LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavalier, needs a deep rewind | CHOSEN: Chapter 3

it's june 19 2016. the cleveland cavaliers are on the verge of winning the nba championship against the golden state warriors it would be the first in the cavaliers turbulent 46-year history the city of cleveland's first major pro title since the browns in 1964. in the early 80s ted stephen kneecapped the franchise by shedding draft picks these cavs employ kyrie irving because they acquired a draft pick irving just hit a huge shot the cavs rebuilt in the late 80s but made bad trades and never fulfilled their promise as the team of the 90s these cavs made a great trait swapping youth for the ready-made veteran talent of kevin love who just stifled stephen curry's attempt to flip the lead drafts and trades permit needy franchises to choose desirable players and the cavs owe much of their turnaround to such choices but landing star talent is one thing keeping a star on board is a whole other challenge you've gotta fix the problems that made your team needy in the first place prove to the star that you've changed because a player with enough experience talent and leverage graduates from being chosen to making choices of his own the third chapter of cavaliers history hinges on one person one fortune changing talent who represents their greatest triumph and greatest failure it's time to talk about lebron james when this time elapses lebron will certainly be named 2016 nba finals mvp for the world champion cavaliers six years ago this reality was unthinkable in 2010 lebron got to choose for the first time in his career king james entered unrestricted free agency an opportunity available only to certain nba players and only since the 1988 collective bargaining agreement thanks to his veteran's superstar status james could work wherever he wanted free to move in a way the greats of yesteryear those union members who laid the groundwork for this contractual right never could no franchise held the power to conscript lebron's talents league rules allowed his incumbent team the cavaliers to make the best offer but cleveland could not demand compensation for his departure nor could they prevent it by matching a salary offer all the front office could do was try to appease him with moves all fans could do was plead the league's most prominent star hand-picked attractive employers heard their maximum contract pitches on his terms then made his decision with a capital d on national television lebron chose to take his talents to south beach which it turns out is in miami not cleveland he'd go on to win championships with the heat alongside other stars who'd made the same unrestricted decisions obviously something changed since then but before we talk about the choices that led to this moment we should follow lebron's initial trajectory from chosen to choosey let's go back [Music] our last big rewind left us in a dank dark valley by the end of the 20th century gordon gunn's cavaliers roster looked bloated and aimless far removed from the harmonious late 1980s teams cleveland management had little choice but to start over by dumping sean kemp's huge contract and rebuilding through that all-important life raft for sinking franchises the nba draft lottery but jim paxson's front office didn't exactly nail those lottery picks in the 2000 draft cleveland traded jamal crawford for chris mim bad they drafted sagana jopp over joe johnson in 2001. bad that's multiple overrated big guys and then when an actual great one omari stodemeyer fell to the cavs in 2002 they instead selected dejuan wagner whose promising career would derail because of unfortunate health issues cleveland remained in the doldrums and sunk to rock bottom in o203 nothing illustrates this wretched period quite like a notorious ricky davis goof in a game near the end of a rancid 03 season davis found himself one rebound away from a triple-double so he intentionally missed a shot to try to get that 10th board desean stevenson showed ricky how he felt about that and that's the same ricky davis who busted out a clean between the legs dunk in the final seconds of a blowout loss spectacular this is how the cavs of the early 2000s made headlines as a sideshow again they weathered accusations of tanking on purpose but deliberate or not there was a good reason to finish the o203 season with just 17 wins lebron james was born in the same hospital as steph curry but unlike wardell jr young lebron remained in ohio by the early 2000s he had already become quite famous as a high school underclassman james had overshadowed older better known competition at camps leading an excellent st vincent st mary's high school team james floored observers not only with his physical attributes but with his ingenious enlivening approach to basketball the towering forward looked athletic enough to simply overwhelm opponents but loved to read the floor manipulate the action and invent easy plays for everyone the kid was a savant scouts executives and media just [ __ ] their little pants on this famous 2002 cover sports illustrated called lebron james the chosen one a pretty reckless label to foist on the 17 year old kit they predicted james could be a lottery pick even in that year's draft and lebron had genuinely considered leaving high school early to prove them right james actually joined the nearby cavaliers for a workout during his junior year a stunt that got cavs coach john lucas suspended for the first couple games of cleveland's 0203 tank fest ultimately lebron stuck around to win one more state title as a senior then declared for the 2003 draft as the headliner of a stacked prospect class all of this from a kid born like 40 miles from gundam arena so yeah the 03 cavs could stomach a season of the alpha ricky davis experience in exchange for a 22.5 chance of getting the top lottery pick the lottery offered some compelling consolation prizes but the opportunity to choose the chosen one to keep lebron in ohio had cavaliers owner gordon gund thrilled on lottery night in may a cavs executive witnessed gunn shaking with apprehension about the drawing the executive reminded gund of his greater life goals like curing the disease that impaired his vision winning a draft lottery isn't like finding a cure for blindness responded gunned it's pretty damn close he so so badly wanted that chance to draft first fate favored the cavaliers or weighted lottery odds favored them whichever as soon as the envelope for the second selection revealed a non-cavs logo clevelanders erupted in excitement tv cameras caught austin carr cleveland's first ever number one pick from 1971 weeping with joy at the cavs lottery party and in a move you absolutely never see gund unfurled a rebranded personalized cavs jersey new colors new logo already stitched with lebron's name and number right there at the lottery cleveland had prepared a prop to celebrate this unlikely outcome one that wouldn't even pay off until the following month's draft that is how special a prospect lebron james was the feeling wasn't 100 mutual staying home was cool but james had been paying attention to the actual team the wanton roster depletion the hideous basketball it took for cleveland to win his rights also made them a pretty unattractive employer but even one of the most accomplished teenagers in basketball history didn't have much leeway such is the irony of the nba draft james's future teammates described the forthcoming prodigy like he was just another new supporting player there to make them look better this old local news broadcast is a wonderful document of people underestimating lebron we have better players than him in this position already on our team though so he can just hop on our bandwagon lebron's rookie season instantly changed that tone it was clear that the cavs finally had the guy and equally