Friday, May 29, 2009

Open letter to LeBron James

LeBron,

You've had a hell of a year! You are the best in the world at what you do! So far in your career you have also proven to not only be a heck of an athlete, but an outstanding role model for children, as well as a likable personality for fans. With unimaginable media attention and scrutiny, you take everything in stride. You are to be commended for that.

Your team is currently down 3-2 to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. You may still come back, win the series and the the NBA Championship. I wish you the best in that pursuit. However, after this season you are going to be faced with a big decision. What to do with the rest of your career.

You are under contract with Cleveland for only one more year. They may try to lock you up in a long term deal this summer. Don't fall for it! Wait and go free agent next year. You are going to win championships whereever you play, it's just a matter of how many. Get out of Cleveland! Danny Ferry is a bad GM, despite his Executive of the Year award. You won him that award.The team he has put around you is silly! You are a point guard! There's no reason to have a short player on the court called point guard that doesn't play point guard. You need to play for a GM that will put a big guard (that can shoot) on the court with you, and a forward that has size, or at least height comparable to your own and is versatile. Think Shane Battier type of a player.

The sheer size of such a lineup would cause untold match up problems for other teams. During Shaquille's era in Orlando, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, and Dennis Scott were all 6'7" or taller and created match up problems that propelled them to the finals.

However, despite being surrounded with inferior players you are also hampered by an inferior coach. Despite any personal feelings you may have for him, Mike Brown is a horrendous coach. I could go on for days about basic coaching mistakes he makes, but it would be pointless. He doesn't even get you the ball in position for you to create effectively, you have to work to get there yourself. Furthermore he doesn't use the players on your team in a way in which they can effectively compliment you as well as they could. Spacing is often horrendous, they move without the ball poorly when moving effectively would provide themselves with additional scoring oppurtunities via your pass. Team defense is unsightly. Help is always a step late if it gets there at all. Again, I could go on for days, but I digress.

As to where you should go.... Not New York! It would be worst than staying in Cleveland, sports writers would love the story, but New York has been a consistently inept organization. They have a new and very good GM and Coach, but you don't want anything to do with New York. Even when they have had talent through the years, New York has had the tendency to smother players with the glitz of the city.

You and Dwight Howard in Orlando would be unbeatable, lots of records, lots of rings, and lots of wins. Don't go to a team like New Orleans. Chris Paul is an excellent player, but he's a point guard and so are you!

A team and particularly coach that would fit you well would be Utah! Jerry Sloan is the best coach in the NBA. He wins 50 games and goes to the playoffs every single year, with talent or without! Now idiots will tell you that it's a small market, unlike New York, L.A., or Chicago and that that's bad. Yeah, whatever, you'll make the market big. They're going to televise your games more than any other player, the media isn't going to forget about you in a smaller market, so go where you want! But again, Sloan is the best in the business.

Another gripe about a small market is that they can't pay you as much as a bigger market team with tons of cap room like New York. What idiots that would suggest such a thing can't comprehend is that your basketball money is merely going to pay the taxes on your endorsement deals, that will grow if you go to a team that provides you a good coach and teammates and allows you to win many rings.

Therefore, I wish you well in your decision and simply caution you to stay away from Cleveland and New York.

Yours Respectfully,

Todd Wilson