LeBron: "We hated Clevelanders growing up"

-Akronite- said:

Any Akronites with the "little man syndrome" are the same type of people that live in Cleveland with the "underdog" syndrome or Miami with the "douchebag" syndrome. They don't represent everyone (well, scratch the latter), they are just louder because they want attention.

Cleveland and Akron generally (I'd say), have a brotherly relationship. Cleveland isn't in very good shape, but it's still the big brother and offers a lot (sports especially) to its siblings. Akron is one of the most accomplished cities in America for its size and is a fellow member of the Northeast Ohio family. Cleveland, being the big city, is the nation's representative of the region and therefore doesn't get hated on by sane people from Akron. There is no logical reason for anyone from Akron or Cleveland to hate each other. The only people who do are morons. This isn't speaking from experience, its common sense.

This isn't even mentioning the whole Ohio extended family, which by default, was a huge supporter of its homestate hero L*****. He's an ass and the whole state knows it and hates him for it now.

For a few examples:

1. OSU is a the best college sports representative for our state, so most people in it are Ohio State fans. This does not however prevent people from being UA, KSU, UT, BGSU, or even OU fans.

2. Cleveland is home to the Indians. If people in NEOhio care about baseball and aren't asshats, they root for the Tribe. Akron is home of the Aeros, they're minor league affiliate.

Prime, I understand that morons exist. I just don't think the vast majority of Akronites or Clevelanders are morons. It's possible that LBJ had "little man syndrome" but that doesn't make it any less retarded that he's almost excusing his dickery with some BS city feud.

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Come on. Give UC some love.

JonFromVA said:

Why? Is the casino deal tied in to the Cavs staying?

Even if fans hit the casino after a game, it may not be enough to stop the venture from bleeding money.

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The Casino's are a HUGE business venture, he has millions, possibly billions of reasons, both short AND long-term to do his best to make the Cavaliers something people want to watch. It doesn't do him any good to sell or move the Cavaliers, because even the most wealthy NBA teams aren't making their livings off of their NBA franchises.

It takes some extreme circumstances for a team to move, and there are a handful of franchises other than the Cavaliers that will always be in a worse position, always me in more trouble, and always be more desperate to the point where moving the team is a legitimate possibility.

I'm just saying, there should literally be no concerns about the Cavs moving anywhere.

InBoobieWeTrust said:

None of those changes would turn Dwight Howard into Shaq v2.

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Then you obviously didn't watch Shaq during his days in Orlando.

ButterMPancakes said:

Then you obviously didn't watch Shaq during his days in Orlando.

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I definitely watched Shaq and he's always had a much more developed game than Dwight Howard. Just more of a force with better moves and better touch around the rim.

I like Howard and some rule changes would help him as a player and make him more dominant, but without massive improvement he will never sniff Shaq's level as a force in the NBA.

If the crop of 5's in the 90's was as weak as it has been during the Dwight Howard era, Shaq would have dominated much more than he already did. Howard may have some new rules he has to play by, but he really should be laying waste to the crop of centers the league now has. If he can't average over 20 points a game against this crop, how dare you say he could potentially do what Shaq did in an era where the Center position was as deep and skilled as it ever has been or will be.

Prime 1978 said:

Real Story,

At my job they hired a new manager. Outside of my sesk I used to have different Cavs pictures and my screen savers were always Cavs related. Well the manager saw this and introduced herself and said how she loves the Cavs. I said oh yeah? I said I've loved them since I was 6-7yrs old. She said well I'm more of a LeBron fan.

I promise this is what I told her... "I always root for the name on the front of the jersey because players will let you down everytime"... The day after the decision she came up and hugged me and said "I see what you meant a few months ago".

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Unfortunately when it comes to Cleveland teams they always let you down every time as well. The best way to survive as a Cleveland fan is to eliminate expectations for both players and teams.

It would be easy to go all gloom and doom like cmstophe, but that's hardly productive nor fun.

My formula is high hopes but no expectations.

InBoobieWeTrust said:

The Casino's are a HUGE business venture, he has millions, possibly billions of reasons, both short AND long-term to do his best to make the Cavaliers something people want to watch. It doesn't do him any good to sell or move the Cavaliers, because even the most wealthy NBA teams aren't making their livings off of their NBA franchises.

It takes some extreme circumstances for a team to move, and there are a handful of franchises other than the Cavaliers that will always be in a worse position, always me in more trouble, and always be more desperate to the point where moving the team is a legitimate possibility.

I'm just saying, there should literally be no concerns about the Cavs moving anywhere.

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You do understand that when HUGE business go south they turn in to HUGE busts? If they don't meet the revenue targets that were originally estimated, they can lose a ton of money. Sure a casino is like a license to print $$$, but it's still not going to make Cleveland more of a destination. Heck, in 2009, Nevada Casinos lost $6.7 billion.

We never saw the Browns leaving either ... so, I just can't dismiss it.

InBoobieWeTrust said:

I definitely watched Shaq and he's always had a much more developed game than Dwight Howard. Just more of a force with better moves and better touch around the rim.

