Nagging injuries have slowed their two most important players, center Anderson Varejao and guard Mo Williams. Williams, in particular, has been missed, having suited up for only half of the team’s games.

So how are they sitting at .500 and, for now, in the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference?

The emergence of guard Daniel Gibson is the team’s feel-good story thus far. Head coach Byron Scott has handed Gibson nearly 30 minutes of playing time per game, and the fifth-year pro has responded by averaging 14.2 points and 4.4 assists off the bench.

Ramon Sessions, obtained from Milwaukee in the offseason, is averaging 11 points and four assists a game as Williams’ occasional stand-in.

Finally, despite his still-nagging tendency to go AWOL during the course of a game, J.J. Hickson leads the Cavs in scoring at 15 points per contest, including a career-high 31 points in a loss to Atlanta on Nov. 2.

Add a healthy Varejao and Williams to the mix, and occasional doses of old pro Antawn Jamison for good measure, and the Cavs are a competitive team with a shot at the playoffs.

Competitive, however, may not be enough to prevent a steep decline over the next two weeks. That’s because the NBA’s scheduling gods have handed Cleveland a dreadful stretch to kick off the holiday season.

Looming on the horizon between now and Dec. 2 are New Orleans, San Antonio, Indiana, Milwaukee, Orlando, Memphis, Boston and Miami.

Five of those teams are clearly superior to the Cavs right now, and the other three—Indiana (who have already beaten the Cavaliers in Cleveland), Milwaukee and Memphis—will see their game with Cleveland as one they can win.

In other words, the Cavs will be hard-pressed to win one or two games in the next two weeks.

This is the NBA, of course, so anything could happen. Middle-of-the-road teams often take the floor against league powers and steal a win.

However, the Cavaliers are deep only when they have all their players at full strength. Scott has come to rely on an up-tempo game that requires a 10-man rotation. For it to work, he needs all 10. When key players like Williams or Varejao are sidelined, the coach is left scrambling trying to plug the gaps.

If the Cavaliers are at full strength over the next eight games, an optimistic prediction would be for them to win three of those, which would leave them with an 8-10 record—still on the periphery of playoff talk.

Realistically, however, they may be fortunate to win one or two of their next eight. That would leave them at either 7-11 or 6-12.

That’s how quickly a season can go downhill in the NBA.

This is not to say that the sky is falling, or that all is lost. It’s simply meant to point out that if the Cavaliers hope to prove the naysayers wrong, they’ll need to close out November with some impressive performances against the league’s best teams.

When the final buzzer sounds on Dec. 2 to conclude their much-anticipated matchup with the Miami Heat, we will have a much better idea of what to expect from the post-LeBron era Cleveland Cavaliers.

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They acquitted themselves well in the opener against Boston, stumbled for a few games while dealing with injuries, and then took care of business in Philadelphia, Washington and New Jersey.

After watching this Cavs team during a 6-2 preseason and the 4-3 regular season start, one question keeps coming to mind: Is it possible that they’re better off without LeBron James?

It sounds crazy, and it has nothing to do with James’ ability. He is a force, an athletic specimen unlike any the game has seen before, a remarkable combination of speed and strength that has rightfully earned consecutive MVP honors.

However, he didn’t get the job done in Cleveland.

I understand the premise that Cavs management didn’t surround him with the players needed to win a championship. I don’t agree with it, but it’s one of those apples-and-oranges arguments.

As the weeks roll by, however, I’m inclined to believe that it was simply time for him to go. Joe Tait, long time radio broadcaster for the Cavs, said over the summer that LeBron never really accepted the mantle of leadership.

Tait has been at the microphone for 40 years, since guys like Chamberlain, West, Frazier and Reed were still lacing up their sneakers—long before Magic, Bird, Jordan or Kobe arrived on the scene. He didn’t make his comments about James in anger, just as a statement of fact.