clear beginning with game one that they needed to restructure around him cleveland did employ two good front court players they'd acquired with late draft picks thank god for that because the rest of the roster looked bleak new coach paul silas didn't have much to work with recent lottery pick dejuan wagner spent a lot of time sidelined so the cavs straight up didn't have a point guard lebron had to fill that role and the scorers cleveland depended on during their 0203 tank sesh clearly weren't going to fit so jim paxton cleared ricky davis out of the way quickly then dealt darius miles to bring in a new ball handler jeff mcginnis paxson didn't consult lebron before these moves but he was pleased to get the rookie's approval meanwhile that rookie continued to live up to the extreme hype james produced some rough shooting nights exposing the one prominent weakness in his developing game but he also did some [ __ ] teenagers aren't supposed to do like dropping 41 13 and 6 in a come-from-behind victory against the nets a special rookie and his big sidekicks won 35 games huge improvement though not quite enough to drag the rest of the roster into the 2004 postseason still they gave paxson a foundation with better guard play including a hopeful wagner return the cavs could get cooking they had to because a nation superstar represents a ticking clock it wouldn't be long before james moved from his rookie contract to enjoying some free agent rights cleveland needed to build a winner around him and get the hell out of the lottery asap step one there was obvious pay carlos boozer the rapidly improving power forward had been a second round draft pick and thus made relatively little money if unattended boozer would soon enter free agency he could select his team and finally sign a big contract to match his burgeoning talent the cavs plan to just preempt all that by paying boozer right now to commit long term [Music] accounts of what happened next vary but the upshot is that before o4 free agency began boozer and his agent rob palinka met with gordon gund and the cavaliers they reached a sort of handshake agreement something illegal under nba rules if formalized the cavs would decline the low paying option years remaining on boozer's existing contract this would certainly alarm fans but then cleveland would immediately sign boozer to a big new contract as this transpired boozer told the public he wanted to remain in cleveland but july moved along and oh less accomplished big men were signing contracts richer than the one cleveland promised boozer so carlos couldn't help but shop around and he eventually signed a six-year 68 million dollar offer sheet with the utah jazz technically boozer was a restricted free agent so the cavs could match that salary and keep them in reality 68 million was way more than they'd budgeted way more than they thought all parties had agreed to the cavs thus decided to let lebron's best teammate walk away gordon gund immediately engaged his version of damage control an open letter gunned sympathized with fans disappointment he had believed in carlos gund gave his version of events with direct quotes about respects and trust that boozer supposedly did not reciprocate he explained why cleveland was choosing not to match utah's lucrative offer because the expense would have significant negative impact on the team so the first offseason of building around lebron james was wrecked from the beginning paxton tried and failed to convince 40-year-old former mvp karl malone to come on board the cavs settled for trades to add a solid point guard eric snow and a decent enough boozer replacement in drew gooden although that trade would end up paying off more on its margins meanwhile cleveland's other potential rising star never returned to form bad luck faded dejuan wagner's star potential before the age of 24. cleveland's 2004 lottery pick luke jackson hardly contributed the decision to select him stood out when some lower drafted players outperformed him like well this guy actually still not as bad as when the pre-lebron cavaliers drafted this guy vitali patapako now an assistant coach over kobe bryant anyway the point is even and improving lebron wasn't enough for the barely fortified o5 caps james logged the most minutes of any nba player became an all-star at age 20 and joined big names like alan iverson and kobe bryant atop the scoring chart but he couldn't improve the cavaliers standing in a tough central division that season is well represented by a game on march 20th 2005 when lebron broke the franchise scoring record to pour 56 points on the raptors plus 10 rebounds and 5 assists just for funsies and cleveland still couldn't win even the most scintillating young star needs help affable human fire towers adrenal sulgowskis picked popped and defended his way to an 05 all-star berth but big z was not productive enough to be the second best player on a team with any prayer of contending after a 30 and 20 start cleveland slumped out of the all-star break and fell just short of the 2005 playoffs the cavs did have room to grow but the regime that welcomed lebron wouldn't be the one to carry out that project gordon gund was well into his 60s and ready to focus on his philanthropic endeavors he reached out to david stern who'd been nba commissioner since around the time he brokered gunn's team acquisition back in 1983. over two decades later gund wanted stern to find the next owner of the cavaliers the commish knew just the guy unlike ted stephen and gordon gund dan gilbert claimed minimal connection to cleveland ohio but just like them he had way too much money gilbert's personal mythology describes a detroit kid scrapping his way from modest real estate business into big time mortgage lending in the 80s gilbert founded a company called rock financial several decades a sale a re-acquisition and some grimy scandals later you probably know it as the powerful and ubiquitous quicken loans by the 2000s this little chief owned billions of dollars nba franchise money with stern's enthusiastic guidance dan gilbert used almost 400 million of those dollars to buy majority ownership in the cavaliers it didn't take long for gilbert to paste over all the gun branding with quicken loans stuff and gilbert's makeover went far deeper gm jim paxson had the cavs roster positioned to improve in the summer of 05 and coach silas had them playing organized if not victorious ball but those two were at odds with one another and they weren't gilbert's guys to replace them gilbert followed a tried and true strategy hire people who have worked for the san antonio spurs cleveland's new coach mike brown who had won a ring as an assistant with san antonio then spent a few years engineering the indiana pacers monstrous defense under rick carlisle brown's boss the cavs new general manager was hey we know this guy danny fairy first came to cleveland in the cavaliers desperate ill-fated move to dump ron harper entering 1990. ferry had a fine cavs career albeit nowhere near good enough to justify that critical trade fairy played his last few seasons for greg popovich and then joined the spurs front office he took a cavs interview in o5 with no intention of leaving san antonio but ferry hit it off with gilbert and ended up accepting his first general manager job so this guy who had little choice over his role in the cavs past now got to determine the cavs future and he had no time to waste since they never paid carlos boozer the cavaliers possessed enough salary cap space to sign the best members of an exciting 2005 free agent class to help coach brown get the most out of lebron james and to ensure james would extend his first contract fairy had to convince talented players to choose cleveland the cavs owned zadruna solgauskas was part of that group ferry needed to retain the center whose cavs career