I like Howard and some rule changes would help him as a player and make him more dominant, but without massive improvement he will never sniff Shaq's level as a force in the NBA.

If the crop of 5's in the 90's was as weak as it has been during the Dwight Howard era, Shaq would have dominated much more than he already did. Howard may have some new rules he has to play by, but he really should be laying waste to the crop of centers the league now has. If he can't average over 20 points a game against this crop, how dare you say he could potentially do what Shaq did in an era where the Center position was as deep and skilled as it ever has been or will be.

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The only thing Shaq had over Dwight in those years was better handles and a higher IQ. Shaq's dominance came from being allowed to lower his shoulder and bulldoze people, Dwight isn't allowed to do that. The whole 'weak centers' argument usually falls short because in today's league you're not allowed to overpower your opponent. If the crop of 5's in the 90's had to go through the same rule changes you see today, you'd see a HUGE dropoff in their production. Not saying Dwight is comparable to guys like Hakeem, David Robinson, or even Shaq later in the 2000s, but plenty others relied heavily on their physical attributes, whereas today plenty have to rely on their skill.

A lot like how perimeter players back in the 90s had to rely heavily on their skills, whereas today most rely on athleticism. It's no wonder there was a 23% increase in perimeter scoring after handchecking and displacement rules were applied, and it's another testament to how great Michael Jordan really was.


Not to mention the much bigger amount of offensive rebounds that were grabbed back then, which are usually converted into much easier baskets.


Am I saying Howard would be like Shaq was back in those days (if those rules were to change back)? No. Am I saying he would dominate this league, the way Shaq dominated that league, today? Absolutely. The fact that Howard also plays for a team that's heavy on scorers also leads me to believe this. Comparing to last season, there was an 8 year span in Shaq's career where he averaged nearly twice as many attempts as Howard did.

JonFromVA said:

Unfortunately when it comes to Cleveland teams they always let you down every time as well.

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The Cleveland Crunch never let me down....

doughboy90650 said:

I think this move to Miami shows who are the true Cleveland cavalier fans and the loyal supporters of Cleveland. It's a great way to find out who's real and who's phony. When was the last time that this forum only had 45 members online unless it was the middle of the night?

This move weeds out the LeBron fan from the Cavs fan..... hopefully the Cavs can rebuild quickly because the move to Miami, even though it was his choice and has the right to, was pretty bitch-made.

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I admit I started watching the Cavs years ago when the LeBron hype started.

I am a CAVS fan and have truly enjoyed watching them and will continue to enjoy watching and supporting them. As much as I despise LeBron, I'm grateful he was on the team and turned me onto watching the Cavs. I enjoy the sport, I enjoy educating myself on the technical stuff and reading about the game and the strategies, though I am quite out of my league here with all of you, but have learned a lot from studying these forums.

It's an assumption we've all made while ignoring James' comment that "Gilbert never cared," but Pat Hruby does a great job of putting it all together...

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5474203

It's official: LeBron James is the luckiest man on the planet. Not because he's rich, or because he works and plays on South Beach, or even because he can talk about himself in the third person without being instantly and irrevocably pegged as having a Rickey Henderson-ian ego.

No, James is lucky for one simple reason: He clearly has never been dumped.

In an interview with GQ magazine, James said he didn't think Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert "ever cared about LeBron." The evidence? Gilbert's now-infamous missive, released to the world just hours after James jilted the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, a Comic Sans mini-emo masterpiece in which Gilbert takes James to task for:

Being his "former hero";
Carrying out a "cowardly betrayal";
Being "self-promotional" and "narcissistic";
Taking a "curse" to Miami.

Um, LeBron? Gilbert cared too little? Nuh-uh. More like cared too much. Hello! Gilbert's letter was a classic post-breakup move, the equivalent of bad teenage poetry, seven-stages-of-grief phone messages, wildly making out with the first girl you see right in front of your ex. Heck, the original draft likely was stained with tears and gin, composed to Gloria Gaynor on repeat.

Break it down. Gilbert considered James his hero. He felt personally betrayed when the "self-declared King" bolted. He engaged in classic psychological projection -- the supposedly savvy professional guy who writes a bleeding wound of an open letter after an unsealed business deal calls someone else self-promotional and narcissistic? -- and even invoked a supernatural hex on James' new relationship. LeBron just wasn't that in to Gilbert? Guess what: Gilbert never loved him, anyway!

Seriously, Gilbert promising to win a title before James is no different from swearing to get in shape, earn a bunch of money, land a Playmate girlfriend -- land two Playmate girlfriends -- and make your former significant other rue the day she ever left you. Sniff.

As such, I'm not surprised Gilbert wrote his letter, but I'm stunned James can't see it for what it is. I can only conclude that he can't relate, that he's never been there, that he has no idea what it's like to get his heart broken. That makes James lucky. It also makes him childishly naive -- and maybe, just maybe, the kind of naive that would lead someone to think "The Decision" was a good idea in the first place.

