LeBron seems ready to explore his options
It was well over an hour after his season officially ended, prematurely ended, here at the TD Garden, and LeBron James was still sitting in a corner of what, at this point, was an empty visitors dressing room. The door was closed and it was quiet for the first time since James left the team's hotel that afternoon.
He summoned for his entourage -- "My team," as he refers to them, which consisted of agent Leon Rose, ubiquitous attache William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, his manager, Maverick Carter and his business partner and friend, Randy Mims -- into the dressing room and had the door sealed again. James didn't emerge until well after midnight, wearing black jeans and a black and white sweatjacket and a black cap with his logo.
No, there was nothing in orange and blue.
James faced the questions one-by-one, making no excuses for a right elbow issue that clearly effected him in this series, taking subtle jabs at sure-to-be-fired coach Mike Brown and giving credit to a Celtics defensive effort that may have yielded a triple-double to the reigning MVP, but it also forced him into 9 turnovers.
Then he was asked what he had to say to fans in Cleveland, who are gripped with fear at this point that he is preparing to abandon them:
"Just like I said, I'm gonna approach this summer with the right mindset," he replied. "Me and my team is gonna figure out what's the best possibility for me. I love the city of Cleveland, of course. The city, the fans. It was a disappointing season to say the least but at the same time we had a great time together. We'll see what happens."
Had?
In a packed interview room, loaded with media from print, web, electronic and broadcast, I had the urge to raise my hand to signal for the microphone and ask him a simple question: Did you hear the chants?
Twenty-thousand passionate Bostonians were heckling him with chants of "New York Knicks!" every time he went to the free throw line. The JumboTron also showed a fan wearing a Knicks jersey, which drew a loud boo. That is until the guy turned around to show the No. 6 with "JAMES" across the shoulders, which resulted in a roar of a approval.
But I felt it wasn't the right time to ask such a question. Here was a player in that vaccuum of a troubling loss, aware that the world now wants to know what he's going to do next. It was enough that everyone took notice the media contingent included four-fifths of the Knicks traveling beat writers (only the Bergen Record was not represented). This wasn't a time for New York-centricity.
Later, James asked to elaborate on what he meant by "the right mindset" and he seemed to try to quell the notion that his motives involve his billionaire goals. You might say that would eliminate New York as the front-runner, but the Knicks would contend that, with him, they could easily lose in the second-round just like the Cavs did.
"First of all I want to win," he said. "And I mean, that's my only thing, that's my only concern. I've always prided myself on becoming a better basketball [player] individually and then taking it onto the court. I mean, it's all about winning for me and I think the Cavs is committed to do that."
But?
"But at the same time, I've given myself options at this point and, like I've said before, me, my team, we have a game plan that we're going to execute," he continued. "And we'll see where we'll be at."
We'll see if that is in Cleveland, Chicago, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Miami or, of course, New York.
What we know is he'll no longer wear the jersey he pulled off on his way through the tunnel after the game. The jersey he held in his hand a moment before he tossed it to a locker room attendant for the laundry pile.
That jersey is now extinct. The next NBA jersey he does put on will have the No. 6 on the back. The only question that remains is, what will it have on the front?
