Of Moths and Light: LeBron Continues to Play Opponents and Media Well

LeBron can’t so much as make a lay-up in the New York metro area without some idiot interpreting it as a sign that he wants to leave Cleveland. The AP account of last night’s Cavs victory over the Nets begins like so: “With free agency awaiting him in 2010, LeBron James put on a show for the New York metropolitan area and its deep-pocket teams highlighted by length-of-the court sprint to block a dunk by Devin Harris.”

The reference to “deep-pocket teams” is particularly ridiculous, as the Cavs hold LeBron’s “Bird Rights,” thus can and will offer him substantially more money than any other team. Yet the meme persists, despite the oft-pointed-out fact, already proven by LeBron, that in today’s world he simply doesn’t need a “big media market” to maintain his mega-stardom, or his mega-endorsement deals. As CBSportsline’s Greg Doyel puts it, “LeBron doesn't have to become a moth and chase the light of New York.”

In fact, if anything, LeBron’s legacy would only be tarnished if he skipped town before bringing a championship to his hometown. It would be a tangible unqualified failure on his resume that would be far more significant than a failure to win in any given season. He would be viewed by many as a quitter and a sell-out. Moreover, in addition to keeping Mo Williams and most of the core of young talent that currently surrounds LeBron, in 2010, the Cavs will be in a position to offer a max-contract to another free agent in addition to LeBron. (LeBosh, anyone?) The Cavs are as well-poised as any franchise to surround LeBron with championship-winning talent by 2010.

But of course, as we’ve pointed out before, it’s in LeBron’s interest to keep the “big markets” salivating. He has every incentive to make every NBA fan think that LeBron might join their team. It gets him more attention, it helps him sell more shoes, and he’s that much more of a hero when he decides to stay here in the end. It seems right that ‘Bron is milking this opportunity for all it’s worth.

Though he lost his grip on the udders in October when his emotions got the best of him at a “voter registration” (aka Obama) rally in Cleveland. "Thank you, Cleveland. Of course you know I love you all, of course. I love Ohio, and I ain't going nowhere. I'll be here."

This is almost certainly true. Though everyone outside of Ohio is more than happy to accept LeBron’s tortured explanation as to what he really meant, 45 days later: "I'm from there, and so home is home for me. And that's the way I was feeling at that time. Home is -- no matter where you go or if you ever move somewhere else, it don't matter -- home is always going to be home, and that was what I was basically letting them know."

Indeed, the urge to believe that LeBron would never stay in Cleveland is so strong that folks now want us to believe that he will leave for Detroit. (Detroit!?!?!?) Joe Dumars is now being hailed as a genius for trading Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson to clear space to sign LeBron in 2010. The story goes that LeBron will be lured to Detroit by its “culture of winning,” even though the Cavs beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals two seasons ago, and gave the eventual champion Celtics a much better match than the Detroit team did in the playoffs last season. This same story also holds that LeBron will be influenced by the strong Detroit connections of agent Leon Rose, and advisor William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley, as if Rose and Wesley weren’t moths to LeBron’s light. Yet folks like Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski gleefully write that Detroit’s recent trade will make it “an agonizing two years in Cleveland.” Wojnarowski used that phrase twice in the same article. “Cleveland would never recover [from losing LeBron],” he writes, as if the people of Cleveland were strangers to hard times. It’s hard to tell whether this brand of yellow sports journalism/schadenfreude is more disrespectful to Cleveland, or to LeBron himself.

In any event, one consequence of the Iverson trade that we can be sure of is that it makes the Pistons a worse team right now. Meanwhile, the Cavs are as well-built as they’ve ever been. While this might be a tough spot for the Cavs, on the second night of a back-to-back on the road, these teams are currently moving in opposite directions. Enough of a reason for us to pick the Cavs to make another dent in the Piston’s “culture of winning” in the teams’ first match of the season tonight. The Pick: Cavs +2.5 over the Pistons (three times).

Update -- 4:45 PM -- The New York Post's Jay Greenberg weighs in nicely on the topic: "'Unless Nike steps up with some massive, eight-figure, Michael-Jordan-equity-type of deal to have him in New York, LeBron is not going to make more money there,' said Chicago-based sports business consultant Marc Ganis. 'And in this economic climate, we don't know where Nike will be [in 2010].

"'Another $2 million a year from Sprite isn't going to make a difference when the CBA [collective-bargaining agreement] will allow the Cavaliers to pay him more [$133 million to $102 million] than any other team. And he gets a tremendous amount of attention already in Cleveland.' The 9-2 Cavs, who have added a significant scoring and passing option in Mo Williams to a team that took Boston to Game 7 last spring, will have the cap room to offer fellow big-time 2010 free agents Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire a chance to play with James. Certainly beats the opportunity to play with Danilo Gallinari."