#6's Return?

[gratefuldead]

Lets not forget about mike brown.. That was a huge fucking mistake Gilbert made.. U dont get a rookie coach to coach those teams. Mike brown was fucking lost especially against Orlando and svg.

We needed a veteran champion coach who Lebron would have respected. Mike brown couldn't tell Lebron anything.

Spoelstra worked only because Reilly is there pulling his strings.

So no one telling Lebron how to play was partially our fault for allowing potato head to captain those teams

 

[gratefuldead]

By the way the Lebron safari and this thread should b combined ... We are talking about the exact same things in both

 

[atlbraves]

Cleveland, never was, is not, and never will be his home. He has made that ABUNDANTLY clear.

I don't really have an interest in where he considers "home". But, I do think he emphasized the distinction of being from Akron, not Cleveland, because he wanted to stake a claim in the area that he grew up in. Couldn't really do it in Cleveland, because an opposing basketball franchise plays there.

I don't think there is a divide between the two cities in his mind, just like nobody else feels there is a divide.

 

[col63onel]

I don't really have an interest in where he considers "home". But, I do think he emphasized the distinction of being from Akron, not Cleveland, because he wanted to stake a claim in the area that he grew up in. Couldn't really do it in Cleveland, because an opposing basketball franchise plays there.

I don't think there is a divide between the two cities in his mind, just like nobody else feels there is a divide.

Very few people do. But he has made it more than obvious that he does.

I don't really care either, except people want to create this "coming home" narrative.

 

[MDLT]

I don't really have an interest in where he considers "home". But, I do think he emphasized the distinction of being from Akron, not Cleveland, because he wanted to stake a claim in the area that he grew up in. Couldn't really do it in Cleveland, because an opposing basketball franchise plays there.

I don't think there is a divide between the two cities in his mind, just like nobody else feels there is a divide.

Growing and living in Akron, I'm fairly confident he made a distinction between the two because he thought it would help avoid the PR disaster of leaving Cleveland. He always knew that time may come, so he started early with the nonsensical division.

When it comes to sports teams, Cleveland teams are Akron's teams, and there really is no debate about it. James made the distinction to serve his own cause, even though everyone knew before, during, and after the Decision that no distinction exists.

 

[Ohio]

By the way the Lebron safari and this thread should b combined ... We are talking about the exact same things in both

agreed.

 

[shoes22]

Yeah, enough with the "Akron is different from Cleveland" nonsense. For nearly half of the team's existence, the Cavs played most of their home games in Richfield, a town that is closer to Akron than Cleveland. (Fun fact: In the early '80s, Stepien even wanted to rename the team the "Ohio Cavaliers" in an attempt to get more Cinci basketball fans.) Anyone who knows anything about the area knows that Akron and Cleveland are virtually one and the same. The only reason why LeBron can't mention Cleveland as being part of his home is because it stirs up the whole Decision controversy and everything with him leaving.

 

[randymoss1881]

Yeah, enough with the "Akron is different from Cleveland" nonsense. For nearly half of the team's existence, the Cavs played most of their home games in Richfield, a town that is closer to Akron than Cleveland. (Fun fact: In the early '80s, Stepien even wanted to rename the team the "Ohio Cavaliers" in an attempt to get more Cinci basketball fans.) Anyone who knows anything about the area knows that Akron and Cleveland are virtually one and the same. The only reason why LeBron can't mention Cleveland as being part of his home is because it stirs up the whole Decision controversy and everything with him leaving.

Lebrons has been saying hes from akron not cleveland years before the decision

 

[Jon]

Only part of this that is true is the bolded part.

Sorry, Max. I'm going with what was reported. If you're going to contradict that then you need to explain why the Cavs didn't make an offer to Z earlier in the process and why the reports that James urged Ferry to bring back Z were wrong.

 

[shoes22]

Lebrons has been saying hes from akron not cleveland years before the decision

When did LeBron ever explicitly say "I'm not from Cleveland" any time prior to the decision? He rep'd Akron hard his entire life, but as a smaller city that barely gets national recognition, that's a different thing altogether.

 

[Rich]

The most awaited moment ever in sports free-agency 2+ years in the making, and you didn't think it was going to be a live event?

You've got to be kidding.
Did you expect him to post the answer on his web page? Maybe text message Brian Windhorst?

It was going to be a huge event. His spin on it was selling it to ESPN and controlling the content.

Cleveland would have been just fine with the program if James had actually picked Cleveland ... but oh noooes ... it went against us. The Horror.

NBA free agency has been around how long? How many of the hundreds of times prior was a decision made like this? What's that? Zero?

Yea, no idea how I could have expected LeBron to make his decision in any other way. I mean, IT ISNT LIKE EVERY OTHER FREE AGENT IN NBA HISTORY HAS DONE SO.

 

[pr26]

Sorry, Max. I'm going with what was reported. If you're going to contradict that then you need to explain why the Cavs didn't make an offer to Z earlier in the process and why the reports that James urged Ferry to bring back Z were wrong.

Trusting beat reporters over Max?

 

[Jon]

Trusting beat reporters over Max?

Brian Windhorst is untrustworthy now?

http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories/flowers-at-airport-seal-deal-1.78081

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Brian Windhorst is untrustworthy now?

http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories/flowers-at-airport-seal-deal-1.78081

I don't think Windy's article quite backs up the initial statement, which was:

The Cavs showed very little interest in re-signing Z way back on his previous contract ~2005 until at the last moment Brown & Gilbert intercepted him at the Airport on his way out of the country for a vacation - reportedly after Ferry was told by James that he wanted him back.

The article doesn't say "very little interest". In fact, it mentions that both Ferry and MB wanted Z back, and were interested in him because they knew there weren't any better options. The concern was that Z perceived -- rightly or wrongly -- that Gilbert wasn't as thrilled, and therefore might sign with another team if some other team swooped in and moved fast. So, the Cavs went from "yes, we're very interested in Z and will get to it" to "holy shit, we'd better hop on this fast". The implication of your statement that I think Max was rejecting was that the only reason the Cavs wanted to resign Z was because of LBJ, when the truth is they wanted to resign him on his own merits as well.

I'm sure there are plenty of folks other than me who can verify the very good relationship between Z and Ferry at that time. It was rumors surrounding Gilbert that were the problem, and I'll just say that I know that for certain.

 

[shoes22]

When's Ilgauskas getting his jersey retired? Surprised there's no news on that front.