The very notion that LeBron would leave without finishing the job in Cleveland supports Tait’s belief, particularly in light of James’ now-famous quote to ESPN The Magazine a few years ago about how he didn’t want to go “ring chasing” and was intent on bringing a title home.

Watching him during his last two years in Cleveland was, however, mystifying.

Yes, he won MVP awards both seasons. That’s what made the failure against Orlando in the 2009 playoffs so startling, and the rollover in against Boston last spring so distasteful.

He wanted to go, and he did. He never explained why Cleveland didn’t measure up. He never said that management didn’t do the things necessary to bring a title home. He never said that his teammates lacked talent. He never said that he didn’t like playing for the Cavs, or didn’t like the fans, or didn’t like his teammates.

He just left. Unfinished business aside, he packed up the Family Truckster and headed for the sun and sand of Miami. He made it clear he was less concerned about winning a title for Cleveland than he was about winning a title for himself, and for his “friends.”

Well, thanks for that.

The common refrain—that the problem isn’t that James left, but rather the way he left—is poppycock. Of course the problem is that he left! He said he was going to do one thing, then he did the other. “The way” you go back on your word isn’t the damning part; the fact that you went back on your word is.

Which brings me back to my point: The Cavaliers are doing fine without him. They don’t appear to be championship caliber, but what else is new? They weren’t with James around, either.

They are, however, playing spirited, team basketball. Every night, someone different steps up to provide a spark. Guys who were overlooked during the James era—Daniel Gibson, anyone?—are opening some eyes and proving they belong on an NBA court.

I know this is an indefensible argument to some, but I can’t help it. I like what I’m seeing from the Cavs.

I also know there will be bumps in the road. After all, I predicted they’d finish below .500, at 38-44. There are bound to be some dry spells ahead.

But, for now, the drama is gone. The cult of personality is gone. The requisite fawning and adulation are no longer required.

In their place? Good, interesting, fundamental basketball: teamwork, defense, passing, shooting, hustle, movement.

Most of all, smiles. Gibson is smiling. Mo Williams is smiling. So are Anthony Parker, Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, and all the guys on the bench—including the often stoic coach, Byron Scott.

I’m enjoying it. They certainly seem to be enjoying it, and they seem to believe in themselves, and each other.

Don’t get me wrong. If James wanted to be here, and played like it, the Cavs would be a better team. He’s a once-in-a-generation talent.

However, since he wanted to be somewhere else, it’s just as well that he went there.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, we love our Cavs—and, right now, we love what they’re giving us in return.

As fans, you can’t ask for much more than that.

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Anderson Varejao Was, and Remains, a Key to the Cavaliers' Success

With the hue-and-cry over his flopping ways over with—he no longer employs the technique—fans around the country have begun to realize what NBA players and coaches have known all along: the guy is an impact player.

Last year, he had the third-best plus/minus rating in the league (a ranking of how a player’s team performs when he is on or off the floor), behind only LeBron James and Dwight Howard. He remained in the Top 20 in the adjusted numbers produced by BasketballValue.com—ahead of such luminaries as Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Rajon Rondo and Pau Gasol.

The Cavaliers were energized with Varejao in the lineup against Boston, flat when he missed the Toronto game due to his father’s heart surgery and again more effective when he returned on Saturday night against Sacramento.

Look at it this way: Even playing out of position (he’s most effective as a power forward coming off the bench), he’s a better overall center at this stage than Shaquille O’Neal or Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland’s options a year ago.

Statistics aside, Varejao is quietly the team’s most important player.

Anthony Parker Can Actually Play This Game a Little

He was brought to Cleveland a year ago to provide some length on defense and more of an outside scoring threat on offense—a direct response to the Cavs' playoff ouster at the hands of Orlando the previous spring.

In the James-led system, Parker was relegated to standing around the perimeter and shooting threes, which he does very well. He connected on 41.4 percent of them, good for 12th in the league.

