It’s no secret that the Cleveland Cavaliers were mighty upset at losing the services of franchise player Lebron James to the Miami Heat in free agency a few years ago, especially considering he’s since made 3 straight NBA Finals appearances and won 2 consecutive NBA crowns.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has been very openly disgusted ever since that fateful “Decision”, where James kind of, sort of, blindsided the organization that drafted him in 2003, and chose to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, in an attempt to win multiple championships.
While it’s fair to have an issue with how Lebron went about one of the more well known free agent frenzies we’ve ever witnesses(no pun intended), it’s also fair to say that it’s been 3 years, and it’s time for the Cavaliers organization to move on, which is something they apparently still aren’t ready to do.
Upon taking a recent glance at the Cleveland Cavaliers website, I noticed that the team is counting down the top players in franchise history based on what uniform number they wore. I’m sure that the haters can see where this is going.
When the Cavs came to that magical and well known #23, while the no brainer answer is obviously Lebron James, management chose to honor current Utah Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin, as the best #23 in team history.
I can totally understand holding a grudge, but this is absolutely lunacy. While we all know that Lebron is without a doubt, the best player in Cavaliers history, taking the franchise to their only Finals appearance in 2007, Corbin was a career long journeyman at best, that played only 86 games over 2 seasons in Cleveland, and averaged a paltry 4 points and 7.3 points in ’87 and ’88.
A quick screen grab from Cavs.com showed this…..
Under the photo of Corbin was a description, listing other lesser well known Cavs like Chris Dudley, Gary Freeman, Rowland Garrett, Mike Bratz, Bruce Flowers, John Morton, Rod Higgins, Carl Thomas, Derek Anderson, and Lebron James. What?
Rumors have been rampant about Lebron’s potential free agency coming up after next season, with a return trip back to Cleveland to play alongside young stars Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Anthony Bennett, a distinct possibility. Looks like the Cavs aren’t doing themselves any favors if they want to be in the running for James’ services again in the Summer of 2014.
UPDATE: Do to the Cavaliers PR staff finally coming to their senses, or rather caving into fan outrage, Cavs.com now has posted this pic of LBJ, with a caption now reading, “Of course Lebron James belongs here!”
Duh.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
