DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum LeBron "Rise"

i'm over it, but i find it funny he puts this out after telling fans to get over it

see, this is what I mean about LBJ,, Man the kid doesn't get it..

At least for me, it's not that he left... he was free to do so.. it's HOW he did it.. He ripped the heart out of the city that cradled him...

He didn't owe us anything except the respect we gave him...

Damn, whoever wrote that commercial didn't do Nike or Lebron any favors.

What should you do?

Stop being an a hole, that's what you should do.

That was just stupid.

I watched that earlier. Commercials, articles, pundits...never seen so much of a push to drum up support for an athlete who is 100% responsible for his own problems.

Had to laugh when LBJ asked if he should stop listening to his friends. You just know that his friends were pushing him to go to Miami. How cool would it be to be one of LeBron's friends? You'd get to move down to South Beach and mooch off LeBron for the rest of your life.

It probably won't happen, but I hope he fails miserably this year.

I liked the "just disappear" option.

Like every other adult you should own up to your choices and no 'cute' commercial will change it. I think Witness needs to be changed to Victim now.

Who is this "lebrown" guy? Why is this a commercial? Does he play sports or something? Who is this guy?

putting all the decision stuff, and the hate stuff, and the all around cleveland stuff aside, what should you do? stop talking about it, and go out and do it.

windy was on wknr the day after it was announced he was going to espn.com, and he said lebron choked in the playoffs, that he just becomes a different person once the playoffs come, maybe it wasn't always like that in the playoffs for him, his first 2 playoff runs were phenomenal, even the third was great (his numbers against orlando were disgusting, but he was not perfect)

i don't care about him leaving, it's over and done with. but as a basketball fan, the guy needs to stop talking about being great, and be great. i still don't think they win a championship this year, and if he doesn't the media is really going to crush him.

i just think what's going on in miami has potential to be great, but i believe there is a high risk too. there is a ton of ego on that team, a coach who knows he's doomed.

i'm not betting on it, but can't you guys see this team off to a bad or even so-so start and pat riley coming down to take spolestra's job?

i think if boston is healthy they still can expose some flaws. i think the lakers are clearly better. and if orlando gets to the playoffs shooting hot, they could be a force.

i think the a-rod comparisons are not only fair, but are spot on. a-rod was mr regular season, mr stats, but when the playoffs come? different guy, but early on he was a force. didn't play much in '95 versus nyy or cle, but in 2000, was killing it for seattle. goes to new york and sucks. and even with a ring people still view him as a choker who went and got his ring playing alongside great players.

on paper miami looks great, but even the best teams get tested in the playoffs, people think it will be easy for them, but if you look at the jordan bulls teams, who are regarded as some of the best of all time, they still had it stacked against them, they still needed clutch plays in clutch moments.

he may never shake that tag. the only way currently i can see it is if wade goes down and its on him. and with the way wade gets hurt, that is very well possible. it may be lebron, bosh and a bunch of so/so guys. very similiar to cleveland.

i believe there will come a point where lebron won't admit it, but will think to himself it wasn't all that bad in cleveland. only don't tell that to bspn. lebron played for the worst team in his eyes. it was all him. the finals appearance. the back to back 60+ win seasons.

I didn't realize how bad his rep was damaged until I saw this. This is an all out plea to not resent him for being, well, him.


It's so weird that this ad starts out with "the decision" - I mean, the decison was only a couple months ago, and here he is recreating the scene as part of a plea asking for forgiveness. I mean, it looks like this kid is starting to understand how bad he screwed up.

The damage to his rep is evidenced by the tone of this ad compared to his old Nike ads. - Remember the "Lebrons" - A happy, upbeat add that portrayed him as an energetic, yet smooth young man. Then we had the puppets with him and Kobe. - Again, an upbeat add that was fun. - Think about the marketing he could be getting now had he decided to stay.

And now? No longer is he presented as an energetic, fun guy. Now he's controversial, and apolÔgetic.

I also like the part where he claims "I am not a role model" and makes reference to Charles Barkley. - Uhh Lebron, Charles Barkley didn't pair up with two other superstars at the peak of his career. - He went to Phoenix and almost led them to a title with guys like KJ and Dan Majerle. To touch on this Lebron, you used to be in the same conversation as Jordan, Bird, and Magic, and now you're making appeals to guys like Charles Barkley? HA!

What should you do? Show some damn respect for the city that drafted you....

I think that this Miami team is going to be a lot like the last two Cavs teams. They're going to dominate teams all season long during the regular season, and get bounced early in the playoffs. Night in and night out they're going to get 70 or so points from the combination of James, Wade and Bosh. That's pretty much a given. LeBron is gonna score a ton of points, but so what? He scored a ton of points in Cleveland, but dominated the ball and it was ultimately the downfall of the team two seasons in a row. This Heat team just does not have the bigs to come out of a seven-game series against Boston or Orlando, and that is something they must have to advance in the playoffs. That, and they have no youth. That rookie reserve center aside, Bosh, Chalmers and James are the youngest guys on the team. A third of their team is 32 or older. I honestly smell Cavs v2.0 for LeBron in Miami, with two GIANT differences: the amount of media scrutiny he will receive, and the much lesser amount of sheltering he'll have from that scrutiny.