went so far back that he'd once been ferry's teammate ilgauskas had planned to vacation in china while mulling free agency offers but the cavs were not gonna let him slip away like boozer did dan gilbert and mike brown bought first-class plane tickets just so they could intercept cedrunus and his wife during their layover at the los angeles airport the team owner and coach hustled through security which drew some tsa attention since they had no luggage then they sprinted around lax trying to find big z only to realize they were in the wrong terminal gilbert and brown hopped in a van to find the right terminal went through security again paused to buy zadrunus's wife some flowers in a balloon that said i love you then finally found their guy presumably the only seven foot three person in the airport gilbert and brown gave the ilgauskas their gifts bought them lunch then made an offer and it worked before he boarded his connecting flight ilgauskas contacted his agent with instructions to get the deal done brown compared the successful mission to spy kids 3 specifically the third one so the cavs successfully defended against further pilfering of their to reinforce the back court they'd need to go on the offensive fortunately some excellent high-scoring nba guards were seeking new contracts joe johnson ray allen and ohio native michael redd johnson was a restricted free agent so the incumbent phoenix sons could make acquiring him difficult they ended up trading him to the hawks for more than cleveland would offer johnson fulfilled his all-star potential in atlanta the older allen and red were true free agents and cleveland pursued them hard lebron recorded each player a pitch video in hopes of attracting a veteran co-star but while unrestricted free agency gives players the right to choose the nba's labor agreement uses maximum salary rules to incentivize staying with your previous team allen and red got paid and stayed put so danny fairy's first big swings as cavaliers gm didn't make contact but with cash to burn and a mandate to build around lebron fairy felt compelled to go get someone larry hughes was a combo guard entering his prime after a solid two-way season in washington he was also a spotty shooter with a history of injuries hughes had spent a lot of games on the sideline in his large shirt the cavs made that guy their highest paid player for 2006 inking hues to basically the same long-term deal they offered the more illustrious michael redd rounding out this free agent hall were some shooters a big sleepy one and danielle marshall and a little spunky one in damon jones pretty underwhelming outcome to the critical summer of 2005 the first offseason under gilbert and ferry and cleveland's biggest signing hughes went on to miss a chunk of his first cavalier season because of a messed up finger thankfully the cavs still had lebron after becoming rookie of the year at 19 and an all-star at 20 lebron turned 21 threw himself a party then became arguably the best player in the nba james averaged a career-high 31 points per game in 0.506 attacking within a mike brown offense that could now deploy shooters to generate space and top 10 efficiency in february lebron was all-star game mvp in march he punctuated a 37-point triple-double by burying the first buzzer-beating game-winner of his career a confident jab and leaner from 20 feet out the jumper was coming along this one earned win number 39 for cleveland in april the cavaliers hit 50 wins for the first time since the days of wendy wilkins in the richfield coliseum lebron led cleveland to their first postseason birth since 1998. they secured the four seed and a match up with the washington wizards playoff time lebron's first ever playoff game a high pressure milestone in any star's career was a cakewalk he piloted a clean cavs victory with a 32 point triple-double including nearly as many assists as field goals lebron won game three of that series by outlasting wizard superstar gilbert arenas in a bucket for bucket showdown in the final seconds the debut performer commanded this new stage but if lebron slipped even a little like a rough shooting night in game two or a high turnover outing in game four then so did the cavaliers so he stopped slipping james ladled 45 points on the wizards in game 5 including this impressive tightrope act of a buzzer beater for the win in game 6 damon jones hit the shot that put the wizards away for good the cavaliers won their first playoff series since 1993. soon thereafter the nba announced its 2006 most valuable player steve nash nash's second straight award prevented james from being the youngest mvp ever remember by the way that the cavaliers chose not to draft this guy when given the opportunity or this guy or this guy as a matter of fact sorry anyway the o6 cavs advance to face the top seeded detroit pistons in round two the pistons fell one pick short of lebron back in the 03 lottery but they'd been doing pretty okay since then with two straight finals appearances including the 2004 title and here in the 06 conference semifinals their vaunted defense knew whom to swarm lebron mustered enough excellence to stretch the series to seven games but especially in the elimination game naria cavalier stepped up to support him cleveland's game 7 score looked like something from the 1940s check out the points distribution from that game just the total inverse of a cavs box score from the lenny wilkins era so things ended on a sour note but given the kinda limp 05 offseason the cavs felt pretty good about the tangible progress on the court and lebron validated their good feelings by signing up for more he had spent the last year or so changing agents hiring friends consulting with jay-z and well all that culminated in a contract extension signed in the summer of 2006. interestingly james didn't extend for the maximum years the contract ended with an optional fourth year the cavaliers clock now ticked toward 2010 onward 0607 basically the same rotation just replacing a guard called flip murray with a guard called booby gibson hi booby larry hughes wasn't really healthy but he played more and some youngsters embraced substantial roles the cavs still depended on lebron a great deal at least on offense it didn't always look great but by regular season's end brown's signature defensive coaching registered while the cavs merely matched the prior season's win total of 50 cleveland entered the 2007 playoffs with a reputation for devouring opposing scorers the wizards beset by injuries never had a prayer in a first round sweep the nets went down in six vince carter flummoxed by the cleveland defense so here was another first for lebron and the 21st century cavaliers the eastern conference finals their opponent was familiar the pistons no longer featured defensive superstar ben wallace but they still held the one seed and were still well equipped to bombard lebron to dare another cavalier to beat them in games 1 and 2 that worked those games were ugly the pistons barely scored points but succeeded in dragging the cavs down with them lebron couldn't even crack 20 and cleveland's outside shooting failed to cover the difference in game one lebron raised eyebrows by passing up the big shot over help defense dishing to an open game winner for danielle marshall who missed in game two lebron wanted to take the final shot but the pistons defense smothered him so game three at home was big and lebron treated it that way he just kind of refused the defense and took over for a crisp 32 points in the fourth quarter of a tied game this chest to chest yam sandwich upon rasheed wallace sent a message to the fans in the arena i am lebron james i have decided that my team your team will win this basketball game lebron created plenty of opportunities for others but when it came down to it and the pistons remained close the kid