimentality standpoint) I agree with this. If we could own the fact we’re going to be in rebuild mode, so let’s just go ahead and fuck the Warriors...it’d be fun. Let’s justbtake back Anderson and some filler so Houston can go make an embarrassment out of GSW.

But that isn’t how this works. Gilbert has billions tied up in this team, and if he agrees to a sign and trade this go-around, he will get back much more value than he did with the Heat. Because he knows the desperation of any time trying to sign LeBron, to make it work within the confines of the CBA.

So it’s fun in theory.......but no, the Rockets will not be able to trade for LeBron while keeping CP3, Harden, and Capela. Although, I’d LOVE to see a lineup of:

CP3
Harden
LeBron
Tucker
Capela

That’d be fun as hell...especially with their uptempo ISO sets. But this just isn’t realistic......at all. CP3 and Bron won’t sacrifice the money needed to make it work. The only chance this could happen is if Houston is willing to set a record in luxury tax, and essentially go 4 max players on top of the remaining salary to fill out roster.

People forget Draymond have a pretty team friendly deal, Klay is on a value deal, and KD keeps taking less than his full value. Houston won’t get that luxury.

 

[Return of the King]

I hope lebron goes west and just fucks up the warriors chance of winning and then kd starts a new chapter in the east, which in turn fucks up the Celtics chance of getting to the finals with kyrie and kd loses in the finals every year till lebron retires.

 

[fan0283]

If they want to dump Ryan Anderson on us they better go find 2 good draft picks to help our rebuild

 

[Mdog1]

In a weird way (from a sentimentality standpoint) I agree with this. If we could own the fact we’re going to be in rebuild mode, so let’s just go ahead and fuck the Warriors...it’d be fun. Let’s justbtake back Anderson and some filler so Houston can go make an embarrassment out of GSW.

But that isn’t how this works. Gilbert has billions tied up in this team, and if he agrees to a sign and trade this go-around, he will get back much more value than he did with the Heat. Because he knows the desperation of any time trying to sign LeBron, to make it work within the confines of the CBA.

So it’s fun in theory.......but no, the Rockets will not be able to trade for LeBron while keeping CP3, Harden, and Capela. Although, I’d LOVE to see a lineup of:

CP3
Harden
LeBron
Tucker
Capela

That’d be fun as hell...especially with their uptempo ISO sets. But this just isn’t realistic......at all. CP3 and Bron won’t sacrifice the money needed to make it work. The only chance this could happen is if Houston is willing to set a record in luxury tax, and essentially go 4 max players on top of the remaining salary to fill out roster.

People forget Draymond have a pretty team friendly deal, Klay is on a value deal, and KD keeps taking less than his full value. Houston won’t get that luxury.

We are going in to a rebuild if LeBron leaves. We can all agree on that. If taking Ryan Anderson back meant that we got a couple of Houston draft picks when LeBron, and CP3 and in their late 30's, and making 40m each, is that not great value?

We don't get immediate gratification, but in 2022 we could have a top 5 pick to go along with the BKN pick, our own top 5 picks between now, and then, and whatever package we get for Love. Everyone wants to be Boston, or Philly. This is how.

Edit: Since it is an opt in, and trade he will be a free agent the following season... Just saying we could theoretically hit on the BKN pick, get a top 3 pick, and something decent for Love. Then open up some major cap space to sign LeBron, and Kawhi. Then we would have the Houston picks as well.