I think Lebron should just play the game and let his game speak for him.. period.

Who is this Lebron? He seems rather full of himself, whoever he is.

He should quit being a punk.

Why is everyone upset at a man that he did whats best for him and his family? The dude wants to win championships and in this business, large market teams win championships.

Sorry sports fans, to the owners and the commisioners, its all about business not whats best for the fans. Thats why refs dont have to speak to the media for their missed calls. They are too tied in to Vegas. Its all about business=money. So we shouldnt get mad if a hometown athlete thats done so much for this area already, wants to win a championship and Wade didnt want to come to Cleveland.

Look at the last 15 years in the NBA and who brought in ratings. The top 5 NBA markets won all the championships. The Cavs made it there and had the lowest ratings and never made it back. So what if Lebron didnt want to be what Barry Sanders was to Detroit. Barry figured it out and jumped ship early in his career because he realized the same thing. I'll never be mad at a player for helping himself out. Its almost a sin to do so = ENVY

It was the stringing out thing. It would have been much better to first tell the Cavs of his decision then just hold a normal press conference rather than have everybody sit on pins and needles, and jerk us by the chain.

Quote:

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It was the stringing out thing.

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Even that was a calculated business move ( doesn't look so good in hindsight ) and although we didn't like the outcome it was just business . I ain't mad at the kid because after all it wasn't personal ..just business.

No one could have put it better, excl.

I'd like to add that after the debacle he chose to put a full ad in the Akron Beacon Journal thanking Akron for all the memories and support but the only thing he said about Cleveland was he grew up hating people in Cleveland, there is still people in Cleveland he doesn't like and resented Clevelanders growing up because "They acted like they were the Big City, and Akron wasn't." (not exact quote but was the gist)

j/c

Here's what I think happened....

Setting: Nike meeting room. Execs with IPads surround a large board room table. There are pictures on the walls of 2009 Employee of The Year, 11 year old, Wu Chin.

Exec 1: "Ah, sir. LeBron shoe sales are in the toilet. Only Miami and Akron markets are above normal."

Exec 2: "Get LeBrons people on the phone...(30 seconds pass by) "Hello? Yeah, we aren't selling shoes! The human shield of children from the Boys and Girls clubs didn't work. I don't know how you guys could think that exploitation of children would work. Its an awful thing to do to kids! "

Meanwhile a maintenance worker slips in the room and replaces Wu Chin's picture with 2010 Employee of The Year winner, 10 year old, Su Ngyen.

Voice on Phone: "What? We aren't going to make our hundreds and millions of dollars?"

Exec 3: "Our marketing people think LeBron needs to do a commercial or we aren't going to sell shoes and nobody will make hundreds of millions of dollars."

LeBron on Phone: "Where do you want me and when?

yeah, the league is set up for all teams to be able to compete, unlike another major sports league.

teams have the best chance to keep their own guys, the bird rights, we have all been over and through this.

but that goes out the window if the superstars start dictating where they want to go, cp3, melo, etc... then it may become a big market dominated league. and that isn't stern or the nba's fault.

although they could counter by allowing the old school rules to return, handchecking, hard fouls, and getting rid of the flagrant 1 call.

in my own opinion and is tough as it is for me to say, i don't think cleveland is really fit for the nba. these stars don't wanna come to cleveland, they want big markets and/or nice weather, they want the night life, and cleveland can't really offer it like some towns can.

and i think part of that played into lebron's decision, maybe that's why he said i never wnated to leave. maybe he felt like he had to go elsewhere to play with other star players. but again you can argue that he never helped by always being noncommital to the cavs.

cleveland would be so much better off with the nhl. you wouldn't have to put up with any of this stuff. the nhl doesn't have this problem. they have problems but it's not the players and their giant egos.

i'm also gonna hijack this a little bit and talk about 2k11 basketball.

it's an amazing game. you how i know this? you don't realize how realistic it is until you do the my player.

i'm a 6'6" guard, drafted by orlando.

and it's so realistic. dwight howard's post up game is horrible, vince carter is a chucker who never passes, and rashard lewis is only good for 3 pointers from the corner. it's amazing. it really is. i hate all of my teammates. i want the hell out of there. we didn't even make the playoffs. the cavs are better than us.

I agree with your general premise on there.

in addition to tanking (not on purpose but in general by design), and trading for draft picks, I would also accept young players who could have a high ceiling they haven't yet met (guys like Anthony Randolph, Darren Collison, etc).

Real quick teh lulz for 9 points.