[Azure]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

As a die-hard LeBron fan since about 2001 (his junior year), the last five days have been heartbreaking and disappointing. I've always known deep down that athletes don't look at pro sports like fans do, but this was the first time in my life that I've ever felt betrayed by an athlete that I adored.

It's not even that he left Cleveland. That I can at least understand. The way he did it (absolutely murdering the city in cold blood on national TV) was immature and narcissistic. Even that I'm not too broken up about, he's essentially a 25 year old teenager with no father figure and no one around to tell him he should know better. That's not really any fault of his own, he's just incredibly naive.

What bothers me the most is finding out that LeBron's priorities just aren't in the proper place to make him great. He had the potential to be one of those generationally transcendent athletes, and really put his mark on basketball for a decade, like Michael Jordan.

LeBron chose playing pick-up basketball with his buddies over winning, and that's the most disturbing part of all this. He now has zero chance of ever being mentioned in the same breath as some of the greatest athletes of our time. His ceiling was Michael Jordan greatness. Now that's not even a remote possibility. And that's the most disappointing part for me, a guy with that talent and that image threw all that potential away for some fun with his buddies in Miami.

Would Jordan have ever done something like this? Not a chance. He would have gone to Chicago, stayed in Cleveland, gone to New York, and destroyed Wade and Bosh on the court.

This to me, is the equivalent of Tiger Woods just picking up and going to the Nationwide Tour. Yeah, he would still be the most talented golfer in the game, arguably of all time, but he'd never be considered great if he doesn't take on and conquer the biggest challenges possible.

I used to like the guy too.

But his true side has come through now. He will not even come close to licking the soles of Jordan's shoes.