• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

LeBron-Cavs 3.0: The Return of The Return?

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

AllforOne

... and I'm all out of bubblegum.
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
1,846
Reaction score
7,572
Points
113
Yes, it's a crazy idea. Hear me out.

LeBron cannot be happy in L.A. He just can't. The Lakers are 31-40 and on the brink of elimination. The roster is in shambles. The organization is in shambles. Lakers Nation's take on Bron is "you'll never be Kobe." They're not even the most popular NBA team in their own city.

Whispers are that they will completely strike out this summer in their bid for any of the top free agents. The Pelicans aren't going to trade them Unibrow, unless they change their mind about the offer the Lakers made before the trade deadline last month. Barring some lottery luck, the Lakers won't be in a position to get a potential star with their pick.

Best-case scenario, LeBron will spend the next three years as he has spent this one: teaming with inconsistent youngsters like Ingram and Lonzo and veterans with names like Kentavious and JaVale, and making other plans for late April through June.

The Cavs, meanwhile, are looking like a strong supporting cast for a superstar. Since Love returned, they're playing .500 ball. Sexton is a ROY candidate (Non-Luka Division). Osman looks like a player. LNJ and Zizic are solid, if not spectacular, youngish big men. They have some veterans who can play load-bearing roles on a winning team (Knight, Delly, Clarkson, TT). They also have two first-round picks this summer, including a pick near the top.

Let's say it is July. The music has stopped, all of the name free agents have landed elsewhere, and the Lakers are left holding their cocks (sorry, Jeannie; here, hold this banana). Unibrow has been traded to Not The Lakers (maybe Boston, maybe somewhere else; but not purple and gold).

Meanwhile, the Cavs have gotten stronger. They traded Swish just before the end of the NBA salary year in June, and got a first-round pick (and a player with a longer contract) for their trouble. They drafted a useful role player with the Rockets pick. Shit, let's go full retard, and say that Nick Gilbert and his bowtie delivered yet another #1 overall pick to The Land, which they used on Zion.

How far-fetched would it be for LeBron to go to Richie Paul in that situation and tell him, "keep this quiet, but find a way to get me back to the Cavs"?

Understand, I wouldn't be giving the Lakers much in return, if I were the Cavs. I'm already getting them out of a messy marriage, as well as taking on the long-term contract of a 34 year old who had his first significant injury ever this season. Any deal would have to be based on veterans with matching salaries + picks from the Cavs' rebuilt stash.

I also don't pretend to know the state of the relationship between LeBron and the Cavs. I figure that there is a bridge between Bron and Dan Gilbert, but we all know that there is a hell of a lot of water beneath that bridge. Maybe Bron/Savannah/the boys like it too much in L.A. to move back. Maybe the Cavs have moved on. Maybe both.

I just can see a scenario -- however far-fetched -- in which LeBron joins Love/Sexton/Cedi/(Zion/RJ/Ja)/LNJ/etc. And we're back to June basketball.

OK, you've held your tomatoes this long. Let me have them.
 
Next time I want to see that asshole in Cleveland wearing a Cavs jersey is during his honorary 1 day contract thanking him for his time in Cleveland.
We are better than being the abusive girlfriend who keeps taking him back “because he said he loves me”.
Fuck him.

The last 3 seasons for LBJ have been very damaging for his “legacy”.
 
It would take some insane odds for the table to be set enough for him to return.

- Getting Zion and more goodness with the picks.
- Lakers striking out.
- GSW breaking up.

Only then would it happen and we could only bring him back if he would take a diminished role and for the first time in his career be a cog rather than the machine.

So yeah, I'd love it. But part of me also wants to watch him rot in LA and win absolutely nothing while he produces awful reality television shows.
 
giphy.gif
 
Swish is all I would trade for him. But really unless he was actually humbled and decided to fit in instead of fit out, I don't want him back. What for? I guess Cedi could continue to learn from him.
 
That thought makes me feel like I'm going to return the dinner I finished an hour ago.
 
Y'all are making me laugh. Like a holding-my-sides, pissing-my-pants type of laugh.

Dude still averages 27-8-8 and is still one of the best players in the game (not to mention one of the top two or three we'll ever see). Put him on a team with some talent -- which the Cavs do have, and will have more of by July -- and voila! Instant contender. Yet you're acting as though he is one step above a G League scrub.

Set aside the "teenage girl dumped by her boyfriend on prom night" emotion and look at it objectively.

Then again, maybe you're tired of June basketball. If that's true, then carry on.
 
delete
 
Last edited:
I have mixed feeling if I would want him back on this team. I think the Cavs are finally building a good culture. Love is leading by example on how to play and helping to develop the young guys. Once we are able to get rid of Clarkson and hopefully Nance buys in on the team, I think they can finally build a sustainable good culture in the organization.

I do think if we inserted LeBron back in we go back to being a contender. If we got Zion or Barrett, it would be a group that should compete at a high level for the rest of LeBron's career. The question though is if LeBron has learned from this Lakers year and is willing let his stat chasing to take a back seat to keep a sustainable non-toxic culture.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top