Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has just put up a massive piece on why LeBron ended up signing with the Heat. It’s been extensively researched, and there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the piece. The article states that LeBron’s attitude and entourage nearly kept him off of the 2008 Olympic team, that he pushed for Mike Brown to get fired after both the Orlando and Boston series, and much, much more.
No mention of LeBron trying to recruit Chris Bosh to Cleveland, which is really the event that makes all the difference — if LeBron really did try to get Bosh to Cleveland, it was a choice. If not, it was something approaching a conspiracy. It’s not much more complicated than that.
Sickening. I never realized he was that immature. Pretty funny when grown men who are your peers need to babysit your ass. Have fun in South Beach, LeBlown Games.
It’s rather amazing how much he’s been able to control his image if this is true. He’s always come off as quite mature. Makes me more concerned about journalistic integrity here and elsewhere.
The more I hear about James’ character the more I can’t believe how much I was suckered into believing his myths.
Given that Bosh has stated that one reason he would not consider playing in Cleveland was that LeBron wouldn’t commit to staying there, it’s pretty clear that LeBron never really did try to recruit him.
He comes off as a real jerk in that article, and I don’t really have a hard time believing any of it. I never saw that side of LeBron while he was playing for the Cavs, and I wonder if it’s because I didn’t want to, or because the Cleveland media was so protective of him. I’m honestly surprised by how disliked he seems to have been.
I don’t know how much I believe Wojnarowski. He’s always an emotional and judgy writer, at best. In this article he writes with such omniscience that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just making stuff up. He seems to like hyping up storylines and memes, so he might be going overboard in pushing “LeBron as villain”. And he does a lot of the damage with vague references to “immaturity” or “disrespect”. We’ve heard about minor things in that regard but not close to the level that Wojnarowski portrays.
He probably wouldn’t address it, but I would love to hear Windy’s response to this. If Windy agrees then you can pretty much take it to the bank.
An btw, “LeBlown Games” is perfect. Your creation, Kevin?
wow. pretty damning piece… havn’t seen it anywhere on espn, are they not running with it for some reason? If even a fraction of this is true, i’m going to kick myself for defending the guy so ardently over the past 7 years…
The worst kind of evidence is eyewitness testimony. I wouldn’t take this narrative literally at all, but rather one that has the benefit of hindsight, hearsay, untestable/unprovable eyewitness accounts, basically every kind of sensational writing device available. Plus, this is Woj, aka Charley Rosen Lite, aka the sports guy constantly trying to be recognized as “the straightshooter that always tells it like it is”. I could have told you this article was coming from over a mile away.
Robin, basically isn’t Woj just adding to what Windy already wrote about earlier? About the “conspiracy” side to all of this?
It’s become to clear now what LeBron is really like and feel like such a rube for always ignoring it and trying to see differently. I guess it’s just the whole Cleveland mentality that everyone was just so happy to have a winner for once, the best in the game, that you defended him against anything. But now I have to wonder if he even wanted to be drafted by the Cavs.
If this stuff is true, it makes it easier for me to move on from that BS, actually. And looking forward, I think Hickson has a good next year, but beyond that it’s a lost year. A lot of guys come off the books after 2011, so we’ll see what happens then. Hopefully they’ll draft well and we’ll never again believe that a guy actually cares about winning it for Cleveland, rather it just happens to be the city that he plays for.
Like Robin and JQ, I’m skeptical of this article, at least about LeBron’s alleged transgressions with the national team. That part of the story, aside from one general anonymous quote, is entirely unattributed. Woj doesn’t offer a single example of LeBron’s bad behavior in 2004 or 2006. It’s pretty weak tea that happens to let Woj get his hate on.
Woj has written over 20 articles this year hatin on lebron…typical
Robin,
My brother coined LeBlown Games about two years ago. I never had the courage to say it on here because I always thought it to be the furthest thing from the truth … until Game 5 happened.
every star player has leblown a playoff game…all the greats even mike…check the stats…look at old box scores….lebron was awful in game 5 but that game does not define him as a player….as soon as he changes his jersey u clowns now pretend he is not the best player in the league….whoever you think is better does not win with that roster
I was waiting for the article to provide more facts and less hearsay… I truly believe lebron never intended to resign with cleveland, and I also truly believe that Riley knew all along what the plans were, but the article is just a “he said / he heard” piece and it doesn’t hold it’s accusations…
Oh and yes I also do believe lebron threw away the Boston series to use as an excuse for the changes made…
@ Joey1320
What about this article is hearsay? I don’t think you or anyone else using that term in regards to this article is using it correctly. And what statement, to you or anyone else, in this article does not ring true with what has been reported by numerous different writers over the years? While it has always been flowers and sunshine coming from ESPN and the other media outlets with a stake in Lebron maintaing his likability and Q rating, it is not difficult to find stories hinting at the behavior reported in this story and recent stories from Windhorst going back years. It is my personal belief that many more possible stories were excused, sometimes rightfully so, due to Lebron’s young age, but that no longer can be used as an excuse. So again, what in this article strikes you as false?
