"You have a right to your opinion. You don't have a right to the facts..."

Not that anyone's really dying to rehash that abomination from almost 7 months ago but Jim Gray would like to set you straight on at least one fact when it comes to his participation on the LeBron James "Decision."

He didn't get paid. Not by LeBron's camp as was widely reported. Not by ESPN. Not by anybody.

Gray travels back down that well worn road with Sid Rosenberg on WQAM in Miami:

"There are some things that I would do differently.

Everybody's allowed to have a comment and an opinion and I respect people's opinions. I don't respect when people say things that are not true. When they make the facts their friends. So, you have a right to your opinion. You don't have a right to the facts.

[It wasn't true] that I was paid by LeBron James. Never occurred. Never took one penny. All the money went to charity. I wasn't paid by LeBron, an entity, a producer, anything. All the money went to charity. Anything that I would've been paid went to charity.

So now for that to become in people's fact check, that's not a fact. That's not right. That's not an opinion anymore. That's just wrong."

You'll notice that there seems to a slight modifier in the middle there with "anything I would've been paid."

In the same way that James attempted to use children and charity as a shield against the backlash coming from Cleveland and beyond, Gray seems to sidestep the payment issue.

He's missing the point when it comes to public perception on the matter.

The real question from the beginning was, 'Why would a sportscaster scheme his way into appearing on a network that did not employ him to conduct an interview for LeBron James?'

That question is still largely unanswered and one that Gray has likely been asking himself every day since that fateful night in July.

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"You've got the best basketball player in the world down there and y'all have to make commercials to draw fans?..."

Immediately after rejecting a theory that the LeBron James defection from Cleveland was somehow legitimized based on the current win-loss records of the Cavaliers and Heat, Charles Barkley told the Dan LeBatard radio show that he sees further proof that winning it all in Miami will never have the same value for James that it could have had in Ohio:

Barkley: "In Cleveland, they sell out every night. You've got the best basketball player in the world down there and y'all have to make commercials to draw fans? That tells me something right there that even if he wins in Miami, it won't be the same as if he had won in Cleveland.

I actually think it's a joke that they have to do commercials to get fans to come down in Miami. You got two of the five best players in the world and it should be like standing room only trying to get in there every game."

LeBatard: "The fans are there, they're just in the night clubs and the lounges, deep inside the bowels of the arena. You know how it works in Miami."

Barkley: "That doesn't make it better. I'd want to see those guys play. I'd be honored if they played in my city and I would close everything down until after the game because I would want people to watch us play."

LeBatard: "Charles, you've been in our nightclubs you've been in "Liv." You know what it's like down here."

Barkley: "It ain't going anywhere. Trust me, they're not closing it up before the game's over. They can go there right after a game. After a victory."

In case you've never been to the nightclub "Liv," this is what LeBatard claims 20 thousand NBA ticketholders can't tear themselves away from for two hours of basketball.

It's only a rough estimate but I'm guessing approximately 0% of the footage below was shot between the hours of 7pm and 10pm:

For the record, the Heat rank 5th in the NBA this season in attendance based on percentage of capacity at 100.8%.

That is a "tickets distributed" figure and not an actual turnstile number.

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"Put a chalk line of a dead person in the key area with the number 23 on it..."

Pat Riley says he hasn't directly inspired any of the marketing efforts behind his "Big 3" in Miami. Why not?

Riley tells 790 AM in Miami about his first and last marketing suggestion while with the Knicks that didn't light up the room:

"When I was with the Knicks I was asked to come into a marketing meeting and they asked me what I thought the theme should be for the team. I had Patrick (Ewing) and (Charles) Oakley and Anthony Mason, Xavier McDaniel, Derek Harper, Doc Rivers, John Starks. We had a very aggressive, sort of primal, team.

I said, 'Yeah, take a camera. Put the camera upstairs in the ceiling. Shoot it down on the court, on the key area, and then put a chalk line of a dead person in the key area with the number 23 on it.'

I said, 'I think people will get the message about what this team is about.'

And they said, 'Well, we'll think about that.'

So they didn't ask me into any more marketing meetings."

So the Knicks marketing team somehow didn't want to go with a message of killing Michael Jordan.

With the very real concerns over LeBron James's security when traveling to Cleveland, it's doubtful that the Cavaliers are dreaming up their own version of that commercial spot.

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"I don't understand why Michael would say that."...

Michael Jordan placed himself firmly on the "alpha dogs don't team up with alpha dogs" side of the fence with these recent comments about Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh:

"There's no way that, just hindsight, I would have never called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, let's get together and play on one team.' But things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. I mean, that's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys. I don't know if they would've been on my team. If they would've been on my team obviously, if you look at the Dream Team, they were on my team and it wasn't too much of a competitive thing."

