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The Complexity of a Star Player Running a Franchise
Tequilla
Member Posts: 19,882
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/13096193/nba-next-lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers
I found the following section very revealing:
Ideally for the Cavs, James would come into his exit meeting with strong opinions: Sign this guy at any cost; don't worry about this guy; try to keep this guy, but don't break the bank.
No, this is not how things are supposed to be done in a classic NBA hierarchy. But the reality is the Cavs prefer James to be invested in their decisions so that everyone is on the same page. It's better than operating in a gray area, where they're uncertain of James' investment in working with a player going forward.
This is especially important in regard to Love. James very much pushed for the Cavs to trade for Love last summer, to the point where he was comfortable with No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins being included. However, James and Love didn't particularly mesh well, on or off the court.
The Cavs improved vastly on defense following Love's shoulder injury earlier in the playoffs and were able to continue to excel without him. Considering Love's recent shoulder surgery and the back issues that affected him all season, the Cavs would have reason to pause before offering Love the maximum-allowed five years, $100 million.
This is why they'd prefer to have James' seal of approval. If Love's deal ends up being a burden in the future, they'd want James to share in the responsibility for it.
This is also why James wouldn't be so interested in taking part. He wants a great team and the owners to spend to get it there, but he doesn't want it to limit his future flexibility. As a once-a-generation player, he can have both.
I found the following section very revealing:
Ideally for the Cavs, James would come into his exit meeting with strong opinions: Sign this guy at any cost; don't worry about this guy; try to keep this guy, but don't break the bank.
No, this is not how things are supposed to be done in a classic NBA hierarchy. But the reality is the Cavs prefer James to be invested in their decisions so that everyone is on the same page. It's better than operating in a gray area, where they're uncertain of James' investment in working with a player going forward.
This is especially important in regard to Love. James very much pushed for the Cavs to trade for Love last summer, to the point where he was comfortable with No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins being included. However, James and Love didn't particularly mesh well, on or off the court.
The Cavs improved vastly on defense following Love's shoulder injury earlier in the playoffs and were able to continue to excel without him. Considering Love's recent shoulder surgery and the back issues that affected him all season, the Cavs would have reason to pause before offering Love the maximum-allowed five years, $100 million.
This is why they'd prefer to have James' seal of approval. If Love's deal ends up being a burden in the future, they'd want James to share in the responsibility for it.
This is also why James wouldn't be so interested in taking part. He wants a great team and the owners to spend to get it there, but he doesn't want it to limit his future flexibility. As a once-a-generation player, he can have both.
Comments
But at the same time, I think everybody also needs to eliminate the "he doesn't have enough help" around him argument when he fails to win a title. He's controlling the roster.
The other thing that really stood out to me in this is that he's not willing to buy in and take accountability for the team that he creates ... I would have to think that this rings a bit hollow for some of his teammates when he demands accountability of them.
You shouldn't bench one of your three best players in the fourth quarter.
What do people have against this guy?
So his gm couldn't steal Parish/McHale from the Warriors or Pippen from the Sonics or Magic/Worthy/Scott from the Jazz/Cavs/Clips or didn't luck out when David Robinson got hurt. Maybe he should go Jordan's route and take two years off and rest his body. I think he has now played more regular season minutes than Magic and more post season minutes than Bird and Jordan.