Thursday morning, LeBron James opened a can of worms that was best suited to be kept closed, calling out Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for their “hypocritical” actions in agreeing to join the Brooklyn Nets.
“The first thing that I thought was like, ‘Wow, Ray (Allen) got killed for leaving Boston and now these guys are leaving Boston,” James said. “I think it’s OK. I don’t mind it, but there was a couple guys that basically (criticized) Ray for leaving and everybody else is leaving.”
The comments from LeBron garnered a response this morning from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, the gentlemen to whom LeBron was referring.
“Tell LeBron to worry about Miami. It has nothing to do with Celtic business,” said Garnett.
Pierce followed with, “I left Boston?”.
The comments stirred up much controversy as to who was right and who was wrong.
It’s actually very clear.
LeBron was most definitely wrong and should have kept his mouth firmly shut.
Time and time again, James has demonstrated and mouthed that the NBA is a business first and foremost. There is no loyalty to cities, teams, coaches or anything outside of personal interest and championship rings.
For LeBron to call out Pierce and Garnett for their lack of loyalty was laughable on many accounts, but the fact of the matter is that Garnett and Pierce agreed to a trade AFTER Doc Rivers was bounced to LA and Ray Allen put another ring on his finger.
Clearly, KG and Pierce didn’t want to be hinderances on the budding rebuilding project in Boston and instead felt that it would be the best for the Celtics organization if they were traded, rather than retire and leave the Celts without options.
Unlike Ray’s departure, the KG and Paul Pierce trade did give the Celtics some return in the form of Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph and three future first round picks.
Ray left a huge void. KG and Paul Pierce left a huge void as well, but helped the Celtics in their rebuilding efforts in the process.
At the end of the day, if Ray Allen was really loyal to KG and Paul Pierce, he would’ve given it one more shot with them in 2012-2013, instead of hitting the biggest shot in Miami Heat history.
I’m not saying that Ray Allen was wrong- at the end of the day, these guys believe that this is a business above all else- rather, KG and Paul Pierce had every right to be upset with him- just as Cleveland fans have a right to be upset about LeBron- and were not hypocritical in any stretch of the imagination by agreeing to a trade to Brooklyn.
The truth was that while Ray Allen, KG and Paul Pierce had no loyalty to the Celtics, they had a loyalty to each other and to Doc Rivers. That was the group, that was the team, that was the family.
Do Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade care that they’re playing for the Heat? Absolutely not. As long as they’re together, with Pat Riley, that’s where the loyalty lies.
That’s exactly how it was in Boston. No matter where the went, they were going to go together. Instead, Ray Allen betrayed that trust- which is all the while permissible to the outsider- and deserved all the criticism that Pierce and KG gave him.
After that, the Celtics were left to fend off Eastern Conference foes with an aging Paul Pierce, KG and an irritable Rajon Rondo. The experiment without Ray failed miserably and the Celtic dynasty was over.
That’s exactly the point- it’s over. The issues between Pierce, KG and Allen are very real, and should be figured out internally and LeBron’s input should not be appreciated.
Who is LeBron James, the King of hypocrisy, to call out two other players for being disloyal, when they, in fact, were not disloyal at all and his teammate, Ray Allen, was actually the disloyal member of the group?
It’s just further proof that LeBron doesn’t get “it”.
Fortunately for him, getting “it” doesn’t matter all that much when you’re the best athlete this world has ever seen, but it’s unfortunate for everyone else around him.
Overall, LeBron’s lucky he’s not Dwight Howard.
Dwight Howard is another guy who doesn’t get it, but who’s talent can’t completely cover for his lack of brainpower like LeBron.
LeBron will be welcomed to any market because he’s simply too good not to love, but his latest statements are further proof that he’s lucky; he’s lucky his skill can cover for his brain.
If it couldn’t, who knows just how despised and criticized LeBron James might be.
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