Anyone gain a lot of respect for LeBron?

[Surferdad]

Last couple of posts are correct, IMO. I have no more respect for him now. He has only thrown out some words, that's it.  Now he has to back those words up 

He is a great basketball player and I respect him for that. Everything else is just for show and for ego. The only way I gain respect for him is if he stays in Cleveland now for another 7-10 years and they don't win a championship for another 5. That will tell me that he is capable of making a commitment, sticking it out through tough times and perhaps step up as a mentor to younger players. These are the things that LeBron James has yet to master. He's already done just about everything possible on a basketball court.

[crimson_stallion]

Absolutely not!  In fact,  the move has the opposite effect on me and I've lost even more respect for him.  I don't understand how anybody could gain respect for him after this.

LeBron left Cleveland,  the team that build itself entirely around him,  and ran to Miami for an easy way to far track to a title.

Much as we all hate Miami, Pat Riley welcomed LeBron with open arms and gutted the entire team so that he could join forces with Wade and Bosh and win those titles.   LeBron or no LeBron, there's no titles without Pat Riley working his butt to the bone to put all the right role players around those guys.   He build that team around LeBron, while Wade and Bosh sacrificed their own spotlight to let him be number one and let them win some rings.

Now Miami, in a major upset,  gets absolutely embarrassed by the underdog Spurs 4-1, and LeBron suddenly Rasmussen the Heat won't have such an easy path anymore next year...so he jumps ship again back to Cleveland where he has two young Guys with superstar potential.

LeBron is a leech, not much better than Dwight Howard.   He goes to a team, ducks everything they have it off them,  then when he feels like there is no life left he moves on to the next host.   Disgraceful. Then to make matters worse he goes on to legend that is all for sentimental reasons...really?   I guarantee you that if Miami won that title 4-1 instead of the other way around,  he'd be resigning with Miami.
 

[timpiker]

C's fan from Ohio here.  I hated LeBum because of the way he left the Cavs 4 yrs ago.  I like him much better now and am wishing the Cavs success because the Cleveland fans deserve it.  I have faith in Danny.  Glad LeBron is back home.

[WeMadeIt17]

Nope still hate em. Such a LeBron move to do this.

[JWC95]

I lost respect for him in 2010 for leaving the way he did. He is going back home in a much more mature way to a less-proven, younger, and arguably worse team. So I did gain some of my respect for him back, but he'll never have the respect from me (not that he cares) that I have for Paul Pierce. Paul never left; he got traded.

[PaulPierce34G]

I think he did the right thing.  I think he handled it in a very mature manner. That letter or essay, whatever you'd like to call it, was a good way to handle the situation.  No flashing lights, cameras, TV specials, none of that.  Simple. 

[Ogaju]

He would have received criticism either way. If he went back to Miami, he would have been accused of stringing Cleveland along and all that stuff. There's nothing he can do about that. This "taking the easy way out" seems like a lazy argument to me. Of course Bird didn't. It helps to get drafted into an organization with HOF talent surrounding you for the entirety of your career. Same for Magic, who himself said that if he got drafted by the Bulls, he wouldn't have played there.

List goes on and on. Pierce said he would've requested a trade if KG/Ray didn't come. KG only considered Boston once Ray was traded for. Almost every star player does this.

Do you really think this decision was made today? How come I knew he was going back to Cleveland as soon as he opted out? Come on now!!! This was an easy decision. All you had to do was watch those pressers with Wade and you knew he was gone.

[hpantazo]

He proved that he has learned and matured greatly in the last 4 years, and regardless of what we think, we did enormous improvement for his current image and his legacy.

[GreenWarrior]

I don't have any more respect for LeBron than I did before. which was minimal as I don't think he has the competitive nature that many like to say he's better than.

that and he's way more worried about his image than any player that I've ever seen. first he didn't want to get put into the barkley, Malone group of great players that never won a championship. so he left town, burned bridges, took less money just so he didn't become one those players because he has a reputation to live up to.

now he has his championship and by going back to Cleveland knew he'd look like a hero. if he gets another championship out of it, it's just icing on the cake. but it's more about looking like a hero.   

