By TIM DAVID HARVEY
Fire and rocks...its all ice now. Kings garments where burnt in sacrifice and stones where thrown at the throne but that's all history now in Cleveland, Ohio. It's almost like the talents taken to South Beach and all the championships and hurt during his years in exile doesn't even matter. No matter what LeBron did. No matter what Dan Gilbert said. As the pregame chalk gets thrown up to begin the season once again it all becomes dust. Four years of hurt are removed this week...something that the Brazilian soccer team will hope rings true by the next World Cup for the storied, legendary sports nation. Decisions have been made again and this is one sequel that may just be better than the original with an incredible plot twist. Was this all scripted by the basketball God's or the highest power player in all of sports himself? This NBA revolution thankfully may not have been televised again, but its all there in print as LeBron James now knows better in illustrating his next chapter in sports. As an electronic billboard lights up the darkness of a downtown night that once was only illuminated by the embers of a burnt number 23 jersey , the only thing that hands will throw at the big billboard next to the Quicken Loans Arena is cheers and a round of applause. There are new headlines for the broadsheet titled; 'Redemption', 'Revelation', and 'Return'. All that happened with the big three changes with three little words.
"I'm coming home"
No we're not quoting Diddy and Dirty Money (although Skylar Grey's new basketball remix is an awesome tribute), get your Kanye West and Chris Martin playlist pick ready because this is LeBron James' homecoming. No you haven't woken up in the last decade, but the next one is going to be something else as basketballs biggest star and best player gets to rewrite his own story with the next chapter of his career as he signs with the Cleveland Cavaliers . The critics can mark him in ink all they want. On the way to the throne there will always be thorns, but there's not many men today in this league who would be strong enough to go back to all the hate and lack of heart and now humble and honestly let all bygones be just that. It's all love now however in a message in todays deleting and unfollowing social media world that people can get back together for the greater good and make what matters work. LeBron just wanted to come home and make things right and the most important and powerful player in basketball offseason politics did just that whilst Los Angeles, Chicago and the rest of America's National Basketball Association was waiting on his every worded decision marked '2.0'. With a truly Cavalier move Cavs fans in Cleveland will be reaching in the trash can for their singed vests. Now anyone else striking a match to the number 23 for "messing everyone around" must just remember that this is just sports and human decisions. Even the greatest number 23 and basketball player of all-time Michael Jordan retired a couple of times. Everybody comes back...and everyone comes home. After all, it is where the heart is and now LeBron's beats to the basketball bounce of the blood and wine.
But will there be champagne? Lets toast all that LeBron did in doubling up in championships for the Miami Heat, but lets now spare a thought for the Miami Heat who now know how the Los Angeles Lakers feel when Dwight Howard bolted last Summer but ten-fold. This is more like when Shaq left Kobe and the Lakers for South Beach years ago, before joining LeBron in Cleveland to try and "win a ring for the king". Some in some states may call it revenge, the Heat just hope Miami's favourite son Dwyane Wade joins the former opted out Chris Bosh and re-signs instead of resigns, because a dynamic duo is better than the nothing that 'Bron left. Now the cooled off Heat know how Cleveland felt when they paraded their big three out on a boasting stage. Still, they still have a great team with the likes of Ray Allen and the Cavs may even let them take Luol Deng as a consolation...although they are hoping to build a superteam of their own. Lets also spare a thought for your NBA champion San Antonio Spurs who now have their Thunder stolen like they did to Oklahoma. Still the no nonsense Parker and Ginobili big three led by the robot Tim Duncan knows this is just yesterday news (you've seen the 'Loyalty/Royalty' billboard) and the 'Bron beating Kawhi Leonard knows he's the real winner, MVP and next star. Still as the 'LeBrand' of 'Business LeBron' James shows he is still literally the leagues most valuable player, more than a few people will feel the sting. Still all the Carmelo's and fellows in the craziest free agency of all time knows the truth that this isn't just LeBron's league, it's LeBron James game...and he's changed it once again.
Imagine what will happen all over again in another two years and 40 mill and change later. LeBron will be a free agent again and Lakers will be hoping for 'Purple Reign' headlines like the Knicks will want 'King Of New York' ones. Still they must now learn like all the teams who traded away draft picks and cap space for this moment that its all about today and this day the Cavs have built their way back to recognition from the rubble of their raw years. If the Cavs couldn't believe their luck from their unluck in getting the last few years first picks in the NBA draft then they wouldn't have been ready for getting the ultimate number one pick in what's now dubbed the 'free agent draft'. Now the King joins the young promising princes of Anthony Bennett and your new rookie super kid Andrew Wiggins who may not be Jabari Parker but is the next big thing. Then of course there's the promising youth movement of Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters and maybe the veteran star of Deng and if course the reunion with Brazilian ace Anderson Varejo is another sweet story. Still nothing is sweeter than the new power partnership with Kyrie Irving. It's THEIR team now and 'Brons former replacement is now his right hand man. A superstar in his own right in a couple if years the Cavs could have even more franchise faces for a truly epic and elite team around the King. There was one thing wrong about his humble and refreshing press conference, he can guarantee a championship. Not one, not two. Right now the ignited and inspired Irving is a Wade upgrade and if a Bosh one like the Wilt numbers of Beach Boy Kevin Love joins this team surfing through the U.S.A's best, then voltron will form again for an even bigger three.
This is one Cleveland show that everyone will want to watch. It's all family now for this guy. Back to the roots. No press conference, just pen and paper. A signature but more importantly and 'Jerry Maguire' stronger than oak; a handshake. Nothing given. Everything earned. Ohio's son returns to give his city a new state of basketball. Expecting another child with his wife, laying down a foundation with his family. Loyalty until the day he retires. Once you would have never thought of his jersey rising like a Phoenix for Cleveland from the burnt ashes of betrayal to the retired rafters of the sun of a Cavalier ceiling, but as LeBron looks to add more banners to his old and new arena the only question now like a Kobe 8 and 24 is; will it be number 23 or 6? LeBron says he wants to finish up his career in Cleveland and even if there is another stop on the way its clear the 29 year old star in his prime has grown over the good , bad and ugly Twitter times that have tumbled through the last four years with his new trending refresh. So have his accepting family of fans too, whether they have remained in Cleveland or come running from South Beach. Even those still folding their arms at James' extended hands will come around. Even they can't deny how special this moment is and how it means so much more than basketball. This English writer who only shares the same age as LeBron (surprisingly not the game) remembers in his younger years pestering his dad on business in New York to pick up a number 23 Cleveland Cavaliers jersey from the NBA store back in the Summer of 2003 when he was drafted because the moment was just that Jordan or Kobe special. Now a decade and one later the jersey comes back out the stack of throwbacks with no burn marks as a relevant jersey again, only a throwback in design, here in this Game Of Thrones as I write another 'King Takes His Throne' part of 'The LeBron Series' I thought I would have wrote in June not July. Now after failing to three-peat the return of the king sees another trilogy about to start for this lord of the rings like the Hobbit. The band Semisonic once sang "every new beginning comes from some other beginning end" and in coming home LeBron calms down the crazy sweltering and franchise sweating summer free agency period he started four years ago (even his contemporary on court adversary eventually re-signed with the Knicks, but we even thought that after all this he may have returned to the Denver Nuggets or as Chris Rock joked on Twitter Syracuse). This young man has truly matured into a veteran , true superstar. Now home at last he's come full circle but its time he gives his city and team what they've deserved for all too long...a ring.
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