Friday Bolts – LEBRON LEBRON LEBRON
Something I tweeted that I felt was worthy of re-mentioning: I guess we can pretty much lock up KD winning the next 10 consecutive scoring titles or so, right? With Wade and LeBron now sharing points, I guess his only real competition is ‘Melo.
Bill Simmons in his column yesterday on LeBron: “When Kevin Durant announced his own five-year, $86 million extension with an endearingly simple tweet yesterday, we all had the same thought: “Now that’s how it’s done.” Pretty sad that an NBA star stood out for being humble and only caring about basketball.”
As the good people at Tree and Leaf put it, it looks like we’ve officially made it now. Folks in Hong Kong are ripping off our DT shirts. Friend Patrick emailed and put it this way: “They have a saying there. Try to imagine it said with a chinese accent. Japanese people make everything. Chinese people copy everything. Americans buy everything.”
KD’s take on Dan Gilbert’s letter: “I really don’t think it’s professional that Dan Gilbert is talkin about Lebron like that..just my opinion.”
John Hollinger crunches and determines the Heat should be good for 61 wins: “OK, that’s my methodology; now for the result. This team, believe it or not, is projected to win 61 games. And, of course, that is in a worst-case scenario — it might not be filled entirely by replacement-level players. At least one decent veteran might decide it’s worth taking the plunge, especially if the exposure can get him a contract next year after he’s on national TV twice a week playing with Team Trinity.”
Berry Tramel says Kevin Durant is bigger than Sam Bradford: “But Durant is not going. He’s coming. This is a guy who is going global while calling the Ford Center home. Durant is an NBA superstar here in the 405. He’s an import, not an export, and on the athletic side, imports trump exports. Bradford was one of the most popular Sooners of all time. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who says Sammy B. is No. 1 on the list. A local kid. A great story. A Heisman Trophy. Good raisin’. Everything you want. But now Bradford is headed to St. Louis, where he will be another region’s hero. Hard to care about the Rams. Easy to care about the Thunder. Durant has come to symbolize Oklahoma City. He is rapidly becoming the face of OKC. Perhaps not Oklahoma, where football still reigns supreme, but most definitely in Oklahoma City. And that status will only grow Durant gets bigger and the Thunder gets better.”
Henry Abbott with a good piece asking what LeBron did wrong: “But realize, if you’re bitter, you’re bitter about the format of his expression. Not the contents of his soul. And absent evidence he has done something actually wretched, it’s a little extreme to call him nasty names on the Internet, isn’t it? In this world of ours, you will find some truly terrible people. There are murderers. There are rapists. There are abusers, bullies, polluters, dictators and everything else. And this is the guy you need to single out? Even in the NBA’s own pantheon, you will find Magic Johnson who once got a coach fired, Kobe Bryant who stood in a parking lot on hidden camera cursing his own team and coaches, Michael Jordan who fought with and bullied teammates. The list goes on and on. The point is, if you’re in the mood to be charitable, you can love just about anybody. If you’re in the mood to hate, you can hate just about anybody.”
I think I like Will Leitch’s take best: “That trust felt broken tonight. Not because LeBron James went to the Heat, even though he referred to his destination as “South Beach,” not “the Miami Heat and their fans.” Not because LeBron James didn’t go to the Knicks, even though of all the cities he mentioned enjoying during this free agent “courtship,” New York was the one he omitted. Not even because LeBron was so, so cruel to Cleveland, not once thanking the fans who made him into what he was, the fans who have to wonder if their absurd investment in their sports franchises will ever be rewarded. No, tonight, it felt like everyone involved — LeBron, ESPN, Bing, the University of Phoenix, Stuart Scott, the man who once chastised fans for having the audacity to boo, Jim freaking Gray — treated the millions of people watching like stupid, mindless consumers, empty lemmings ready to follow Sport into the abyss. Here, here are the Boys & Girls Club props. Here, here is your search engine. Here, here is your online college, Here, here is your Athletic Hero. Eat. Eat. Consume. You like it. You love it. You’ll always come back for more.”
Now go read some more stuff about LeBron.
