Wed, June 29th, 2020

‘The Decision’ turns 10 — Bubble trouble — Vince retires

Monday, June 29th, 2020

  The Opening Tip

  • LeBron, noted nail-biter, took his talents to South Beach a decade ago

  • The latest on the NBA’s teetering plan to return

  • What is Vince Carter’s legacy?

1. The Lead: ‘The Decision,’ LeBron’s biggest mistake, has shaped the NBA's last 10 years 

Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, but 10 years ago, LeBron James and his squad organized an hour-long televised ESPN event, in which he publicly told Cleveland it’s not me, it’s you, while announcing his decision to join the Miami Heat.(The actual anniversary is July 8, but ESPN ran a mini-doc on it last night, so we’ll roll with that.)The background: LeBron and his Cavs had lost a stunning series to the Celtics earlier that spring, in six games in the second round. LeBron visibly quit on his team in Game 5 and had nine turnovers in Game 6. As he was leaving the Boston Garden court, he ripped his jersey off in a painfully obvious act of symbolism. A few months later he became an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.The idea: A televised show announcing his free agency decision came from a mailbag column by Bill Simmons, in which reader “Drew, from Columbus” thought of and pitched the idea. ESPN tracked him down for the documentary last night and got this quote: “I sent that email, it's posted by Simmons, and then seven months later, it's the biggest story in sports.” Simmons relayed it to LeBron’s then-agent Leon Rose, who linked with ESPN to birth the event.The location: ‘The Decision’ was filmed in a Greenwich, Ct. Boys & Girls Club. Though all the TV money was donated to charity, the idea to hold it in a such an upscale, wealthy area was strange. The best thing to come out of the location choice was the later-interesting fact that young Donovan Mitchell was in the crowd.The actual quote that set Cleveland on fire: “This fall, man, this is very tough. This fall, I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. … That was the conclusion I woke up with this morning.” (This was a nod, minus the clunky delivery, to Kobe’s announcement that he was going from high school to the NBA.)The aftermath: The backlash was immediate. Clevelanders were burning his jersey within minutes of his announcement. (LeBron was asked what he thought of those people in real time, a few minutes after the show ended.) Dan Gilbert dropped his ridiculous letter -- the white rich guy version of a diss track -- a few hours later.The legacy: Not even LeBron fans defend the production, but ‘The Decision’ is widely credited for kicking off the ‘player empowerment era,’ in which players ‘control the narrative,’ force trades, write Players’ Tribune articles announcing free agency plans, theorize about starting new leagues, and launch production companies. In that sense, LeBron is a pioneer. 'The Decision,' though desperately clumsy and widely panned, was the start.[READ: Three days in July: The high-stakes maneuvers that assembled LeBron, Wade and Bosh]

 2. Vince Carter sure could throw it down  

If anyone tells you Vince Carter is not the best dunker ever, kindly remind them that there is a YouTube video of his top-100 dunks.GIF’d above is our personal favorite. More on him in section four.

 3. News and notes from the NBA’s upcoming restart     

The restart of the NBA season is creeping closer. Here’s your update on all things Orlando bubble.A few players have bailed on the plan...Players have been given an opportunity to sit the whole thing out, whether for personal, financial or social reasons. Here’s who has done that so far:

  • L.A. Lakers’ Avery Bradley (replaced by freaking JR Smith)

  • Portland’s Trevor Ariza

  • Brooklyn’s Wilson Chandler

  • Washington’s Davis Bertans, who is line for a big contract this offseason, if there’s even free agency

  • Dallas’s Willie Cauley-Stein

All-Coronavirus team update...All players and personnel have been tested leading up to July 31st. Recent results show 16 of 302 (5.29 percent) players have tested positive. Since you asked, here's our Second Wave All-Corona team:

  • Malcolm Brogdon

  • Nikola Jokic

  • Buddy Hield

  • Alex Len

  • Derrick Jones Jr. 

On a more serious note, Rudy Gobert says he still doesn’t have his full sense of smell back, and it could take up to a year to fully return.The schedule...Here’s the official schedule to kick off the remainder of the season. (Six-way parlay, anyone? We’re looking at you, Howie).If you’re feeling skeptical about the restart happening all together given the current spike in cases in Florida, Adam Silver recently said that there will have to be “significant spread” of the virus in the bubble to shut down the return.

4. Vince Carter: Great dunker, overrated star    

With the Hawks’ season over, Vince Carter officially retired last week. (Thanks to some quick-thinking by Atlanta on the final night of NBA games in March, Carter checked in late and hit a 3-pointer, in what became his final moment as a player.)Carter was: 

  • The first player to play in four different decades. 

  • A great dunker, the best ever, in our opinion, slightly ahead of Dominique Wilkins.

  • Someone who aged gracefully from star to role player, and became a beloved teammate. 

  • A great scorer who finished with 25,728 points, 19th all-time.  

  • Extremely overrated. 

He: 

  • Never played in an NBA Finals game, and only once played in a conference finals, as a fading star with the Magic, in 2010. 

  • Didn’t play for a 50-win team until he went to Orlando. (In other words: He played 12 seasons in the terrible Eastern Conference without leading his team to 50 wins.) 

  • Had very few great playoff moments. His 50-point playoff game against the 76ers in 2001 was his best. This buzzer-beater for Dallas also comes to mind. 

  • Shot 41.6 percent from the field and 33.8 percent from 3 in 88 playoff games. 

He will make the Hall of Fame and is worthy by the NBA’s standards. He racked up so many points, put so many dudes on posters, and played the third-most games ever (1,541), but he never drove winning or contended for a title, which is what really matters in the NBA.

5.  Quick Hits 

  • Here’s a good visual representation of how long Vince Carter’s career was.

  • This video of Dirk landing in Dallas for the first time is worth watching. 

  • So is this video of Tayshuan Prince talking about guarding Kobe vs. guarding LeBron. 

  • It’s happening again: The Knicksthink hiring Jason Kidd could help land them Giannis in 2021. 

  • Yesterday was the seven-year anniversary of the Nets-Celtics trade that landed Brooklyn Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Here’s ESPN’s coverage of when it happened. 

6.  Off the Press  

  • How the NBA’s new schedule impacts every playoff race [The Ringer]

  • Howard Bryant: What ‘The Last Dance’ reveals about Michael Jordan’s legacy [ESPN]