Europe expanded the game. China is a marketer’s dream. Africa would be “the great leap forward” for pro basketball as we know it.

Bob Ryan, with a condensed break down of Miami’s roster. Keep in mind that Bob Ryan has forgotten more about the NBA than most of us will ever know. Plus, he ends his quick column by making the point we must all remember: The title? The Lakers are still the champs, last I heard.

While the HEAT may have won the off-season title, the NBA only gives out one trophy. In June. The Lakers have re-tooled, extremely well I might add, & will be properly motivated. The are the two-time champs, as well as the favorites. As long as both these teams stay healthy & avoid the drama that will shadow them both, we will be in for an epic post-season in 2011. 

Too bad it’s 8+ months away… 

(winston wolfe) 

While not quite on the same level of the Windhorst piece, Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald does add some interesting talking points to the discussion in the column linked here. He grabbed my attention with this initial thought:

He chose to take less money. He chose to sacrifice being the singular star of his team in order to share the stage — and in a city that belonged to another star, no less. He chose to admit to all that he needed to lean on a friend for help. He chose to go from the easy and forever love of little Cleveland to unholy criticism that would wildfire-spread from the burning jerseys in his hometown to a smoldering that would engulf our entire sports nation. He chose to go from hero to villain. Chose it. Think about that. He chose to go from love to hate. And he chose to subjugate his enormous ego in the name of team. In other words, he put winning above all else — above money, adoration, even home.

And that’s a bad thing? Doesn’t America usually love that kind of rah-rah sacrifice in sports? Don’t those ideals usually get transformed into Hoosiers instead of Hatred? Given his standing, the reigning two-time MVP in his prime at 25, it is only a decision that is without precedent in the history of American sports. If people wouldn’t laugh you out of the room because he is making $110 million for bouncing a basketball, you could make the argument that what James did, if indeed he was aware of the backlash it would cause, was damn near noble and brave. Pioneers rarely get to be popular while in the middle of the pioneering. Real leadership always risks unpopularity.

While I am certainly not ready to give LeBron a medal for his “courage under fire” as LeBatard seems to be, I do think many in the league who are speaking out against his actions should be prepared for the consequences. This is definitely a  column worth reading for perspective. Maybe even more so is the one William C. Rhoden of the NYT did the other day on LBJ being attacked by his former employer. This point I thought to be outstanding, as most of Rhoden’s writing is, was this:

Yet it was Gilbert who created the King James monster; it was Gilbert who nurtured and reinforced James’s prima donna-isms, all of the preening and dancing. Now he acts like a lover scorned and lashes out with gibberish about karma and curses.

Gilbert must think he really owned LeBron James.

Surely, he understands business. You win some, you lose some. With LeBron James, Gilbert won a lot more than he lost. Now, Gilbert has lost a gem in James. And he has lost respect. He has released enough players and let go of enough employees to understand that loyalty, especially in sports, is largely a matter of convenience and timing.

So before you close the book on Lebron and his escapades, read these two pieces. They offer perspective. The same goes for the post brainworks did for us. It offered a true NBA fan’s point of view, to go along with the media’s, which as we all may be colored by a hidden agenda. On our blog he asked, “What Hath LeBron Wrought?”. We may not know that answer until June of 2011 or maybe even 2012. My fear is that we may be asking, “How will the NBA ever stop the fury of Lebron James”? There is no debating that LeBron has been given everything in his life either too soon or too easily. In my opinion, that may have been what’s kept the fire, the same fire all the great ones have within themselves, from igniting in LeBron’s heart & mind. 

If that’s the case, then the fury of LeBron James may be something each and every detractor may regret ever demanding to see.

(winston wolfe)