A Heat Fan’s Perspective — The King Returns to Cleveland
When I woke up this morning and saw the news that Lebron had chosen to go back to the Cavs, I admit, as a long-time Heat fan, I was pretty disappointed. But, I’m not mad or angry at him. How could you be? This guy brought the Heat 4 amazing years — a trip to the finals every year, and 2 rings.
If you go back 4 years ago, when he had “The Decision,” you can find on my blog, a lengthy post about how I really didn’t like it, how I didn’t like him as a person (and to be honest, I never really gave into the hype about him as a player at the time either), and how I felt Lebron was taking an easy way out by leaving CLE, and so on.
The first year he was with the Heat, he still hadn’t really won me over… I couldn’t get used to every one saying “Lebron and the Heat” instead of “Dwyane Wade and the Heat,” especially since D.Wade has been my all-time favorite player every since I saw him play in 06. I didn’t like all the hype, all the pressure in year 1, and the immense amount of hate that surrounded the team because of The Decision. And honestly, I really didn’t like Lebron during that first year of the Big Three era, nothing seemed to click, they seemed to have gotten through the playoffs based on amount of talent, and that talent was definitely not enough in the finals.
The second year, marred by the NBA lockout, was when I started to buy in on the whole ‘King James’ thing. You could tell that he worked A LOT on his game during the off-season, and you could tell that after the first bout of scrutiny that the Miami Heat had in year 1, this year would be different, knowing what to expect, been there done that now let’s move on kind of attitude. It was more about being a TEAM this year. With Wade coming out and saying that he had decided to take a step back and let James lead his team, I was a bit disappointed, but ultimately, it became obvious that this was necessary in order for the Heat to be successful. And they were, a well deserved ring numero uno for The King, and dos for Wade! The most enlightening part of year 2, besides the championship, was seeing how the Big 3 had to humble themselves to get it, especially Lebron. In my eyes, he really grew up, showing awareness, responsibility, and a different attitude, and I really admired that.
Year 3, man, what a year!! Even after winning the championship, it seemed like everyone on the Heat got back in the gym and worked their tails off, because this year all cylinders were clicking — everyone was playing well, people were stepping up when their number was called, and as a Heat fan, it felt like I was on cloud nine. Also, a 27-game win streak?! What?! Lebron showed why he was The King, and deserving of all his accolades, and I became a defender of him. Oh, how the turn tables, right? It’s hard for me to understand why people can’t even respect the guy as a player, like, how can you not see that he is the best player in the world? How can you not see that he has worked his butt off to make himself better and to better help his team? It’s weird when I think about how much I disliked him at the time of The Decision, and even in year 1. Not much else to say about this year, except for another ring for Batman, and more importantly, another ring for Robin (Dwyane Wade all the way).
And now we are at this past year, year 4 of the Big 3 era. At the beginning of the regular season, I kind of already had a feeling that this year was going to be a lot different than any of the last 3 years — first, exhaustion from playing in back-to-back-to-back playoffs finals; second, Dwyane Wade and his knees; third, the slight pressure for a three-peat. Throughout the season, Lebron continued to be Lebron, Bosh was pretty consistent and helped the team in various ways, while Wade sat out a number of games to rest up his knee in preparation for playoffs. The amount of games Wade missed did slightly effect the Heat when it came to playoff seeds, but obviously, seeds don’t matter that much and they still got to the finals. The only thing I didn’t really see coming was the lack of production from the surrounding roster. Sure, you need your superstars to always execute, but in the past, if one of them is a little off for the night, a guy or a few guys (Chalmers, Cole, Battier, etc.) always seemed to be able to step up and make up for it. That didn’t happen, and the collapse of the supporting cast, along with the lack of production from Bosh and Wade in in the finals, made year 4’s playoffs finals very depressing to watch. Also, the Spurs were absolutely the better team in the matchup. But seeing the Lebron and the Heat go out on a whimper, was definitely demoralizing.
But hey, you can’t win them all. If there were any team to lose to in the end, I’d have the Heat lose to the Spurs any day.
Rebuilding the roster around the Big 3 was obviously the ideal situation I wanted, and I thought everything was right on track with the signing of Napier. However, you can never underestimate the power of being/coming home.
Comparing his primetime ‘Decision’ 4 years ago, to his incredibly well thought out essay on SI.com today, you can see how much he has grown, in these past 4 years, as a person. And the fact that he attributes this growth to his time being in Miami, fills me with a sense of pride for the Heat franchise.
Thank YOU, Lebron, for 4 amazing years with the Heat. As a Heat fan, I’ll definitely miss you, but best wishes in your future endeavors! I know you will do whatever it takes to succeed, with both hard work and with class. Your continued growth and work ethic has been incredibly inspiring and you have definitely gained a new fan during your stay with the Heat.
I’ll always be rooting for you to succeed (except when against Miami, obviously).
Go on home, Lebron. Do good, and Godspeed.
