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00:00A quick sidetrack here. I know we got game five tonight.
00:04It's not going away. I don't want to bring this up later on in the show as well,
00:07but I'm going to do it right now.
00:09The nonstop, because I said Cavs or Lakers for LeBron in the future, that's it.
00:13And anybody in Cleveland has either said,
00:16I'm an idiot for even saying the Lakers, or they don't want him back,
00:19which is amazing, and I want to get to that here in a second.
00:22But there's a lot of people that get a hold of it from elsewhere,
00:25and they're San Antonio and Oklahoma City and Golden State.
00:30I'm going, I think he's going to go where he's comfortable.
00:32I don't think he's going to go chasing.
00:35I don't think that that's part of what he wants to do.
00:38I think he does want to compete. I think he does want to win.
00:40But I just don't think he's going to be.
00:42I wonder if he sees himself if he goes to another place.
00:46If he goes to a San Antonio, are you just like Gary Payton at the end?
00:50Does he see himself that way?
00:52Like Gary Payton didn't have a championship, but does he see himself that way?
00:55Like you're trying to chase it, you're trying to do that.
00:58Where he knows these things just don't happen overnight.
01:02That's why I think it's like the Cavs,
01:03because I think he'd be retiring if he comes to the Cavs.
01:07And I think it's with the Lakers,
01:08because I think that they've built something nicely there.
01:11And I understand Bill Ryder said he knows for a fact
01:13that Luka and him don't like each other.
01:14There's been plenty of guys that don't like each other
01:16and play at a very high level.
01:17If Luka would have been healthy,
01:18I think it might have been a little bit of a different series.
01:20Probably Oklahoma City still would have won.
01:22But I think that those are the things that he takes into account
01:24about helping himself be able to ride off into the sunset
01:29with also being on a team that can compete.
01:34And I think that he concerns himself with that greatly.
01:36However, there is one thing that when we talked about it yesterday
01:40for a little bit,
01:42where the people fighting him coming back,
01:45well, I don't want the drama.
01:46You had a bunch of people saying they didn't want the drama, right?
01:48They didn't want to invite the drama.
01:50And I go, guys, we can't just dust off our old arguments
01:52about all this stuff that's happened
01:55and keep saying it over and over.
01:56What would be the drama?
01:58We're at the end.
01:59We are at the end of his career.
02:01There's no more drama.
02:02Or there's just as much drama as there has been
02:05with this current team.
02:07But he's done.
02:09If he comes back here, I think he's done after the season.
02:12So if he's done and we're going to have this big send-off,
02:15I'm kind of used to the drama.
02:17I don't know how much more drama there is.
02:18There's no more fit in, fit out.
02:20There might be a bowling trip.
02:21Who knows?
02:22I don't know.
02:22But I just don't think it's going to be the same way, Tone.
02:25I don't think there'd be drama at all.
02:27I think that's nonsense.
02:28I think that's something people are projecting,
02:31hoping that would happen
02:32because they don't like LeBron
02:33or for whatever reason
02:35because of things outside of basketball,
02:39which is kind of funny to me too.
02:41Like, I just think how any Cavs fan,
02:44when there's been this malaise over the entire season,
02:47and now even today,
02:48as you're one of six teams left playing basketball,
02:51I'm not even hearing excitement out of fans
02:54for a chance to go to the Easter Conference Finals.
02:57Like, yeah, the minute you'd get LeBron James,
03:00I think there would be such an excitement level,
03:02whether it's nostalgia,
03:04whether it's the fact he can still play the game,
03:05whether or not the fact that he is the embodiment
03:08of what you're missing, a player at that size,
03:12being able to play, you know, small forward
03:15or whatever you want to call LeBron
03:17at this stage of his career.
03:18And oh, by the way,
03:20the people that say that they don't want that drama,
03:22they're not season ticket holders.
03:23Season ticket holders desperately want LeBron James
03:26to come back to Cleveland.
03:27And those are the real fans anyway.
