Despair in Miami: Heat fans mourn the loss of ‘King James’ to his ‘home’ in Cleveland by vandalizing mural featuring LeBron’s face that took two years to create
- LeBron James is leaving the Miami Heat to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers
- Heat fans heartbroken to see their superstar leaving town
- The Cavaliers drafted James out of high school with the number one overall pick in the 2003 NBA Player Draft
- James grew up in Akron, Ohio – about 40 miles south of Cleveland
- He won two NBA titles in four season with the Miami Heat
It is a dark day in a usually sunny city; Miami Heat fans are mourning the loss of the man who helped bring them two NBA Championships as LeBron James is heading home to Ohio — and the Miami basketball community has had mixed reactions: Sad or furious.
While no Heat fan is happy to see the best basketball player in the game leaving town, reactions have been either thankful for four great years, or unbridled fury that he’s leaving his now-former team high and dry.
Just hours after the announcement that ‘King James’ would be heading back to Cleveland, a mural featuring his face along with now-former teammates Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade was spray-painted over, presumably by an angry Heat fan.
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Before: This mural featuring LeBron at the center of the team took more than two years to complete
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After: By 2 p.m. Friday, just hours after it was learned that LeBron would be leaving the Heat, the mural was vandalized
The mural took more than two years to create.
However, Heat owner Mickey Arison is taking the high-road and wishing his former star well.
‘I am shocked & disappointed in today’s news. However I will never forget what Lebron brought us for 4 years. Thanks for memories @KingJames,’ Arison posted on Twitter Friday.
Overall, the reaction by Miami fans has been slightly less unforgiving than the Cavaliers faithful were when LeBron left Cleveland for Miami.
Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert fired off an angry open letter, in which he called James a ‘deserter’ and a ‘narcissist,’ among other nasty names.
Meanwhile, Cleveland fans burned James jersey across town.
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The reaction by fans in southern Florida has been much more tame.
‘Sad, man, just sad,’ fan Andrew Desir told the Miami Herald. ‘I honestly didn’t think he was going to leave. I have no idea what the Heat are going to do now.’
‘Now that he’s gone, I don’t see Cleveland going to the Finals four straight years. But the Heat isn’t going either,’ fan Bob Oberrieth told the paper, adding that ‘I trust [Miami Heat president] Pat Riley, I really do. But this is absolutely devastating. As far as the Heat goes, this is bad.’
James made his announcement in an interview publishedFriday.
‘My goal is to win as many titles as possible,’ he said in the interview with Sports Illustrated.
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Homecoming: LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers
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He’s returned: This billboard went up in downtown Cleveland within an hour of James announcing he was returning to the Cavaliers
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LeBron James’ return: Saturday’s front page of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s largest newspaper
The announcement caps weeks of speculation over where the two-time NBA champion would go after his contract with Miami expired following this year’s NBA Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
James told the magazine that despite finally getting the elusive rings he craved while with the Cavaliers, he felt leaving Northeast Ohio was never permanent, and compared it to college.
‘My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.’
He also expressed regret over ‘The Decision,’ an interview televised across the country on ESPN in which he announced which team he would sign with as a free agent by saying ‘I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.’
James admitted he would have done things much differently if he had them to do over again, but that he still would have left for Miami.
He explained in the essay that he left Cleveland ‘seeking championships’ and won them, but that Cleveland hasn’t had one in a long time and his goal was to bring the title home.
LeBron James returns to Cleveland Cavaliers
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Homeward bound: LeBron James reacts during the second half of a 2009 against the Los Angeles Lakers while still member of the Cavaliers
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Leader: LeBron James attends the LeBron James Skills Academy Thursday, July 10, 2014, in Las Vegas – he holds the annual summer camp to mentor high school basketball players
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No longer hot for Miami: James leaves the team he won two NBA titles with for a team that has never won a championship
2014: Cleveland fans celebrate as LeBron rejoins Cavaliers
‘I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there,’ he said.
He believed this despite Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert posting an angry letter on the team’s website ranting that James betrayed the team and its fans.
