Cleveland Is My City: LeBron Returns to Cavs

LeBron James came home. Many people are praising him for returning to the place he called home for the
first seven years, and the state he grew up in.  It is great for the NBA. The idea of LeBron going to Houston or Los Angeles would be the same, old tired narrative about James leaving for a better opportunity as he sees a sinking ship with Miami.  LeBron heading back to Cleveland brings everybody back to the player that a majority of the country loved and adorned for years. It couldn't have been played more perfectly from James as he won the Summer.

We all know about the letter by now.  Sports Illustrated Lee Jenkins is the best NBA feature writer right now with Zach Lowe of Grantland right there in another capacity, but Jenkins writes elegant features doing athletes very fair. James' camp gave him the scoop where the newest Cavalier explained the whole situation in his own words where Jenkins made The King's words into his own. The idea of calling Miami his version of college couldn't have been said better.  It was a four-year journey where James got his degree in championships. Even though I am new media (Actually I am nothing, but whatever), it was refreshing to see old media getting the biggest sports story of the summer.

LeBron comes to the team as the 'old man.'  This hasn't happened yet and it is so damn fascinating to see how it will play out.  James has always been the leader of the team, but Miami and former Cleveland always had multiple older players. Now LBJ has a stable of young players like Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters. Granted, Mike Miller or Ray Allen could be on this team, yet right now, there are only two players older than James. It is a group of young guns playing with a guy they might have looked up to in the last decade. All of these players will get better even Waiters whose been the runt of this group. There have been much talk about Waiters-Irving relationship, but it feels like this could be a huge step for Waiters.

Many people wonder why James could play for Dan Gilbert, the same guy whom ripped him with Comic Sans on the night of The Decision. The fact of the matter is time heals all wounds. Gilbert is a clown. He is an unlikable figure in the NBA, but at the same time, he made a hell of a pitch to get LeBron back to Cleveland. He is a salesman and did just that with LeBron. I don't think this will be like the first time around where Gilbert found his hands in everything. He might not be able to help himself which could be the downfall, but James signing a two-year deal puts everyone in the front office on notice. They need to win right now and don't drive LeBron away from Cleveland again.

James says he will not leave Cleveland. He wants a better deal in 2016 when TV money could be readily available for James to bankroll himself. If anyone is calling him greedy should take a long look in the mirror because everyone would have taken James short-deal to make it an even bigger deal in 2016.   The jury is out whether he should be believed right now or not. If Cleveland doesn't make the NBA Finals in these two years, does James start getting the thirst to look elsewhere or does he really want to bring another championship to Cleveland?  That's a question left out in space to ponder in the next coming years.

Cleveland becomes a contender in the Eastern Conference, and the Central Division becomes the beast of the Eastern Conference. This is a bad news for Milwaukee's professional basketball program. People love the idea of the Bucks playing in this division because it will toughen them up playing against high competition, 12 or 16 times (Detroit could be pretty good too) and who cares if they loses heavily. I get that whole idea, but what needs to be realized is Milwaukee needs to start winning early and often to build the momentum from the casual fan base as an attempt to buy people in on a new arena. If Milwaukee continues to be in last place, there will not be much growth for this Bucks team.

LeBron will head back to Cleveland in one of the most anticipated starts to the NBA season. There are some games where we want to see what the crowd will look like versus the actual game itself.  That's what late October in Cleveland will be like this year.

Charlie.