So he should have stayed on a poorly managed Cleveland team that had a lottery roster at best? Most players goals are to win championships. Why shouldn't he give himself the best chance to win?

why didn't he take less to stay in Cleveland? they just came off a 60 win season. classic case of "my teammates are great till we lose".

[LilRip]

i've always respected Lebron as a player. He's going to be up there when it's all said and done. I will never root for him though. I think those are two different things.

I do respect (and like) his decision to come back to Cleveland though. He needed to go Miami to mature and be immersed in a professional culture, which is something he would've never been able to do in Cleveland then. But PR-wise and legacy-wise, I think Cleveland was the right move. If he wins a ring with the Cavs, it will be the most validating ring he'll ever win, IMO.

[JohnBoy65]

I don't have any more respect for LeBron than I did before. which was minimal as I don't think he has the competitive nature that many like to say he's better than.

that and he's way more worried about his image than any player that I've ever seen. first he didn't want to get put into the barkley, Malone group of great players that never won a championship. so he left town, burned bridges, took less money just so he didn't become one those players because he has a reputation to live up to.

now he has his championship and by going back to Cleveland knew he'd look like a hero. if he gets another championship out of it, it's just icing on the cake. but it's more about looking like a hero.   

So he should have stayed on a poorly managed Cleveland team that had a lottery roster at best? Most players goals are to win championships. Why shouldn't he give himself the best chance to win?

why didn't he take less to stay in Cleveland? they just came off a 60 win season. classic case of "my teammates are great till we lose".

He wasn't the highest paid player on any of those teams. Still had money locked up in other players and the Cavs front office showed its inability to create a championship team. I wouldn't stay either.

[Snakehead]

I don't have any more respect for LeBron than I did before. which was minimal as I don't think he has the competitive nature that many like to say he's better than.

that and he's way more worried about his image than any player that I've ever seen. first he didn't want to get put into the barkley, Malone group of great players that never won a championship. so he left town, burned bridges, took less money just so he didn't become one those players because he has a reputation to live up to.

now he has his championship and by going back to Cleveland knew he'd look like a hero. if he gets another championship out of it, it's just icing on the cake. but it's more about looking like a hero.   

So he should have stayed on a poorly managed Cleveland team that had a lottery roster at best? Most players goals are to win championships. Why shouldn't he give himself the best chance to win?

why didn't he take less to stay in Cleveland? they just came off a 60 win season. classic case of "my teammates are great till we lose".

Who went on to have a lot of success besides LeBron?  How many games did they win without him?

Who do you think was the best player on those teams besides him?  Big Z?  Drew Gooden or Mo Williams?

It's clear he carried those teams.  The whole team did play well on D but LeBron did all the heavy lifting.

[BballTim]

Nope. The opposite. Lost respect for LeBron leaving Miami.

  Agreed. Possibly coincidental. but the loss to the Spurs and the 2010 Cavs loss to the Celts were fairly demoralizing, and in both cases his response was to leave the team.

[Snakehead]

Nope. The opposite. Lost respect for LeBron leaving Miami.

  Agreed. Possibly coincidental. but the loss to the Spurs and the 2010 Cavs loss to the Celts were fairly demoralizing, and in both cases his response was to leave the team.

The worst moment in his career was by far the loss to the Mavericks in his first year with Miami.

Well I should say loss.  He didn't handle free agency well and then that was all the icing on that cake (and it was a lot of icing).

[BballTim]

Nope. The opposite. Lost respect for LeBron leaving Miami.

  Agreed. Possibly coincidental. but the loss to the Spurs and the 2010 Cavs loss to the Celts were fairly demoralizing, and in both cases his response was to leave the team.

The worst moment in his career was by far the loss to the Mavericks in his first year with Miami.

Well I should say loss.  He didn't handle free agency well and then that was all the icing on that cake (and it was a lot of icing).

  I don't think so, although he might. The fact that it took a season to figure things out shouldn't have surprised people.