03:29So I think it's a bunch of non-basketball fans
03:32or people that parachute in, you know, this time of year
03:34that are like, I don't want the drama of LeBron James.
03:36I just don't think it's going to be the same type of drama
03:38in the past.
03:39Nobody cares about your opinion anyway.
03:40Well, I care about their opinion.
03:43I don't because those are the people telling me
03:45not to get excited about the Cavs in general.
03:46So why would I care about your opinion?
03:48Well, wait a minute.
03:50I am a Cavs fan.
03:51You were still the same person that said the series was over
03:53when they were down 2-0.
03:54Yeah, I thought it was.
03:55I thought a lot of Cavs fans.
03:56So now you've got to call fans out for being a little bit nervous.
03:58You're not understanding the differences.
04:00There's an honesty.
04:01You can be honest with where you think your team is.
04:03I think that's all they're trying to be.
04:03But that's different from, hey, we could have the best player
04:06in the history of the game who's also from here
04:08come back and have a magical year next year.
04:11And, oh, he's still really good.
04:12I agree with you on that.
04:13But you're the one who brought it into this current feeling
04:16with the Cavs.
04:16So, no, I don't care about the opinions of people
04:18that take their cues from cable news
04:21on whether to like LeBron James.
04:22I'm not really taking inventory of their opinion on a daily basis.
04:26I think that, okay, there are definitely some people
04:29who probably watch cable news and take their opinions
04:31about that from LeBron James.
04:32Some people that take their marching order from cable news.
04:35But you can't act like there's no legitimate Cavs fans
04:37who don't want LeBron James to come back.
04:39Nobody in my life that are big Cavs fans fit that category.
04:44Well, you know what?
04:45That's amazing that you and I would know different people.
04:47Amazing to see that we would know different people
04:49You have diehard Cavs fans that wouldn't.
04:51Are they season ticket holders?
04:53No.
04:53Okay.
04:54Well, I'll tell you what.
04:56I know far fewer season ticket holders than you do.
04:58Every season ticket holder I know is on their knees
05:02praying LeBron James comes home for obvious reasons.
05:04Just because they want to make money.
05:05But I want to see them win.
05:07But they're already season ticket holders.
05:09So, they also like the Cavs.
05:11Like, they also go to the games
05:12while there's this pervasive feeling of malaise around the team.
05:16I'm going to text my cousin.
05:16Those aren't the ones.
05:17My cousin has a ticket package.
05:18Let me text my cousin.
05:20I want you and Nick in a car to go ahead and talk
05:23while I text Jimmy here.
05:24Hold on.
05:24Let me get to Nick in a car.
05:26Hello, Nick.
05:27Go ahead.
05:27It's you and Tone because I've got to text somebody right now.
05:30Go ahead.
05:31Good morning, gentlemen.
05:32Text your cousin there.
05:34Lima, I am a huge Cavs fan.
05:37I've been a Cavs fan for years
05:39since the Price Nance Doherty days.
05:41I want nothing to do with LeBron James.
05:46I want nothing to do with him coming back.
05:48And let me tell you why.
05:49Go ahead.
05:49A couple reasons why.
05:50Number one, I'm not a cuckold.
05:52I'm done.
05:53He's done us dirty twice.
05:55I'm so sick and tired of groveling.
05:58Is this a real call?
05:59Oh, because he brought us a championship.
06:02So did the rest of that squad.
06:04So did the rest of that squad.
06:05No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's insanity.
06:12You had no chance to win a championship without LeBron.
06:15You get down on your knees and you should beg LeBron James to come back.
06:19Yeah.
06:20Who wants his 23 points a game and 50% from the field?
06:23Wait a minute, why?
06:25Who wants that?
06:25Wait a minute, why?
06:27Who wants his six assists a game?
06:29Nick just proved my point.
06:30Who wants his steals?
06:31Nick just proved my point.
06:32He's a liar.
06:33Champions pose.
06:34No, you can champions pose.
06:35You can't just accuse somebody of being a liar just because they disagree with you.
06:38It's a plan.
