So I was listening to the Colin Cowherd show on ESPN Radio this morning, and he was totally misreporting what I have been reporting. Luckily, I have the telephone number to the studio, so I called Colin and he put me on the air.
And from there, I put up with him trying to ascertain who my source is on my LeBron James-to-Cleveland story. And I held my ground.
Rarely have I been under as much scrutiny as I am now after reporting Wednesday that LeBron is returning to the Cavs. Since it is my job to defend myself and defend my reporting, I did just that with Colin. I think the both of us ended the interview happy with how it went.
Give a listen, and you will learn a little something about reporting, sourcing and the way the newsbreaking business works.
Remains to be seen if you’re right, Chris – but either way – I really respect you as a journalist upon listening to that interview.
I’ve accused this site of fishing for hits in the past, but you’re putting your money where your mouth is on this one, so I gotta give you props.
Cheers.
Lebron runs the industry at this point
Carmelo Anthony -Miami
Lebron James -Miami
Chris bosh -Houston
Pau. Gasol- good fit for chicago
This is what I think
you heard it first from Cleveland, Ohio
Wow! I was wrong on this one its all about forgiveness : )..my bad.
Now we need…Chris love, ray Allen and Mike Miller (again) that would bring Cleveland some jewelry.
Chris never said anything about Lebron telling Riley he was going back to Cleveland. For all we know he listened to Riley’s pitch said I’ll mull it over and end of meeting. So in that case Riley is stuck waiting and can’t go sign all these guys.
Riley is not the type of person to wait around if he were told by LeBron that he was not coming. In fact, Riley was so fast once that the league nullified a contract that Juwan Howard had in place in the 90’s. I believe that the meeting was to tell LeBron what they were going to do and I’m sure that LeBron is on board with Pat. Again, Pat is not going to sit there and hope that LeBron changes his mind. If he does leave I hope we get some of those 1st round picks back in the sign-and-trade.
Not sure about Sheridan’s source but I am sure he is right. I came to this conclusion 3 days ago. Miami is DEAD. Cleveland is the ONLY choice right now. Nike couldn’t write a better script.
LeBron would be going to a perennial lottery team, who has not made the playoffs even with one of the better point guards in the league and in a very weak Eastern conference. If they add Love, then I feel that they could be a big time threat, but look for Miami to add a few pieces and be in the mix as well. Riley has always built winners here and I’m sure that he will continue to do the same with or without LeBron. We may not make the finals, but we will be a playoff team and I would love to go up against LeBron and the Cavs in the playoffs.
The real tipper to me that Sheridan is correct is that Cleveland has been mum on the subject, something very unbecoming of a Dan Gilbert-led team. Meanwhile I’ll trust what has been a track record of accurate reporting. I see no reason for this guy to seek a return to ESPN. He has built an independent proprietorship. Why throw that away? In any case… this is why amateur fans should never boo a team with the world’s best player on it.
He built this “independent propiertorship”, which only a week ago very few fans had even heard of and even less visited the site. Maybe he wants to build it up with this faux news – I really don’t know. But I guarantee you the checks he was saying at ESPN were much nicer than this website is generating in traffic. Cleveland has not been mum, they’ve been wheeling and dealing – same as the Heat, trying to get their team better for LeBron. If Lebron were to leave Miami I would be very thankful for his service and years here and I would wish him the best except when he plays the Heat. We have never had long droughts of basketball mediocrity in Miami since Pat Riley arrivd years 20 years ago, so I know that he has a plan B just in case LeBron does decide to leave Miami.
I couldn’t agree more!
Here’s why what Chris Sheridan makes no sense. According to him, his meeting with Pat Riley was to tell him that he would not be returning to the Miami Heat. If that WERE TRUE, and knowing how Pat Riley operates, he would not be standing pat (pun intended0. Riley would be on the horn trying to build this team and would try to being in some talent to Miami. I think whoever Sheridan’s source is is just toying with him. Remember, Sheridan was the ONLY person who voted LeBron 3rd in the MVP race. Furthermore, Sheridan is the only person in the world who is reporting this with this degree of certitude. Four years ago Stephen A. Smith broke the LeBron-to-Miami story and he was rewarded by being brought back to ESPN. I think that Chris Sheridan is taking a shot-in-the-dark to seem as if he is in the know, and if it does pan out for him, he may very well be hired back to ESPN, if not, nothing changes for him. Thus far, everything that he has reported has been false, e.g. LeBron announcing at 3:30 pm today (didn’t happen), LeBron’s website background changes (didn’t happen) etc.
Sheridan is grasping at straws and has even retweeted information from fake accounts. Again, he is looking to hit a home run and be welcomed back to ESPN for his “knowledge” and “contacts” I firmly believe that LeBron has an idea of what he wants to do, but he has not made that decision yet.
