DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum What's next for Lebron James?

Ok, so I'm listening to the Today program and they were talking about the Cavs win.. As you would expect, they were very completmentary.

But then the ZINGER. Lebrons contract is up, he can walk again. Rumors (they said they were, but I've not heard them) say that Lebron is heading to LA where the intention is to build a SUPER TEAM and again, take them to the big game. Also rumored is the Knicks or back to the Heat.
(I ain't buying into the Heat because apparently Lebron has issues with Pat Riley)

So what's your thoughts on this....

Media muck-raking. You think Lebron really wants to skip a banner and ring ceremony in Cleveland to open next season? Even if he wanted to go elsewhere, he'd sign another one-year deal and do it after a season ending loss.

I think he finishes his career and retires as a Cav. I just don't think he could/would leave this city again. He knows what he means to it. He saw that when he left the first time.

For the life of me I don't see why he would leave. He has proven he can win a championship in Cleveland, Dan Gilbert has proven he will spend whatever ransom necessary to bring in the players that LeBron wants, he has his max contract and his $1 billion Nike deal, he's making movies, he has other endorsements.

There is nothing they can do to take away the championship but if he left shortly after winning it.. it would not look good on him.

The only way he leaves is to go somewhere where all his friends are going to go, another dream team posed for an instant title run. But really, I just can't see him leaving. He has it all, right here. He belongs... right here.

I also laugh hard when I hear "LA" or "NY". Both have been terribly run franchises the last couple year. But since they are major media markets, the media always pushes the "Lebron to this city" narrative because it sells content.

The man fell to the floor sobbing in joy a few days ago. I don't see him leaving Cleveland any time soon.

Movies

I don't often agree with some of leadtheway's posts, particularly in the Cavs' thread, but I think he made a lot of sense in one of his comments.

LeBron has shown that he can win a title in Cleveland. People will be wanting to come to Cleveland to play with him, not the other way around.


I think the bigger question is what is going to happen to Kevin Love?

ESPN not going with the "LeBron leaving!" narrative now. Saying LeBron will stay to continue to deliver for Cleveland.

yeah I think there's a 100% chance that there's a zero percent chance (see what i did there) that lebron leaves, he's even said that his commitment to NE ohio goes beyond basketball, it's his family and his foundation, his kids playing basketball in the same places he did. I think noone from this team will be traded, i think pieces like Mosgov, RJ, end of bench guys might be replaced due to contracts, or even a guy like shump replaced..but There's no reason to move any of the big 3, which earlier in playoffs i thought could be a possibility as they didn't look like they fit together, but something clicked in the final 3 games, its like they finally realized nothing else matters but winning when you're that close. Lebron understood it, getting Love/Kyrie to was the key. We will have our pick of the litter for mercenaries now.. Kinda funny, bet David West wished he signed here last year huh. Funnier yet, he would have been huge against GS

Retire now. Go out on top. Buy up part of the Cavs. Retire here. Makes more sense than the scheduled muckraking rumors.

Believeland Lives.

You all need to understand, I was just asking what you thought.. Myself, I don't know why he'd leave. For me, he's got the best of all worlds right here in Cleveland.

I hated that Al Roker even brought this up two days after winning a championship here. But he did so I thought I'd ask you folks.

LeBron isn't going anywhere.

I hate to say this, but when in the 90's, Modell threatened to move the Browns if he didn't get a new stadium deal, I laughed and said NEVER..

I do think there is a possibility he does leave AFTER next year. He definitely does not leave the year after the championship. If they don't go back to back though I can definitely see him testing the waters again. His window is closing and he wants as many championships as possible.

Anyway who cares about that talk right now. Lets freakin celebrate the first championship in 52 years for a long time!

Can we at least have the parade before we go into Debbie Downer mode?

LeBron is not leaving.

Who gives a rip what weatherman Al Roker speculates on the Today show.

I'm going to go back to enjoying the moment!

Excellent post. I believe this is right on.

