Windy Lays Out How Riley Flipped LeBron

[swerb]

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf ... s_cou.html

Going to be very interesting to hear Stern's thoughts on all this as we go forward here.

Every day, getting new details about LeBron the self-centered scumbag ... and also details on how this whole thing was pre-arranged for years.

[Larvell Blanks]

So how fast did James and Wade tell Bosh to NEVER say anything in public after that "months" slip up?

There's gonna be so much stuff that comes out in the next few months. Windy HAS to be loving all this. It seems since the playoffs, he's been brushed aside from LeCircle.

[phish4garcia]

Yeah, you know Windy has a lot of dirty laundry on this classless punk of self proclaim, in some other blogs i was catching wind of LeQuit and steroid use. They said take a look at how much he has aged in just seven years along with all the muscle mass he now has compared to when he was a rookie......dont know but that wouldnt surprise me either......what a freakin' dirty clown boy

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

Stern's smiling broadly at his 'lockout fodder' folder.

[Triple-S]

There's gonna be so much stuff that comes out in the next few months. Windy HAS to be loving all this. It seems since the playoffs, he's been brushed aside from LeCircle.

I heard he wants to write a book on all of this and he said that following the playoff loss.

Hell, have a sit down with Gilbert about the whole thing.

[swerb]

The Windy tell-all book is gonna be great. Gonna be tough for him ... as there is gonna be a lot of pressure to break it piece meal in the PD. However, the money is in the book. Book like that, with a national audience to sell it to, he'll make more off it than a years worth of writing for the PD. He's prolly already working on it.

[phish4garcia]

There's gonna be so much stuff that comes out in the next few months. Windy HAS to be loving all this. It seems since the playoffs, he's been brushed aside from LeCircle.

I heard he wants to write a book on all of this and he said that following the playoff loss.

Hell, have a sit down with Gilbert about the whole thing.

Nice, very nice indeed, ill wait for that mo-fo to be published. Come on Windy, get those writing hands a going, were hungary here for Lequit's new step-daddy and all that goes with it, cant freakin' wait to have some goods on the cumqwat! heres to you Lequit

[Madre Hill, Superstar]

If Windy has any good sense, we won't be seeing anything of his tell-all until next May.

[daddywags]

I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling the NBA and their television overlords are going to just love this storyline: Three of the best young players in the league team up to try to win a championship and the rest of the league tries to stop them. Boston with the "old Three Musketeers" against Miami with the "young Three Musketeers." Can Kobe and his two-time reigning champion Lakers hold off the young guns from Miami? They are taking a PR hit now, for sure, but it's July for goodness sakes. Training camps don't open for three months. By then everybody outside of Ohio, and maybe New York, will have forgotten why they're so mad at LeBron. ESPN, TNT and NBA Network will televise about 60 Heat games to big ratings and the league will start promoting the heck out of the story. Nobody will talk about how LeBron screwed Cleveland except for four times when they play against Miami. If Miami wins a championship there will be stories about whether LeBron "did the right thing" and if they don't the same stories will be written with a slightly different twist. But nobody really cares about the Cleveland Cavaliers except the team and its fans. The sooner we grasp that the better. IMhO, of course.

[e0y2e3]

Windy needs to be done covering the Cavs now, guy is just too good and deserves the national light that he has had due to James.

Him and Amick were the only real great NBA beat writers of the last five years, Amick got mad dollars from AOL and joined the Fanhouse crew, I hope Windy get the same money.

And puts out his book.

[CP]

Sucks for us, Branson Wright will be back on the beat...

[Spin]

I don't see how they can go after the Heat for collusion.

Most think this has been in the works between the players since the Olympics. Unless there's proof that Riley was there during the Three Amigo's lunch in Miami last week, they got nothing. Cuz all the Heat has to do is show the NBA evidence that these guys have been having lunch together for years.

I'm wondering, like Windy said, if LBJ didn't want to put this together here. When Bosh decided he didn't want to come to Cleveland, publicly, that's when LeBron relented and started packing.

If you're Chris Bosh and you just played 7 years in Toronto, or if your D Wade and you're in Miami, would you rather have 80' beaches or 80" of snow during the season?

The problem with that theory is it doesn't splain the dive Bron took against Boston. Unless that was all to get Brownie out.

Yeah, the next few months are going to be interesting. All we need is the late Paul Harvey to tell us "the rest of the story" after his sweeper commercials.

[Spin]

Windy needs to be done covering the Cavs now, guy is just too good and deserves the national light that he has had due to James.

Him and Amick were the only real great NBA beat writers of the last five years, Amick got mad dollars from AOL and joined the Fanhouse crew, I hope Windy get the same money.

And puts out his book.