With James gone, Parker is doing more on the floor. He’s handling the ball more and aggressively driving to the basket, resulting in higher scoring and assist numbers in the early going compared to what he averaged a year ago.

Parker's not an All-Star. He is, however, still a legitimate talent, and seems to be enjoying the new found freedom the team is enjoying in Byron Scott’s system.

Daniel Gibson Can Play This Game a Little, Too

With Mo Williams inactive for the first three games, Scott handed the ball to Ramon Sessions at the point. Sessions has done well, averaging 13 points a game, but the guy who continues to flourish under Scott is Gibson.

That he’s leading the team in scoring at 15 points per game while coming off the bench is only a minor surprise; he’s always been a shooter, after all. What’s raised a few eyebrows is Gibson’s team-leading six assists a game, against just 1.3 turnovers per outing.

The rap on Gibson is that he’s small. In the NBA, that’s a legitimate beef. However, Scott has apparently figured out all the right buttons to push to squeeze the maximum amount of talent out of the fifth-year pro.

The physical nature of the 82-game grind has a tendency to wear down the league’s little guys, but the early returns on Gibson are positive.

Shooting Matters in the NBA

For that reason alone, the Cavaliers need Mo Williams back on the floor.

Williams is a career 45 percent shooter, including 40 percent from the three-point line, and three times has averaged better than 17 points a game.

In the Cavs' first three games this season, they haven’t had a go-to guy they can absolutely count on to score points down the stretch. Williams is no savior, and others may need to get his back defensively, but the man can shoot and his offensive prowess will be a welcome addition when he returns.

The Cavs have yet to be at full strength in any of their games this young campaign. When Williams takes the floor, they’ll be a much more dangerous team—not a championship threat, but certainly an opponent to be reckoned with on any given night.

Scott has done a solid job of getting his players to buy into a new system. In particular, he’s impressed upon them the need for each player on the floor to know his role and to contribute to the overall good of the team.

That’s not always the case when there’s a larger-than-life superstar like James on the roster. With that light dimmed, new stars are getting their chance to shine in Cleveland.

This week they’ll face manageable opponents in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Washington. With Williams back in the lineup, and a healthy Varejao having dealt with family issues that were a distraction in the early going, it should be a week that says a lot about how far the Cavs have come, and what they may be capable of in 2010-11.

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Yes, fans, the people who brought you “The Decision” now bring you all-LeBron, all the time.

Can’t get enough of the Heat, you say? Well, this will be the site for you.

According to the release, it will include “breaking news surrounding the Miami Heat,” along with coverage of every game and practice, a “Chase for 72” feature that will regularly update and forecast how many games the Heat will win, and another special feature, “Tracking the Big Three.”

No, they don’t mean Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

Imagine: “Heat Tweets,” regurgitating tweets from Heat players and fans; a “Triple-Double Tracker” devoted to LeBron and his “progress toward averaging a triple double”; and “The Scene,” covering “the culture, scene, and lifestyle angles tied to South Beach as it relates to the Heat and the buzz surrounding the team.”

At last, I can die happy.

Meanwhile, Brian Windhorst, who had the good fortune of arriving as a Cavaliers beat writer at the Akron Beacon Journal and then the Cleveland Plain Dealer just as LeBron’s star ascended in Northeast Ohio, is listed as one of the contributors to the new venture. The release indicates that he’s leaving the Plain Dealer to join “The Index.”

ESPN.com calls him “one of the leading authorities on LeBron James,” but regular readers knew him as a fine beat writer, arguably one of the NBA’s best. His reporting and insights were a joy for Cavs fans to read.

However, money talks, and, in the media biz, exposure equals money. Windhorst will get more of both, one presumes. At least he’s deserving.

Surely he knows, however, that few Cleveland loyalists will follow his prose to Miami. His decision to grab a seat on the LeBron James Express out of town will puzzle and probably disappoint the most ardent Cavs fans, many of whom found their voice in his observations and analysis.

Such is the sports world in which we live.

