Once upon a time LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers and joined the Miami Heat, just in case you forgot. Since then, he’s rectified his wrong by bringing a championship to the city of Cleveland, a title they will celebrate when they open the season on Tuesday against the New York Knicks.
But before LeBron goes forward into his 14th NBA season, he took some time to look back and reflect on a past decision he made. Recently, according talking to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, James shed some light on his controversial ‘decision’ in 2010. After losing in the 2010 NBA playoffs to the Boston Celtics, he left his hometown team and joined the Miami Heat to play with his friends Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
So why did he do it? He summed it up simply as wanting to beat Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and the Celtics.
The Celtics, with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, among others, knocked the Cavs out of the playoffs in 2008 and 2010. Boston won it all in 2008 and lost to the Lakers in the 2010 Finals.
“I understood at that point in time that in order for me to compete for a championship and get to that next level, I had to figure out and get with some guys that could be on the same level as Paul, Ray, (Rajon) Rondo, KG and those guys,” James said. “I just didn’t feel like … to do it here, I was out calling guys in the summer time, trying to get guys to come here and guys just continued to decline offers from us.
“And then at that time we didn’t even have any money to go get anybody. I knew personally that D Wade was a free agent, I knew Bosh was a free agent, I knew Amare (Stoudemire) was a free agent, I knew Carlos Boozer was a free agent, so I knew I had to try and get some guys to try and get Boston, man. That was my whole mindset.”
It makes sense why LeBron wanted to head out and join up with his friends during the prime of his career. Why waste time with less than stellar players when you can play with your friends and dominate the NBA? LeBron made the decision to end the C’s and he seemingly did that in only two years time.
After he signed with the Heat, James faced Boston two more times in the playoffs in 2011 and 2012. The Heat beat the Celtics in both years, and James won his first title with the Heat in 2012.
Interestingly enough, James now feels the tables are turned and teams are getting together to beat him.