I think I also read that Griffin finally felt it was clicking also. I don't expect to see any changes. Love figured out how to impact the game without scoring. That was a huge lesson for him. He's being praised for his defense on Curry...and rightfully so...but he also had a huge closeout on a corner three late in the fourth ... can't remember who the GS player was ... that totally impacted the shot. It was a pure hustle, "want to" play.

LeBron has taught these guys what it takes. It took two years. Love could not stop gushing about the "team's leader". His embrace with LeBron at the end was pure joy. There's no more animosity. And trust me, LeBron's 31. He doesn't want to go through that again. Let's go defend that title and put a string of championships together.

I think the Big 3 will be even better next year having gone through this. Guys will do whatever it takes to experience this again. And there is no place LeBron is going to go and get to play with a 24 year old like Kyrie Irving.

I think the behind the scenes work LeBron did on this team was as exhausting if not more than the work on the court. He's not going through that again. This team is poised to be great for another 3-5 years.

Yeah, I think lebron is content with whatever happens from here on out, he's built his legacy, he did what he promised, he's home and you can't really quantify what that means. I mean let's face it, he left a really good miami team to come and build something on his own..and he picked cleveland of all places to do it, when many said he'd never come back. I think indirectly this championship now puts more pressure on Indians/Browns to win as well, and at the same time takes away the pressure of being the savior, the team that broke the curse..but let's face it, we don't have a lebron or even a top 5 player on either team..Your move Dolan/Haslam

Is there a bigger idiot, in any media outlet for any sport than Skip Bayless? how this guy remains employed baffles me

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/20/media/skip-bayless-lebron-james/


Not saying lebron is or isn't better, but if you look at statistics. Lebron is much more dominant when it counts the most in playoffs. They had a graphic up during game 7 that showed MJ and Lebron at the same point and lebron had healthy margins over jordan in every single category

If somebody paid me $5million a year, I'd hate on Mother Theresa every day.

Skip Bayless is an idiot, but this is not one of those times. You only need the eye test to know that MJ was the better player. But I'm inclined to put LBJ at number two considering he brought a championship to Cleveland, essentially doing what others thought impossible.

This is not a slight on LeBron at all. He is beyond amazing. A once a generation player. Jordan was a once a century player though.

Breaks my heart with the 30th anniversary of the death of Len Bias being this week. He would have been better than Jordan. He was LeBron before there was a LeBron.

Build a super team HERE!

Michael Jordan
Lebron James
Magic Johnson
Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Larry Bird
Kobe Bryant
Oscar Robertson
Tim Duncan
Shaquille O'neal
Jerry West
Moses Malone
Elgin Baylor
Hakeem Olajuwon

There's my top 15 in order

Because he's the Howard Stern/Rush Limbaugh of sports. He says whatever he needs to say to rile up fan bases, and probably doesn't even believe half the crap he spews.

On the bright-side, ESPN didn't renew his contract because they can't afford talent anymore ... or in Skip's case, no-talent.

Here's what's next: Another title in Cleveland, won on our home court and then all 15 players come out the arena after the pressers and interviews and party with the fans then and there!

Playing TE for the Browns? Or is it too soon to resurrect that weirdo rumor???

i don't know, i think they are 1 and 1a for me, I think by the time lebron's career is over if he wins another ring or two he'd have surpassed jordan..he already statistically is better at this point than jordan by a large margin, the only thing jordan had was scoring titles, which lebron could get if he wanted to. But he's just a more complete player. Looks to get everyone involved more than jordan did.. Jordan in my opinion was really the stone that got the ISO ball movement rolling, he was also probably one of the best iso players ever..lol. Theres much to like about both guys so i don't know if i could pick one, Jordan was a superior individual defender, lebron is better at help defense. Either way, i'm glad i've been able to watch both play

I respect that opinion. I just know for me, growing up with Jordan, it was a surreal experience. You never felt like the guy was going to lose. Great quote by a writer ... can't remember his name ... in one of those Jordan highlight videos ... Above and Beyond maybe ... where he said if you invited someone over who didn't know who Jordan was and you hyped him and took him to go see Jordan play ... he'd live up to the hype. And the more you hyped him the better he got. He just got better and better and better. That's a paraphrase, but that's kind of what it felt like with Jordan. Him losing in the Finals would have been a surprise.

