Just a quick post, amidst the news this morning LeBron James will be returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers…
A thought occurred to me over the past couple weeks, during the prolonged wait to see where James would go. I realized James’ choice directly determined where several other players would go. Off the top of my head, I count eight: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Chandler Parsons, Kevin Love, Ray Allen, Mike Miller, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik.
It’s rare, if unprecedented, that one player can shift the landscape this much in baseball.
Babe Ruth’s sale from the Red Sox to Yankees in 1920 didn’t do it, as Boston had been shunting players off to the Bronx for several years prior. I can’t think of any major moves since the advent of free agency (not Barry Bonds, not Alex Rodriguez, not Albert Pujols) that have had near the affect on where other players would go as today’s signing.
Thoughts?
You’re almost certainly right. I’ll keep thinking about it, but I can’t think of one time where we’ve had that many dominoes lined up, waiting to fall one way or the other. Of course, the question is, even if it’s happened, would we remember? Like, will we remember this “Decision” anymore and how many players it affected in, say, 5 years?
I was surprised when I first heard the rumors about him going back to Cleveland, but after hearing about his letter in Sports Illustrated I think he gave it a lot of thought so I’m happy for him.
Hearing that Chris Bosh is signing a five year contract with Miami for $119 million dollars is a way too much for him.
I think it makes sense that a situation like this is more likely (well, less unlikely would probably be more accurate) to happen in basketball than in baseball. Why? Because in basketball an individual can make more of a difference on a team than in baseball. At least it seems pretty clearly like that to me…