Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Terry Pluto Is Living In Denial Re LeBron

"Too early to talk about it?" Give me a break. What I'm wondering is: What took everyone so long? Some of us have been spouting this for years already.

Here's my question: Resignation aside, why don't Cavs fans just enjoy the next two seasons? That's what Pluto should have said. (Second question: If LeBron leaves, will Cavs fans hate him?)

Another: Why aren't Cavs fans more outraged that LeBron does nothing to quash the speculation (his lack of quashing a big reason that there is speculation to begin with)?

Perhaps it's because they're so afraid that if they express any outrage about it, it provides him with a more convenient excuse to leave -- which he is going to do anyway.

(Presuming that Cavs ownership eventually realizes that there's no way in hell that LeBron is staying, I hope they have the good sense to deal him at the 2010 trading deadline.)

So there you have it, Cavs fans: Enjoy the next two seasons and STFU -- OR -- get noisy about it and force LeBron to make the same commitment to you that you have to him.

Those are the only two options that retain any modicum of self-respect for yourselves; what most of you are doing now -- irrational and angry denial at those who say Brooklyn is a done-deal and/or meek acquiescence toward LeBron himself -- is slightly pathetic.

-- D.S.

8 comments:

Jeff V said...

Great point here. If Cleveland fans could corner Lebron into telling them whether or not he is planning to stay there they could at least move forward in a progressive way.

For instance, if Lebron admits he wants out in two years they could simply trade him now to a team more likely to resign him and get lots of great players/picks in return in the mean time.

Unknown said...

Where is all the talk of Wade leaving Miami? How come it's only LeBron?

The only reason it's a story is because the media wants it to be. They love comments like the one earlier this week, but ignore the MANY comments where he says he loves Cleveland and is only focused on winning here. But that gets ignored because it doesn't further the "story" of LeBron leaving. How is that not quashing rumors. If any thing it's twisted into saying how that's what any player would say, yet it takes a lot more twisting to turn a question asked to LBJ about his fave city into a declaration that LBJ is leaving.

Nobody has yet to explain why LeBron would leave other than Jay-Z. That makes no sense, what can Jay-Z do for LeBron in Brooklyn that he hasn't already done for him in Cleveland? He only owns 2% of the Nets. Unless Jay-Z throws in Beyonce, that's not enough to make LeBron leave.

In Cleveland, LeBron can get more years, more money, stay close to home, will play with teammates he knows and will be a contender. In NY/NJ, LBJ has less years, less money, loses the family/friends (other than Jay-Z, will have to adjust to new players and will be rebuilding.

LBJ is already global, its not like moving to NY will make bigger than he already is.

Any Cleveland fans are outraged and fed up. Feed up with the media BS about LeBron leaving. How can we enjoy LBJ when every week it's another hack writing about how LeBron is gone. We heard this all before, but the LeBron shocked the world when he decided to stay in Cleveland.

Don't be shocked when he does it again.

Josh R. said...

You're right: the Cavs can offer more money to Lebron than the Nets will be able to.

You're wrong: he would be able to make more money in New York - it's the media capital of the world, which only amplifies his star power. It's the biggest stage you can possibly play on, bigger than LA or Chicago and, yes, Cleveland. He can be on TV all the time hawking his Nike apparel (which I've read hasn't performed all that well in comparison to, say, Tiger's, so perhaps the additional attention would be beneficial). Plus, he would have a big fat ticket into dominating the China market with Yi next to him.

The only way Lebron leaves is if Paxon continues to show an inability to put a team around him. (JJ Hickson? Really? So, you're gonna just keep on going with the Will Smith offense of Lebron dribbling at the top of the key for 18 seconds and then pulling something out his butt? brilliant!) But, if the management there can't put a convincing team together, and only then would Lebron look into staying.

Play with teammates he knows is all fine and good...if they're good. But they haven't really been. The question ultimately becomes (two years hence): is Devin Harris, a frontcourt led by Yi and Lopez and whatever comes from Vince Carter > or < than Delonte West, the aging bones of Big Z, and whatever they can get out of Wally's Expiring Contract. That's an open question. From the looks of it, I'd say New Jersey, but that's speculation.

Michael W said...

Bleh, hard to feel ANY sympathy for Cleveland fans after what has happened to Seattle. Here's to hoping they can remake the Sonics soon. Get on that, Stern.

Amar said...

