Cleveland: Thank LeBron for making you terrible

The Warriors are in purgatory or hell. They aren't good enough to get into the playoffs yet there too good to get a high lottery pick. I like the Warriors, Monta Ellis is one of my favorite players and at least the Warriors are competing. But the team is in limbo because the opportunities for breaking through are limited. Can't get a high lottery pick and Oakland really isn't a destination place for top free agents. As far as those hating on Lebron, I'm tired of arguing against his detractors. It basically boils down to these people just dont get it. The Cavs could get a high lottery pick, the problem is there isn't a franchise-changing player on the horizon. And even if they do draft well and follow the Thunder model their front office is largely incompetent. Jason brought a great point with their salaries. Last year I looked at their salaries and wondered how it happened? I mean who gave Jamario Moon a 3-year $9 million deal? And your wise-guy owner (who doesn't even live in Ohio) has poisoned any chance of luring a top free agent. Lebron did all that, came up short, left and was killed by the owner. What's he going to do to me if I don't get it done. I would say good luck in your future endeavors Cleveland but the way you people have acted since last summer showing how melodramatic & hypocritical you can be leaves me with no sympathy. And to the people defending Cleveland, before Lebron who actually cared about Cleveland? No one! Especially not the people in Cleveland where attendance was in the hole before Lebron.

Jeff...you got it wrong. The Cavs were screwed this year whether Lebron stayed or not. Granted if he stayed they would have been a promising playoff team, but quite likely they would have fallen short to the Celtics or Magic, yet again. There was never going to be a Championship in Cleveland. Their supporting cast around Lebron was terrible! And even more terrible is their payroll for the next 3 years! They're stuck paying Jamison $15 mil, Mo Williams $10 mil, Varejao $4 mil, and Booby GIbson $4 mil. http://hoopshype.com/salaries/cleveland.htm The Cavs tried bringing in help for Lebron (Jamison, Shaq) but they screwed themselves by the lucrative contracts they gave him. Lebron did nothing to make Cleveland terrible, Cleveland's management and their smart mouth owner are the ones to blame. But hey, give it 3-4 years of ridding themselves of their scrubs, getting top-5 picks, and they might be promising again!

Bron not letting Cavs management know he was leaving until the last possible moment was what really screwed over the Cavs. But by then all the good free agents pretty much made their moves... I dunno, I agree w/ most of the people here, next year's draft will not provide Cleveland with a franchise level player, they would have to be bottom dwellers for 2-3 years IMO for even a remote chance of obtaining an elite talent. At this point, time and money are Cleveland's biggest allies (I mean the money that Gil saved up for Bron, not the negative 200 million or whatever he lost in business equity). You would just hope that Gil is patient and makes smart monetary transactions now that he doesn't have Lebron breathing down his neck there really isn't any more excuses to sign rushed, bad contracts. But mostly I agree with B Burke.. you won't be able to justify his decisions for me... not that I hold anything against him, it's his life and you only live once... the vitriol is a bit much, but I can't say I like the way apologists pretty much overlook everything he's done to damage his reputation and his former franchise. So yea, I don't really see how he helped his franchise but at this point, Cleveland cannot possibly sink lower and to that extent I can agree that their current situation is a blessing in disguise.

Steven G and B Burke - Your points are valid, a player that equates to 60 wins or a Class of '03 are very rare. But when done right, the Oklahoma example makes a good point. They sucked for a while, and while that is hard to endure, that lead to multiple solid picks. Now they have a team with Durant, Westbrook, Green, etc. and have one of the brightest futures in the league.

@hershberger.57 LeBron did wait 7 years for his organisation to put a good team around him, and this season proves how much they failed. The bulls without jordan still won 55games. I wish lebron didn't team up with wade, but he had to leave cleveland, they weren't getting any better and weren't going to win a championship unless they could bring in a side kick not named mo williams.

Even The Worst Team still only has a 25% chance at landing the top pick. In any given year, the likelihood that a consensus #1 emerges who might lead his team to 60+ wins is incredibly slim. Unless there were someone of LeBron's caliber available in the upcoming draft, it's pretty disingenuous to pretend that this represents a positive opportunity to rebuild. Since the 2003 draft, it seems that the strongest new contenders have been built largely by signing proven free agents (Heat, Lakers), or by swinging blockbuster trades with struggling lottery teams (Lakers, Celtics). It's true that the Bulls have gotten much better via drafting, but they were exactly the sort of mediocre-to-poor purgatorially bad team you contrast with those who get to 'start over' when they landed the Derrick Rose pick. There's no need in my mind to justify the choice LeBron made, but it's real goofy to pretend he helped the Cavs.

Yago, there's some merit to the psychological factor, but four of the team's 1st 7 wins (the now-mysterious 7-8 stretch) were against Philadelphia, Washington, and New Jersey. And the Cavs won some close games as well. That 1st stretch was mostly smoke and mirrors.

Ethan, Let me tell you why Cavs fans are mad at Lebron, from a different point of view. A player's point of view.. something you admit to knowing nothing about, above. They're upset because when you're a player, you have a certain drive, determination, and will to be the best. Unless you're Derrick Coleman. But anyways, the mecca of being a player, or even a competitor is being the very best. Lebron has every possible physical tool to make this happen. The thing is.. he won't do it. He refuses to accept being on a top 5 team in the league, trust and wait on his organization to give him the pieces to put him in that position, and then rely on HIMSELF to get them over the hump from there. That's what it means to be a great player. He'd rather give up, destroy the hearts of the thousands that believed in him, and selfishly go to Miami, where he can be on a team with another proven player, I.E. "having more pieces as a championship contender." People are angry that he won't be what he said he would, people are mad that he won't take the reigns and make this happen.

YOUR AN IDIOT!!!!!! SO is Lebron

As a non-Cleveland fan I think you make a good point.

Don't really agree with you on the Warriors being in purgatory, or hell as you say. This is the same team that drafted Stephen Curry remember. But I don't think the Cavs will be any better off next season. Look at the Nets last year and look at them this year. Now look how pathetic the Cavs are this year, and by the looks of this draft class, next year ain't all that bright.

Sure thing. Yeah, I don't actually propose analyzing anybody, least of all players. I just like to lob speculative psycho-grenades. In this case, the combination of the won-loss numbers and the attendant media psycho-drama are too good to pass up. Also I was rereading and groping toward another metaphor but my brain got too tired to work it out, so I'll just ask: does the "favor" Lebron did the Cavs bear any relation to euthanasia, mercy killing, assisted suicide, crucifixion, or phoenix hunting?

Thanks Yago! There certainly could be a psychological aspect, but I tend to stay away from that analysis. I'm all about fan psychology (because I'm so far from understanding how to be a player).

Great piece Ethan: loved the hell masquerading as purgatory -- that might be the deepest hell of all. On topic observation: I just discovered last night that the Cavs were 7-11 before the home drubbing vs. Miami in December; 1-26 since. Think there's a psychological aspect to all this?