Le Basketbawl

I have always marched to the beat of a different drummer since I was a little boy. I have never had any hesitation questioning authority. When I was much younger I did it in an abrasive in your face manner, which I quickly learned was not the route to go. You get labeled as a malcontent, and a troublemaker. While I thought I was fighting for truth, justice, and the American Way, authority figures just perceived me as an unnecessary headache. I still question authority today, but I have learned the art of being tactful and diplomatic.

Even though I have learned to be far less strident, I still don’t take things at face value. I have to be convinced before I believe something, even if it is being presented by so called “experts.” If it quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it usually is a duck. However the key word is usually, it’s not always a duck!

Since the end of the 2008 NBA Finals, I have felt like a voice in the wilderness bucking conventional wisdom. As soon as the Boston Celtics held the NBA Championship trophy in their hands, the speculation started in the media. Every time a franchise made a move in the off-season, according to many members of the media, it was with one thing in mind. How that NBA team could best position themselves to acquire Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star forward LeBron James.

As the Summer wore on the speculation increased. From the studios of ESPN to some guy writing a blog in his parent’s basement in Elko, Nevada it seemed like anyone who had any interest in the NBA was consumed by where LBJ would end up. Earlier this month the Detroit Pistons were the latest name put into the mix after they traded Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to Denver in return for Allen Iverson. Iverson is in the last year of a deal worth about $21 million, so they will have salary cap flexibility, if they choose not to retain him.

The two most prominent names that keep coming up are the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.  The Nets will be relocating to Brooklyn, supposedly sometime before LeBron’s career would end. (We really are moving, it’s just another in a series of temporary setbacks) New York of course is the media capital of the planet, and the Association according to the “experts“ want LBJ to play there.

I could not disagree more with the so called “experts“ because their logic is totally flawed. The New York Knicks last won an NBA Championship in 1973, long before most of today’s fans were on the planet. The New Jersey Nets have never won an NBA Championship. Yet the Association seems to be fine, getting the highest TV ratings in years last June for the NBA Finals.

As much as media members from New York or Bristol, Connecticut would proclaim NYC to be the Mecca for the NBA, it just is not true! Most NBA fans care very little about the Knicks and the Nets outside of their fan base. They are not the Yankees of basketball, they are not “America’s Teams.” The two franchises in the Association that could make that claim were in the Finals last June, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

It best serves the purposes of the NBA if LeBron James re-signs with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s just that simple. Why, you ask? Because before the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Lottery and drafted LeBron James, they were a moribund and dying franchise. In a three sport town, they were number four. Before LeBron James started playing for the Cavaliers most residents of Northeast Ohio thought that the then named Gund Arena was a storage facility for the Cleveland Indians who played at Jacobs Field next door.

The Cavaliers have become a viable franchise since LBJ started his NBA career. They played in their first NBA Finals in 2007, and are a legitimate contender to return this June. With the addition of guard Mo Williams, and the retention of guard Delonte West they are among the elite teams in the NBA Eastern Conference. They are one of the biggest drawing teams on the road in the Association, and have become a team that consistently puts fannies in the seats at Cleveland’s Q Arena.

That would all vanish in a heartbeat if LBJ were to leave Cleveland, the Cavaliers know it as does the NBA front office. You might as well tear down the Arena, and put salt on the earth so nothing can ever grow their again. The Cavaliers would be the team to move to Seattle, and the NBA would be dead for ever more in the city of Cleveland.

Why would anybody think that turning a thriving team into a grave yard would possibly be in the Association’s best interest? As I wrote earlier, the logic is flawed. Best case scenario for all involved is for LeBron James to keep on playing in Cleveland. The New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets would love to acquire him, but they will draw regardless. If the NBA wants Cleveland to remain a viable market then they need LeBron James to re-sign with the team from Northeast Ohio.