Lebron James did nothing wrong and owes the City of Cleveland nothing!

Mere seconds after Lebron James uttered the line, "This fall, man this is very tough, um, this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat," The city of Cleveland busted out in complete shock and anger, feeling as though they were just completely betrayed by James as he made his "Decision" on a 1-hour ESPN special, or spectacle. It is clear that those in Cleveland, and even many around the country feel as though James owed the Cavaliers something.

Why and what would James owe to the Cavs and the city of Cleveland? Did he somehow owe it to them to stay there and resign, and continue to play with lesser talent surrounding him? Did he somehow owe it to them to stick it out with a team that for 2 straight years had the best regular season record, but in both instances did not advance to the NBA Finals? And did he somehow screw over Cleveland with this decision to join the Heat, leaving them hanging with no real contingency plan?

The answer to all of that is a resounding ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

James owed the city and the franchise (and now especially majority owner Dan Gilbert after this childish rant) nothing at this point. He did not owe them to stay with the team and continue to try and win a championship there. He had earned himself the right to decide the best place for himself to play, and he took that right. He gave Cleveland 7 good years of his life and career, and turned a sad franchise around and put them back on the map. If anything, the Cavs and Gilbert owed him more to give him a better chance to win a championship, and they failed to deliver.

After a disappointing end to a 2008-09 season where James and the Cavs were ousted earlier than expected by the Magic, the Cavs "tried" to give James some better surroundings, and I emphasize the word tried because they brought in a seemingly 78 year old Shaquille O'Neal, who at this point, is little more than a cutout of his former self, still a huge body in the middle, but nowhere near the dominant force he was when winning titles with the Lakers, or even near the level when he won in 2006 with Dwyane Wade and the Heat. Mid-season, they brought in Antawn Jamison, who throughout his career has been little more than a highlight reel, never showing any signs of being a winner or a true cog to a championship team. Let's not all get to excited at once.

Fact is James is arguably the best player in the league, and in this blogger's mind, far and away the best player, not taking anything away from Kobe, and did much more than he owed by seriously considering the Cavs offer to return, but he chose a situation that he feels is best for him, sentiments felt by many others, playing alongside Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, and since when is it wrong for a player to do what's right for him?

Reporters, Columnists, fans and the like in and around Cleveland feel as though he slapped them in the face, and in a small way he did, but only because this was made out to be a big spectacle with the ESPN special, but don't for a second think that ESPN did not want every last part of that as well. Many feel like James is taking the cheap road here, and bailing on his situation and unfinished business, and comparing him to players like Kobe and Dirk, who stuck with their teams when in similar situations.

Well let's take a quick look at that. Kobe had already won 3 titles by the time his chance to go elsewhere had come up a few years back, but he decided to take the money in L.A., continue to play for one of the best coaches ever, and still, did not win again until the Lakers made some key moves, most notably bringing in a superstar big man in his prime in Pau Gasol, and allowing some of the other guys to continue to develop until they won again in 2009. Dirk Nowitzki just in the past few days decided to take the Mavericks offer and remain in Dallas, but until his team brings in another true star to put alongside him, the Mavs will most likely continue to be just like the Cavs with Lebron, great regular seasons, disappointing postseason.

In both cases, they both entertained other offers, and if they were both so loyal to their teams as some want to make it out to seem, then they would have never gotten to that point and signed extensions well before then, but just like James, they explored other opportunities to see if there was anything better. In reality, they are no different than James. They all took the situation they felt was best for them.

James is no different than any other free agent who went to another team, other than the fact that he was by far the most coveted free agent in sports history, but this is becoming a bigger story because people want to make him out to be a bad guy for this.

It seems as though so many feel very threatened by this team comprised of 3 superstars, 2 of which are arguably top 5 in the league, with Bosh not far behind, and are acting out from that by trying to fault James for this. Faulting James for making a decision he felt was right for him, and leaving a situation in Cleveland where the front office frankly was not doing enough to help him win.

He has said all along his biggest thing is winning, and it is now more clear than ever that that is his main focus. He took less money than what he could have gotten in Cleveland, and after 7 years of trying to win there and giving a titles a couple of decent runs, he is going to try and win a title elsewhere, and most likely he will.

Cleveland had their chance with him, and had their chance to put the rest of the pieces of the puzzle together to bring that titles to their city, and failed to do just that.

Gilbert and the Cavs have absolutely nobody but themselves to blame for this. Of course, they will continue to blame James and live with envy.