1 AD (After The Decision)

We owe Lebron James an apology. "The Decision" was our fault. "The Decision" was put into motion the first time Lebron was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 18, as a high school senior. He was compared to Jordan before he played an NBA game. People predicted that he would average a triple-double for his career. We wanted Lebron James to be something special. We wanted him to be great. We were watching him play high school basketball games on ESPN. We made Lebron James a big deal before he could legally drink. "The Decision" was a result of all of this. Lebron has been on television since he was a junior in high school. It would only make sense that his biggest decision would take place there as well.

It was a year ago today Lebron James told us he was "taking his talents to South Beach" and we turned on him, quickly. Some people were upset that he left Cleveland, his "hometown", others were upset he teamed up with Dwayne Wade, something we believe the greats before him would never do, but for me the most upsetting thing about Lebron is that he has been a disappointment.

I am not trying to say Lebron James is not amazing or a joy to watch. Despite how we all feel about Lebron we watch him. The 2011 NBA Finals averaged 17.3 million viewers over the six game series. Even in our hatred we tune in to watch him play. He was drafted first overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers, forgoing a college career. Lebron sure looked like he was going to dominate the league even in his rookie season. In his first NBA game, Lebron dropped 25 points and had 9 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals against the Sacramento Kings.  His rookie year, Lebron averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. The only other players to average 20-5-5 in their rookie seasons at that point were Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson. Lebron was quickly fulfilling our fantasies.

Lebron is a great player. Well Lebron is a great regular season player. I'll even argue that Lebron is a great player in the first and second rounds of the playoffs. But something happens to Lebron at the end of the playoffs. In the 2010 playoffs in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, Lebron had a meltdown. In Game 5 of the series Lebron shot 3 for 14 and scored 15 points in the loss to the Celtics. That loss gave the Celtics a 3-1 series lead and they would wrap up the series in Game 6. We didn't know that Lebron could play that poorly and we had to make excuses for him. Rumors would quickly circulate that a teammate of Lebron's was sleeping with his mom and Lebron supposedly found out before Game 5. We don't know if this story is true or not but we can believe it because that's the only excuse for Lebron playing so poorly.

During the Finals this year, against the Dallas Mavericks, Lebron had a similar meltdown. Lebron averaged 17.8 points, 6.8 assists, and 7.1 rebounds during the Finals. His Finals average was 8.9 points less that his average of 26.7 points during the regular season. During the Finals a rumor oddly similar to the one a year before surfaced. The rumor was that an NBA player was sleeping with Lebron's girlfriend and he found out during the Finals and he was poor play was a result of discovering the affair. (It seems Lebron should learn from his buddy Jay-Z) We still try and make excuses for Lebron's poor play during the playoffs.

I wanted more from Lebron. I bought into the hype and expected greatness. Regular season greatness isnt' enough, greatness in the first and second round of the playoffs isn't enough, I am selfish and want more from him. We hyped him up and built these expectations. We bought the magazines when he was on the cover and watched his games while he was still in high school. We believed when people compared him to Jordan and said he would average a triple-double for his career. We believed we were about to "witness" greatness. When Lebron couldn't deliver we got angry and we are now tearing him down. Fans don't just boo because he went to the Heat, we boo because we believed and Lebron has failed us. Lebron could go down as an NBA disappointment and if he does, we are partially to blame.