Our beloved sportswriter, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, is all over the Miami Heat again. And to no surprise, he’s attacking LeBron James. This time, Wojo writes how LeBron has negatively influenced the once “loyal” Dwyane Wade, as well as explaining how Erick Spoelstra’s not afraid of the King once so ever . Here are a few excerpts from Wojo’s outstanding piece:
“In the blink of an eye, Dwyane Wade signed up with Team LeBron to scapegoat and sell out Spoelstra.
‘I’m not going to say he’s ‘my guy,’ but he’s my coach,’ Wade said.
Wade’s always been loyal, and that’s why it was so surprising to witness him bail this fast on Spoelstra, whom Wade knows too well. Spoelstra is a good NBA coach. Everyone knows that Wade isn’t a star who plays hard all the time, knows that he takes plays off on defense. They know that Spoelstra did a terrific job coaching 90 victories out of that flawed Miami roster the previous two seasons.
As much as ever, the Heat need Wade to influence James. Only now, it’s clear James is influencing Wade. With Udonis Haslem out for the regular season, the locker room misses one of its vital voices. Now, Wade is struggling on the floor and James is the devil on his shoulder, whispering that he doesn’t need to be accountable, that there’s an easy fall guy for everyone: Spoelstra.
Those who know Wade well, who care about him, were disappointed Monday. When Spoelstra needed Wade to stand up for him, Wade never shrunk so small. Spoelstra was Wade’s guy, but Wade’s finding it much easier to align himself with James’ coward act than do the right thing. This was something that you’d expect out of Chris Bosh, who’s never been a leader, never a winner, but Wade?
‘He knows better than this,’ one of Wade’s former assistant coaches said. ‘I’m not saying he hasn’t changed some, but he knows right from wrong. And this is wrong.’”
And on to Spoelstra:
“Meticulous in his preparation, Spoelstra spoke with several past coaches, and league sources said a clear and unequivocal picture appeared on how to proceed: End the cycle of enabling with James and hold him accountable.
And surprise, surprise: LeBron James has responded with a test of his own organizational strength, pushing to see how far the Heat will bend to his will. This season, James is hearing a word seldom uttered to him in Cleveland: “No.” And it keeps coming out of the coach’s mouth, keeps getting between the King and what he wants.
Can I stay overnight to party in New Orleans after a preseason game?
Can I play the clown in practice?
Can I get out of playing point guard?
No. No. No.
Wait, what?
No, LeBron.
No.
Even within a month of the season’s sideways 9-8 start, the NBA witnessed a predictable play out of the James-Maverick Carter playbook on Monday morning. They planted a story and exposed themselves again as jokers of the highest order. They care so little about anyone but themselves. Still, no one’s surprised that they’d stoop so low, so fast into this supposed historic 73-victory season and NBA Finals sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. They want Spoelstra – and Pat Riley – to bend to them, to bow to the King the way everyone has before them.”
The Miami Heat drama continues. One would think this would be a time we’d have positive things to say about them since they just ended their losing streak and the “Big Three” played remarkably well (albeit against the lowly Wizards, I know). Nope. LeBron’s a cancer that’s slowly metastasizing and it’s affecting this entire team (or so it seems). It now appears Wade may be adopting some of LeBron’s childish ways, too. I’ll refrain from jumping to any audacious conclusions about Wade, though. I want to see if unaccustomed behavior out of him continues first. I’d like to believe he knows better. I’m probably 100% wrong.
The biggest loser, though, and the unfortunate scapegoat is obviously Spoelstra. Immediately when the “Big Three” formed and took their talents to South Beach, they showered Spoelstra with nothing but praise. Now, when they realized the road wasn’t going to be easy, LeBron’s posse stepped in – again. They publicly chastised Spoelstra for being “too tough,” thus immediately throwing all the blame on him. Give me a break. My thoughts are right on with Matt’s from this morning.
(Update from Matt: Adrian Wojnarowski doing the damn thing again! He’s got such an inside scoop on the Heat I wouldn’t not be the least bit surprised if his source turned out to be Spoelstra himself, or even Pat Riley. This story has everything you’d want in a LeBron bashing column including new revelations about the horrible way LeBron treats people behind closed doors. Particularly awful is his Randy Moss-like treatment of team USA chefs during the last Olympics. Everyone knows that Pat Riley has a decision to make regarding this team: whether that’s making a roster move or replacing Spoelstra remains to be seen. Everyone thought it was Bosh who was going to get moved. Do we have to start considering the possibility that LeBron Blames, err James, the two-time defending MVP, is the one who has to go?)
[Yahoo! Sports]
This is just getting ridiculous.
[Yahoo]