The LeBachelor

I've got to be honest; I've lost a little bit of respect for LeBron James for holding this one-hour special on ESPN on Thursday night to announce his free agency decision. I mean, how full of yourself can you be? "I'm so important I need a one-hour special dedicated to me." I'm not saying he need to be a hermit, but there is such a thing as humility, and LeBron appears to have none right now.

If LeBron signs with the Knicks, Nets or (laughably involved somehow) Clippers, I will lose all respect for him. If he leaves the Cavaliers, and effectively kills basketball in Cleveland for the forseeable future, it needs to be so he can win a championship. The Knicks, Nets and Clippers are not championship-caliber rosters. The Knicks signed the all offense/no defense Amare Stoudemire, who I'm not convinced is much of an upgrade over David Lee, and also have Danillo Galinari. Otherwise they have nothing. The Nets are young and years away from competing. The Clippers are a joke of a franchise. I will not respect him if he kills Cleveland for those three teams.

The Bulls and Heat, on the other hand, are good situations. The Bulls have a great second banana in Derrick Rose, and a good role player in Joakim Noah. The Heat announced today they'll be signing Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, so adding LeBron would give them the greatest collection of NBA talent in a long time. Those are worthwhile situations where LeBron could put them over the top.

If he signs with them, that tells me he cares about his legacy and knows it won't be complete without a championship. If he signs with the Knicks, Nets or Clippers, that tells me he's more concerned with increasing his marketability than he is in winning championships. And I will have no respect for that.