called his own number drew a switch and closed the book that is the kind of performance that gets the opponent complimenting you the kind that gets your coach to admit he basically handed you the keys but that wasn't even the game neither was game four in which lebron's big fourth quarter and a key bench performance from gibson tied the series the game the night the world really truly found out about lebron james was game five [Music] at home in the palace of auburn hills in front of 22 000 boisterous detroit fans and kid rock the pistons outplayed the couch they really did lebron did his best to keep everyone engaged but hughes was limping through a foot injury and the other guards couldn't hit in the fourth the cavs fell apart rip hamilton led a pistons free-throw parade that produced 10 unanswered points detroit could feel the contest and the series swinging in their direction they held a seven point lead with three minutes to go and then lebron just ate the game the whole building nobody else existed except lebron james first he crossed up hamilton and finished lefty to make it five after an empty piston's possession lebron demanded the ball this is a 22 year old then simply pulled up from 26 feet after varajo's quick hands forced this turnover lebron continued his solo freezing jason maxiel off the dribble for a dunk miraculously the cavs had regained the weed but mr big shot chauncey billups drilled an eponymous big shot just a dagger through the inflating cleveland balloon game five thus presented lebron the same scenario that bedeviled him in the first two road games one decisive possession with less than a shot clock left the pistons were clearly going to overplay him would he force a tough shot would he pass it had been minutes of game time since another cavalier even held the ball on offense detroit coach flip saunders cleverly arranged his defense so that a pick would switch sprawling noodle man taishan prince on to lebron but the all-nba defender looked away for like half a second which was half a second two minutes out of ten james with and the step is tied at 91 with 9.5 to go that scorpion strike took game five to overtime where lebron matched the pistons by scoring all of cleveland's points nobody else even attempted a shot until the buzzer james drew fouls he used big z for an easy bucket and then he faced down a chance to maybe put the game away look at this look at this offense if you squint you could convince yourself lebron is playing one on five when a pick arrived the pistons basically treated him that way hounding lebron with multiple defenders to force a pass but on this night no force surpassed that of lebron four point game james has to fire and scores oh my what a shot by lebron james nevertheless detroit hung around free throws bought them a second overtime lebron had played 45 minutes he'd scored 16 straight points by himself did he really have five more minutes of this in the tank as a matter of fact he did defended perfectly by prince he did pestered by billups he did over two defenders from 25 feet out fading to his left he did when lebron squared up with seconds left in the tied contest it had been almost 18 game minutes since another cavalier made a field goal the moment lebron moved five goalkeepers converged and lebron just sliced right through them this is lebron the strength to absorb contact the finesse to make the backboard his accomplice kind of shitty defense here too when mr big shot betrayed his name lebron had officially done it the 22 year old held off the detroit pistons by himself his 48 points included an astonishing 25 straight and the pistons were toast cleveland womped them in game six at home lebron finally got to ease off the gas while daniel gibson put on a spectacular shooting performance scoring 31 points for the first time in their 37 years of existence thanks almost entirely to a home-grown tank-secured draft selected prodigy the cleveland cavaliers made the nba fights all the suffering all the uncertainty built to this moment and then the cavs got absolutely [ __ ] mopped in the nba finals the tip top san antonio spurs defense swallowed lebron his teammates filled out one of the worst offensive outputs in history the 07 finals sucked still the cavs had cleared another bar they were finalists and could stay that way because the conference now belonged to them detroit proved mortal miami was fracturing the east's other young centerpieces just weren't lebron so danny fairy and the cavs stood pat the draft certainly wasn't going to help them they'd already traded their first round pick for a guy who would never play another nba game a new trade for scoring point guard mike bibby simmered but didn't cook the cavs entered the 0708 season with virtually the same rotation but hey that group had gotten them to the finals so what's the problem a couple problems these teams did not stand pat they kept building enough to withstand the cavs in each of the next three postseasons in june 2007 boston celtics gm danny ainge found a way to accomplish what cleveland's danny had not boston acquired elite bucket generator ray allen as a sidekick for the star they had once drafted paul pierce a few days later boston swung a huge trade for recent mvp kevin garnett suddenly pierce enjoyed the company of two teammates way more talented than anyone who had ever joined lebron the celtics had their so-called big three as the season progressed breakout point guard rajon rondo made that an arguable four while those celtics found their footing the cavs stagnated deteriorated even anderson varejao held out over contract issues and cleveland's injury list grew to include lebron's finger during the games he missed the reigning eastern champions actually fell below the 500 mark execution of mike brown's defense slipped the offense was outright bad cleveland only got back in the win column because lebron returned to orchestrate everything his near spotless performance somehow sharpened it took all-out lebron excellence to get anything done like this stretch in january 2008 the 23 year old put up 31 points and 19 boards in 50 minutes to barely outlast the stinky charlotte bobcats in double overtime a few nights later james had to score 51 to beat the even worse memphis grizzlies in ot a year or two from free agency lebron was frustrated he wanted help like paul pierce specifically lebron wanted the help of star point guard jason kidd who had just requested a trade from the new jersey nets when it sounded like the nets instead had a deal with the mavericks lebron could barely hide his disappointment from media he wanted to win more now desperate to satisfy their star the cavs finally did something lunging into the most complex trade of a busy 08 deadline season danny fairy sent a chunk of the starting lineup to chicago cleveland got back ben wallace who had regressed considerably since his detroit days plus thankfully a couple solid seattle perimeter players delante west and molly zerbiak big move but you look around at who else switched teams during that time and i don't know man the trade didn't really change cleveland's fortunes they finished 08 with 45 wins and after beating the wizards couldn't overcome the celtics shiny new big three in the playoffs lebron yet again had to weather an excellent defense by himself and did a pretty incredible job pressing the series to seven games but game seven epitomized the cavs fatal flaw while james labored for 45 points former celtic delante west was the only other player to even crack double figures in a five point loss boston's new big three went on to win the 2008 championship completing the greatest single season improvement in nba history lebron's cavs had declined with 2010 on the horizon dan gilbert insisted he wasn't worried about free agency but with a superstar casually dropping the phrase personnel