06:38You can't just accuse somebody of that.
06:40It's clear.
06:40It's so evident.
06:41There's no way a guy who is a dire Cavs fan would gloss over, you know, the championship
06:46to talk about him leaving twice.
06:48There's no way.
06:49And guess what?
06:50He would be coming back here a second time and he would be here three times.
06:54So there's no way any real Cleveland sports fan who especially is a basketball fan would
07:00sit there and not take 23 points a game at 50% from the field.
07:05And as well-rounded a player as he still is and historically an all-time force in sports.
07:11I would take him back, but you can't just sit there and fart on anybody.
07:15That's a guy who is a Cavs fan and that was his opinion.
07:19Because his feelings were hurt because he left a second time after he delivered something
07:23that apparently J.R. Smith is just as much part of the championship as LeBron James is.
07:30Like, I'd like to see his pie for the championship.
07:32I want to congratulate J.R. Smith for graduating North Carolina A&T.
07:35It's a hell of an accomplishment.
07:36He probably thinks...
07:37It's on the golf team, too.
07:37He probably thinks David Blatt is 60% responsible for that championship, too.
07:41Guys, Nick is back on the line.
07:43Do you want him again?
07:44No.
07:44No.
07:45No.
07:46No.
07:46Once they're kicked, they're kicked.
07:48I'm sorry.
07:49I have to adhere to the rules.
07:52I'm thinking of Michael Corleone talking to Fredo.
07:55You just took sides against the family, little John.
07:57Now, John, take that phone and hang it up.
08:00John, just go ahead and move on.
08:012-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
08:03I didn't mean to even get into this conversation.
08:06I'm still waiting on Jimmy's response, so I'm going to have to butt in at some point.
08:09Who knows if he's listening right now.
08:10But let me just go back to it.
08:13If we're going to have this conversation, you know we will.
08:15Because we're never going to not have it.
08:17At least this offseason.
08:18No matter how far.
08:19The Cavs could win a championship this year, and we will still have the LeBron conversation.
08:22It's still going to happen.
08:23Hell, it might even be more likely that you get LeBron if you win a championship this year.
08:28The conversation.
08:28You cannot.
08:30If we're going to do this, you can't just dump off everybody who disagrees with you.
08:34I want to know where that guy.
08:35And say it's a plan or a conspiracy or they have their head up their ass.
08:37I just want to know how anybody like that could not wait a championship over him leaving twice.
08:44Like, winning the championship is 100 out of 100.
08:48Like, the leaving the first time?
08:50Yes.
08:50We were all humiliated.
08:52We were all blindsided.
08:54It's also during a different era of sports.
08:56Now nobody's blindsided if a player leaves.
08:58Like, everybody just assumes that these players are going to leave.
09:02So, yeah.
09:02It was a different time.
09:03We were more innocent.
09:04Yes.
09:04A sports fan.
09:05That is over.
09:06I mean, your favorite college player will leave so fast to make a dollar more.
09:10So, we're dealing with a different era.
09:12So, I don't even apply that to today's standards.
09:15The leaving a second time.
09:16Like, whoever thought LeBron was seriously going to stay here.
09:19I bet Jeremiah Smith could have made more money elsewhere if he stayed.
09:22Yeah, he says he could have.
09:23I bet he.
09:24You think Texas Tech wouldn't have paid him a hell of a lot of money?
09:26I actually think so.
09:27But that is the rare exception.
09:29I think 99% of these guys will leave the first chance they get.
09:33Go ahead.
09:33And so, it's a different era altogether.
09:36I never thought.
09:37I think you had to be pretty delusional to think LeBron was going to hold to his word that he
09:41was.
09:41Yeah, all players say they're going to stay.
09:43They say that all the time.
09:45Okay.
09:45And the second time, like, it's kind of shame on you for thinking he wouldn't leave when he wanted to
09:49win more championships.
09:51And he wasn't going to be able to do it in Cleveland.
09:52That was over at that time.
09:53At least that's the second time.
09:55That was the thought.
