{"id":104321,"date":"2018-07-02T07:12:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=104321"},"modified":"2018-07-02T07:18:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:18:29","slug":"random-thoughts-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/07\/02\/random-thoughts-lebron-james\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: LeBron James"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s official \u2013 LeBron James is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

The announcement was made via a simple press release on Sunday. No fanfare, just a few sentences that said LeBron had agreed to a four year, $154 million dollar contract with the Lakers, which has led to some random thoughts.<\/p>\n

Not a surprise<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
LeBron James is joining the Lakers<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you stop and think about it, the signs were there all along that he wasn\u2019t going to re-sign with the Cavs.<\/p>\n

For weeks, Las Vegas sportsbooks had pegged the Lakers as the favorite to land LeBron, and they don\u2019t build those shiny mammoth casinos and hotels by being wrong. So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the fact that LeBron didn\u2019t commit to re-signing when asked about it during the season. Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 he was committed to the 2017-2018 Cavs, as evidenced by his play throughout the regular season and the playoffs. But if he truly was going to stay in Cleveland, don\u2019t you think he would have just said yes when asked?<\/p>\n

Plus, he already has a Los Angeles area home, a production company there and an interest in movies. The point is, there were plenty of signs he was ready to move again.<\/p>\n

Now, if Cleveland had somehow won the NBA title, there\u2019s a chance he would have stayed.<\/p>\n

A dream<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It was widely reported that LeBron\u2019s childhood dream was to play for the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Assuming that\u2019s the case, how can anyone be upset with him over that? Look at it this way \u2013 if you had the opportunity, the means and a way to fulfill a lifelong dream, wouldn\u2019t you do it?<\/p>\n

As a Cavs fan, I would have liked to see him stay in Cleveland, but I\u2019m not angry that he\u2019s gone. A little disappointed, but not angry because after all, he delivered a championship to a city and fan base that was\u00a0 starving for one.<\/p>\n

Something else that LeBron did that people don\u2019t often discuss \u2013 he made a huge economic impact on Cleveland.<\/p>\n

How much time left?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You can easily argue that last season was LeBron\u2019s finest. He didn\u2019t miss a single game during the regular season or playoffs, and he literally carried the Cavs to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Naysayers point out that he didn\u2019t deliver another championship, but that\u2019s mainly because there\u2019s a difference between the best player right now and the best team right now. But that\u2019s a discussion for a different time.<\/p>\n

The question is, how much longer can LeBron play at the high level we\u2019ve become accustomed to seeing? He\u2019s played 15 NBA seasons, a large number of playoff games, plus three different Olympics. He\u2019ll turn 34 at the end of this year, which isn\u2019t old for you and me, but is in basketball terms.\u00a0In other words, there\u2019s a lot of wear and tear on his body. You can tell he\u2019s in magnificent shape but at some point, he\u2019ll slow down.<\/p>\n

My only hope is he don\u2019t hang on too long and become of shell of what he was, i.e. Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n

A good fit?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Is LeBron a good fit in L.A.? I don\u2019t know. There was much speculation that he, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard would join forces in L.A. in hopes of dethroning the Golden State Warriors. But George stayed in Oklahoma City, and I have a hard time seeing the Spurs trading Leonard to another Western Conference team. There\u2019s still time for things to happen, but even with LeBron, the Lakers don\u2019t look like a team ready to challenge Golden State.<\/p>\n

Will LeBron have the same personnel pull with Magic Johnson that he did with Cleveland\u2019s front office? That\u2019s a good question.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the whole LeVar Ball situation. Lonzo\u2019s Ball\u2019s father can best be described as brash and\/or over the top. He\u2019s said some pretty outlandish things, and he rubbed LeBron the wrong way a time or two last season. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.<\/p>\n

LeBron vs. Gilbert<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been rumored for a while that LeBron and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert aren\u2019t exactly best friends. Who knows if that\u2019s actually true, but it wouldn\u2019t be a big shock. I\u2019m guessing there was still some bad blood from when LeBron left the first time.<\/p>\n

Regardless, they learned to co-exist over the last four years. LeBron had a large say in things and Gilbert shelled out big bucks for players LeBron wanted. Some of those players panned out, some didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Is Gilbert relieved that he doesn\u2019t have to cater to LeBron now? Probably. But he also knows that the Cavs likely won\u2019t play to sellout crowds anymore.<\/p>\n

What now for the Cavs?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll state the obvious and say they won\u2019t be nearly as good. Things will get worse if they trade Kevin Love. I\u2019ve never understood the calls to trade him. Why would you get rid of your second best player? The argument that his numbers were down from his time in Minnesota is downright silly. He put up bigger numbers with the Timberwolves because he had to. He was the best player on a bad team. His role was different in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

The Cavs have said they want to keep Love, but we\u2019ll see. If they do trade him, you can expect to see a few others go in a fire sale, and things won\u2019t be pretty for a while. It could be a complete teardown and rebuild, which will take some time.<\/p>\n

There is some talent on the team, but unless there\u2019s a secret weapon we don\u2019t know about, I\u2019m guessing we\u2019ll see 35-40 wins next season, at best.<\/p>\n

Thank you and good luck<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Again, I wish LeBron stayed in Cleveland, but he\u2019s made his decision. I\u2019ll end things by saying thank you for what you the championship and the excitement you provided to Cleveland fans, and good luck in L.A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor It\u2019s official \u2013 LeBron James is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. The announcement was made via a simple press release on Sunday. No fanfare, just a few sentences that said LeBron had agreed to a four year, $154 million dollar contract with the Lakers, which has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 00:43:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}