Cavs' Ouster Could Impact LBJ's Plans

CLEVELAND -- So now we're obligated as reasonable people to consider the future, a conditioned reaction whenever LeBron James stares at failure. When he confirmed at the frenzied end of Game 4 that he indeed is human, that he won't make every oh-my-God buzzer heave to win a playoff game, my immediate thought was this: How might losing again in the Eastern Conference finals alter his mindset about playing in New York?

Meaning, why would the NBA's alpha dog ever stay in Cleveland if he can't win a championship here?

Apparently, the Cavaliers once more haven't assembled a solid enough cast around James to break through. Mo Williams, the supposed Pippen to LeBron's Jordan and Robin to his Batman, has killed the total cause in the series with abysmal shooting -- would you believe 23 of 71? -- that has put an enormous strain on James. He certainly has responded with brilliance beyond the call of even his magnitude, scoring 169 points in the four games, or 41.9 percent of his team's total output, the highest percentage ever in an NBA best-of-seven series. In fact, LeBron has scored or assisted on 58.2 percent of Cleveland's field goals, also the highest percentage ever in a series. But in the three games in which he has scored more than 40 points, the Cavs lost all three. He is the sun, but his teammates are the clouds that left the skies dark and ominous before the storms came Wednesday.

"We're breaking down in areas we haven't broken down in all year," James lamented.

This is a Michael and the Jordanaires redux, except the Bulls finally pieced enough efficient parts around the megastar to win six titles. While James is just 24, he also is eligible to leaves the Cavs in only 14 months, which will turn our eyes to his statements and general mood if Cleveland, down 3 games to 1 to the deeper, bigger, quicker and more consistent Orlando Magic, goes on to lose the series and perpetuate The King's championship-less plight.

"I'm up for the challenge. And I think my play, my leadership has spoke for that," said James, speaking carefully about his AWOL mates as Game 5 approaches. "So I will be ready, and I think our guys will be ready also."

Really? To be truthful, this looks like a classic Peter Principle situation in which every supporting player has assumed a role of importance beyond his actual skill level. Williams was heaped with "savior" status when acquired last summer, but it was more wishful thinking than a legitimate appraisal of his career. He was a good point guard for a Milwaukee team that made the playoffs once in his four seasons there, forcing him to prove this spring that he can be a major playoff performer alongside James. He hasn't done so, only exacerbating his woes when he was baited into a win-the-series guarantee before Game 4. "We're the best team in basketball," Williams said. "Guarantee we're going to win the series? Yeah, yeah. We are down 2-1. But there is nobody on this team and definitely not myself that says we are not going to win this series. Yeah, it is going to be tough. We know that. We get this game tomorrow, go home, still got home-court advantage. We don't see ourselves losing two out of three at home."

Well, the Cavs didn't get the game, losing an overtime thriller. And in that game, Williams shot 5 of 15 and attempted only two shots after the third quarter, having lost the trust of James and coach Mike Brown. "I put the ball in LeBron's hands,'' Brown said.

The Magic loved it, claiming they were motivated by the "guarantee.'' Said Rafer Alston, who has dominated Williams this series: "I had it in the back of my mind. I wanted to take it to him, and he wasn't even guarding me. LeBron was.''

Anything else to say, Mo? "I'm a leader on this team. Whatever I can do to spark this team and give us confidence, I'll do. If I have to take the heat, so be it,'' he said. "Nobody would be asking about it -- they'd be talking good about it and we would be 2-2 right now if we had won."



Ah, but that's not how it works. The Cavs lost, and Williams is being viewed nationally as a trash-talker who couldn't back up his yap. Delonte West is the No. 3 scoring option in Cleveland when he'd be coming off the bench elsewhere. Zydrunas Ilgauskas can barely move sometimes. I could go on, but you get the drift. Like before, it's all LBJ, all the time, and the burden is insanely unfair. He can average 42.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the series, but in his mind, when he commits eight turnovers in Game 4 and misses the final 35-footer, he's not doing his job. How criminal.

"The ball is in my hands a lot, and I may have a few turnovers," James said. "That happens. But I have to figure out how to not have eight. Eight is unacceptable for me. Some of them are just miscues, some are just trying to make the right play."

Even if the Cavs win Thursday night, in front of a home crowd resigned that this team will fail like Cleveland's other big-moment sports flops, the chances of winning the series are statistically slim. Only eight of 190 NBA teams down 1-3 in a best-of-seven series have come back to win. So, if and when the Cavs are eliminated, James will be peppered with questions about why the team's front office -- majority owner Dan Gilbert, general manager Danny Ferry -- hasn't done enough to appease him on the court.

