(On the far left, not Frank Isola)
“Watch out what u say,” read an alleged hate-tweet to Frank Isola. “Your (sic) not liked here.” To which the Daily News’ hoops columnist — anticipating, like much of the basketball universe, LeBron James bolting the Cavs at the end of the 2010 NBA Playoffs — responds, “they (Clevelanders) are either in denial over the idea that LeBron could be on his way out, or smug in their belief that he would never leave Ohio behind for New York.” Indeed, does anyone believe James is gonna learn from Peter Laughner’s mistake?
There are two theories regarding LeBron’s immediate future: If he wins a championship in June, the kid from Akron will sign with the Knicks knowing he fulfilled his promise of bringing Cleveland its first pro sports championship since 1964.
The other theory is that if he falls short this year he’s gone – because he doesn’t believe the Cavs organization has the chops to build a championship contender.
If you believe in the latter, then as a Knicks fan you are in the unfamiliar position of rooting for the hated Boston Celtics Tuesday night. The Celtics-Cavs series is tied at 2-2, and if Boston can win again on Cleveland’s home floor they are in position to put LeBron out of his misery on Thursday in Boston.
Brian Windhorst has covered LeBron since Bron-Bron was a 14-year-old kid who had a tendency to run out of bounds rather than get hit when he played prep football. When I asked Windhorst, the Cavs beat writer for the Cleveland-Plain Dealer, if he was writing about this possibly being LeBron’s final home date, he erupted.
“What kind of ridiculous question is that,” the man they call Windy said, before hanging up the phone.