Don, I believe Chris was referencing this:
http://nypost.com/2010/12/14/knicks-dont-have-best-shot-at-melo/
Where Vescey called out Chris and his “invented informants” even though it happened almost exactly the way Chris reported it, months before it happened, including the other names in the trade. It is not a logical fallacy, he was pointing out how he is in the same situation now as back then…
It is fallacious to claim it proves he was right. It TENDS to prove he was right at best. A computer with zero information at all can create random permutations of potential nba trades and will eventually spit out one or two that end up happening.
This guy can’t even accurately report what Colin Cowherd said about the above interview- an interview he was in- and he expects us to believe he can report on Lebron? This guy has some serious logical analysis deficiencies as well…just because Carmelo was traded to nyk and signed with them doesn’t mean his story that New York was the only place he’d sign a deal with was right. This is a case of someone who went too far and now he’s digging in and hoping he’s right. He’s also full of himself . Just look at the last line in the above link. Are you a journalism phd and professor now?
Until the ink is dried on the cleveland contract bringing lebron back, I’ll keep thinking he’s gonna stay in Miami…
Well enjoy the next 24 hours then.
If LeBron really told Riley he was leaving, wouldn’t we have heard something from Riley by now? Also if he told Riley, I’m pretty sure we would of read something about the heat going hard after Deng or getting in trade talks about love, pursuing Anthony, something. There was nothing reported like that. Like 2010, LeBron did not talk to Byron Scott or Dan Gilbert and made his decision. As of today he has not talked to the new head coach or Dan Gilbert, so I believe he does not leave Wade or Bosh hanging or the Heat. By him delaying if he does leave, the heat have missed out on ways to spend money e.g Parsons, Lowrey etc
Agreed. Pat Riley would have called Lowry at 12:01 this morning and convinced him to sign with the heat to a huge deal, same with deng, pau and Ariza. They know if lebron is gone so is Chris bosh and ray allen maybe even Rashard Lewis.
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I was thinking the exact same thing. If LeBron told Riley that, then there is no reason for Riley not to be calling free agents and rebuild the team. For the post 20 years the Heat have been very stable, with only a few years where we were bad, i.e. 2001-2002 and 2008. If LeBron does not sign, I’m sure Pat will immediately start piecing the team together. He would not be on the sidelines waiting for LeBron to sign with the Cavs. What Sheridan is saying just makes no sense whatsoever.
maybe afer telling riley about leaving the heat…riley still believes he can convince lebron to stay with whatever time is left before the brazil trip, thus riley not pursuing any free agents since the mcroberts and granger signings.
No player is going to renege on a contract agreement already in place. No agent would do that because they would never have any credibility left.
Miami went into this feeling there was no way LeBron wouldn’t come back. Clearly, left to their own devices, Wade and Bosh weren’t willing to take big enough pay cuts to get anyone decent back.
Riley probably said something like, “gimme just a little more time to try to pull off something big, c’mon, you owe me that.”
For all YOU know, we’re waiting on Riley to pull something outta his ass other than a McBob. Because, that won’t get it done, not against an improving West. I mean, we did watch the Finals right? And we realized the Spurs weren’t head & shoulders above any of those team.
Heat fans have been bamboozled by the weakness of the West, but LeBron can’t be that stupid if he want’s to catch Jordan’s ring count.
Meant weakness of the East (obviously), Spurs aren’t even that much better than Mavs, Thunder, Clips. If LeBron doesn’t leave he ain’t winning again with that aging cast and limited cap room. Simple as that. He might not win next year with the Cavs — it takes time for chemistry, but the Cavs have a better chance for two over the next three years than the Heat do, other than magical FA thinking that certainly didn’t materialize this time….
Even with an “aging” team he made the Finals. So, Miami makes no sense, but going to a team that 1. Has not made the playoffs since he left. 2. Has a new coach who LeBron has never played for and has never coached in the NBA (It doesn’t matter how great he was in the Israeli league… Just ask Nick Saban how different the pros are) 3. Besides Irving who is a great player, the third wheel on the team is a player who has never played in the league; a rookie. 4. A FO that has no track record of doing anything even remotely smart or that helps LeBron win. Even without LeBron last year and with that aging roster the Heat would’ve made the playoffs, the same cannot be said for the Cavs who’ve always been losers – even with LeBron.
Furthermore, With LeBron, Irving and Wiggins they WILL NOT be there favorites to win it all. The only player on the team with any Finals, check that, playoff experience is LeBron… It’s Lebron, a bunch of rookies and.. well, that’s it really. Good luck to the Cavs – you’re certainly going to need it. And forget about Jordan, LeBron needs to catch D.Wade first lol.
lebron is for sure going to Cavs but Clevland is nervous?
You are wrong
Kudos..colin is one of my favs but i felt where you were coming from…gotta defend your story…great insight on reporting also