Tomorrow at 9PM Eastern, Lebron James is supposed to announce on ESPN the NBA team that he will be playing for next year. There is a lot of talk and speculation. One thing that many people are saying is they wonder why he is having an hour long special to make the announcement when other players are doing no such thing. Granted he is the most sought after free agent but they say that this is really being a diva, very self-focused stuff. Nevertheless I was wondering if maybe he might be using all this attention to have a special where he highlights the need for charity or for pointing out the need to help others through charitable contributions, etc. Anyone think this is possible? Anyone think that would be a good idea? I think if I were such a position that is exactly what I would do.

I doubt LeBron James would do anything like that. He has an inflated ego because the kingdom of Cleveland has allowed him to practically own the team while everyone else served to his needs, ever since he was an 18 year old kid playing pro ball for the first time. His mother probably pushed him towards making millions, considering he's not from a well off family or locale. His agents and the media are fueling his ego and his self-importance, making him believe he's the greatest thing on the hard wood. Now he's getting the chance to broadcast for an hour about his free agency and how great he is. This is nothing but an ego stroking spectacle. Charity? What's that to LeBron when it's a special about him? Focus will be only on LeBron.

He chose Miami Heat. People are pissed, and I don't care.

LeBron can play threesome with Wade and Bosh. Three big egos floating around on the same court, only one ball. LeFraud James will never win a championship and I will be happy that he doesn't. He is no man fit to wear the ring of a champion.

Sports newscasters will still be riding his jock, though. No lie.

Because he was an 18 yr old basketball "prodigy." Any kid can bounce a ball and play the game well. He was exploited and used and made into an icon before he deserved it. No one will get off LeBron's dick until he proves he can't win a championship, no matter the talent. And he will next season. Kobe's hype and love is more understandable. He has rings.

I think it all comes down to how they play together. If Wade and Lebron and Bosh click in a fearsome threesome that play "beautiful" basketball while dominating opponents, I think they will win a lot of fans. But if they just sort of manage to do just enough to win a title without being a spectacle I think people will criticize their title and say it was meaningless because it was too easy. In that case Lebron would receive most of the criticism even if he played the best.

Well, the thing that a lot of coaches forget is style of play. Every team in basketball, just like any other sport, has an offensive and defensive scheme. How well can each of these guys play in the scheme? The only one fit for it right now is Wade. But what happens when the Heat lose? When they lose a chance at a title? Will LeBron shutdown again like he did in Cleveland? He gave up the Eastern semis this year to the Celtics who were a surprise, but a much more fundamentally sound team. The Cavs were supposed to take it in 4 or 5. The emergence of Rondo and the lack of inspiration and leadership from LeBron buried the Cavs. He was more worried about free agency when the Celtics destroyed them by about 30 points in, I think, game 4. LeBron has always been about himself. Plus, he became a little b*tch when he hurt his elbow. He's a priss, a diva, and a self-centered runt who will probably start getting upset if egos collide, which they more than likely will.

Well what I look forward to seeing is if the change of environment allows him to be happy. In any job, no matter how good it looks to others on the outside, if you aren't happy where you are pretty much nothing is going to change that unless you leave and go elsewhere. I'd also like to see if he begins to mature. He is still pretty young and most people who have fame thrust on them when they are young (even if they seek it in their youthful exuberance) don't always know how to handle it either for themselves or while keeping others in mind and he has taken on a world of fame and pressure.

If he'd had any balls he would have come to New York.

It is too bad about that. I understand all the reasons that it would not have made sense but I would have loved to see a New York/Los Angeles rivalry. And even a New York/Chicago rivalry in the east. I am all about the big city. It only seems fitting that someone as big named with such a dominant powerful style of play go to Gotham (although personally I see Chicago more as Gotham and New York as Metropolis). It would have seemed a fitting progression in the Knicks franchise.

You know it also would have seemed fitting for him to go to Chicago. In the same way Magic/Kareem were in LA before Cobi and Bird was in Boston before the 3 Amigos, I see no reason why this would not have been the time for Lebron to lead Chicago into a new era. The only difference I suppose is that LA and Boston had eras even before the Magic and Bird years and Chicago didn't so maybe people are locked into seeing Chicago as a one trick pony (i.e the Jordon era). I think they are going to do well though with who they have.

I'm not really pissed off that he didn't come here. I watch him, and I see boundless talent, even some charisma, even some potential, but I see talent without kinetic drive. You know you're watching a legend play because it's like sticking your tongue to a 9 volt battery for the duration of the game. Watching James is like going to a play and watching an actor who's technically perfect, probably knows this, and can't be bothered to wring himself out for us, for the performance, the players, the team.

If he'd had any balls, though, he would have come to the Knicks, and not just because our comp package was best, which it was. The Knicks, who like the Bulls are revving up for another real lunge at glory, were in a position to build a whole team around him. Not to make him the 'Star', but to make him the pivot-point, the centerpiece that ties a collection of virtues together. He would have had wiggle room to accommodate what he saw in himself and his teammates, he would have had the space to help exercise his judgments and really develop something out of the Knicks. That he not only didn't see this opportunity as worthwhile, but decided instead to go join a team that is fast becoming a mere trophy room for 'Superstars', is proof enough that he didn't have enough of that energy in him to do all those things with the Knicks, however.

And the Knicks will be fine without him. We were holding our cap for him, sure, and it could have been interesting, but we're building a team with or without a bona fide superstar, and you can see in our choices a number of people who are top-tier, effective, even brilliant players, and instead of having to mold them around an ego that might not be what we thought it was, they instead have a chance to come together as a unit.

Lebron does have a chance at becoming something, maybe a legend, I don't know, but I do see a spark in him that isn't fully developed. or present yet, if it ever will be.
He would certainly do well to review the old Jordan tapes and watch what a fine back-up team he had to let him work his magic.