I agree. The only way we're going to get an objective history of what REALLY happened between Roker, Danny, and Dan (and between Dan and Bron) is for him to be no longer associated with the Cavs.

[motherscratcher]

The problem with that theory is it doesn't splain the dive Bron took against Boston. Unless that was all to get Brownie out.

If he knew he was leaving why would he give a crap what happened to Brown?

The only way I can explain Lebron diving (if that's what he did) is that the farther the Cavs made it in the playoffs, the harder it would be for him to justify leaving.

[GodHatesClevelandSport]

Not sure how it's tampering if the players planned this all themselves. Owners are pissed that the players took control of their own destinies. Fans are pissed cuz LeBron treated them like a bunch of whores. Generally I applaud when the players get over on the owners. I would enjoy watching this superteam try to win every title between now and the end if the world. Too bad LeBron's act ruined it for me.

[Jumbo]

Great job by Windhorst. And I expect there's more to come in the unfolding story of LeBenedict.

[mswerb]

If I am not mistaken, aren't the Heat one of the teams that retired the number 23 after MJ was inducted in the Hall of Fame. Right after that LBJ announces that he is going to swith numbers to honor him. LBJ did NOT anoounce the number change to honor him, he changed it beacause he would not be able to wear it. Just another indication that this was all set up. Bastard.

[waborat]

If Windy has any good sense, we won't be seeing anything of his tell-all until next May.

Next spring makes the most sense...

Unfortunately, this particular tome will be scrutinized by attornies longer than that

[Jumbo]

If Windy has any good sense, we won't be seeing anything of his tell-all until next May.

Next spring makes the most sense...

Unfortunately, this particular tome will be scrutinized by attornies longer than that

And will pass easily. IIRC, the libel/defamation bar is very high for public figures - essentially reaching the level of knowing falsehood. (How's that Roger Clemens lawsuit going, anyway?)

[motherscratcher]

Everybody is talking about a Windy tell-all book as if it's a given. I hope it is, but I'm not so sure. It seems to me that Windy would have a lot to lose by raking Lebron over the coals.

No matter what, Windy still will need to cover these guys, either in Cleveland or (deservedly) on a national level. He will need access and players willing to talk to him and trust him. Would he still get the same access if he slammed Lebron?

Dude still has a job to do and he can't do it as well if the players don't trust him.

Of course, maybe they will trust him no matter what he says as long as he takes Lester Bangs' advice...Be honest and unmerciful.

[Spin]

The problem with that theory is it doesn't splain the dive Bron took against Boston. Unless that was all to get Brownie out.

If he knew he was leaving why would he give a crap what happened to Brown?

The only way I can explain Lebron diving (if that's what he did) is that the farther the Cavs made it in the playoffs, the harder it would be for him to justify leaving.

I'm talking about the theory of Bron trying to get everyone to come to Cleveland. Which I've heard a couple places, that was the original plan. But Bosh made it very clear he didn't want to come here.

If Bron wanted everyone to come here, the only explanation for laying down is an all-out mutiny against Roker. Certainly not the first time that ever happened, if that were the case.

But firing Roker wasn't enough to bring the other two Amigos here. If Gilbert could change the climate, and add more beaches and rap clubs...

[Jumbo]

Not sure how it's tampering if the players planned this all themselves.

Googled for tampering rules.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q95

Tampering is when a player or team directly or indirectly entices, induces or persuades anybody (player, general manager, etc.) who is under contract with another team to negotiate for their services.

Obviously, it's unclear if that is the contractual language, but assuming it is, it seems to me that "to negotiate for their services" is the hinge here. So:

(1): "Hey, we should all play together when we become free agents!" = clearly not tampering.
(2): "Hey, we should all play together in Miami when we become free agents!" = borderline, but it just seems to be on too much on the informal side to make a complaint about, provided that the team management isn't directing the conversation.
(3): "Hey, we should all play together in Miami when we become free agents, and we can make it work by each taking just a bit under the cap, which we make up thanks to no state income tax!" = now you just might be getting somewhere.

[CP]

provided that the team management isn't directing the conversation

If the rule does not prevent a star player acting at management's behest, it has no teeth. Hard time believing Riley had nothing to do with the chosen destination.

[Jumbo]

provided that the team management isn't directing the conversation

If the rule does not prevent a star player acting at management's behest, it has no teeth. Hard time believing Riley had nothing to do with the chosen destination.

Maybe I wrote that badly. I think the rule definitely prevents a star player from acting at management's behest to recruit another player. Where the line is fuzzy, I think, is if a player is acting on his own initiative. I mean, it can't be tampering for player A to say to player B, "Playing in Miami is awesome!" That would make nonsense of the rule.