KING JAMES’ CAREER
- 2003 – Graduated from St. Vincent – St.Mary High School, in Akron, Ohio
- 2003 – Picked first overall in the NBA Player Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2004 – Named NBA ‘Rookie of the Year’
- 2005 – Named to first all-star team
- 2008 – Wins first scoring title
- 2008 – Wins Gold Medal at Beijing Summer Olympics
- 2009 – Signs four-year free-agent contract with the Miami Heat
- 2009 – Named NBA MVP for the first time2012 – Wins first NBA title
- 2012 – Wins second Gold Medal at London Summer Olympics
- 2013 – Wins second NBA title
- 2013 – Named ‘AP Athlete of the Year’
- 2014 – Returns to Cleveland Cavaliers
Source: NBA.com
‘Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge?’ James said.
James ‘wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland’ even after fans organized mass jersey burnings and media in the city openly rooted against him.
Fans have been visiting his suburban Akron mansion all week in speculation he would return to the team. The heavy traffic caused local police to be dispatched to the home’s front gates.
The announcement immediately turned sentiment from being against the four-time NBA MVP to scenes of wild celebration and unbridled joy.
Almost 70 per cent of fans responding to a WEWS poll asking if they would forgive ‘The Prodigal Son’ said yes. Another 23 per cent said no, and eight per cent were undecided.
‘YESSSSSSSS!! Couldn’t be happier for my guy @KingJames and the @cavs #Cleveland,’ tweeted Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.
‘Alright @KingJames! Let’s go Cleveland sports! What an awesome start to the day! Great to see him come back to where it all started!’ Ohio native and Cleveland Indians first baseman Nick Swisher tweeted.
‘LeBron’s letter couldn’t have been better said. He understands. He is one of us. #ClevelandBoy,’ Avon, Ohio’s Alex Stump wrote on Twitter.
NBA star LeBron James puts on a brilliant slam dunk show
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Let me take a selfie: Gail Salem, right, of Wadsworth, Ohio and her friend Barb Peck of Copley Township, Ohio take a photo in front of the home of LeBron James in Bath Township, Ohio on Thursday, July 10, 2014
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The gathering: Fans and media gather in front of LeBron James’ home Thursday, July 10, 2014 in Bath Township, Ohio, awaiting his announcement of where he will play next season
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Just in case: A police car guards LeBron James’ Miami house Friday in the hours after announcing he is leaving the Miami Heat
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Angry: One of the many angry, disillusioned responses of Heat fans after James jetted out of Miami to go back to Cleveland
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‘Just happy for the people of Cleveland,’ Gilbert told Yahoo Sports. ‘We are driven at core by one thing: Delivering the city a championship.’
Miami Heat owner Micky Arison was in disbelief James left the team.
‘I am shocked & disappointed in today’s news. However I will never forget what Lebron brought us for 4 years,’ Arison tweeted.
Miami fans joined in their shock and disbelief, tweeting hateful comments, pictures of burning James jerseys and James jerseys next to gas cans.
The departure of James means the end of their mini-dynasty. Sidekick Chris Bosh is expected to bolt for the Houston Rockets and lifelong Heat forward Dwyane Wade’s skills are eroding – Miami’s title contention is now over.
Cleveland fans have long suffered without celebrating a title in any sport, and James’ escape from Ohio to win two was viewed by many as a slap in the face to the fans that watched him grow up from high school.
Several fans also gathered outside Quicken Loans Arena, the team’s home court, decked in James number 23 Cavaliers jerseys that appear to have survived the purge.
The cheered, held signs and high-fived each other as passing cars beeped their horns almost non-stop – the excitement is palpable.
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He’s back!: Cavsbasketball fans celebrate in front of James’ house by tossing powder in the air, like their hero does before every game
Good times: Cavs fans gather outside the team’s arena in old James number 23 jerseys from before he left town
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The return: Graphic designer Alvin Smith holds up a poster in the street outside Quicken Loans Arena
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Celebration: Fans gathered outside James’ gated mansion near Akron cheered as each car passed by and throw their arms in the air in triumph – their hero is coming home
Within an hour of the announcement, the Cavaliers ticket office had a recorded announcement touting James’ return and declaring season tickets on sale – the team also had a billboard up in downtown Cleveland welcoming him back.
They saw James win multiple MVP awards and a Gold Medal during the Beijing Summer Olympics but had no NBA titles to show for it.
The best player in the world told SI that going to Miami put him in the position to lead Cleveland through a title charge. It was something he needed to do.
‘These past four years helped raise me into who I am. I became a better player and a better man. I learned from a franchise that had been where I wanted to go.’
He now returns with a renewed sense of place in the community.
‘I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up.
‘Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.’
And now he hopes to lead the Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA title.
‘I’m ready to accept the challenge,’ said James. ‘I’m coming home.’