I believe this. You know why? Because this is the kind of thing Woj has been saying for YEARS. He has never backed off his stance on LeBron. Unlike the wafflers over at ESPN, I’m more inclined to believe someone that has been saying the same thing for a long time, and had many of the things he’s said come true.
I’m not doubting that LBJ has wanted out for a long time. But this is the first I’ve really head of any big problems with the national team..and he doesn’t get into any real detail or offer any source. The fact that he’s like the only guy I’ve heard say this makes me question that part of the story.
Also, along those same lines, wtf is it that LBJ did during 2007 all-star weekend? Again, Woj doesn’t go into any sort of detail and it makes it tough for me to believe. I think the guy is an ego-maniac, but I can’t see him showing up the national squad coaches like Woj says he did.
LeWuss clearly does not care about Cleveland. If he did he would have recruited Bosh and Wade to come to Cleveland. LePuss just cares about himself. Clearly you can tell by his comment “It’s all about winning”. Anyone that knows what sports is really about is it’s “All about the fans”.
This just shows that LeDuche’s mother taught him to only care about himself.
If I was a great player, I would never leave Cleveland because I care more about my fellow man, woman and children.
I live by the words of Mr Spock “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one”.
I wonder if any of the Cavs LeBron left behind will speak up about any of these issues. It always struck me as a little strange that the move is described as LeBron going to Miami to play with his “friends”, when so much had been made of the friendship and camaraderie among the Cavs the past two years.
One thing I don’t understand: if LeBron was pushing hard for Mike Brown to be fired last year, why the hell didn’t that happen?
wow, another article detailing how he isn’t worth the trouble, after he’s made his choice. Presumably, the unpopular choice, in the eyes of Woj, or Ian Thomsen, or Joe Posnanski, or whoever. “Sign here! Sign with us! Please! It’ll be great! Sign here! Sign with us! Please! It’ll be great! Sign here! Sign with us! Please! It’ll be great! Sign here! Sign with us! Please! It’ll be great!”
“What? You’re not signing with us? Well, you’re too much trouble anyway. Also, you lack the eye of the tiger.”
When did this whole country turn into the New York Post? I’m not mad at the decision, I’m mad at what it has wrought, laziness and bitterness and stupidity from all sides. Sports journalism at its worst.
I just read the article. How could you guys NOT believe it. Everything he mentioned in the article has signs that it really happened. From Jason Kidd to Jerry Contagelo to LeWuss’s behaviour. Plus if you watched any ESPN for the past 3 months, every person on the show said LePuss was not staying in Cleveland and Wade would not leave Miami. There is nothing LeLiar said in public that made anyone believe he would leave Cleveland so how did all the sports writers know this “For a Fact”? Anyone who said they did not hear any of this before this article clearly is either lying or was lying to themselves that they didn’t believe LeSelfish was that way.
Just like Woody Hayes refused to say that state up North of Ohio. The word Miami out of LeAss’s mouth he was dead to me and to all of Cleveland. http://www.lebronisdead.com More to follow
@Rich:
There was a Truehoop post back in 07 that stated that three of the coaches voted for James to be off the squad because he was a hassle. If I can find a link, Ill post it.
@ Rich – The 2007 All-Star game was in Vegas and there are a more than a few columns out there detailing how utterly out-of-control (in a bad way) things were that weekend. While it would be nice to know specifics of what happened with Lerbon, I believe Wojnarowski is leaving the details out because they are just extraneous details that would only further elaborate on a character profile that is very well defined without them.
for everyone that doubts some of the stuff in the Woj article, the following is from Bill Simmons’s article after the 2007 All-star game.
full link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070220
relevant part -
Here’s what I know. I had four conversations with connected NBA people over the weekend that centered around the same themes: LeBron isn’t playing nearly as hard as he did last season; it looks like his only goal right now is to get his coach fired; he’s regressing as a basketball player (especially his passing skills and his shot selection); he made a huge mistake firing his agent and turning his career over to his buddies back home (all of whom are in over their heads); he was a much bigger problem during the Olympics than anyone realized; he doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself anymore; he has an overrated sense of his own worth and his own impact in the sports world (as witnessed by the ESPN interview last week when he answered the “What are your goals?” question with two words: “Global icon”); he’s been protected by magazine fluff pieces and buddy-buddy TV interviews for far too long; he doesn’t have the same relentless drive to keep dominating everyone like Wade and Kobe have; and basically, we’re much closer to LeBron re-enacting the career arc of Martina Hingis, Eric Lindros and Junior Griffey than anyone realizes.
