Frank arrived in New York for a familyvisit just a few hours after James' announcement. Amazingly, the city was stillstanding.
Frank: I landed at LaGuardialate Friday morning and couldn't wait to see how the tabloids expressed theirfury. It was hilarious! The New York Postand Daily News were reduced tosputtering the same headline on their back pages: "SON OF A BEACH!"
Artie: New York, New York—headlinesso great they use ’em twice.
Frank: Even better, the News whined on its front page,"Hey, we're New York,the greatest city in the world, so... WHO CARES!" The Post contented itself with, "LeBUM," while Newsday maintained a little dignity with"LeGone." On Sunday, Spike Lee wailed in The New York Times that the trio had this all planned for two yearsand "hoodwinked" the Big Apple.
Artie: Hey, it’s not the Heat,it’s the duplicity, ain’a? One good aspect of this over-hyped circus is thatthe Knicks are left with egg on their faces. They groveled to LeBron, dismantlingan already bad team over two seasons to make room for his salary. Now they reallyhave nothing; yeah, they signed Amar'e Stoudemire, but he's barely a No. 2 guy.He was only as good as he was in Phoenixbecause he played with Steve Nash.
Frank: Speaking of pointguards, who does Miamihave at this moment to get the ball to the new Big Three?
Artie: Mario Chalmers, athird-year guy out of Kansas.The Heat traded Michael Beasley to Minnesotato help clear salary-cap space, then signed Mike Miller as a three-pointshooter, but they still need another rebounder, a good point guard and a truecenter. Which is why I wouldn't advise the Big Three to have their ring sizestaken in training camp. There are no guarantees!
Frank: Boston's Big Three of Kevin Garnett, PaulPierce and Ray Allen has won only one title in three seasons. In the ’80s LarryBird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale won three times but also lost twice to theLakers of Magic, Kareem and James Worthy—who also fell short in the Finalsthree times in the decade.
Artie: Then there's MichaelJordan, LeBron's target as the all-time greatest player, who won all six of hisFinals with the Bulls.
Frank: Jordan won hisfirst title in his seventh season, 1990-’91. LeBron has completed his seventhseason, but because he skipped college he's still only 25, three years youngerthan Jordanat that level of experience.
Artie: Ah, but there's this.Michael Wilbon pointed out in TheWashington Post that James has a lot more "miles" on him than Jordan did at25. James has played 548 regular-season games; when Jordan was 25 he had played only312. Wilbon's point: James' "window" for winning multiple titles,"which is how legendary greatness is measured in the NBA, isn't as wideopen as his age suggests."
Frank: As great as Jordan was, hehad a great supporting cast. Not just Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant, butthose Bulls always seemed to get a key shot in the Finals from a littleguy—Steve Kerr in the clincher against Utah in 1997, John Paxson againstPhoenix in ’93 and even the immortal Bob Hansen in ’92 against Portland.
Artie: I think LeBron's choiceof Miami shows he realizes he's not another Jordan. If he'dstayed in Cleveland or gone to New York, he would have continued to be THEGUY. But he hasn't delivered in that role; just one Finals appearance eventhough the Cavs kept adjusting the supporting cast. As much as he plays theshowman, The King, The Chosen One, I think there's some self-doubt. In Miami he's got two otherguys to carry him.
Frank: Which is realistic, butalso contradicts the pomposity of "The Decision."
Artie: I hope he doesn't thinkhe's going to be the Jordan of Miami. For me that's Wade, and LeBron is theuber-Pippen.
Frank: As much as he tickedoff New York, it can't compare to what the sonof Akron did to his fans in Ohio.
Artie: The Cavs' owner told Cleveland fans, "Yousimply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal." Wow, has LeBronopened a can of schadenfreude toward him there!
Frank: Um, what would that be?
Artie: German for "pleasurein another's misfortune." For Clevelandit's like pro wrestling, where a good guy suddenly gets reincarnated as avillain. The best part of that very dull show was when Wilbon was questioningLeBron and there was video of a James jersey someone had lit on fire. AndLeBron looked shocked! This wasn't on his agenda or the memo from his"crew."
Frank: All top athletes havebig egos, but some try harder to control it than others. The way James phrasedhis decision was telling: "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach."
Artie: This was ego to asupreme level. Well, now the King has abdicated; he's just part of three, sowhat does that make him, a duke?
Frank: So Miami becomes the team folks love to hate inthe NBA. True for you?
Artie: As much as I like Wadefrom his Marquettedays, I hope they have much difficulty. But another good thing is that thisimproves the Bucks' position in their division. Chicago added Carlos Boozer but is less thanit would have been with LeBron. And Clevelandis certainly down. The Bucks have a real shot at first place in the Central.
Frank: As we said last week,the roster looks impressive.
Artie: A projected startinglineup of Andrew Bogut and Drew Gooden at the "big" spots, CarlosDelfino at small forward and Brandon Jennings and John Salmons in thebackcourt—that's pretty dang good!
Frank: And off the benchthere's Chris Douglas-Roberts at the "2"; Corey Maggette to shareminutes with Delfino; Ersan Ilyasova and the top draft pick, Larry Sanders, toback up Gooden; and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for either forward spot and as adefensive stopper.
Artie: Listening to talk-radioin town, the fans are saying this is the best Bucks team since 2001, when theywere one game away from the NBA Finals. But it looks like Luke Ridnour won't bere-signed, and that leaves a big hole yet to fill, that backup point guard.
Frank: Who's the only otherpoint guard on the roster? Royal Ivey, right?
Artie: Yup. They need better.
Farewell, Jenks
Frank: Well, the Brewers wentinto the All-Star break on a three-game upswing, thanks to the woeful Pirates.
Artie: But that debacleagainst the Giants! A four-game butt-whipping by the NFL score of 36-7. Too badthe new scoreboard planned for 2011 wasn't in place already. They could haveused the supersized screen to show something worth seeing—"Here's Transformers 2 for your viewingpleasure."
Frank: Besides the Pirates,there was another welcome visitor—Geoff Jenkins, who returned to formallyretire as a Brewer. Jenkins was a genuinely nice guy—always accommodating tofans and the media. I'm glad his last at-bat in the majors was a double thatled to the Phillies' winning run in the 2008 World Series.
Artie: Someone at the Journal Sentinel got in a nice dig,writing that to officially retire him, the Brewers would "place someone oneach base and strike out Jenks on a pitch low and outside," or somethinglike that.
Frank: Ouch! Yeah, he didn'ttotally fulfill fans' hopes, but he had a decent career over 11 seasons, 10 ofthem here—a .275 batting average and 221 homers. He was stuck on some prettybad teams, but he played hard and played hurt.
