NBA Free Agency thoughts
I really enjoyed this year’s free agency period. The best player in my generation, Lebron James has returned to Cleveland. The entire league was at a standstill when he opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat. Not one of the big name players signed until after Lebron made his decision. Everyone was waiting to see where he would end up before making their own decision. I think it’s pretty amazing how the best player in the league can influence the entire free agency landscape.
Thoughts on Lebron:
I really liked James’ decision to go back to Cleveland. The way he left Cleveland four years ago made everyone hate him. Fans burned his jersey, Dan Gilbert wrote a comic sans letter that condemned him and people who looked up to him felt they were betrayed by him. And rightfully so. Lebron James was a hero, a prodigy to the no name Cleveland Cavaliers. They weren’t the best team, they weren’t the worst either. They made the playoffs, but never got to the finals. Lebron did them a favor by leaving them for four years. Within those four years, the Cavaliers managed to somehow luck out and win the draft lottery three out of four times. By leaving his hometown, James also managed to win two championships. Both parties won. But by returning to Cleveland, Lebron secured his legacy by returning to where he was brought up and to ultimately win a championship for the Ohio fans. His infamous “Decision” was probably the worst PR idea to ever hit television. His letter announcing his return to Cleveland was definitely one of the best well written letters I’ve ever read. You can just see how much he’s grown and matured. The way he sees things now… props to you Lebron James for doing the right thing.
The only thing that sucks is Dwayne Wade got screwed. He was originally going to make $20 million this coming year, but now has to take $15 million instead because he opted out of his contract to make the team’s salary more flexible. Scratch that, he’s still a millionaire, who cares. But yeah, since he and James are friends, I would probably be mad that my friend cost me a couple of million bucks. The rest of the Heat players also have to feel the sting of Lebron’s departure, especially those who signed on so that they can play with him.
In other news, the Houston Rockets dump Jeremy Lin to the LA Lakers, let Parsons walk, and traded away a starting center (Omer Asik). General Manager Morey did all of those so that he can land either Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh, both of whom opted to stay in their respective current teams. And rightfully so, because Houston management is by far, the worst at treating their players. If you think about how Lin got screwed over and over while he was with the Rockets, I’d be thrilled if I was Lin—to get a chance to start over in a new team. After losing his starting job to a nobody and losing minutes each night last season, I had to drop him in my fantasy league because he wasn’t doing anything night in and night out. He was mistreated by the coach, who never really gave him a chance and used him as a scapegoat for their loss to Portland in the playoffs. Being in Houston really made him stand back and watch as Harden dominated the ball. As for Asik, it’s the same story. Ever since Howard arrived in Houston, Asik was an afterthought. As for Parsons, he just had the breakout of his career, and he’s only 25. Yet they decided he wasn’t good enough so they let him walk. In summary, Houston’s summer was a huge mistake. They cleared plenty of cap space, only to resign Trevor Ariza and nobody else. Two of my favorite players left Houston, time to stop watching these scrubs.
