Fans have not been loving what LeBron James did this summer. Well, outside of Miami anyway, there they love it. Understandably. But you’ve seen the polls and heard the pundits for months — most of the country thought the way he handed this summer was amateurish and some thought the decision itself flawed.
Other NBA players, they liked it. Oh, they say all the right things in public, but they liked it. A lot.
And ESPN’s “Player X” anonymous source told why, as relayed on the Heat Index blog by Kevin Arnovitz.
While the fans hate, the players applaud, because symbolically, the Summer of LeBron was a blow to the owners. And a blow to the owners is a win for us. We love that LeBron ran the show from start to finish, called every shot. That’s a welcome change from the owner-player dynamic, which we all think should operate more like a partnership. It’s about time the owners were forced to recognize that we are the ones bringing value to their investments.
It’s old-school labor vs. management. One of the workers showed his power — well within the much-negotiated system — and the others stand up and applaud. That’s what we have here.
Not that the players will say it publicly.