LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

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LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby c_hawkbob » Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:59 am

"My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now."
-- LeBron James


Good for him! He just earned back a good measure of the respect he'd lost in "The Decision", at least in my book.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/lebr ... ers-071114

David Blatt has got to be the happiest guy on earth right now!
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby kalibane » Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:09 am

As it relates to the idea of going home, I certainly have no problem with it. I still don't get how he could go back and play for Dan Gilbert though who pubically and aggressively went after Lebron (who owed him not a damn thing btw), even had his vitriolic e-mail posted on the Cavs official site until this last week (4 years later) and hasn't apologized for a thing. There is no way I'd agree to make money for that guy were I in Lebron's position.
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby burrrton » Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:25 am

The N.B. what? The what B.A.??
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby RiverDog » Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:45 pm

I lost interest in the NBA a long time ago. The last full NBA game I watched was when Michael Jordan and the Bulls beat the Jazz in the championship game back in the late '90's. Then when the Sonics moved, I swore I wouldn't watch another game until they returned. So far, I've honored that pledge.
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby Seahawks4Ever » Tue Jul 15, 2014 1:10 pm

I think we can forget the NBA ever coming back to Seattle. The NBA wants to have monopolies in cities the size of Seattle (like they have in Portland and Oklahoma) there is just too much competition for sports dollars here with the success of the Seahawks, Sounders, and even the Mariners.

Besides, when Steve Ballmer left the Hansen Group and bought the Clippers NBA basketball returning to Seattle was probably doomed. Hansen needed Ballmer's ultra deep pockets to buy a team and he needed Ballmer's clout to be able to even get an audience with Adam Silver, now he has nothing. In fact, Hansen has less than nothing because all he did was anger the NBA with some of his antics in trying to buy the Kings. Hansen also failed to buy the Bucks and there isn't any other teams that remotely look to be sold and moved before the MOS Hansen made with the city of Seattle and King County runs out. Frankly, I don't know what else Hansen could have or should have done, it was a valiant effort but I feel it will fall short. At least Hansen will have some very valuable land to develop and return a nice dividend to those who invested with him on this venture.
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby RiverDog » Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:46 pm

Seahawks4Ever wrote:I think we can forget the NBA ever coming back to Seattle. The NBA wants to have monopolies in cities the size of Seattle (like they have in Portland and Oklahoma) there is just too much competition for sports dollars here with the success of the Seahawks, Sounders, and even the Mariners.

Besides, when Steve Ballmer left the Hansen Group and bought the Clippers NBA basketball returning to Seattle was probably doomed. Hansen needed Ballmer's ultra deep pockets to buy a team and he needed Ballmer's clout to be able to even get an audience with Adam Silver, now he has nothing. In fact, Hansen has less than nothing because all he did was anger the NBA with some of his antics in trying to buy the Kings. Hansen also failed to buy the Bucks and there isn't any other teams that remotely look to be sold and moved before the MOS Hansen made with the city of Seattle and King County runs out. Frankly, I don't know what else Hansen could have or should have done, it was a valiant effort but I feel it will fall short. At least Hansen will have some very valuable land to develop and return a nice dividend to those who invested with him on this venture.


There is a hope for an expansion franchise, but I agree, it doesn't look good for basketball returning to Seattle anytime soon. Not unlike the NFL, the NBA has their sights set on expanding overseas. Basketball is more popular in Europe than is American football and IMO has a better chance of succeeding there. Plus they might want to take a shot at putting a team in Mexico City some day. It would make for some great divisional rivalries with the Texas/Oklahoma teams.

There does seems to be some chance of an NHL franchise coming to Seattle, which might give Hansen a tenant to get his arena constructed while he continues his search for an NBA team. But even that seems to be a long shot, as the NHL seems even more reluctant to expand than does the NBA. Besides, I'm not sure that the Seattle sports pie is big enough for 4 (5 if you count MLS) professional franchises and a major college. If I had just two teams to choose from all the available leagues, I'd take what we have now, ie the NFL and MLB.
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby kalibane » Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:00 am

I think those efforts took a blow when Balmer bought the Clippers but Ballmer wasn't the chip Hansen needed to get an audience with Silver, he needed it to get an audience with Stern.

I believe that unlike Stern, Silver genuinely wants to see the NBA back in Seattle but it's going to be harder now as there are no teams that are no longer any movable teams and they'll have to wait until expansion is possible.
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Re: LeBron James is returning to Cleveland

Postby RiverDog » Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:59 pm

kalibane wrote:I think those efforts took a blow when Balmer bought the Clippers but Ballmer wasn't the chip Hansen needed to get an audience with Silver, he needed it to get an audience with Stern.

I believe that unlike Stern, Silver genuinely wants to see the NBA back in Seattle but it's going to be harder now as there are no teams that are no longer any movable teams and they'll have to wait until expansion is possible.


The counter argument is that Seattle has one more owner in their court once the league has Ballmer in their fold. Between him and Paul Allen, they might be able to push the league towards expansion.

Ballmer must want an NBA franchise really bad as he way overpaid for the Clippers. For as much money as he paid, he could have bought the Sonics for the same price Bennett paid and paid for a new arena with plenty of change to spare.
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