Stop The Media Circus!
By: L.R. Andress- CavsTalk Writer
4/18/2005 10:24:15 PM
Bad news: LeBron James isn’t happy losing. Good news: That is a sign of a true competitor. However, national media outlets have been turning LeBron’s frustration at the Cavaliers present circumstances to mean much more than one would rationally believe.
It is true, as we sit here right now, the Cavaliers would be out of the playoffs and no longer control their own destiny. The New Jersey Nets have the same record as the Cavaliers, and have won the tiebreak, meaning that Cleveland must beat them outright in record to make the playoffs. The Cavaliers have two games to go, the Nets have two games to go. For the Cavaliers to make the playoffs, three of the four games of these two teams must go their way. For the Nets, if they win out, they are in the playoffs as the eighth seed.
That is quite a fall for a team that spent a large part of the first half of the season that sat in the second seed in the Eastern Conference. However, after peaking at 30-20, the Cavaliers have gone 10-20, leaving themselves at the .500 mark and clawing for playoff life.
LeBron James is undoubtedly frustrated. Dan Gilbert is undoubtedly frustrated. Cavaliers fans world-wide are undoubtedly frustrated. However, of those only one is a national story.
The larger media markets, namely Los Angeles and New York City, have been running stories about what LeBron may or may not do at some point in the future. These stories have been run, in large part, to pull people away from the lousy seasons that teams in these markets are having and giving fans in those towns a ray of hope.
The funny thing is that these stories are running with sources “close to LeBron James” or “close to the situation”, citing that LeBron James could demand a trade this off-season. Allow me to tell you, LeBron James will not be dealt this off-season.
The fact is that the Cavaliers are in complete control of the situation. There are no outs on the contract that was signed by LeBron James. The deal was a three-year contract with a team option for a fourth season. Next year will be LeBron’s third season in the league, and as the Cavaliers have already picked up the team option year, he will have at least one more year with the Cavaliers after that.
The advantages that the Cavaliers have in the situation don’t end there. At the end of that contract, the 2007 season will have just finished and LeBron James will be a restricted free agent. That means that the Cavaliers will hold rights to match any offer that he receives from any team, not to mention the fact that the Cavaliers can pay more than any other team in the NBA.
But, lets play the national media’s little game and say that LeBron James wants out of Cleveland. In that case, he must then re-sign with the Cavaliers on a one-year tender for the 2008 season. At the end of that year, he would become an unrestricted free agent. Even then, however, the Cavaliers could pay him more than any other franchise in the NBA. For him to leave at “market value” there would have to be a sign-and-trade (a phrase fans will apparently come to know this off-season with the Zydrunas Ilgauskas situation if appearances hold up). Only then could LeBron James truly receive a max deal without playing in Cleveland.
The national media will retort that he could demand a trade. Theoretically, yes he could. However, the chances of that trade demand being met are exceptionally slim. The Cavaliers realize, as does the NBA, the talent that LeBron James has and will not part with him unless there is no choice. In fact, when I posed the question of would the Cavaliers hold his contract even if he did hold out, a source within the Cavaliers organization simply reassured me that LeBron James would not leave the organization if the Cavaliers had anything to do with it.
The funny thing about all this is that it is a non-story. LeBron James, his agent, Aaron Goodwin, and Cavaliers owner Daniel Gilbert have all made public statements that they are intending to honor the contract to the fullest and bring a championship to the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland.
However, that is not enough for the national media. Apparently, hearing it from the source, the agent, and the owner is not enough anymore, and can easily be outweighed by “sources” of which have not pronounced themselves to the Cleveland media and Cavalier-related outlets. These “sources” largely stem from a Peter Vecsey article in the New York Post over a week ago, and a Spike Lee comment after the Cavaliers/Knicks game. Now, while Peter Vecsey may or may not have sources, for some reason the quote that gets the most play is the Spike Lee one. Lee, who has the complete contact of LeBron James of directing a commercial featuring him for TNT, and being a New York Knicks fan.
The thing is that Cleveland sports fans have a fragile enough psyche of their own right now. In the past few years we have lost three players who were icons in the town in Carlos Boozer, Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel. All of this media hype is only feeding into that, combined with the disappointment of the second half of this season.
Allow me to summarize… LeBron James is going nowhere. He is a Cavalier, his people have only said that they are planning on bringing a championship to Cleveland, and have yet to come to the local media with any displeasure. LeBron is undoubtedly frustrated, as I believe many Cavalier fans to be as well. However, if this situation were to come to the worst situation, the Cavaliers organization holds all the cards.
If you wish to contact the author of this article, you may do so at
andress@cavstalk.com
