You know you’re burned out on NBA news and rumors when you decide to write 10 haiku to summarize the NBA Summer of 2010. Off we go (in the English 5-7-5 syllable format)…
Atlanta spends big
to keep twenty-eight year-old
Here comes the remorse
Wade, Bosh, then LeBron
Super Friends in Miami
Much to Dan’s chagrin
No doubt cathartic
Dan Gilbert’s manifesto
only hurts the Cavs
Pat Riley, the pimp
But they have to play the games
There’s still work to do
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop writes that there is a ‘non-trivial benefit’ to Dan Gilbert’s LeBron manifesto.
That letter, though … while it did a lot of bad things for Gilbert, it completely inoculated him from anyone ever saying that he traded away LeBron James. He cemented his place as the betrayed, which gave him carte blanche to take part in a sign-and-trade, because everyone knows without a shred of doubt that Gilbert didn’t ship James would leave town. That this was Gilbert’s idea is officially crazy talk, now.
Abbott is a sharp guy, and I usually agree with what he has to say, but I don’t think there is any chance that — without this manifesto — Dan Gilbert would be blamed for trading LeBron away. Almost 10 million people tuned into LeBachelor and everyone knows that it was LeBron’s choice and his alone. Had Gilbert stayed quiet and worked out a trade that netted his team a couple of first round draft picks (like they eventually did), no one would have ever said that he traded LeBron James away. And he might be able to sign a big-name free agent someday. I’m not so sure that’s the case now.
Gilbert’s letter did far more harm than good.
The Heat’s two newest superstars signed matching six-year, $110.1 million contracts, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher. Dwyane Wade took an even bigger discount to stay in Miami, signing for six years and $107.5 million, according to the sources.
Sources told ESPN.com’s Chad Ford that James and Bosh are scheduled to make $14.5 million and Wade $14 million in 2010-11.
Each player took $15 million less over the life of the contract to sign with Miami, but the deals came with a caveat.
All three contracts, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, have an early termination option after the fourth season that would allow LeBron, Bosh and Wade to return to free agency in the summer of 2014. Each player also possesses a player option entering the final season of the contract (2015-16).
Bosh and James’ deals were completed through sign-and-trades, making all three eligible for 10.5 percent raises each year.
The Heat sent two future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers for James, while packaging two first-round picks to the Raptors for Bosh.
Sources told ESPN that Toronto reacquired its first-round selection in 2011, which Miami had from a 2009 trade that sent Shawn Marion to the Raptors, and added the Heat’s own first rounder in 2011.
Miami then sent its first-round picks in 2013 and 2015 to the Cavaliers and Cleveland has the option to swap first-round picks in 2012, according to a league source.
Both the Raptors and the Cavs will receive trade exceptions valued at $14.5 million, sources told ESPN.com.
So Toronto and Cleveland (!!!) cooperated after all, participating in sign-and-trades to enable Bosh and LeBron to get extra money on their deals. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but both teams will get two late first round picks and a giant trade exception that they can use over the next year.
What’s a trade exception, you ask? It allows a team that’s over the cap to trade for a player without having to trade a player with matching salaries (within 125%). So, for example, if the Raptors are over the cap, and they want to trade for Luol Deng, who gets paid $12 million per season, they can use this $14.5 million trade exception to acquire him without sending any players to Chicago. When two teams that are over the cap make a trade, it generally needs to be even salary-wise. The trade exception is a workaround.
Ken Berger, CBSSports.com: If James had gone to New York, it would’ve been understandable. (Still no excuse for the pompous way this was done, but understandable.) He would’ve been embracing the challenge of winning in a hard place to win, of doing it bigger than almost any star of the league had ever done. But James didn’t choose that. He did what he’s always done, only on a grander scale this time: He insulated himself, crawled without a whimper into a protective cocoon spun by Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley in Miami. If James had chosen the Bulls, it would’ve been understandable, too. The chance to play in the city that Jordan owned? Too much for James to contemplate. He looked forward to this free-agent charade as a crowning achievement, forgetting about what has always made champions in this sport: Beating the best. James, if nothing else on this pathetic night for the NBA, proved that he isn’t up to that task and doesn’t even want to try. He doesn’t want to beat the best; he wants the best to get him his rings already so his accomplishments can catch up to his hubris — so he can cash in on this make-believe legend in what has been a make-believe career. James’ reputation went from questionable to counterfeit Thursday night, with an assist from the adoring network that pays billions to broadcast a sport that James, ironically, has now done far more damage than good.
Neil Payne, Basketball-Reference: Like a commenter said yesterday, the Michael Jordan era was so transformative that we may very well have have convinced ourselves that the MJ-Pippen formula (and the Alpha-Beta designations contained therein) is the only way to view the game. Heck, Bill Simmons even wrote a 700-page book that revises the entirety of NBA history to match that ultramasculine theory of basketball. Yet in those same pages Simmons also extolled the virtues of “The Secret”, which is allegedly about sacrificing numbers, money, and individual glory for team success… Well, isn’t what LeBron did last night the living embodiment of The Secret, leaving millions on the table and turning himself into a hometown villain, all for the sake of winning?
Bill Livingston, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: Defecting players usually say sports are a business. But while James’ decision certainly crushes businesses around The Q, for Cleveland, this was personal. How could it possibly be business when the Cavaliers could pay $30 million more over a long-term contract than any of his suitors? James is the local legend who severed his ties with the area and now becomes as reviled as any sports figure other than Art Modell. He is the great player who left unfinished business after quitting on his team on the court and left unanswered questions by quitting on his city off it.
John Krolik, CavsTheBlog: Cleveland owned the Browns long before Art Modell bought them, took them, and moved them. Likewise, Cleveland owned the Cavaliers long before LeBron James joined the team. Cleveland will own the Cavaliers long after LeBron James leaves. Cleveland does not own LeBron James. LeBron James was born in Akron. He was drafted by his hometown Cavaliers, who signed him to a contract. He played at a high enough level to make his contract a relative bargain. He then signed an extension with the Cavaliers. Again, he played at a high enough level to more than justify the money he was given by the Cavaliers. LeBron does not owe the Cavaliers any more than he has given them. LeBron has never needed to pay off some cosmic debt to Cleveland. He’s done all he can to bring a title to the city, but it was never about anybody forcing LeBron to win a title for the Cavaliers. He tried to win Cleveland a title because he wanted to. Cavs fans just got to watch.
It’s a spoof of Dan Gilbert’s letter. Pretty funny.
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