LeBron James won't rule out returning to play for Cleveland someday, but admitted in an interview
with GQ magazine that owner Dan Gilbert's letter to fans on the night James left the Cavaliers gives him "a lot of motivation"
for when he and his new Miami Heat teammates play his former club.
In
an interview to be published in the September issue of GQ, James told writer J.R. Moehringer that "if there was an opportunity for me to
return [to Cleveland] ... and those fans welcome me back, that'd be a great story."
But James,
who announced on July 8 that he would leave the Cavaliers as a free agent to sign with the Heat, said of Gilbert's late-night
letter: "I don't think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: 'You will see the light of people when they
hit adversity. You'll get a good sense of their character.' Me and my family have seen the character of that man."
James added: "It made me feel more comfortable
that I made the right decision."
Gilbert did not immediately
respond to The Associated Press' request for comment Tuesday.
Moehringer
interviewed James three times in a 19-day span -- twice before and once after his announcement.
"And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us. ... So we didn't
actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day."
-- LeBron James to GQ
The story looks at the weeks
leading up to and just after his July 8 announcement on ESPN -- on a show titled "The Decision," which was widely
panned. James said he wouldn't change anything about how he made his decision, or how he told the world about it.
James told GQ: "I understand that a lot
of people would be hurt" in Cleveland by his decision, but also said that growing up, he and his friends from Akron didn't
always like Cleveland. Akron is about 40 miles south of Cleveland.
"It's not far, but it is far," James told GQ. "And Clevelanders, because they
were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us. ... So we didn't actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland
growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day."
James said he'll remain anchored in Akron. "I'm going to spend a lot of the summer here,"
he said. "This is my home. Akron, Ohio, is my home. I will always be here. I'm still working out at my old high school."
And he said Cleveland fans were "awesome,"
but didn't take back his comment late last season that those around him were "spoiled" by his play.
"I love our fans. Cleveland fans are awesome," he told GQ. "But I mean, even
my family gets spoiled at times watching me doing things that I do, on and off the court."
The night of James' announcement, Gilbert said he believed James quit on Cleveland during
the 2009 and 2010 playoffs. Gilbert was ultimately fined $100,000 by the NBA for what commissioner David Stern said were comments
that fell into the category of being "a little extreme."
In
the GQ article, James took exception to the "quitter" tag.
"Every
night on the court I give my all, and if I'm not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself," James said.
THANKS CAVS FOR A GREAT 2009-2010 NBA
SEASON!
Congratulate - Thank - Support
- Game Chat - The 2009-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers here!
LeBron James gets beat by David Kalb- Playing Horse
THANKS CAVS NEWS:
who is the Wizard?
THANKSCAVS.COM
THANKSCAVS-Thanks Sir Charles
On behalf of the city of Cleveland ThanksCavs would like to Thank Sir Charles for his real comments.
Our city is scrathing it's head trying to figure out what we did wrong to LeBron. Maybe, it was our falt he left?
Coming from Sir Charles it means a lot and mends some pain. Thanks Charles you are the best and always welcome!
Sir Charles has been going in on LeBron all summer long. He’s now asking for the top spot on James’ so-called enemies list: "Charles Barkley weighed in Wednesday on a recent
Twitter statement by LeBron James. Barkley, a TNT analyst and former NBA All-Star, said he hopes James remembers Barkley’s
critical comments and called a couple of James’ more significant actions this summer ‘punk’ moves. ‘I
heard about LeBron’s little tweet today that he’s remembering everybody who said anything bad about him,’
Barkley said Thursday on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM in Dallas/Fort Worth. ‘And he said ‘everybody.’ Well, I want
him to make sure that he puts my name on that (list). I thought that his little one-hour special was a punk move. I thought
them dancing around on the stage was a punk move, and I thought he should’ve stayed in Cleveland. Him joining Dwyane
Wade’s team was very disappointing to me … That one-hour special, them jumping around on stage like punks, that
wasn’t cool to me. From a basketball standpoint, I wish he had stayed in Cleveland, and if he takes that as criticism,
so be it. He knows where I’ll be, I don’t run. I’m on TV every week, I’m easy to find."
How will LeBron James be received when he goes back to Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat?
A national television
audience will find out when the Heat make the first of two visits to the Cavaliers on Dec. 2, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. The game will be on TNT.
James and new teammates Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade will make their regular-season debut Oct. 26 against the Boston Celtics, the NBA announced on Tuesday.
The
Los Angeles Lakers will host the Houston Rockets in the other opening-night game on TNT. The Rockets hope to have Yao Ming back in the lineup after he missed last season with a foot injury.
The Heat will open at home Oct. 29 against the Orlando Magic and visit the defending champion Lakers on Christmas Day.
When James returns to Cleveland, the city where he played seven seasons before leaving as
a free agent last month, the reaction could be ugly. Many Cleveland fans were enraged when James announced on July 8, on national
television, that he was leaving for Miami. Owner Dan Gilbert fired off a scathing letter promising the Cavs will win a title
before James does, and the oversized banner of James near Quicken Loans Arena was pulled down shortly thereafter.
The Cavs will also host the Heat on March 29, according to The Plain Dealer. Cleveland will
visit Miami on Dec. 15 and Jan. 31, according to multiple media reports.
Miami's
season opener in Boston will also be nationally televised by TNT.
The
Heat will enter their regular-season opener with a substantially overhauled roster, while the Celtics also made changes and
re-signed stars Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
The league officially
released its opening week, Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Day schedules Tuesday night on NBA TV.
The Christmas schedule will again feature five games, highlighted by the return of the Heat-Lakers
matchup that was regularly played Dec. 25 after Los Angeles traded Shaquille O'Neal to Miami in 2004.
Boston
will visit Orlando on Christmas for a rematch of the East finals. The remainder of that day's schedule includes Chicago at
New York, Denver at Oklahoma City and Portland at Golden State.
Orlando
gets two high-profile games in the first four days of the season. The Magic host No. 1 overall pick John Wall and Washington
on Oct. 28 to open their new Amway Center, then travel to Miami the next night for the first of four meetings with their state
and Southeast Division rival Heat.
The Magic and Celtics will
meet again on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Lakers will host the rising Thunder, who took them to six tough games last season
in the first round, later that night.
"And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us. ... So we didn't
actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day."
-- LeBron James to GQ 