“The Heat Index” is scheduled to debut Oct. 11th.

There’s no word, however, on whether ESPN plans a Cavaliers page to cover Mo Williams’ tweets or Ryan Hollins’ pursuit of the occasional rebound.

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I’m still amazed that James didn’t get that, considering he’s from Northeast Ohio. It’s not unreasonable to suggest, looking back, that he just didn’t care.
 
However, to say that the Cavaliers will win only 12 games is an astonishing indictment of the players left behind.
 
If I were them, I’d take it personally. At some point, they have to.
 
The buddy system takes you only so far. The players can say they understand what LeBron did, claim they have no hard feelings, and wish him well if they want to.
 
But the guy abandoned them. The “All for One” slogan that adorned their arena and marketing campaigns was misinterpreted by their former teammate.
 
In his world, they were the “all.” He was the “one.” They didn’t give him what he apparently felt he deserved, and so he bolted.
 
And took 50 wins with him, if Dwyer is to be believed.
 
Byron Scott doesn’t believe it. He’s said on a number of occasions that this Cavaliers team has more talent, without James, than either the Nets or the Hornets did when he became their coach.

I don’t believe Dwyer either—there is enough talent and experience to field a competitive NBA team: Antawn Jamison, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson, Jamario Moon, Ramon Sessions, Anthony Parker, Daniel Gibson—all are playoff tested, all accustomed to winning.

Yes, it’s a fairly average lineup, akin to the likes of teams like Milwaukee, Charlotte, Indiana, or—remember, Heat fans?—Miami in recent years. But 12 wins? Come on, Kelly.

Where the prediction could come true would be if his strong recommendation is followed by the Cavs: Dwyer believes Cleveland should jettison the contracts of Williams and Jamison while they still have trade value, and set about the task of rebuilding.

If GM Chris Grant does that, and gets reserve players and/or draft picks in return, then yes, things could get much darker before the dawn.

Barring that, however, this Cavs team should win double what Dwyer predicts just by showing up.

If they don’t believe that as training camp approaches, then they shouldn’t show up at all.

Enough of the disrespect. The Cavaliers need to get fired up and play the 2010-11 season with a chip on their collective shoulder.

The LeBron James era is over. What comes next is up to them, and Dwyer is the latest in a long line of doubters whom they need to prove wrong.

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If I had to lay money down on a shooting contest between Mo Williams and LeBron James, I would take Williams every time.

Three-point shootout, a la the NBA’s All-Star Weekend? I’d take Williams.

Free-throw shooting contest? No-brainer: Williams.

The old “Hot Shot” contest, from multiple spots on the floor? Williams, again.

If you want to debate the issue, fine, we’ll get to that.

First, listen to what Shaquille O’Neal said last week to John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune.

After praising his new teammates in Boston for playing together and not worrying about who shoots when, O’Neal inexplicably singled out Williams in a criticism leveled at just about every Cavalier other than James.

“When I was with Cleveland, guys who couldn’t even play were worried about shots,” he declared.

Couldn’t even play? Worried about shots? Do tell, big guy, do tell.

“Why was Mo (Williams) taking 15 shots, and I’m only taking four?”

Well, I think I can tell you, Shaq—but, continue. 

“If LeBron takes 20 shots, that’s cool,” he went on.

Before I could go on, however, I had to clean up the coffee I had just spit all over my keyboard.

Complain all you want about Mo Williams’ defense. Point out his flaws as a true point guard if you must. Comment on his hair or his choice of tattoos, if you’re that desperate to hammer the guy.

But his shooting? Really?

Here’s a guy who is a 45 percent career shooter. He’s connected on 40 percent of his three-pointers and 87 percent of his free throws.
 
The year before O’Neal arrived in Cleveland, Williams took almost 14 shots a game. Last year, with Shaq on board, that number dropped to slightly more than 12.

Not surprisingly, Williams’ scoring average dropped from 17.8 to 15.8 points per game.