changes danny fairy knew he had more work to do in the summer of 08 easier said than done since prior moves and basic housekeeping left cleveland without space to just go out and sign great players ferry to his credit pulled off a shrewd late summer move exchanging bench players for mo williams a smooth little guard who could create and hit shots this pleased lebron alongside lebron williams found himself free to hover behind the arc where he put up a career-best three-point percentage at the same time delante west and wally zerbiak who had arrived with ben wallace at the prior deadline settled into their roles enjoying the opportunities one gets in the company of the king lebron finally had a decent backcourt williams joined lebron on the 09 eastern all-star team albeit as an injury replacement for chris bosh among these cavs lebron could finally dial down his volume and share the touches but don't get me wrong he still had the green light to take over whenever he wanted or needed to one night in february 09 stands out lebron got bored or frustrated or i don't know what happened but he just decided to start heaving against the milwaukee bucks that night the cleveland broadcast had two legends on the call at the bradley center two voices who along with the stalwart joe tate heralded lebron's ascent in cleveland strongsville ohio's fred macleod on play-by-play and our old friend austin carr providing color those two bore witness to this look at this man refusing to accept a big halftime deficit calling his own number at the buzzer look at him just foregoing normal basketball to pull up off a mage shot listen to veteran announcers guys who've seen everything absolutely piss themselves and look at the bench grown men just losing it lebron turned around a losing score by dropping 55 points including eight three-pointers from increasingly absurd distance so yeah when you give that even the tiniest bit of help good things happen the cavs played elite offense and restored their signature defense they won 66 games still the franchise record by a long shot come post season the 09 cavs melted what remained of the pistons then smoked the hawks cleveland entered the eastern conference finals on a path swept clean eight straight double-digit victories in between lebron checked off another personal achievement taking home the 2009 nba mvp trophy the league and its fan base braced for a blockbuster finals matchup lebron and his cavs against 08 mvp kobe bryant and the reanimated la lakers but first a surprise conference final opponent [Music] instead of a boston rematch the cavs would face these guys the orlando magic banged up as they were had overthrown the similarly hampered celtics in the second round orlando had drafted dwight howard number one the year after cleveland then they had retained talent made more good draft picks and shelled out cash to ensure support for their new superstar if you're counting all stars the 2009 magic had their own big three dwight's powerful dunks centered a half court offense rife with shooters his shot blocking was the linchpin of a top shelf interior defense the magic played elegant overwhelming basketball for coach stan van gundy cleveland though represented the clear favorite at least until a game one that resembled a sort of sped up version of those old pistons games instead of a defensive struggle it was a shootout dwight commanded the middle while point forward hedo turcaloo orchestrated a three-point bonanza cleveland kept pace because of lebron for all the advances they had made it was just lebron he scored a pristine 49 points most everyone else shot poorly howard's right-hand man rashard lewis punctuated a rally with this clutch three west came up short on the return and mo williams couldn't cash in this nice tip from lebron the cavs frictionless playoff streak hit an abrupt snag with a game one loss at quicken loans arena and speaking of that streak the cavs long layoff following their short second round series manifested in a severe bout of leg cramps for lebron clevelanders were nervous game two offered reassurance lebron once again had to carry the cavs and this time he secured the critical shot with turcaloo on his hip james caught and fired on target before one second elapsed joe tate's radio call conveys the relief of a long-awaited break for the cavs looks fires to lebron three balled in the air he hit it he hit it cavaliers win [Music] finally for the first time in a playoff history defined by mj cleveland hosted a dramatic game-winning shot by the league's premier player the guy for the home team but that only even the series orlando's superior balance won out at home in an ugly game three and a game four that featured more clutch shooting from richard lewis lebron finally got some help from weston williams to avoid elimination in game 5 but it all came crashing down in a grim game 6 defeat kobe versus lebron was cancelled perhaps frustrated with teammates who had fallen well short of the magic supporting cast lebron left those guys to answer for the upset series defeat he departed orlando in a huff without shaking a hand or talking to anyone including media which you know they didn't like lebron later insisted he was happy in cleveland despite two straight campaigns short of the 07 finals run not happy enough to sign a contract extension though the clock kept ticking toward 2010 next summer ferry entered desperation mode the kind of short-sighted just make a trade mindset that well brought him to cleveland when cavs management freaked out about ron harper in 1989. this time cleveland dealt for shaquille o'neal but not the shaquille o'neal you're imagining not the one fairy himself had played against shaq was 37 years old a relic of his dominant self midway through the 2010 season still needing help ferry put together a trade for phoenix sun's all-star admirer stodomier stoddameyer would immediately become lebron's best teammate yet by a wide margin oh hi amari was also headed for free agency so the cleveland front office envisioned him and lebron re-upping together to lead the cavs in the new decade but yet another big trade for an excellent potential co-star failed to materialize thus the cavs big 2010 deadline edition their last chance to pair lebron with a real deal co-star was antoine james this obviously wasn't enough the cavs cracked 60 wins again and took care of the bulls in the first round but the healthy celtics awaited cleveland in round two the secondary cavs went cold once again and this time so did lebron himself cleveland generated a momentary swell of hope by destroying the celtics in game 3 at boston but the cavs barely put up a fight the rest of the series nursing a mysterious elbow injury that became an annoying meme lebron shot a horrid 18 of 53 in three consecutive losses no teammate came close to picking up the slack the last moments the nba's best player and ohioan spent under contract with ohio's nba team looked like this mike breen knew what everyone was thinking cleveland fans wondering if that's the last time he'll take off the cavalier jersey and it was you know what happened in free agency lebron heard the pleas of cavs fans and hinted at staying home some of those cavs fans fixated on their star filing to change his jersey number from 23 to 6. surely he wouldn't bother with the paperwork if he planned to change teams never mind who might have given him that idea in any event lebron had thrown out all kinds of hints in recent years he knew what he was doing he relished the opportunity to choose and to shift the nba landscape with said choice james headlined the biggest free agent summer since 1996 when mj signed a big new deal with chicago when shaquille o'neal fled his draft city to begin building a dynasty in los angeles and when the cavs biggest signing was mark west lebron added a new layer to this 