CinciX12;545867 wrote:The Cleveland's response one is so absolutely pathetic I can't fathom watching it a second time or my eyes will bleed. All it needed was someone, preferably a little girl, crying in it.

I mean you can spin it to whatever side you're on. You found the Cleveland response to come off as whiny and pathetic. Cleveland fans find Lebrons commercial to be whiny and pathetic in the first place. Its whatever.

Y-Town Steelhound;534674 wrote:When LeBron wouldn't even speak to Tom Izzo....that is what guaranteed that he was not coming back to Cleveland. Don't be so naive.

I agree. I thought the signs pointed to him leaving, but I still didn't think he would have the stones to stab the entire state of Ohio in the back. I also didn't think he would leave the city that is a short drive a way from where he grew up.

With that being said, I'm not the owner of the team. The owner is supposed to be the businessman and is supposed to be able to project and predict business conditions. When your star player freezes you out and basically tells Izzo that he shouldn't take the job, you need to be prepared for that (it appears he wasn't judging from the strongly worded letter he wrote in ComicSans). I thought their presentation was very weak considering that Lebron seemed worried about winning and how good his supporting cast was going to be. The Cavs thought they had it in the bag and presented him with a Family Guy influenced cartoon. After Lebron digested that (and being present to Pat Riley's presentation where he showed him rings), I think Lebron probably had a very easy decision

jordo212000;546147 wrote:I agree. I thought the signs pointed to him leaving, but I still didn't think he would have the stones to stab the entire state of Ohio in the back. I also didn't think he would leave the city that is a short drive a way from where he grew up.

With that being said, I'm not the owner of the team. The owner is supposed to be the businessman and is supposed to be able to project and predict business conditions. When your star player freezes you out and basically tells Izzo that he shouldn't take the job, you need to be prepared for that (it appears he wasn't judging from the strongly worded letter he wrote in ComicSans). I thought their presentation was very weak considering that Lebron seemed worried about winning and how good his supporting cast was going to be. The Cavs thought they had it in the bag and presented him with a Family Guy influenced cartoon. After Lebron digested that (and being present to Pat Riley's presentation where he showed him rings), I think Lebron probably had a very easy decision

I think Pat Reilly gets waaaay too much credit in all of this. These guys got together and decided that they wanted to play with eachother. Reilly had to clear up some cap space.

There were several reports that Bron liked the Cavs presentation more than any of the other teams, it didnt matter though..........the dude had it planned well before the FA period

Oh yeah........love the commercial remixes

No matter how anti-Cleveland you are, you can't blame fans for being angry he waited until the last minute to make the announcement. By the time he held the decision, every other mentionable free agent had their (new) destinations wrapped up. If you don't want to blame him for ditching town and heading to Miami, then fine. But it was bullshit how he pretty much ensured Cleveland a pitiful season with the timing. I'm not naive enough to think the Cavs could have landed Boozer, Joe Johnson, Amare, etc. if Lebron left in the very beginning, but he made sure that when he left, there was not much talent left on the market.
As time goes on, the sting and anger will dissipate, but we're still the ones who have to watch the Cavs (probably) lose at least 50 games this season.

Y-Town Steelhound;545916 wrote:Elaborate. I thought it was a pretty accurate representation of how Cleveland felt. I didn't see any "crying" or anything "pathetic"....maybe you're confusing it with your own logic. The last line of the commercial pretty much sums up everything.

It may seem a little harsh. But if you're not from northeast Ohio, you really don't have the same perspective on it.....and your opinion really doesn't mean as much.

Exactly. I thought it was well done.

KR1245;546148 wrote: There were several reports that Bron liked the Cavs presentation more than any of the other teams, it didnt matter though..........the dude had it planned well before the FA period

I've heard he thought the cartoon was funny, but with the stakes being as high as they were I think they should have gone a more professional route. Didn't their meeting go really short compared to the others? If I am Grant/Gilbert, I use all of my allotted time and I use it wisely. I present with a new plan, and I enter the meeting fresh off of overhauling the roster (trading Delonte West would have been move #1). Instead they did nothing in the way of offseason moves (it had just been proven that the team wasn't good enough as is) and they waste time on a silly cartoon. Seemed to me like Gilbert really overestimated his hand.

I think the ONLY reason he left was because he was actually able to form a team with 2 of his great friends. If Miami wasn't able to put those 3 together, I think Lebron woulda stayed, but I think the Cavs had enough pieces around Lebron to win a 'ship

This. No other reason for all the delaying...he was waiting for the pieces to be in place. The net effect ended up screwing the Cavs, pissing off a lot of people, and coming off as a jerk and narcissist. I don't think he anticipated the negative reaction beyond Cleveland...nor the intensity.


The 'Cleveland' version was spot on.