Another Basketball Hall of Famer, Rick Barry, heard those comments and mildly disagreed. As told to Hartman and Friends on Fox Sports Radio:

"I admire what those guys (James, Wade, and Bosh) did. That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard in my life. Basketball is not about individual accomplishments and how great you are, it's how good the team is. And if you can win championships, that's what it's supposed to be about. The fact that they're all willing to take less money to be a part of that experience, how can you not admire that?"

"Now, do I agree with the way LeBron went about doing it? No, he should have sat down and met (Cavaliers owner) Mr. (Dan) Gilbert and I think he owed them that and I don't think he handled it in the right manner and Mr. Gilbert didn't respond in a very mature manner as well... but I'm all for what those guys did and I don't understand why Michael would say that. I mean, hey, so if that's the case then maybe they should not have brought Scottie Pippen in and then he wouldn't have had any championships."

If there's anything more annoying about this little debate it's the perpetual: "LeBron didn't have the guts to stick it out in Cleveland" vs. "No, LeBron showed guts by sacrificing money and the individual spotlight for Miami."

Both arguments are completely beside the point. If LeBron James is to be judged, it should be by the standard he sets for himself. That standard was "global icon." A standard that is seemingly unattainable based upon "The Decision." If he wins 5 championships in Miami, the "global icon" didn't do it, the Miami trio did. Had he won titles in Cleveland, the "global icon" would have done it.

LeBron changed his career trajectory from a perception standpoint. If he's fine with getting off the "global icon" track, then that should be fine with everyone else (outside of Ohio state lines.)

If he believes he's still headed toward global iconic status, whatever that actually means, he's likely mistaken.

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...about something other than "shoes" or "strip clubs"...

What a mighty standard of expectation the old Georgetown coach has set for the new generation. Speaking on his own DC-based radio show, Thompson also manages to inject race into Decision 2010:

"The thing that is most significant to me personally is that those guys took the time to think about something other than whether they were going to a club or whether they were going somewhere to have a good time and put their efforts together to consolidate a strategy in terms of where they were going. And what's bothering me more than anything, I'm hearing African-American journalists get on and praise Pat Riley. Pat Riley didn't conceptualize this. This was started by those guys. We heard that. And I thought it would never happen. I thought they were ridiculous in thinking (it) could happen but you've got to give these guys credit for putting together their efforts and thinking about something. Having some business acumen as a priority in their thinking. And I'm certain Riley constructed the contracts but I'm so damn sick and tired of everything that goes negative they blame on these African-American players and the first time some intelligence is associated with something, that they're ready to say that Pat Riley did it and not giving these guys credit for doing it."

He re-emphasizes the statement above various times throughout the program, the day after LeBron James decided to take his "talents to South Beach."

"They sat down and thought about something other than shoes and going to a strip club and how the weather was and it's the first time that's ever happened. And it's going to scare the hell out of a hell of a lot of people."

"Now whether it was right or wrong, competitively whether it works out, how this thing was presented on television, to me that stuff is insignificant. I have my opinions about it but the significance of it to me is that you got three African-American guys that had business acumen and made a decision about something that I think is going to change sports forever because I think that other athletes are going to watch this in other sports and attempt to do it even if they can't."

Here's what happened, John. Most of the rest of the world covering this situation thought it to be fairly normal for "three African-American guys" to have "business acumen."

The atypical and most newsworthy aspect was the perceived heartlessness and thoughtlessness in which the decision was disseminated to the masses. You could also throw in the unique angle of a "hometown" guy fleeing for what he considered to be greener pastures.

Yet it seems Thompson thinks the big breakthrough is that young people of a particular race deserve praise for simply making a decision that doesn't involve "shoes", a "strip club," or the "weather?"

I'm not sure if I should somehow feel offended... or ask him to adopt me.

On a side note, you can count Basketball Hall of Famer KC Jones as a fan of ESPN's hour long special. Calling in to Thompson's show on Friday he said:

"I enjoyed watching it because I think it was just doing the job of telling everybody of where he wanted to go and he was going to go there. He spoke with his mom and she gave him the right answer."

I then expected him to yell, "Stern rules! Baba-booey! Stern rules! Baba-booey!" and then hang up the phone.

But, alas, that did not happen.

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This will be short, sweet(?), and to the point...

Aspirations of a "Global Icon" Unwittingly Ended

That sums up what happened to LeBron James on Thursday night. He changed the direction of his legacy and didn't realize it until after he opened his mouth and uttered the now and forever infamous "taking my talents to South Beach" line.