2010 edition of the seismic free agency bonanza the king guaranteed himself a supporting cast in a move that germinated back in 2006 when they all signed four-year deals lebron and his old team usa pals dwyane wade and chris bosh freed up all at once and joined forces while the new big three in miami built gradually toward a championship two it turned out the cavaliers sunk dan gilbert began this chapter by throwing a public rich guy tantrum gilbert scalded lebron in a spiteful open letter somehow the second of its kind that decade although at least gordon gunn's letter admonishing carlos boozer wasn't published in comic sans we still don't know why gilbert expressed his fury in the same typeface i used for my third grade book report about armadillos but it certainly diluted his message childish as this looked gilbert wasn't alone in resenting the nba's best player for ditching the team in his hometown you know the team that got lucky enough to draft him the team that from the boozer fiasco to the summer of 05 to all those non-trades never provided lebron the guy a single teammate anywhere near the kind mj or kobe had in their early careers meanwhile with a new coach and a new gm people who probably thought they were signing up to work beside lebron what remained of the cavs re-entered the muck cleveland finished the 2011 season at 19 and 63 worst in the east for the third time in franchise history and from the greatest heights they'd ever reached the cavaliers plummeted once more to their death that was five years before tonight that was before fairies gm replacement traded mo williams for a lucky 2011 lotto ticket before that ticket won cleveland the opportunity to choose kyrie irving that was before the cavs remained bad enough to win another draft lottery in 2013 and then do it again the next season cleveland certainly did not nail all their draft picks but dan gilbert's son nick has been an outstanding good luck charm after four years two titles and another two mvp awards in miami lebron james reached unrestricted free agency again in 2014 days after the cavs drafted andrew wiggins first overall maybe lebron would leave miami but for cleveland a young losing team a team still owned by comic sans boy with fans who'd trashed their star in 2010 then did this in 2013 it sounded weird but if you had been looking closely or if you'd been listening to lebron you saw a window the 2014 cavs had some things they lacked back when james made his heartbreaking decision four years prior they had a superstar point guard in kyrie their young talent base now included wiggins a prospect hyped almost as intensely as lebron once was and cleveland had laid some groundwork they made gestures they invited lebron to zadruna solgauskas's jersey retirement in march 2014 and the king accepted dan gilbert had offered olive branches public and private he even deleted his infantile open letter so when july arrived cavs management got to meet with lebron's agent rich paul paul brought along mark termini the agent who once handled ron harper's turbulent negotiations with cleveland the cavs felt good enough about the meeting to clear cap space in a hurry was this really happening cleveland is the second most populous city in ohio it gets quite cold and it doesn't boast quite as rich in nightlife as some other nba markets for the finest rudest point on the city's reputation among nba players we turned to jokim noah who was tired of losing to the rival cavs in 2010 and did a little trolling every time i look out my window it's pretty depressing out here man it's bad it's bad i mean i never heard anybody say i'm going to cleveland on vacation so good about cleveland for 44 years billionaires and their executives drafted traded and overpaid to make people come to cleveland and play for the cavaliers 2014 at last was different the best player in basketball who held all the power was a man born and raised in ohio he could choose and for the first time ever thanks to patience and planning and a lot of luck the guy chose to be a cleveland cavalier this time lebron announced his world shaking decision in a sports illustrated article lebron was coming back coming home lebron was still an ohioan but he wasn't a kid anymore and he would not be passive he continued to choose the king arrived with big plans for his home community and with an agenda for his home team james had leverage too his contract guaranteed only one season in cleveland if the cavs wanted to avoid another 2010 they'd have to satisfy lebron immediately the kevin love trade was only kind of the cavs idea before lebron surprised cleveland by signing new gm david griffin had discussed but ultimately abandoned a trade with minnesota for their fed up star but then lebron arrived and immediately called love himself to propose a partnership kevin was into it so suddenly lebron's boss had little choice but to figure out a deal throughout lebron's machinations andrew wiggins found himself in a very uncomfortable state of limbo his name was conspicuously absent from lebron's homecoming address and the reason became clear the kevin love deal sent wiggins to minnesota punted from one lottery team to another weeks after draft night the number one prospect had no say in any of this unprecedented movement lebron returned to cleveland holding a list of role players he wanted around and the cavs obliged cleveland signed mike miller formerly of the heat they signed james jones formerly of the heat the king didn't just influence transactions cavaliers coach david blatt an overseas icon new to the nba felt undermined from day one in the locker room lebron took it upon himself to mentor kyrie who did not necessarily want his mentorship in practice lebron called meetings in games lebron sometimes called for time-outs and sets and substitutions the actual basketball of the 14-15 season took a toll on lebron's health he missed a spate of games right after his 30th birthday but james used that absence to further flex his power he helped broker the trade that brought in jr smith and aman shumper lebron took an unusual mid-season trip to miami rehabbing injuries at a distance while rumors swirled and the cavs lost games they actually fell below the 500 mark before the end of january 2015. lebron stirred up drama with coded tweets chastised media members who concluded the tweets were directed to kevin love then later admitted the media people were right all this and the cavs were i don't know pretty good at least once lebron returned they hit their stride in the spring and earned a playoff two seed their run through the eastern conference did hit adversity love got his shoulder yanked out by the celtics and without him the cavs had to work to beat the bulls cleveland only overcame an early deficit because lebron defied coach blatt's play call to hit a game-winner but in the conference finals cleveland dismantled the upstart atlanta hawks a team built by hey danny fairy before he took the fall for reading some racist notes off a scouting report anyway lebron got the cavs back in the nba finals in 2015. the cavaliers that chose him made the finals once in seven seasons the cavaliers he chose did it on the first try but that was the end of the line love's shoulder kept him out and irving blew up his kneecap in game one of the series cleveland's healthier splashier opponent the golden state warriors reaped the fruits of a more gradual build their personnel comprised a variety of footnotes and what-ifs for cleveland league mvp steph curry hoisted his first championship trophy in his original home state against the team that once squandered his dad curry's supporting cast featured talented draft picks the cavaliers passed on klay thompson from the 2011 draft harrison barnes and draymond green from 2012 that roster reached new heights under the leadership of coach steve kerr