The last thing James wants to be is a global sports icon who has it all ... except a championship. Imagine how old those questions would get? Would the Cavs seek a summer deal for Shaquille O'Neal? They were in the hunt for Shaq in February, but rather than swallow large contractual amounts owed to O'Neal and the hobbling, useless Ben Wallace, they opted to sit pat with their current roster. It's a strong guess that James would push very strongly for a dramatic makeover and major addition because, hey, he has more leverage than perhaps any player in sports history. If management doesn't satisfy his demands and the Cavs fall short against next season, he'll be gone in July.

And there, waiting for him in New York, will be his friend, the rap mogul Jay-Z, part-owner of the Nets franchise that eventually will move to a new Brooklyn arena. Also waiting will be the Knicks, who will offer James the chance to own Manhattan and become his own personal epicenter of the sports universe. Cleveland? Much as LeBron hints at wanting to stay, that decision will be driven by whether he thinks he can win a championship here. If next season comes and goes without one, after several years of serious contendership, why would he keep pounding his headband against a wall in a town that hasn't won a title in a major sport since 1964?

Why wouldn't he start a new career phase in the big city? Especially after legendary Jerry West, the elite talent evaluator and basketball icon, said recently that he'd rather start a franchise today with James than the player he drafted as a teenager, Kobe Bean Bryant. "I look at Cleveland [and] say to myself, 'How many games could they win without LeBron James?' '' West told Reuters. "That's how great he is. He has a chance to be arguably the greatest player ever to play the game.

"Michael Jordan was the best defensive player in the league but he was also the best offensive player. It wasn't a one-year fluke, he proved it over time. LeBron James will do the same type of things because he's getting better. He's a much more effective shooter. When's he's making his shots from the outside, you can't play him. He's just too big, too strong, too quick. And he has incredible body control. More than that, he's a great teammate. You can see his teammates love him.''

Too bad they don't love him enough to lend support in his grand quest. Which is why we'll wonder about his Cleveland future. There seemed to be new hope last weekend, when word was leaked to the local newspaper, the Plain Dealer, that Gilbert had struck a deal with Chinese investors to buy a 15 percent stake in the franchise. That would allow James and corporate partners such as Nike to expand his international business impact -- Nike opened a LeBron James Museum in Shanghai during the Olympics -- and enhance his goal of becoming the world's first billionaire athlete. Last Friday, media people wandering the back hallways of Quicken Loans Arena moved out of the way for several Hong Kong-based money people who received a tour, courtesy of Ferry. Later that evening, the investors sat courtside in Gilbert's box and watched one of the bigger moments in NBA history, James' Hail Mary jumper to win Game 2. Seemed a perfect business match.

"You have to think globally," said James, recently addressing his ambitions in business. "I have a lot of fans in China, and they're important to me."

But since then, the same people -- part of the New World Development Co. -- have denied "any involvement in the purchase of a stake'' in the Cavs and the arena, according to the Wall Street Journal. Said company executive Kwan Chuk-fal of interest in the Cavs: "None whatsoever. We didn't even consider such a deal.''

Hope they enjoyed the hot dogs, then.

For now, James is focusing on not losing Game 5 in Cleveland, which would be a devastatingly bitter pill for a city that has suffered through The Drive, The Fumble ... Know what? I'm not listing the "Thes'' anymore. He has dedicated this postseason to winning one for his native northeast Ohio, and to emotionally bail now would be bad form. He also is on record earlier this month as saying he doesn't intend to leave Cleveland. "I think I'm happy in Cleveland,'' he said on Dan Patrick's radio show. "I have no plans on going anywhere and playing the game of basketball. And these fans ... they've done everything to support me in my career here. You know, I'm excited about being here.''

Check back with him if he's suddenly out of the playoffs, when Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu are in.

I wouldn't put any challenge past LeBron, even winning the next three games. Last Friday night, I sat in an arena that exploded when he hit his version of The Shot. "This thing is a long, long, long way from over, just like the games in this series have been," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "When you've got a guy as great as him on the other side, you're a long way from done.'' Winning three straight against Orlando, which has won 11 of its last 15 against the Cavs, would be his greatest feat yet ... and he'll need Williams and his teammates show up to help him with his problem.

They'll win Thursday. They'll lose Saturday in the Magic Kingdom.

And then, let the speculation begin.