Heavy Is The Head

The postmortem on the failure of the Cleveland Cavaliers to bring home a championship for their city has been severe and somewhat befuddling. The focus of course, is on Lebron James and his quest for a title. Because he is easily their best player, an inordinate amount of blame is being laid at his feet.

Take these quotes from a variety of sportswriters:

Michael Wilbon: "James seemed lethargic, without his usual blast furnace of energy, as if after seven years he simply buckled under the weight of being the hometown icon. He seemed, again, overwhelmed, boxed in by the expectations, by the specter of free agency and his pending decision."

Chris Spielman (Columbus talk radio host): "Tell LeBron he's a leader. Tell him to act likes he cares."

Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "I believe James' right elbow was a problem. But the bigger problem was his disconnect in attitude."

ESPN's Skip Bayless even went as far to say that Lebron may have been exaggerating his injury to his elbow so he would have an excuse after the Cav's fell to the Celtics.

Now, there are a lot of things you can say about the Cavaliers and their melt down against the Boston Celtics, but blaming Lebron for the loss is like blaming Jordan for losing to the Pistons over and over again in the playoffs before the Bulls got over the hump. Sure, he has to take some of the blame, but laying it all at his feet is to practice unsound judgment.

There are many reasons why the Cav's lost to the Celtics. Here are a few (in order of significance):

1) Mike Brown: I have often defended Brown (if somewhat passively) as a fine defensive coach. However, it is clear from the last two seasons that he has been plainly out coached by Boston's Doc Rivers and last year, by Orlando's Stan Van Gundy. His inability to make adjustments is unsightly. He never had a single effective strategy against Rondo. His team was clueless against the pick and roll. His substitution strategy was desperate. And don't get me started on his inability to come up with anything more than give Lebron the ball and get out of the way on offense. If the Cav's want to advance next year, Brown has got to go.

2) Rajon Rondo: The Cav's knew that Rondo was the toughest match up for their guards going into the series, and boy were they ever right. For as much talk of the Celtics big three (Garnett, Pierce, and Allen) as there is, you would think Rondo was simply a complimentary player. Not true. Rondo is now unquestionably the best player on the Celtics. Look no further than the sick triple double Rondo put up in game 4 (29 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists) for evidence. It didn't matter who the Cav's put on Rondo, he simply went around them like they were sitting in a chair.

3) Supporting cast: The Celtics have 4 "A" level players. Rondo, Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, while the Cav's have James and...well, James. Much was made of the Cav's improved roster going into the 2009-10 season. But upon a closer look, it's easy to see that these guys do not make up a championship level roster. The three best players on the team after Lebron are Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and Shaq. Williams is clearly a "B" level player. He can drain a jumper and get to the hole if you go to sleep on him. That's about it. Jamison has spent a career putting up big numbers on mediocre teams or worse. And Shaq? Well, Shaq is calcifying before our very eyes. To say that he lumbers up and down the court is an insult to lumbering. Yes, he still can impact a game with this size, but he gets killed on the pick and roll, and simply can't make up his defensive shortcomings anymore by being dominant on the offensive end.

4) Amare Stoudemire: What's that you say? Amare plays for the Suns not the Cav's? Exactly. There was a point this year when the Suns were looking to unload his contract and the Cav's went for Jamison instead of Stoudemire. Huge mistake. Did I say huge? Yes, indeed. The Cav's favored Jamison because of his outside shooting and the belief that Stoudemire and Shaq could not co-exist. Well, how did that work out? Jamison was the invisible man for most of the series against the Celtics, and to say that Stoudemire and Shaq could not play together is plainly false. As team mates on the Suns last year, Stoudemire averaged 21.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while Shaq averaged 17.8 and 8.4 (well above this season). If that's an example of not being able to play together, then I will eat my hat.

5) Lebron's Elbow: James clearly wasn't 100% against the Celtics. Any one who saw their clinching victory in the previous round against the Bulls when at the end of game 4 James shot a free throw left handed, knows that he was hurting. Still, in the six game series, James averaged over 29 points per game and scored 27 to go along with 19 rebounds and 10 assists in game six. Hardly a choke.

Now, this doesn't mean that Lebron has no responsibility. If your nickname is "King James" and your ad slogan is "we are all witnesses," you are going to take some heat. In the end, he is the Cavalier most able to affect the outcome of a game. But he's not alone out there. Well, actually maybe he is. If you were watching game six, it certainly seemed that way. Before Lebron, the Cavaliers were often known as the "Cadavers" for their desultory play. Against Boston, that pejorative made a comeback. The fact that Lebron has been able to drag this slightly above average group to 60 plus wins the last two years is pretty remarkable.

At this point, James has become a victim of his own individual success. Consecutive MVP trophies coupled with those back to back 60 win seasons have increased expectations to typical--if unreasonable--levels. When you add on the accepted opinion that Lebron is the best overall player in the NBA, then the comparison that comes next is the cruelest of all...Michael Jordan.

The NBA is littered with "The next Michale Jordan." At one point or another, Kobe, Grant Hill, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and others have had this title thrust upon them. Can we please just retire this notion? There is no next Michael Jordan. Sure, Kobe comes the closest, but even he won 3 of his 4 titles while being the second best player on his team to an in his prime Shaquille O'Neal.

In fact, Lebron more like a more athletic Magic Johnson than Michael Jordan. Two guys who took their fair share of playoff lumps too.

It's easy to forget that Magic was considered a "choke artist" after they lost in the 1984 finals to the Celtics. His clutch time turnovers in that series had every sportswriter’s pen aghast at his performance.

As well, Jordan had to wait seven years before he got his first championship in 1991. For three years, the Pistons owned Jordan and the Bulls. It was only when Phil Jackson came aboard and Scottie Pippen became an elite player that Jordan's Bulls were able to take the title.

So, I would caution anybody who is writing Lebron's obituary at the tender age of 25. Anyone who bets against this guy ever winning a title is not practicing responsible prognostication. All Lebron needs is a better coach and one "A" level team mate to close the deal. I have no idea whether he will get that in Cleveland or not. But eventually, he will get it somewhere.

And when he does, all those criticisms will float away. Does anyone ever talk about Jordan's struggles against the Pistons, or Magic's bad series against the Celtics? Nope. All forgotten. I suspect that all these same sports scribes will have no trouble getting down with the king when James hoists his first trophy. Because if there is one thing american sports writer's like to do, it's tear down then exalt. Rinse and repeat.

Sumo-Pop
May 14, 2010