I don't get that same feeling with LeBron. He may fill up the stat sheet better than Jordan, but you never get that feeling that he's going to always pull it out.

The Jordan play I remember the most is probably a play that no one has ever talked about since it happened. Game 7 against Indianapolis, 1998. First time the Bulls had been to a Game 7 in a long time. It was a close game. Indiana was pretty good. It was close all the way down the stretch. Late in the 4th, the Bulls were at the free throw line, Jordan on the second box on one of the sides. The Bulls player missed the free throw and Jordan literally willed his way to the offensive rebound over a bigger, stronger player. He wanted it that bad. He knew it was that important. The guy would not be denied. It ended up being a key play in securing the victory for the Bulls.

He's the ultimate winner, IMO. As Doug Collins said, you'd have to dismember him to beat him.

One thing that LeBron has over Jordan? Coming back from a 3-1 deficit.

I think that could vault him over MJ.

There are a few things that differentiate Jordan and LeBron.. first is that coming into the NBA, Jordan was expected to be very good. LeBron was expected to be somebodies savior.. Jordan had fought doubters all his life, LeBron was "the chosen one" at about age 15.. I believe that is what gives Jordan that "edge" that LeBron doesn't always have, sometimes he does, but not always.

The second thing is the social media hype.. It is so much easier to dissect people's flaws these days, there is so much more information and video's available to break down every single play.. and to parse every word of an interview or a press conference..

The third thing is Phil Jackson.. Jordan had one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time for the majority of his career. LeBron's coaches have fluctuated between mediocre and totally anemic. Jordan also had 3 years with Dean Smith before that where for a year or two, he wasn't even one of the two or three best players on the team... Jordan was used to being coached and he was used to filling a role.. LeBron has NEVER had to do that.

Well, Jordan never let his team get behind like that in the Finals. With that being said, he did have a chance in the Conf Semis. In 87-88, the Bulls lost to the Pistons 4-1, so MJ had a chance to come back from 3-1 and didn't.

As much as I dislike MJ and like Lebron, I couldn't put Lebron over MJ in almost any scenario. Sure, at 31 they both have the same amount of titles, but I don't see Lebron winning 3 or 4 more the rest of his career.

LeBron didn't have a gambling problem that forced a retirement or two, either.

Although they are both even in the crying-face meme department.

I loved watching game 5 when all of the GSW fans had their "Crying LeBron" posters and stuff holding them up.. then every call they didn't get you would hear this loud groan and booing and chanting.. Curry and Kerr both had that sour "we're getting screwed look" (which ended up costing both $25K I think).. the irony was awesome.

I really can't see how he's pass up the chance to defend the title. After that, especially if they lose I could see him teaming up with his buddies on a team that can basically purge the roster in order to fit as many of them as possible. We're not going to be able to do that.

At that point, who cares though? We'll presumably still have Kyrie, Love and Thompson as good, in their prime players, and we've already seen that Gilbert's willing to spend whatever. Lebron leaving for the last 4-5 years of his career and then retiring with a home in Miami and one in Akron is just not that far fetched.

No matter what, his positive impact on Northeast Ohio, goes well beyond the title and should earn him the biggest benefit of the doubt possible.

As for his ranking, let's wait until his career is done. I'd definitely have him as an all time top 15, but if he blows out both knees in a pickup game next week, he may never surpass that...

You nailed it! People saying this takes the pressure off the Indians and especially the Browns...No way! This championship raises the bar and puts way more pressure on them. People are definitely getting really tired of the god awful pitiful 4-5 win Browns. I know I am.

Are you sure?

According to ESPN rankings, that puts him right behind Jerry West and Julius Irving but ahead of Karl Malone.

LeBron James says he isn't leaving Cleveland and will re-sign with Cavs