O’Neal, meanwhile, took almost nine shots a contest last season, not four.

Oops.

Now, on to James, who is not known for his outside shooting prowess. Around the basket, he’s an unstoppable force. Away from it, he’s average, converting 33 percent of his three-pointers and 74 percent of his free throws.

The Boston Celtics capitalized on that knowledge by forcing James outside as much as possible during the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals. 

The result? James hung around the perimeter and shot a paltry 11 of 35 in the final two games, as the Celtics eliminated the dispirited Cavaliers.

Statistics aside, however, what was Shaq’s point in blasting Williams? Despite his diminished skills, O’Neal had been a fan favorite in Cleveland and had previously professed his love for the city and the region.

There’s been speculation that he was irritated by something Williams said last week, about wanting to stay in Cleveland and leave a legacy as a Cavalier.

“I don’t want to say I had a great career in Cleveland, Portland, Chicago, and Dallas,” Williams said at the time. “You can’t have a legacy that way.”

If O’Neal took that as a personal affront, he shouldn’t have. Even though Boston is Shaq’s sixth NBA team, there’s nothing to indicate that Williams was referring to him or his many travels.

By taking pot shots at his former teammate—and team—O’Neal needlessly alienated a city that had embraced him and his fun-loving ways during his 12-month sojourn in Northeast Ohio.

The one-year experiment didn’t work out as hoped, but few Cleveland fans blamed O’Neal. In fact, most felt he had played about as well as could be expected.

Even if O’Neal had been justified in his criticism of Williams and the Cavs, it would have been bad form to voice it. The fact that he was so far off the mark, however, only underscores the suggestion, made by many, that as a former teammate Shaq is all about Shaq.

You can’t have much of a legacy that way, either.

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If the Cavaliers are looking for a new face for the franchise, they should look no further than to their veteran guard.

The Cavs’ second-leading scorer for the last two seasons bumped into James at Hopkins International Airport over the weekend. It was their first face-to-face encounter since James left behind his former teammates, home turf, and fans in a slickly marketed, highly publicized, personal pursuit of trophies in Miami.

Williams, the most prolific tweeter on the Cavs’ roster, hasn’t been shy about baring his soul since the end of the season.

When trade rumors about the seven-year veteran hit their zenith in June, Williams posted an impassioned plea on his Twitter account:

“Pls don't trade me,” he tweeted on June 23. “I'm not ready to go. I'm begging. My work ain't done yet. I'm on both knees....pls. I'm serious.”

In an interview published that afternoon on the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s web site, Williams said, “I have my heart in the city and the organization and I don’t want to leave.”

He acknowledged that the trade rumors had an upside.

“Other teams want you, so that is good,” he said, “but I love Cleveland.”

Stop right there. Let those last three words sink in.

I…love…Cleveland.

Of course, they were erased from the city’s collective consciousness just two weeks later, when James revealed that he was, indeed, leaving Cleveland at the altar.

Williams’ admitted his shock and dismay on Twitter, and took slight umbrage with James’ tactic of using national TV to break up with his home state.

He then voiced the feelings of an entire city when he addressed LeBron directly: “…we could have got it done here and u would have enjoyed it in cle a whole lot more.”

He also wrote: “We were so damn close. So damn close now we have taken leaps and bounds backwards.”

As James was lambasted from coast to coast in the aftermath of his announcement, Dwayne Wade defended his newest teammate against accusations that he quit in game six of the Cavs’ second-round playoff loss to Boston.

“LeBron’s teammates didn’t help him in that game and it made the way he played even worse,” Wade said.

Who on the Cavs fired back? Williams, of course.

“Come on d wade, watch your mouth,” he tweeted. “I read your article.”

The Cavs had come under fire from critics far and wide for their alleged dearth of talent apart from James, and Williams had had enough. For Cleveland fans, it was refreshing to hear a member of the team stand up to the naysayers for a change.

