The Decision II: Back to Cleveland

English: LEbrick banGS playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers Español: LeBron James con los Cavaliers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The King of the NBA has spoken.  He's taking his talents back to the shores of Lake Erie.

LeBron James, instead of another drawn-out TV special, chose to make his plan known via Sports Illustrated's website.  After four years on South Beach and winning two of the last four NBA championships for the Miami Heat, James announced he's returning home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.

Imagine that.  No more speculating on ESPN and elsewhere on where James would turn up next, which has dominated basketball for the past year or so.  No more logjams among NBA free agents such as Carmelo Anthony, who have been on pins and needles waiting for LeBron to make up his mind.  And no more "Big Three" in Miami, though Chris Bosh is reportedly sticking with the Heat.

Does this also mean the end of the Kevin Love trade rumors?  The Cavaliers appear to be interested in taking Love off of the Minnesota Timberwolves' hands, and Love appears interested so long as James is in the picture.  The main stumbling block is whether or not the Cavs want to part with Andrew Wiggins, the number one pick in the recent NBA draft.

LeBron's decision puts the Cavaliers in the category of contending for the NBA title.  However, James would be working with a much younger cast than he did in Miami, when he had Bosh and Dwyane Wade to lean on.  Whether Love comes to Cleveland or not, James would have Wiggins and Kyrie Irving (who had been holding down the fort while James was in Miami) in his backcourt.

Akron, Ohio is where LeBron James hails from, and the nearby Cavaliers was his first NBA team.  Yet he left it all for the bright lights and bigger bucks of Miami, where he did very well for himself.  Now James says it's all about coming home.  How's Cleveland supposed to feel, having been jilted once?

In the SI essay, James said that just because he's back with the Cavs, the fans shouldn't expect a championship.  At least not right away.  It's been 50 years since a Cleveland team won a professional sports title, when the original Browns won the NFL championship in the pre-Super Bowl year of 1964.  Even LeBron tried and failed to bring an NBA championship to his hometown, with the San Antonio Spurs sweeping the Cavs in the 2007 NBA Finals.

A famous author once said that you can't go home again.  LeBron James will be testing that theory for the next few years.  Can he be the one who finally breaks the Curse of Cleveland?