NBA: LeBron James moves to Miami - Fan Reactions
The speculation and rumours have been put to an end. James might have made the best choice for himself but has left his former team, teammates and fans utterly disappointed.
There has been an outburst of mixed emotions by basketball fans, people from his hometown are shocked as for most, and it’s been quite hard to swallow the fact that their star player has left their team. Emotions are running quite high for the people in Cleveland as the only memory that they have of the team winning the Championship is a black and white image of Jim Brown running free in the Baltimore Colts.
Founder of the LeBron James Grandmothers Fan Club, Alder Champan and Anneta Harris were devastated after his announcement on television. James fans were distressed by the news. A lot of people gathered in malls but as soon as they heard his decision, they turned their backs and left.
Many of his fans explained that they had never thought that a day would come when James would leave his own home. “The feeling is as if we missed the final shot right at the buzzer”, said one of his devout fans. A number of Cleveland jerseys were piled up by his fans who were later burnt with a few wore custom-designed jerseys which pleaded “Please stay LBJ”.
While on the other hand, even President Obama rooted for him to join the Chicago Bulls. Various social media outlets sprung into action. Tweets such as how LeBron James would be ‘Robin’ in the Miami Heat as against ‘Superman’ in his former team Cleveland. Moreover, Cleveland’s owner Dan Gilbert has released an open letter to the fans thrashing LeBron James, calling him a “a self-proclaimed King”. Dan Gilbert says James will take the curse with him to the Heats and that they will not win a championship before the Clevelanders do. He also said that LeBron is a coward for deserting his team like that.
“In fairness, if I was 25 I'd try to win it by myself. Not technically by myself, but I would want to be the guy and LeBron is never going to be the guy”, said the former legend Charles Barkley. Although some might beg to differ as experts believe that the King is on his way to build a dynasty for his new team Miami Heat, with great players backing him up.
James himself is quite content with the idea of joining Miami as he does not care about how much Cleveland could have offered him only if he stayed with them. All the player cares about is winning champions over championships which is his main agenda. LeBron said that Cleveland is where my heart is and always will be but it was time for him to move on because there was not much left in the team. James said, “I gave a lot to that organization. My talents, my seven years, and I tried to take them places where they never been before”.
James also discussed the situation with his mom who said that James needed to look out for his own self. She also added that Miami would be a great choice which will make LeBron happy.
Miami Heat fans are ecstatic on the other hand as they are celebrating the great news. It is after a long time that another great player has entered their team after Shaquille O’Neal. James could form a great duo with their star player Dwyane Wade and go on to win another championship.
Furthermore, Dwyane Wade along with Chris Bosh have both agreed upon a smaller salary cap so that they could make space for King James. All three of them came to the NBA in the same year after being selected in the top five picks of the NBA drafts in 2007. The three coming together was more like a fantasy which came into reality and has left some deeply saddened. The trio has instilled fear in a number of teams who are scared that the three can devastate any opposition.
There might be many conclusions being drawn - negative or positive - regarding LeBron’s decision, but no one can deny the fact there is a silver line amongst the clouds and Miami Heat is statistically one of the strongest teams in the NBA right now with top young players who will help bloom the National Basketball League in the following years.
With that thought put together, let’s look forward to the next season with an optimistic approach.
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