another former cavalier player whose career peaked elsewhere last season the warriors planted their flag as the new boss standing between lebron and a title for his hometown and it's the same guys on the floor right now in their own arena seconds from defeat what changed in the past year well the warriors only got better like best regular season record in history better state blazed through the first two rounds of the playoffs then avoided a conference final upset from kevin durant russell westbrook and the okc thunder thanks to a stunning game 5 comeback and other worldly scoring in games six and seven this team fills buckets like no one has ever seen the cavaliers also improved despite or maybe because of lebron's grip on the organization james signed another short contract this past summer but only after ensuring cleveland would pay his free agent teammates the cavs sweated out a negotiation with tristan thompson who's a rich paul client like lebron is and they even reeled in an old pal from lebron's first stint moe williams during the season king james cooked up the same flavors of drama another mid-season sojourn in miami and more inscrutable tweets and lebron probably influenced this year's shocking mid-season move the firing of coach blatt cleveland held the east's best record in january but that wasn't enough to save black lebron preferred blatt's deputy tyron liu and it's lou coaching the cavaliers tonight for game seven deposing the winningest coach in the east mid-season worked out the cavs heated up offensively got a healthy kyrie back up to speed and swept the first two playoff rounds the cavs only real scare came against the toronto raptors a new contender built in part with the consultation of former cleveland gm wayne embry cleveland cleaned up a tight early series with blowouts in games five and six they secured another trip to the finals with a full big three trophy presented by the wonderful austin car but this cavs squad once again hit a wall out west the warriors humiliated cleveland with a torrid scoring run in the second half of game one then beat them even worse in game 2. lebron and kyrie got some measure of revenge in game 3 but love missed it with a concussion and game 4 was back to the usual golden state took a 3-1 lead thanks to curry's first huge game of the series steph hit seven of the warriors record-setting 17 three-pointers draymond green added injury to insult by smacking a frustrated lebron in the taint or insult to injury i never know how to phrase that the point is lebron had a sore perineum and the cavs were screwed it's cool that lebron came home but a week ago it looked like he picked the wrong time or the wrong teammates to bring a championship ring to his birthplace up three games to one the warriors appeared inevitable every bit as domineering as the spurs who snuffed cleveland's first deep run with lebron in 2007. but these are not those caps during his first cleveland stint lebron watched a teammate crack 30 points in the playoffs exactly one time booby gibson's 07 closeout performance against detroit that was to be expected examine regular season averages from that era and you'll see lebron never had a big score by his side opponents exposed that in the playoffs the most productive second option from that era mo williams never really went off when it counted this is not to besmirch williams who remember is back on the cavs bench this season mo scored tonight i just want to highlight the difference between that era and this one he more than anyone is the difference kyrie irving irving is the most prolific bucketeer ever to accompany lebron in cleveland kyrie can take the wheel when called upon and in game five he proved as much freed up somewhat by a one-game suspension for the defensive specialist who'd smacked his gooch lebron scored 41 points and crucially so did kyrie irving reached his 41 on just 24 shots including five three-pointers the cavs ran away in the second half to romp at oracle arena led by the first teammates ever to break 40 points in the same nba finals game back at home for game 6 the cavs rode their momentum to a blowout score in the first quarter this time james didn't need much offensive help stifling a warrior comeback with 41 points and 11 dimes true vintage lebron a 3-1 deficit turned into a 3-3 tie which gave us tonight's winner take all showdown in oakland for the first time all series this game has been incredibly close golden state gained some edge in the first half but kyrie recovered that ground in the third quarter more than anything else it's been a slog you know the warriors aren't themselves when the only guy hitting from outside is draymond who shrugs while he shoots and it hasn't been much better for the cavs lebron's been hit or miss and love is probably still concussed although each did produce a stunning defensive stop to keep golden state scoreless for over four minutes preceding this moment andre iguodala's layup with two minutes to go would have given the warriors a lead but lebron may have literally left an impact crater with this chase down block oh blocked by james and we saw how kev held his own against earth's scariest three-point shooter but love and james have both been cold from the field in this final period even kyrie was one of five in the fourth quarter before he hit you know one of the biggest shots in nba history seconds later lebron trailed irving down the lane and came so close to converting one of the greatest dunks ever even with the miss this draymond green fowl put lebron on the line where he hit one of two free throws adding the critical fourth point to cleveland's lead now the warriors have little hope of coming back with just one remaining possession those plays comprise the pinnacle the very razor's edge of a rocky 46-year climb when this time elapses lebron will certainly be named 2016 nba finals mvp for the world champion cleveland cavaliers lebron james will be the guy to make it happen for a fan base that bears the scars of a half century spent falling short clevelanders know from history how critical it is for an nba franchise to value the all-important draft lottery to make trades for the right reasons each of those keys unlocked the potential for a champion in cleveland but cavs fans also know that finding great players is one thing and attracting them is another lebron james didn't choose to be born in cleveland lebron james didn't choose to be drafted to cavalier but after a bitter departure some glorious time away and a few years of cavalier luck lebron james the guy chose to come home he remodeled home to match his tastes speaking of home what's going on in ohio right now two thousand miles away from game seven well joe tate is at home and he's watching on tv he has mostly tuned out the cavaliers since retiring but he couldn't resist tonight in downtown cleveland two old friends are watching this national broadcast too and they're at work fred macleod the ohio-born play-by-play guy who's been the tv voice of the cavs since 2006. austin carr whose number hangs from the rafters over his head the long time partners are announcing this game on a private feed for the arena watch party as these final seconds tick off the clock in oakland let's listen to fred and ac back home let's experience this through the ears of a fan base that waited over 46 years to be right here let's embrace the end of a half centuries longing at last it's cleveland's time welcome to a moment in history curry they'll give the three no rebound maurice bates good night oakland it's almost over the 52 years it is over the kentucky the cavaliers it won the nba championship everybody stand up in chair eighteen thousand eight hundred and one days and it's over cleveland celebrate go crazy because the championship is yours [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Secret Base