09:56The thought was we had maxed it out.
09:57And we weren't going to be able to do it.
09:59So, like, I always thought he was going to leave again if the Cavs pushed all their assets.
10:05I didn't really see it happening, though, with the Lakers, though.
10:08I know he won a championship with the Lakers, but you're the one who wants to put an asterisk about
10:11it.
10:11So, I think we're doing a little bit of revisionist history ourselves over here, Tom.
10:14If you ask me, I would have wagered a lot of money he would have gone to the Lakers.
10:17Do you believe – okay, but I didn't think that going to the Lakers necessitated championships.
10:22I understood why he went to the Heat.
10:24I understood why he came back.
10:25And then when all the other things happened, you could really understand why he came back.
10:29Going to the Lakers, I thought, was just a business decision.
10:31And had they not be in the bubble, I don't know if they would have won a championship.
10:35I think that you're talking about a basketball-obsessed player who's the best in the league,
10:39and you put all this in his court to go ahead and win.
10:42For whatever reason, I was not bowled over when he left.
10:47What I'm saying is, I don't understand how a Cleveland fan that all we've said our whole lives is,
10:52man, if somebody could just win us a title and help us win a title,
10:56the city is going to feel this way about this guy.
10:59The whole – we always used to joke about they'll never have to buy a drink again.
11:03And you guys all turned your back on that, the ones who were saying the stuff you're saying.
11:06Well, LeBron doesn't need me to buy him a drink.
11:07I don't think he drinks during the season.
11:08You so quickly clearly didn't mean any of that.
11:10But also, you quickly have to understand, you cannot – we're talking about people's emotions here.
11:15And I agree with you.
11:17There's no begging him to come back, and there's no begging him to stay,
11:20because he's just going to retire the year after he comes here.
11:22So that's it.
11:24I agree with you on that.
11:25But you can't get so nasty with everybody, because it's their emotions.
11:30I've never met a person in real life who acts like that,
11:33that the championship doesn't really matter, which is what that guy was saying.
11:36I hate to say it, and it's a very –
11:38He won a championship, but he left us twice in humiliating –
11:41Who do you – he didn't humiliate me.
11:42I hate to admit this.
11:43He didn't humiliate me.
11:44Maybe you've got to worry about your own feelings and your own perspective when it comes to that.
11:47I disagree with their perspective, but I do know people who act like that in real life.
11:51And I disagree with them in real life about it.
11:54But I do know those type of people.
11:56Cousin Jimmy hasn't texted back, and I'm getting pissed off at them.
11:59I am flabbergasted that anybody could minimize the championship to the degree that that guy just did.
12:03And I'm not talking about the Jimmy everybody thinks, so stop sending me your nasty tweets, okay?
12:09That guy owns the Bucs.
12:11And I just think also, like, having LeBron here for his swan song, for the nightly tributes,
12:17I think in a way it takes so much pressure off the other guys, including Donovan.
12:21Like, because the season, the regular season, of which you guys all say doesn't matter,
12:25it's all going to be about –
12:26Including the superstar.
12:27Yeah, it's all going to be about that.
12:29It's all going to be about where he –
12:31It's all going to be about everywhere he goes and the gifts he's going to get every step of the
12:36way.
12:36And he's still going to have those harken back moments.
12:39It's going to take a lot of the pressure away from the daily –
12:43Is this a championship team?
12:44Because this year, that's all we cared about, and it kind of did put a damper on the regular season.
12:49That goes right out the window if LeBron comes back.
12:52And I'm going to get to some of you guys on this.
12:532-1-6-4-7-4-0092.
12:56Oh, really?
12:57All right, never mind.
12:58Let's just go to the phones.
12:59I love it.
13:00Call it the ring.
13:01I love it.
13:01Denise in Cleveland Heights, you're first up on the fan.
13:04Hello.
13:05Okay, if mad was the word, I would be her.
13:09Because people – how soon people forget.
13:12This man, he did whatever he needed to do for his career, which we all do.
