While at breakfast this morning I couldn’t help but smile when I saw a sports page splattered with a plethora of NBA news and an ESPN station devoted to Lebron‘s “Decision“. James not only has a nation on the edge of their seats he more importantly has a nation again interested in the NBA.
For years it has been painful for me to watch the NBA. The lack of defense, the lack of discipline and worst of all the lack of heart. Being a basketball player and lover to my very core, it made me sick to see the downward spiral pro ball took after Jordan left. It was as if he took the heartbeat of basketball when he retired.
I was five or six years old when my dad took me to my first basketball game. It was a women’s college game. Northern Michigan vs. Michigan Tech, arch rivals. It was truly a life changing event. I remember it as clear as day. I sat in the stands, jaw on the floor in complete awe of these women. The woman who forever changed me, Julie Heldt, #42 was putting up points like Jordan himself and hustling down that court as if her life depended upon it. Now, my dad has never been the type to force us kids to do anything we didn’t want to do but I know he had a hidden motive in taking me to this game; to get me to want to play ball. It worked. After being speechless for the first half of the game I turned to him and said, “Daddy, I want to play!” He looked at me with a knowing smile and said, “OK.” From then on my life was consumed with the sport.
I was lucky to fall in love with the sport when I did, during the peak of the Bulls Dynasty. With players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Luc Longley, Bill Cartwright and the coach I now love to hate, Phil Jackson. The rivalry they had with the Jazz and the Suns. The stand-up players like Karl Malone, the stand-out players like Sir Charles Barkley and the little guys like Johnny Stockton and then there came my hero (despite his choice in colleges), Grant Hill. How could you not love the sport back then? Suddenly, like a full force avalanche the game crumbled. It lost everything….its fans included.
There was a slight ray of sunshine when the new group of Detroit “Bad Boys” started playing like the days I so longed for. (And took down those greedy wicked witches of the west, the LA Lakers) But alas, it was broken apart by a lack of discipline and a few bad seeds. (I still love you Sheed and Big Ben.)
Now, perhaps the clouds that have overshadowed the NBA these ten plus years will part. With big names and big talent like Kobe, D. Wade, Lebron, Howard and Garnett as the leading men of the NBA the talent cannot be doubted. There are also those key players that aren’t as recognized as the big names. Jason Richardson, Derrick Rose, Amare Stoudemire, Kevin Durant and of course my man Chauncey Billups. They are really giving the NBA what it has been missing. Now talent alone can’t bring back the NBA, but these players have, not only the passion that seemed to disappear, but a true respect for the game.
Today we look at what could be the most important decision the NBA has seen since Jordan decided to retire…for the last time. From the beginning I have said I think Lebron will stay with the Cavs, and I am sticking to my guns. Miami would be a great home for James and I believe that he and Wade would make the best of sharing the spotlight. James would have an all-star supporting cast in Chicago but they’ve already had their #23 and James knows it. Pairing up Lebron and Stoudemire would be as brilliant a pair as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but the Knicks have yet to complete their team and there is no confirmation on Tony Parker or Carmello Anthony beefing up the starting line by next summer.
The bottom line to my pick is this: Lebron wants to prove himself in Cleveland. He wants to prove he doesn’t need Wade to help him get his ring. He wants to prove it to the fans in Cleveland who haven’t seen a championship (in any sport) in ages. Cleveland is home to him now and as of 8 o’clock tonight I firmly believe he will still be calling Cleveland his home.
