“I have decided I’m going to take my talents to South Beach
and join the Miami Heat,” said LeBron James on 8 July 2010 in front of millions
of viewers on the unforgettable, “The Decision.” It not only made headlines for
what many considered a shocking and somewhat cowardice decision, but it also
marked the first time a guy and the media had made such a spectacle of his free
agency choice. It was after said decision, most sports fans thought no free
agency move would ever top LeBron’s
choice to go to Miami. Hot damn were we wrong.
Enter a top five NBA superstar on
the verge of a championship for the last five years by the name of Kevin Durant…aka
“K.D.” aka “The Durantula.” The guy who by all accounts gave new hope to the dismal
Seattle SuperSonics franchise now turned Oklahoma City Thunder. A former MVP
and rookie of the year, four time scoring champion, seven time all-star, and
five time All-NBA first team member. This ladies and gentlemen is the guy who
decided that competing until you win and conquer your opponent was not better
than joining the squad that a few months ago blocked your path to the NBA
finals. This is the guy who didn’t want to bother trying to atone for more than
a few disappearing acts during that crucial seven game series. A guy with those
credentials and a perceived Alpha male of arguably the best team in the NBA for
several years literally engaged in a horrendous case of the old adage, “If you
can’t beat em, join em.”
With this in mind, I gotta pose the
question…just what in the entire !@#$ has the NBA come to??!! Where are the
days in which guys insisted on
competing with one another? The days where everyone
wanted to be the king of the hill. Metaphorically speaking, the days of
death before dishonor? Let’s be clear, the OKC defeat was a mental meltdown of
epic proportions. They were clearly the better team as demonstrated by going up
3-1 with two of those victories being blowout wins. Anytime you go up that much
and lose the series, it’s strictly mental, nothing more and nothing less.
Given the fact that it’s mental, why
not stay and take another shot at it? Why not identify the cause of the loss
and spend the offseason fixing it? The same way you can work on the physical
aspects of your game, you can certainly work on the mental ones as well. The mental
ones that allow you to say WE ARE NOT COUGHING UP THIS GAT DAMN LEAD AND WE ARE
NOT ALLOWING THIS SERIES TO GO SEVEN GAMES!!!! Instead, you forfeit your elite
status to go team up with the guys who sent you packing last season. Folks may
not like this guy but MJ was spot on when he criticized LeBron’s decision by
saying, “I would never team up with Isiah, Magic, or Bird…I was trying to beat
those guys.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not
opposed to guys leaving their current teams in order to see what free agency
has to offer. It’s all about what team they choose to go to and the reasoning
behind it. Can you really point to any other reason besides championship chasing
for Durant’s departure to Golden State. If so, please be my guest at explaining
why someone with his credentials at 27 years of age would make this move. Championship
or not, Durant may still make it to the hall of fame, but he isn’t going
without an asterisk next to his name and a tarnished legacy. He, along with
LeBron James, will be perfect examples of a classic Jadakiss line, “Rappers
more commercially successful but the heart’s a lot weaker.” Remixed for hoops
purposes, “Ball players more heavily branded and endorsed but not interested in
competing worth a shit.”