13:17But he wasn't allowed to do that without somebody getting in their feelings.
13:22He brought a championship here, something we hadn't had.
13:25In 50 years.
13:26And now, all of a sudden, he's a leper.
13:28And I'm mad at one of the hosts because the host that's defending this, he's absolutely right.
13:34You're saying that the guy on the phone has a right to his opinion, but your co-host doesn't have
13:39a right to his.
13:40My co-host doesn't have the right to belittle him.
13:42My co-host doesn't have – I'm the guy on the host you're talking to me.
13:45I'm the guy on the host, Denise.
13:46We're getting more in there.
13:47We're getting more in there.
13:48We're getting more in there.
13:49We're getting more in there.
13:49We're getting more in there.
13:50Wait, because – hold on.
13:51What's the fact?
13:52What's the fact here?
13:53Because – okay.
13:54The fact is LeBron deserves way more respect than that caller wanted to give.
13:58So because I disagree – so should I – if I disagree with you, I should yell at you, belittle
14:03you, and call you dumb and have Owen hang up on you?
14:05Should I do that?
14:06Do you disagree with her?
14:07Well, wasn't he yelling?
14:09Wasn't he belittling?
14:10He wasn't yelling.
14:11Lima started yelling.
14:12No, he was yelling.
14:14I heard –
14:14He started yelling because Lima was yelling.
14:16Wow.
14:17Well, you know what?
14:18No, Ken, I'm not going to kick her.
14:20He was right in the fact – he was right in the fact that –
14:21I'm not asking you to.
14:22You have to show somebody who brought something to this town.
14:26I mean, the beloved Browns that everybody loves so much can't win anything.
14:31The Guardians can't win anything.
14:32We'll leave it to the Cavs.
14:33The Cavs' problems aren't the Browns' problems.
14:36The only person that LeBron comes in here was LeBron James.
14:37Listen.
14:37LeBron is from here.
14:39He's a champion.
14:41He's a champion.
14:41He made us a city of champions.
14:43Why am I getting yelled at just because I want to hear other people's opinions on something I don't agree
14:47with them on?
14:47I don't agree with them on.
14:48If you want to hear an opinion, this is mine.
14:51He's a winner.
14:53Denise.
14:54Even though I agree with you –
14:56This city was considered a city of losers for so long until LeBron James came around.
15:00I am not – if the guy – like if Nick would have called up and been like the guy
15:04who called in about the I Promise School
15:06and tried to make the argument that LeBron didn't hang the drywall, which was the wildest call –
15:10I think it was that guy.
15:11I think it was the guy who called us today.
15:13No, I remember who it was.
15:14That was probably the wildest call in the history of sports talk radio in this city, maybe even in the
15:18country that day.
15:19And we all remember it well.
15:21Then, yeah, I would have said Nick had his head up his ass.
15:22But this is an emotional thing, and you know how people feel about him emotionally.
15:26And I know that it bothers you because it does bother me just where there were some people who just
15:31kind of wanted to go with the flow in 2016.
15:34Whereas it bothers me because I think that we should treat all three teams – yes, there would be a
15:38huge groundswell because of the Browns or Guardians because of how long it's been.
15:42But with the Cavs, I think there are people who treat it less, which I hate.
15:46I absolutely hate.
15:47But because of that, just because I disagree with them doesn't mean I have to tell them that their head
15:51is in their ass all the time.
15:52I love it.
15:53Because it's an emotional thing.
15:54It's not even just factual.
15:55I so love that the Cavs were the team to do it because it bothers people.
15:59And guys like that, that guy is bothered that LeBron James brought you the championship.
16:04So you know what, dude?
16:05You are a cuck because you had to watch LeBron win the championship.
16:08And it bothers you that it wasn't the Guardians.
16:10I'm done with that talk.
16:10It bothers you that it wasn't the Browns.
16:12And every day, you'll never erase history.
16:15It was LeBron James that gifted you a championship, and you can't take it.
16:20It's going to bother you until the day you die, and your family hates you for it.
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