Woj has always been a Bron hater. I’ll give it a read but I’ll take it with a grain of salt.
Junior Griffey! hahahaha I love Bill Simmons.
I remember that Simmons piece, but it has nothing to say about what Lebron actually did AT the all-star game weekend.
I also remember that after the all-star game LBJ went on a freaking tear and ripped the league to shreds, taking the team to the finals, totally invalidating the idea that he was trying to get Brown fired.
Here is the thing, if all of these writers know about this stuff, then where are they? Better yet, where have they been? Woj is really one of about 2 guys who has consistently hammered LBJ. THe other is Skip Bayless. Where was Windhorst the last 5 years? Kissing LBJs ass and not doing his job? Because it is either most of it is sort of not true and just over-stressed….or it’s all true and Windhorst decided to never talk about it, which is basically him not doing what he was supposed to be doing.
I remember reading James was a hassle at the 2004 games…but that’s it. Just those games, and nothing more “than a hassle.” These general terms could define a guy who maybe missed one team meeting. Or, it could be someone who was never involved, yelled at coaches, brought his friends into the locker room, etc. Such a general term that there is no way of knowing how serious the issues were until these writers start naming specifics.
ANd I also remember some of the coaches weren’t happy w/ LBJ on the national squad, but again it never gets passed that. A few coaches didn’t like LBJ. No freaking idea why, No clue as to what he did….just they didn’t like him and his attitude. I need to know wtf he actually did before I start buying into the notion that everyone in the world hates LBJ.
Wasn’t Lebron a co-captain at the 2008 games? Why make him that if the coaches had such doubts/disliked him so much? They could have just had Kobe, or Kidd or something and nobody would have questioned it.
Adrian Woj has been a consistent Lebron hater and ive ripped him for it on past threads here…when reading this i just have this feeling that a lot of things were hidden about James just because people thought well he was an ass but he could lead his hometown team to a championship and make Cleveland relevant when it comes to titles
Remember the Jordan Rules? alot of shit Jordan did that people ignored or just swept under the rug saying well he’s too good of a player he has to do it its not an issue…then the Jordan Rules book came out and people realized how much of a competitive jerk Jordan really was…
I think the same will happen with Lebron…he made a huge dick move on national tv that no other athlete wouldve done, especially no superstar in any sport…and now all the horrible things are coming out that when put together like a puzzle…we realize that maybe we shouldnt have been surprised about this at all…and like Jordan in the 80s and very early 90s we are confused and refused to believe any of this stuff…
Windhorst has the article posted on his twitter so Im sure he feels its legit…
Hey I know we Cavs fans are mad as hell, but let us not be an unsuspecting tool by an obvious hatemongerer. Woj is feeding the mob at its most gullible state. Wasn’t it Carmelo Anthony who was bitching after the 2004 Olympics for lack of playing while Lebron basically kept quiet? He is saying that Lebron’s mind has long decided to go to Miami but at the same time saying he spurned the Bulls because Derrick Rose didn’t woo him. A lot of his piece are pure speculations that were concluded based on his dogmatic stand that Lebron is pure evil.
Woj was spurned by Lebron in the past and this is his way of getting back, jeez how many “Lebron is evil” articles has he written. I know Lebron’s a jackass but Woj is devious and malevolant. Should we beleive the devil himself jsut because our fomrer hero broke our hearts?
The article seems like it could be true but you really have to take away only the facts. A lot of it is Woj adding his own story to it. But that being said it seems plausible.
@Ron – dude the whole article was about how they had talked about it and then Wade had to woo him to miami. It said that he was “leaving cleveland” the whole time, not “going to miami.” thats a big difference. And is Woj devious for publishing his stories? no he is just doing his job and putting to the press what he sees as the truth.
I just have to say, I really think LeBron is proving himself to be quite a joke…. This is what I think of him (quite funny actually): http://www.etsy.com/listing/51718298/lebron-ego-shirt?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=App_Seller&utm_content=items&utm_campaign=fb_seller_item
Justin,
Woj is feeding the mob in the guise of doing his job. And yes, he did say that Lebron was going to Miami since the plan was supposedly hatched during the trio’s days with the national team.
True, Lebron our hearts, and that makes us susceptible into beleiving any and all warmongerer and hatemongerer’s tale especially if there’s profit to be had in the wake of devastation. My take is simple, don’t take you ugly suitor just because you handsome lover left you.