Then came the airport encounter with James.

“Part of me is still sour,” he told the Akron Beacon Journal this week, “but I wish him the best.”

Then Williams put the capstone on an ongoing series of comments that should endear him to Cleveland and Northeast Ohio for years to come.

“I want to look back at my legacy and say, ‘I had a great career in Cleveland.’ I don't want to say I had a great career in Cleveland, Portland, Chicago and Dallas. You can't have a legacy that way.”

“I love the city. I love the fans. They welcomed me and my family and I respect that.”

If the consensus of bloggers, forum posters and even some members of the media is to be believed, nobody wants to play in Cleveland.

Tell that to Mo Williams. 

Anything could happen between now and the start of the NBA season. The future of Williams and any other member of the Cavaliers could be up for grabs.

It's clear, however, that Williams loves Cleveland. If he's still wearing the wine and gold come fall, expect Cleveland—jilted by the suitor they thought would never leave—to love him right back.

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It was mystifying. You have a thoroughbred like James—the most unstoppable force in all of basketball—on your team, and you resort to a slow-down, stand-around offense?

It made no sense, to Cavs fans or anyone else.

It stifled the team’s creativity and limited its effectiveness. As a result, when James played poorly, so did the team.

Even worse, when a seasoned opponent like Boston focused on limiting James’ effectiveness, the Cavaliers came unglued. As a result, the Celtics’ triumph in the Eastern Conference semifinals was relatively easy—just as the Orlando Magic’s victory in the conference finals was the previous year.

So, if the Cavs’ system was lacking, didn’t LeBron have to leave in order to find one that worked?

Maybe—but not certainly. Brown was dismissed in June, after another head-scratcher of a playoff performance by his team.

His firing was probably a knee-jerk reaction by Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert, who is quickly gaining a reputation for that kind of thing. GM Danny Ferry walked shortly thereafter, and word on the street was that Brown’s firing had something to do with it.

Even so, James chose to leave a team that led the league in regular season wins two years in a row. Call it a mirage all you want, but ask Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers if that’s an easy thing to do.

That many wins means there are pieces and parts of a possible championship puzzle. In Cleveland, that promise went unfulfilled, but it didn’t have to be that way.

Gilbert has been criticized, and Ferry with him, for not surrounding James with enough talent.

It’s a straw man argument, really. You say potato, and so on.

There’s no question, however, that adding players like Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and, yes, Shaquille O’Neal represented a major upgrade over a Cavs team that made it to the NBA Finals in 2007.

The fact that players did not perform as well as hoped is not just a commentary on them. It points to a flaw in the system, a system that relied too heavily on LeBron to do this and LeBron to do that.

After James announced his decision to leave the Cavaliers, several NBA legends weighed in. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan all suggested that they would not have done the same thing had they been in LeBron’s shoes. Their point of agreement was that they had wanted to beat each other, not join each other.

The suggestion, then, is that James could—maybe should—have stayed in Cleveland and gone about the business of beating, not joining, the likes of Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

Times have changed, however. With them, so have priorities. James seems unfazed by what others think, or want.

His choice was clear. Nonetheless, it appears that he didn’t want to leave Cleveland as much as he wanted to team up with his buddies and try to collect rings.

In other words, Cleveland was the bridesmaid to Miami’s bride.

So leave, James did, and he saw nothing wrong with it. However, he miscalculated the repercussions that were, to the average observer, inevitable.

Did he have to abandon the Cavaliers, the winningest team in the NBA in recent years, in order to one day win a championship? No.

Did going to a team stacked with talent increase his chances of doing so? Absolutely.

Like so many people do in life, James chose the sure thing. In so doing, he thrilled a fan base in Florida, and alienated another one that, to his surprise and dismay, stretches from the shores of Lake Erie to both coasts—and points in-between.

And so, the plot thickens. It’s a strange chapter in NBA history, and the story isn’t over yet. What remains promises to be a real page-turner.

