NBA free agency opened last Thursday morning to a sold-out show in downtown Cleveland. The attraction, of course, was LeBron James, whose free agency has been the most celebrated in the history of professional sports. James was holding court at the headquarters of LRMR, his very own marketing firm, and suitors looking to woo him to lands well beyond the stench of the rubber plants of Akron came out in force. For perhaps one last time, the King made Cleveland his stage, let her soak some collateral limelight before he releases her into an anonymity as enveloping as the black of Lake Erie.
While Amare Stoudemire flew to New York before signing with the Knicks on Monday, and Dwyane Wade has twice visited Bulls brass in Chicago, James has made the field come to him. Cavs GM Chris Grant says he thinks it "pretty incredible" that LeBron would honor their mutual home by holding meetings there and essentially bringing the competition to his doorstep. Right, and Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in The Color Purple must have thought it pretty incredible that Albert honored their home by bringing his mistress, Shug, to her doorstep. Throughout the weekend, James paraded one concubine after another under their roof with nary a disparaging tongue. Even his 10-story likeness down the street looked the other way.
In the movies, Celie felt like Albert was going to the toilet on her. In real life, Clevelanders are thankful for the shower. At least Celie got a ring on her finger out of the deal, which is more than Grant will ever see.
James' choice of venue did give his hometown one advantage. Hundreds of fans formed a tunnel along East 9th Street to cheer him on his commute into the office, and to boo the Chicago Bulls contingent that followed him there on Saturday. Hey, if you can't watch a championship parade rolling down your streets, forming a fan tunnel to beg your biggest sports icon not to desert you is the next best thing.
Then, there's the vaudeville act James brought into the city, which yielded entertainment dividends right from the start. Every guy loves a good cat fight, and NBA fans are no exception. The soon-enough-to-be Brooklyn Nets, who aren't moving into town for another two years, are already ruffling Knick feathers and for a brief moment on Thursday, they were the frontrunners to steal off with LeBron. But the Knicks got the upper hand — over the Nets, at least — when they landed more face time with the King, leaving Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov a jilted lover stewing under his ushanka.
For seven years, James and Cleveland were a storybook tale, one not told since the days when NBA teams possessed territorial rights to stars playing in the shadows of their arena. For an Akron kid, jumping right out of the high school ranks and onto the hometown Cavaliers was a long shot. Draft chips just don't fall that way. They didn't for Larry Bird and the Pacers, or Magic Johnson and the Pistons, or Kobe Bryant and the 76ers. Chance and bad timing conspired against those unions, but not against LeBron and the Cavaliers.
This week, that story may end a few chapters too soon.
That's because LeBron is all about championships. The sight of him wearing a Yankees cap at Progressive Field should have put Cleveland on notice of that. And he wants not one, but multiple championships. That's what will give him overseas branding on par with Kobe Bryant and make up for anything now lost at the negotiating table. The problem is, Cleveland hasn't won a title of any variety since 1964. Like Blag Flag to midges, the city repels championships and that rules them out.
Of course, James already reached that conclusion during this year's Eastern Conference semis. Apologists will point to his elbow or the Celtics' defense or his lack of a supporting cast, but the King turtled up in the final three games, going 18-of-53 from the floor and averaging 21.3 points, a marked deterioration from the 32 he averaged over the Cavs' first eight postseason games. At the final horn, he couldn't peel his uniform off faster.
The city that has lost title hopes at the buzzer, at the goal line, and in the bottom of the 11th, is now on the threshold of losing one to free agency. And this is not like Manny Ramirez, who left town for $160 million. NBA salary cap rules give Cleveland a distinct upper hand over the rest of the pack. For such a misfortunate city, the timing couldn't be worse for the first professional superstar to pass up $30 million in the name of winning.
James' decision will come as soon as tomorrow when he concludes his skills camp in Akron. In the meantime, Clevelanders may be living their final week of relevance for a long time. It's one last week of murals and fan tunnels and inbound Gulfstreams, courtesy of the King.
Consider it one last bone tossed at Cleveland's feet, and given the way James has had with them recently, they may be safer kicking it into next week when he's gone before picking it up.
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