Dan-
How long have you been talking about his now? Three years? Four? Five? You just can't seem to shut the F up about it. In fact, every time something good happens for LeBron and the Cavs, you pretend like it was a tree falling in the forest and nobody heard it. The minute LeBron either says the words "New," "York," "Jay," or the letter "Z," even if they are 45 words apart from each other at any given moment, you have a massive orgasm online. That's pretty much the story with you, my "friend" (or not).

You already acted as though it was a foregone conclusion that LeBron would leave after his rookie contract. He didn't, and furthermore, you - being the baseless, rambling, uncredentialed pile of dung that you are - didn't even offer to take your lumps about how ridiculously wrong you were (and still are). You have been so wrong about this entire ordeal from Day 1, yet you continue to act like you know what you're talking about here.

I've got news for you (and just for you, because common sense should have figured this out for the rest of the world): you don't. You don't have a freaking clue.

Like somebody else mentioned here, talk about Wade leaving Miami, because that team just lost 67 freaking games. Talk about Durant leaving the Sonics, because that team just downsized from Seattle to Oklahoma City. Hell, even talk about Chris Paul leaving New Orleans if you get your rocks off to seeing guys who mean so much to a community just up and leave.

You'd do yourself and your credibility a whole hell of a lot of good if you just never talked about the Cavs, LeBron, or for that matter, the NBA ever again (to be honest, don't talk about anything ever again, but I can't help it when my pissed off readers always email me about something insanely idiotic that you just wasted bandwidth on).

You didn't eat the dog shit you were supposed to in '06, and you won't eat it in '10. So why make all these predictions and talk so authoritatively about them when you don't own up to any of it???????

WFNYCraig said...

Cleveland showed a hell of a lot of outrage when LeBron showed up at the Indians' playoff game last year with his Yankees cap on. We make noise about him committing to us the way we commit to him.

And regarding Terry Pluto's point, maybe you just didn't get it. Pluto is saying that a lot of things change in the course of a year or two. Just ask Dwayne Wade and Miami who went from championship to trading shaq and giving minutes to Ricky Davis.

To think that you can predict the future in the NBA is stupid. Pau Gasol couldn't predict the future. Shawn Marion couldn't predict the future. KG couldn't have predicted the future. Things change in a MAJOR way in a small amount of time. With those things in mind, it is WAY TOO EARLY TO LET THIS DOMINATE HEADLINES.

And don't attack Terry Pluto. It just makes you look stupid. He never writes his way into a corner with a definitive black and white proclamation. He presents his thoughts as he is thinking about them and freely admits when he has been wrong.

The last time I checked he researched and wrote an entire book about LeBron James with Brian Windhorst. He has followed LeBron since his Akron days. Yet, you are going to sit out here and throw stones at him?

Based on what?

Anonymous said...

Brian: Well said.

Joshua: Paxson hasn't been the GM for years... Welcome to the show.

buu said...

i will agree in that im pretty much through talking about all of this and will just try to enjoy the next 2 years of lebron being in a cavaliers uniform.

with that being said, lebron IS on tv all the time hawking all sorts of stuff from vitamin water to nike apparel. the sluggish sales/underperformance of his nike stuff can be traced more directly to the current state of the industry and questionable marketing choices (they axed "the lebrons" for pete
s sake!) rather than "oh, your shoes don't sell well because youre in cleveland."

and dan, while you may say that pluto is in denial, i think hes right to say that its too soon to really talk about it. in a recent q&a podcast he did for cleveland.com, he put it like this: 2 years ago the heat were the world champions, the lakers were the cellar, and the celtics had a starting 5 consisting of wally, delonte, and ricky davis. kobe bryant wanted to be traded, and everyone had paul pierce being traded. my how things have changed in 2 years, right?

so to say that he/cavs fans are simply saying these things because we're in denial is in itself a denial that things can go either way, which of course they can. i think what pluto, waitingfornextyear, cavalier attitude and other defenders of the "lebron has good reason to stay in cleveland" mentality are simply doing is stating that: lebron has as many reasons to stay (if not more) than he has to leave. so dan, why dont you just relax, and join us in "S'ingTFU" and wait to see what happens?

and joshua r, paxson isnt the cavs gm, but i agree that most of this will come down to what team lebron thinks can compete for and win a championship, and until then, its all speculation.

RIP the seattle supersonics.