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There’s such a thing as having a finger on the pulse of a city, and such a thing as just showing it the finger.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas and LeBron James of the Miami Heat demonstrated the difference, wittingly or unwittingly, with a pair of advertisements that appeared in Northeast Ohio newspapers this week.

In Sunday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, an ad from Ilgauskas offered a statement to Cleveland fans, acknowledging his fondness for the city and what it has meant to him during his career.

At first, the ad came across as a sincere attempt to connect with the loyal fans who stood by him over his 14 years in the NBA.

Then he ended it by trying to explain why he chose to no longer stand by them, and instead join LeBron James in bolting for Miami.

Oops.

Look, it was nice of him to say goodbye. It was fine to thank the fans (which he never really did, directly), and to say he loves Cleveland, which people believe is true.

But to remind them about how he rubbed salt in the city’s wounds by leaving for South Beach was just plain dumb. After all, that’s the part of his decision that made his fans in Ohio uncomfortable.

Trust me when I say that while the prevailing mood in Northeast Ohio is to wish Ilgauskas well, fans here don’t want him to even sniff a championship in Miami.

That’s why the ad was ultimately so unsatisfying.

“I felt I owed it to myself and my family to chase my dream of winning an NBA championship,” he wrote. “I hope you understand.”

No, Zydrunas, fans in Northeast Ohio don’t understand, not really.

What about their dream of winning an NBA championship? You know, the dream you and LeBron James were supposed to fulfill?

Speaking of James, the ink had barely dried on Ilgauskas’ ad when a copycat one of his own popped up in the Akron Beacon Journal.

Sandwiched between photos from James’ past charity events in Akron was his message, addressed to his “family, friends and fans in Akron.”

After talking about growing up there, he wrote, “Akron is my home, and the central focus of my life.”

After winning an NBA championship for another city’s fans, that is.

“You can be sure that I will continue to do everything I can for this city….”

Except, of course, win a title for the tens of thousands of Cavaliers fans who live there and were counting on him to do so.

Then again, he wasn’t really writing the ad for them.

After all, it’s not addressed to Cavaliers fans. It’s addressed to his fans.

And so it goes, in LeBron James’ new world.

Me. My family. My dreams. My fans.

My talents, which I’m taking to South Beach.

As so many members of the local and national media pointed out Tuesday, James’ ad was conspicuous in that it was in the Akron paper, addressed only to Akron.

There was no acknowledgement of Cleveland, or anybody else in Northeast Ohio, for that matter. Just Akron.

It was reminiscent of when there was a celebration in his honor at the University of Akron’s football stadium several weeks ago. James made a surprise appearance, and reiterated his love…for Akron.

He made no mention of Cleveland. There was no acknowledgement of the people there who cheered for him and supported him and waited for him to deliver a championship.

Message received, sir. Loud and clear.

Now he’s gone. So is Ilgauskas.

The fans of Northeast Ohio? They’re left with a couple of newspaper ads to remember them by.

It would have been more satisfying if the two of them had given Cleveland the championship it had so desperately hoped for.

They didn’t, however.

Try as you might, gentlemen, no amount of words can make up for that now.

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What was it about the LeBron James free agency process that was nagging at me?

It wasn't so much that he left Cleveland. As a columnist covering the Cavaliers, I wasn't thrilled about it, but players leave teams behind all the time.

It wasn't that the idea of playing with his buddies appealed to him.

It wasn't even that every move seemed calculated, as if to squeeze every drop of marketing muster out of the process.

No, something was distinctly different. What was it? How had I been mistaken about him—or at least miscalculated what motivates him?

LeBron’s affection for his hometown of Akron, Ohio, is well-documented and his loyalty to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School is widely known.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft lottery and the rights to James in 2003, it was too good to be true. The hometown boy would be staying home.

The fondness that fans in Northeast Ohio already had for this young wunderkind would blossom into a full-grown love affair. For the next three years, James did and said all the right things to make people believe it was, like a good marriage, everlasting.