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cafemerald said:

Come on. Give UC some love.

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Haha, sorry. I have relatives that have gone to all of those universities, they just rattled off.

And as for L***** saying the jersey burners weren't "real" L***** fans... bullshit. While JonfromVa was straddling his high horse ready to unleash his foresight upon us peasants, I believed L***** was a good guy. I thought, although he was a frontrunner growing up, that he realized the anguish Clevelanders had. I thought he knew how much it would mean to us to be our savior (and how much it would mean in the eyes of all the "they"s who are tallying the GOAT conversation). And to be from the state, from a city 30 miles away... It's like an epic. He duped me into believing that he had the drive to turn things around. He made me feel pride for my own hometown.

To bring CLE a title would be to go against all the odds and change history like few in sports ever have. He passed up that chance to get easy rings in Miami (at least he thinks they'll be easy). And to do all that in the classless disgrace of a fashion he did burnt his image down, not just here in Ohio, but across the nation. He has entire city's worth of scorned fans waiting for his blood come the NBA season.

That's not the story was supposed to go. He went from hero to villain, doesn't he understand? You can't be a true Cavs fan unless you hate L*****. But I think us REALCAVSFANS were almost all REALLEBRONFANS. He's the one who changed, we just reacted. For him to call out the fans for being two-faced in support of him is beyond reason.

I have to stop ranting because I feel like I'm going in circles at this point. LBJ, you are disappoint.

ButterMPancakes said:

The only thing Shaq had over Dwight in those years was better handles and a higher IQ. Shaq's dominance came from being allowed to lower his shoulder and bulldoze people, Dwight isn't allowed to do that. The whole 'weak centers' argument usually falls short because in today's league you're not allowed to overpower your opponent. If the crop of 5's in the 90's had to go through the same rule changes you see today, you'd see a HUGE dropoff in their production. Not saying Dwight is comparable to guys like Hakeem, David Robinson, or even Shaq later in the 2000s, but plenty others relied heavily on their physical attributes, whereas today plenty have to rely on their skill.

A lot like how perimeter players back in the 90s had to rely heavily on their skills, whereas today most rely on athleticism. It's no wonder there was a 23% increase in perimeter scoring after handchecking and displacement rules were applied, and it's another testament to how great Michael Jordan really was.


Not to mention the much bigger amount of offensive rebounds that were grabbed back then, which are usually converted into much easier baskets.


Am I saying Howard would be like Shaq was back in those days (if those rules were to change back)? No. Am I saying he would dominate this league, the way Shaq dominated that league, today? Absolutely. The fact that Howard also plays for a team that's heavy on scorers also leads me to believe this. Comparing to last season, there was an 8 year span in Shaq's career where he averaged nearly twice as many attempts as Howard did.

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You're really selling Shaq short here. He's always had a good array of moves, drop-steps, spinning into a beautiful right hook, and a few up and unders which I've honestly never seen Dwight Howard execute, like, not even once.

maybe beating a dead horse here, but I just really want to talk about his comment that he and his parasites still hate some people in cleveland. How insanely ridiculous can you get?

What professional athletes would talk about hatred in this way? It reminds me of random times goofing around on facebook (lame, I know) when I see some random note or thought or whatever on somebody's profile--usually someone from high school or college that I've long since forgotten--that just seems so out of place in the mind a full fledged adult. Lebron's statement is just so clique-y, childish, and wholly inappropriate for someone with the kind of money and influence he has. Fucking infantile.

Damn, Lebron... who do you still hate? It's so juicy, the world needs to know! Should Dan Gilbert, or your mailman, or even myself be worried that it might be one of us?! You, sir, are a dork, plain and simple.

I used to be amazed at how mature Lebron seemed for his age as he masterfully handled the spotlight. I thought he was thoughtful and said all the right things, keeping his mouth shut when appropriate. This summer has demonstrated that it really was just a matter of him keeping his mouth shut because he couldn't say what was floating around in that vacuous, moronic mind of his, as he still played for Cleveland and couldn't trust himself not to alienate the city for which he played.

Now that he's free from the shackles of this hellish, god-forsaken, earth's butthole many of us call home, he's free to expose us to the world for what we really are. Call it sour grapes if you must, but I just still can't get over how such a juvenile waterhead was able to hide his true colors for so long, and how his image has so quickly devolved into that of the biggest d-bag in sports today.

InBoobieWeTrust said:

You're really selling Shaq short here. He's always had a good array of moves, drop-steps, spinning into a beautiful right hook, and a few up and unders which I've honestly never seen Dwight Howard execute, like, not even once.

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Yup, people really need to check out some video of Shaq from 2001 or earlier. The guy was an absolute beast. He had all the athleticism of Dwight Howard in a body 3-4 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. He had a much better touch around the rim and far more developed post game than people give him credit for.

Heck, Shaq can hold his own against Dwight when they share the court, even now, even at 38 and slow/fat while Dwight is in his athletic prime.

I hope Dwight Howard bust out some moves this season and destroy the dreams of the 3 clowns down in Miami.