Views: 2,074,970

Keywords: 2016 nba finals, Joe Johnson, Kevin Love, basketball, cavaliers, chosen, cleveland, cleveland cavaliers, dan gilbert, danny ferry, deep rewind, draymond green, dwight howard, golden state warriors, gordon gund, joakim noah, kobe bryant, kyrie irving, lebron, lebron james, michael redd, nba, nba finals, nba history, nba playoffs, paul pierce, ray allen, rewinder, sb nation, secret base, shaquille o'neal, stephen curry, ted stepien, zydrunas ilgauskas

Id: tLUt_iZsFDY

Length: 71min 17sec (4277 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/hink_robb]

Secret Base is consistently awesome with this stuff

[u/kravisha]

This whole series has been great to watch. I'm halfway through this part and even though I remember it as it was happening, it's still remarkable to see it all pulled together.

[u/thegreaterfool714]

I love these documentaries. Maybe we can see them for other first time champions like the Raptors or the Mavs?

[u/[deleted]]

Guys I got my car towed while watching space jams.

Michael's movies would never get my car towed

[u/ralpher313]

I was born in the year 2000. LeBron James has been one of the top 25 best basketball players on the planet for my entire life.

[u/[deleted]]

Obligatory reminder: Pelinka and Boozer lied to a blind man!

[u/Past-Chest-6507]

LeBron first time with Cleveland is the GOAT athlete AINEC

[u/Millionaire007]

Fucking great work

[u/incredibleamadeuscho]

what a great series this was. Lebron chose Cleveland, his team, and got them a ring.