Lebron belongs in Cleveland

The Friday morning following yet another epic collapse by a Cleveland sports team, this time, by the NBA’s best regular season team for the second year in a row, I received a text message just past the crack of dawn from The News-Herald’s Sports Editor Mark Podolski asking me if I was going to be blogging about the Cavaliers season coming to an end.

Two reasons I didn’t feel like blogging.

One, because when I received that text around 7 a.m., I was actually standing on top of the News-Herald building weighing the pros and cons of jumping off of it and two, if I did put into words of how I felt following another heartbreaking loss that crushed the dreams of thousands of Clevelanders and published them onto this Web site, I wouldn’t have a job anymore.

A week later, I have calmed down and for the time being, stepped back from the ledge. It also doesn’t hurt to see the Boston Celtics once again manhandling their opponent which is healing some wounds rather quickly taking the focus off Cleveland collapsing and turning it to, maybe Boston was just that good.

Let’s face it. Everyone on the planet underestimated the Boston Celtics, myself included. Not only did I wish to face the Celtics, I wanted to pound them.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

It wasn’t a fluke either as they have since went onto the Eastern Conference Finals and are pounding the Orlando Magic, who up until a few days ago, were the favorites to win it all. How Boston is doing this, I have no idea. The team that went 27-27 in their final 54 games magically turned on some sort of switch and have been playing like men possessed for the past two weeks. I still keep expecting them to run out of gas and it’s just not happening.

But what is going on in Cleveland right now has nothing to do with what goes on on the court.

Everyone’s focus is on whether LeBron stays or leaves. A few weeks ago, it seemed like a lock he’d stay. Now, since “LeCollapse,” everyone is jumping off that bandwagon.

I’m not.

For the past seven years, even before the Cavs were winning, I thought LeBron would always stay here.

He always talks about building a legacy, playing for a winning team and being a loyal person. His friends from high school are his agents, business managers and help him with the most crucial decisions that he makes on and off the court.

It wouldn’t make sense for the kid from Akron who is literally treated like a God here to ever leave.

If he goes to New York, they’ll love him for a little while, until the teams goes on a three-game skid, or LeBron has a personal slump, and then the New York media first rips into his basketball game, then the New York tabloids find ways to tear his personal life down.

If he ever turned in a performance like he did in Game 5 in New York City, there would be people marching down the streets calling for his head. He’d be crucified.

He also said he’d never play for a coach who didn’t stress defense. Mike D’Antoni doesn’t know the meaning of defense. Not to mention, the talent level on New York is a joke. I don’t care if they have enough money to sign LeBron and another max free agent, which brings me to my next point.

All these guys, LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, say they’d all love to play together. It sounds nice, but deep down, these guys don’t want anything to do with each other on the court. They want the ball in their hands, they want to dominate possessions, they want the spotlight on themselves. When their team wins, they want to make sure people know why the team won. Their egos are too big to play with each other, to share the glory or the spotlight, which is why LeBron going to play in Miami with Wade doesn’t make any sense either, or LeBron teaming up with Bosh in New York.

Reports of him going to Chicago? Spare me.

As I already pointed out, LeBron wants his own legacy, not to live in the shadow of Michael Jordan who won six rings in Chicago.

LeBron can go to Chicago and win five rings and it still wouldn’t be good enough for Chicago fans. Nothing would be good enough in Chicago unless he won seven, and let’s be realistic, there are too many superstars in the NBA that balance out rosters so every year, or every few years, there will be new elite teams. This isn’t the early 90s anymore.

If you thought people compared LeBron to Jordan now, imagine LeBron playing in the house that Jordan built? Trust me, it wouldn’t be good enough.

LeBron wants his own legacy. Not to be a shadow of his idol.

Back to the ego point as well, Chicago has a fine young point guard who is an exceptional talent however, he puts up 18 shots a game. That is a lot for a point guard and only two less shots per game then LeBron puts up. I'm not sure those two would be a good combination or if they'd be able to share the spotlight.

The other teams that can sign him are New Jersey, Minnesota, Sacramento, Washington. Cross them all of the list. In fact, don’t even put them on the list.

New Jersey not getting the first or second pick in this year’s draft put a huge dent into their plans of reeling in LeBron. Also, the team not moving to Brooklyn for at least two to three more years doesn’t help either. I just don’t even see this being a possibility at this point.

I’m sure LeBron doesn’t even think about Sacramento, Washington or Minnesota being reasonable options. No, not even the Timberwolves own, Sasha Pavlovic, can convince LeBron playing there. The Wizards franchise is dysfunctional and Sacramento? Please, Chris Webber said he cried when he found out he was traded there.

Everyone also seems to forget, the Cavs can offer LeBron the most money. More often than not in sports, money talks (although, wherever LeBron signs, it's very likely he'll sign a shorter contract.)

The bottom line is, LeBron has been here all his life. Why leave now? The only team he knows, the only city he knows and the only fan base he knows who worship him. Why start over?

He has an owner - in my honest opinion, the best owner in sports - who is willing to bend over backwards to win and is doing everything short of naming LeBron the general manager. No matter what anyone says, LeBron has some serious pull with the decision process this team makes. Will he get that anywhere else?

To Cavs fans, the next six weeks are going to be brutal. You’ll hear every rumor in the book. Every move made by LeBron will be magnified and over-analyzed. One day he’ll be a lock to go to New York, the next week he’ll be condo-shopping in Chicago. Maybe we’ll hear about a European team offering LeBron $50 million to play overseas.

Don’t pay attention to any of it.

Sometime in early July, I truly expect LeBron to make the right decision.

Home is where the heart is.