You can't be a "global icon" if you can't even handle being a "local icon." James took a house being built on top of a solid foundation, picked it up, and dropped it on a pile of sand.

He's now changed his course when talking about branding. He's no longer a singular force and a brand unto himself. He's part of a conglomerate in Miami.

That being said, those claiming that he'll be "Robin" to Dwyane Wade's "Batman" or a new age Scottie Pippen are kidding themselves.

He's the on court leader of the new team in Miami. He's the best player on that roster. It's not even a discussion. Miami is NOT Dwyane Wade's town like New York is Derek Jeter's town.

Stop with the Jeter/A-Rod comparisons. They're ridiculous. Miami is not a sports town. It's a city that loves big events. No one follows the Heat in south Florida the way New Yorkers follow the Yankees.

There is Yankee lore. There is no such thing as "Heat lore."

I'll leave the "Wade is still the heart of this team" narrative to the mythmakers, psychology babblers, and Grantland Rice wannabes.

LeBron James leads this new show. He just didn't realize the collateral damage until it was too late.

"Icons" are sometimes required to make personal sacrifices for the "greater good."

The only "sacrifices" James is making now were completely unintended and benefit no one other than a few fickle celebrity gawkers in the Sunshine State.

Soapbox withdrawn. As you were...

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The veteran interviewer nailed down the gig the old fashioned way... he asked.

One of the oddities associated with Lebron James Night in America was the choice of Jim Gray as the interviewer. It turns out that Gray not only got the gig simply by asking James's camp for it, he's taking credit for giving them the idea for the TV show to begin with. Gray tells the "Mason and Ireland" radio show in Los Angeles:

"I saw Maverick Carter and LeBron James at Game 2 of the NBA Finals and asked them if I could do the interview and it's taken its own course since then. Maverick liked the idea and thought it would be a good idea to make their announcement, to have it as a television show. And he took the ball and ran with it."

As far as any inside knowledge he may have leading up to the program airing on ESPN tonight, he claims to know nothing and doesn't believe anyone else has accurate, inside information.

"I don't know and I don't think that anybody that tells you that they know, really knows. So, I think we're all in the dark here."

One can only hope that this is as memorable as the Pete Rose interview 11 years ago. You can bet Gray is hoping for the same thing if for no other reason than to give the casual viewer something better to attach his name to than this two and a half minute awkward display of unintentional humor.

If James doesn't pick Cleveland, Gray better be in "Pete Rose attack" mode.

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Quite frankly, Stephen A. is tired of being right...

No one has managed to stay further out in front of the NBA free agent feeding frenzy than Stephen A. Smith. If LeBron James actually ends up announcing a decision to go to the Miami Heat on Thursday night, Smith will receive much credit from those willing to give it to the often abrasive media personality.

At the same time, Smith apparently has grown weary of critics who felt he jumped the gun with his emphatic announcement of the LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade trio to Miami two weeks ago. At the time, he spoke as though the ink was drying on contracts when, in fact, the situation was still very much a fluid one. Sure enough, his own reporting later confirmed suspicions that the "done deal" wasn't nearly as concrete as he had originally let on.

More on that in a second, but first here's Stephen A. Smith offering up a minor meltdown regarding his treatment from fellow media members on the "Hartman and Friends" radio show in Los Angeles.

"It's pretty much getting on my damn nerves. I gotta admit it.

Anybody worth their salt knowing anything about reporting knows exactly what I did.

I said LeBron James is going to Miami. I was very, very emphatic about that. I know that. I also came back on the air and said you know something? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong because Chris Bosh has changed the entire game. We're talking about free agency. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars on the table and we're talking about guys that are relative kids because they've never been assigned to be actual men because they've been playing a game and making millions of dollars.

People are entitled to change their mind. It gets a monkey wrench thrown into the game plan. All I did was give you a play by play. At the time that I reported it, that's what was going on. Chris Bosh did what he did on Friday. I came back on, I reported that. Then he switched gears and went back to Miami. I reported that before everybody reported it. I said he was going to Miami. I said to everybody D-Wade wasn't going to sign in Chicago because he doesn't want to be there with his ex-wife who he's been in a tumultuous divorce situation with. I said that emphatically.

My sources have told me from Day One, LeBron James is going to South Beach. I reported it. I put my neck out there and I also said that if I'm wrong, I will not be hard to find.

