Lebron returning to Cleveland is one of the hottest rumors, worst kept secret out there huh. So the question that needs to be asked is simple, do we want him back? The simple answer in my opinion is yes. Of course this isn't really a simple answer and if it was this would be an extremely short post and I would be posting to this blog a whole lot more often then what I do now.
I am in my mid 30's and have been a Cleveland sports fan my entire life. I have not been as invested in a team as I was with the LBJ era Cavs since I was in high school watching the Tribe routinely come back from double digit deficits. I went to six Cavs games the year before LBJ, and saw six of the Cavs seventeen wins that year. I remember my Dad complaining when we won the season finale because now we were only tied for the worst record and had less ping pong balls for the draft. That did not matter, the ping pong balls fell our way, we didn't draft Melo or Milicic, how could we not break our drought now.
Lebron's "decision" was the biggest punch to the gut since Modell took our team away and that baseball sailed over Nagy's outstretched glove. It was over, Cleveland was no longer the center of the NBA. I felt betrayed, how could he do that, he's one of us, but he did not see it that way. He no longer wanted to play for a team built around his strengths, he wanted to go to a team that had another top 5 talent. We will never know if it was the right "decision" sure he has a ring right now but had he stayed who knows he might have two.
I want to see the Cavs win the title. If LBJ is a free agent in 2014 it would be hard to imagine a scenario where we would be in a better position to do that without him then with him. Kyrie is already a top 10 talent in this league, the two of them together could very well be the most devastating duo to take the court. The Cavs are building this team different then the last time they had a franchise changing star and I like our chances with Kyrie as our future, but if the stars align for us to take that shortcut in 2014, how can we pass it up.
Lebron does need to take ownership in the fact that he went ring less in his tenure here. He can't be the reason we won 60+ games but not the reason we fell short of the title, it doesn't work like that. I can't think of a realistic opportunity the Cavs missed on to get better quickly during the LBJ years. In hindsight Shaq would have looked good in the eastern conference finals against Orlando in 09 but I was happy at the deadline passed without that move being made. The Magic was a match up nightmare for us, shot like a 114% from three point land in the series and we still could have won that had the ball bounced differently about three times that week. Winning it all is hard, it's supposed to be, but it seems like leaving was the only way he was going to learn that lesson.
Why would Lebron want to come back? Let's face it any team Lebron is on in the near future is a title contender. I think he does now realize that not winning here was more on him then anyone else. Except for when he was hugging that trophy last year I think he really enjoyed his time here better then he is right now in Miami. Had he never left he could have been in the same breath of Jordan by getting probably 3 or 4 rings, once he did leave he now needs to get a ring for each finger to get into that conversation.
So if he has 2 or 3 rings come 2014 when the new CBA really hampers the chance to have 3 max salaries on one roster, where would he be best served to win multiple titles. Teaming up with one of the best young talents in the game, an owner who has proven he gives his team a chance to succeed each year. I think Lebron will realize there truly is no place like home. Will he click his Nike's three times in 2014 and make it happen, only time will tell.
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