How exactly will Miami receive LeBron James on Christmas Day?
Far be it from me to tell Miami how to respond to LeBron James on Christmas Day, but, honestly, if the Cavaliers could re-anoint the king upon his throne in Northeast Ohio, Heat fans ought to give him quite an ovation. After all, it’s the holidays.
Of course, Cleveland wasn’t so welcoming when James returned on Dec. 2, 2010, and that’s because the four-time NBA MVP set a torch to the city on live TV, taking his talents to South Beach and promising more championships than Michael Jordan ever amassed in a ridiculously extravagant welcome party befitting his new city.
While he didn’t reach his own lofty expectations, James performed beyond Miami’s wildest dreams and Cleveland’s worst nightmares, making four straight trips to the finals in four seasons, winning twice and taking home two pairs of MVP trophies.
Nobody in the history of basketball has matched in a single season the numbers James produced on the Heat over four years (26.9 points on 62.2 true shooting, 7.6 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 38.0 minutes a night for a 29.6 player efficient rating, per Basketball Reference). Only Jordan in 1988-89 even came close.
LeBron lived up to his four-year deal, and then some. Could he have captured four straight titles? Quite possibly, but the Heat faced growing pains and reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki during his first season in Miami and a wonderfully constructed Spurs squad in his final year, when 399 games from 2010-14 finally caught up to them.
This time around, LeBron left the right way, scripting a thoughtful letter alongside brilliant Sports Illustrated scribe Lee Jenkins, explaining, “I looked at other teams, but I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.” Had he departed for New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, the feeling would have been different.
If anyone has reason to be upset, it’s Dwyane Wade, whose own choice to opt out during the NBA’s moratorium this past July cost him $10.3 million over the next two years in an attempt to retain James, but he doesn’t seem too bent out of shape.
“It’s going to be a mixture,” Wade told Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick of his expected reaction upon LeBron’s return. “How I think he should be received is a little different. The man helped take us to places we’ve only been once before he got here. So I think he should be received very well for that at the start of the game. And then when the game comes on, then do what you’ve got to do (as fans).”
Even Chris Bosh, who reportedly hasn’t spoken to LeBron since his most recent decision, puts the relationship between James and the Heat in proper perspective.
“I want people to understand I’m a competitor and he’s on the other team, and I think he’d understand that and I understand that and that’s how it is now,” Bosh told the Miami Herald before their preseason meeting. “There’s no hard feelings or anything if we’re both trying to win; he’s against us and that’s a matter of fact.”
Those are rational takes, and fans are often far from rational. Then again, this is South Florida, a transient area by nature, seemingly capable of accepting LeBron’s own reasoning in SI: “Miami, for me, has been almost like college for other kids.”
James also didn’t leave the Heat (13-15) in shambles the way he did the Cavs in 2010. Pat Riley replaced James with erstwhile All-Star Luol Deng, adding Shawne Williams and Josh McRoberts for depth on a team currently sitting in seventh place. If Wade, Bosh & Co. could ever get healthy for a stretch run to their first post-LeBron season, they might still be a threat in an Eastern Conference up for the taking.
Consider South Beach LeBron’s ayahuasca trip, a spiritual sojourn resulting in a rebirth, although even that requires purging negative energy before achieving adequate acceptance, so who knows how Miami will receive its adopted son.
Still, it’s awful hard to imagine anybody booing the newborn king on Christmas Day.