If I'm wrong, that's what men do. We man up. We show up. What we don't expect is people, your contemporaries, people in the business, certainly the public at large can sit there and moan and whine and what have you. But people who are in this business. Who know how this business works. Who had sources and things of that nature, should be ashamed of their damn selves for even trying to call me out because that's not how this works. And oh, by the way, I'm 4 for 4. I said Amare Stoudemire was going to New York. What happened? He went to New York. I reported that a year and a half ago. I said Chris Bosh was going to Miami. He did it. I said D-Wade was going to re-sign in South Beach. He did it. When Chris Bosh backed out, I reported that too and everybody else followed. What the hell have I been wrong about? Not a single damn thing. Not yet."

What shouldn't be doubted are the NBA sources Smith has developed over more than a decade of professional basketball reporting. What can rightfully be questioned is the emphatic nature in which he originally reported the story two weeks ago. You can compare it to reporting on college football or basketball recruiting. I can't tell you how many times I've been on the phone with a high school recruit over the years who has made up his mind to attend a particular school, only to back out of the decision at some point before National Signing Day.

The same holds true for James who appears to be living out that experience 7 years after the fact. James could have very well been dead set on Miami at the time of Smith's reporting two weeks ago. But with such a large window of time remaining before action would be taken on such a decision, the long time print reporter also knew that a multitude of factors could change the equation.

That is where the bulk of the criticism from informed media observers is coming from. You can read his thoughts when it looked like his original pronouncement would not come to fruition at his blog.

Credit him for the reporting work and for having the sources, but the most accurate account of the situation from the beginning would have included a caveat about the delicate and fluid nature of such matters.

On a side note, I'd love to sing along with the chorus and say I'm tired of talking about LeBron James but what exactly is it keeping us from focusing on in the sports world right now?

Cue the chirping crickets...

...and the Stephen A. Smith sock puppet.

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Count David Falk in the Stephen A. Smith camp...

The man who once unofficially ruled the NBA with a client list a mile long believes the reports that LeBron James is south Florida bound, as he tells the "Boomer and Carton" radio show in New York City:

"The inside people that I'm talking to are all telling me that (LeBron James) and (Chris) Bosh are going to team up with (Dwyane) Wade and go to Miami together. No state taxes, (Pat) Riley's going to come out of retirement and coach the team."

As for the recruiting period? You can rest assured that the wheeling and dealing began promptly at midnight.

"When we did free agency, the last major one we did was four years ago with Elton Brand and when the Clippers called us at 12:07, we already had two max offers for him. So this is a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, if you're a team, you better have a player and if you're a player you better damn well have a team. But this year, interestingly, there are a lot more teams in the room than there are players that should get the max."

He also manages to take a nice, little swipe at old friend David Stern when referencing the new age of "max contract" salary ceilings that began a decade ago and largely marginalized the necessity for Falk's services. The key victory for Stern in the 1999 NBA lockout:

"Think about it in today's rules where we don't have to know the nuances of the rules, it blows my mind that a guy like D-Wade and LeBron, two of the best five players in the league, are going to make the same salary as Chris Bosh and (Carlos) Boozer and Joe Johnson."

He'll be absolutely right if, and when, Joe Johnson gets his max contract: a guy who can not possibly be the best player on a championship caliber team, demonstrates nothing in the leadership department, and leaves a fractured Atlanta Hawks locker room in his wake.

Although, to be fair, he wouldn't know the state of things upon leaving Atlanta since he didn't actually show up himself for locker clean out day.

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Larry King offers additional details prior to the release of his full interview with LeBron James on Friday...

The CNN stalwart pops on with Chicago radio station AM 1000 to offer his personal highlights of King vs. King.

Let's start with the fact that you can forget what you've heard from David Stern because the Summit, or whatever they're going to call it, lives!

"This meeting of the free agents, they're going to get together. It's not called a 'summit' but (LeBron James) is the ringleader he said of getting them together. And they're going to talk about what their plans are, where they're thinking about, what they think about the league. They're not going to get into, I don't think, individual discussions of who will play with who and who will go where. But I'll bet that comes up."

The King has his two front runners for The King:

"My own hunch is that Chicago's in strong here. One, he's been a Bulls fan all his life and that has never been asked of him. He said no one ever asked him who he rooted for as a kid. Had Michael Jordan pictures on his wall. Worshipped Michael Jordan. One of the thrills of his life was meeting him when he was in 10th grade.

My own personal opinion, it would come down to Cleveland and Chicago."

At this point you wonder if King has really resharpened his game. Might the 76 year old somehow be as lucid as ever.... and then a synapse misfires and all is right with the world.

"I think he's going to appreciate all of it and you're not going to have an announcement on July 1st. That's one thing I hate to disappoint you guys. It ain't going to be the 76ers."

Too bad because all of those people you're talking to at that Chicago based radio station were really, really pulling for Philly.

Long Live the King.

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