Recently, NBA's free agent period began, where athletes whose contracts had expired were free to explore their options with other teams. This year's free agent crop was arguably the best in the history of the league and has been widely discussed for the past three years. Household names such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Staudemire all shopped for new employers, and enjoyed being wined by the teams that desperately wanted their services.
The manner in which events played out were, in some ways, shocking. The fiasco also provided unexpected insight into leadership from both the athletes and the owners and general managers that were recruiting them. To follow are five of the most salient lessons:
1) Know your audience
Pat Riley, GM for the Miami Heat, deserves a lot of credit for netting the top three free agents on the market in Wade, Bosh, and James. He convinced each of these superstars to take less money than he could have made in other cities. But how did he do it? The New York Knicks presentation to James focused largely on James' brand and potential earnings. The Nets sold James on being a billionaire. It appears that only Riley found out what James really wanted - to play with his friends and win championships. And Riley was successful in selling that vision to James.
Lebron James did the best he could with his situation. Of course people we're going to be upset with him where ever he decided to play. I think taking less money shows what type of player he is and shows his determination to win a championship. The Heat lost in this year's finals, but show that they can play with anyone regardless of who else is on the team. Lebron had a great playoffs until the finals where he went missing and helped his team lose. I think the Heat will eventually get those titles he promised and Lebron will go down as one of the best players of all time.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a few good points. First of all, Sidney Crosby was widely celebrated after he took less money so they could fill the roster with more talent - and Lebron essentially did the same thing to a much different reaction. The question is - why? Was it the manner in which he made his decision? The public nature of a long, drawn out special? If you were Lebron's manager and could advise him (with the advantage of hindsight), what would you say to him?
ReplyDeleteIn the past decade Lebron James has signed THREE $100,000,000 plus contracts. When he first entered the league, Nike proposed the 100 million dollar contract which he ended up signing, the Cleveland Cavaliers gave him a $100,000,000 contract over the length of 8 years, and the Miami Heat just signed him to another $100,000,000 contract. Pat Riley being the natural and good leader that he is noticed that LeBron already has enough money, so instead he targeted team philosophy and the chance to play with two of his draft class buddies, not to mention south beach weather and women probably played a part as well. Regardless LeBron already has it all, the only thing he doesn't have is an NBA title and to a true competitor, which he is, that was his main focus in looking for a new employer. People call him a sellout but believe it or not, he's challenging himself more than he ever has before. He's no longer the only weapon, he has to assert himself in different ways during the game and even take on new roles. He also said that they want to pass Jordan and Pippen as the best duo ever. That's a big goal and you can't blame the guy for challenging himself and setting goals at an ultimate high. If we as people are only here to do the minimum, than whats the point. I think LeBron has his eyes on a much bigger picture than we can see.
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