It was after the 2005-06 season that LeBron began showing the signs of a wandering eye. I, like the fans of Cleveland, didn’t see it—or didn’t want to.

Rather than accept a five-year, $80 million contract extension from the Cavs, James opted for a three-year deal with a player option for a fourth. After that, he would become an unrestricted free agent.

Most observers believed it made good business sense. Most also believed, however, that James selected the shorter deal as insurance—a guarantee, of sorts, that the Cavaliers would remain committed to improving each year.

Which they did. The following season, the overachieving Cavs made it to the NBA Finals. By years three and four of LeBron’s contract extension, they had led the league in regular season wins for two years running.

Along the way, they had worked within their limited salary structure to bring in veterans like Mo Williams, Shaquille O’Neal, and Antawn Jamison (all distinct upgrades over players on the 2007 team), remodeled an arena that was only 10 years old to begin with, and built perhaps the finest practice facility in the league just minutes from James’ home—all in an effort to show LeBron that they were committed to building a winner.

We all know the rest. Despite those league-leading victory totals in 2009 and 2010, the Cavaliers came up short in the postseason. This year, they looked horrible doing so, and James looked out of sync.

After the Celtics had sent the Cavaliers packing in game six of the Eastern Conference semifinals, James was subdued at the postgame news conference. At one point, he was asked about the future.

“It’s all about winning for me," he said , "and I think the Cavs are committed to doing that.”

So far, so good.

“But, at the same time, I’ve given myself options to this point.”

O-kayyyyyy...go on.

“Me and my team, we have a game plan that we’ll execute and we’ll see where we’re at.”

When I first heard those words, I was pleasantly surprised—because historically when LeBron had spoken about “my team” and “my teammates,” he had meant the Cavaliers.

My first reaction, then, was that he and the Cavs would discuss ways to improve the team, and, if he was satisfied, he would stay.

I was, to put it mildly, being naïve.

In fact, in a split second James had redefined what the word “team” would mean for NBA players, if not professional athletes in general, from that point on.

It didn’t mean the franchise he played for. It didn’t mean his teammates, his coaches, the uniform, the tradition, the city, or the fans.

No, it meant his agent, his marketing advisors, his lawyers, his friends, and even his mother.

But his basketball team, the Cavaliers? Who were we kidding?

Over the next six weeks, his new definition of “team” would govern his actions.

When it came time for “The Decision,” that odd and distasteful exercise in self-aggrandizement, this new definition was clear for all to see and hear.

“I want to thank all six teams that I had an opportunity to sit down with,” he said , before unleashing the zinger:

“And my team…”

Ouch.

“…they hear what we had to say also.”

My team. There it was.

His team was his, and his alone. It was for him, about him, and dedicated to him.

“I expected to be able…to sit down with my team and sit across from other teams and hear how they feel,” he continued.

His team, quite obviously, was not who we had always thought it was.

And so it went, for several more excruciating minutes, before James finally announced that he was going to Miami.

Like everyone, I knew it could happen.

Yes, I thought it was rude for James to divorce himself from a franchise, a city and a loyal fan base in such a public and thoughtless manner.

Yes, I thought it was peculiar that he had made such a spectacle out of having six teams vie for his services like so many contestants on “The Bachelor,” thereby ensuring that five of them, and their fans, would be alienated by his final decision.

But the decision was his to make, and he was free to do so. He played by the rules, and this is what the rules allowed.

Still, I found myself wondering what had changed in his manner and his approach. Eventually, I concluded that it all came down to that one word: team.

In the end, his new definition made all the difference. Because of it, I doubt that Cleveland ever had a chance. Truth be told, they had ceased being his team long before he rejected them on national television.

Miami, enjoy your new superstar. He is remarkably gifted, and he will thrill and entertain you.

Just don’t get too comfortable with the idea that the Heat are, or ever will be, his real team.

LeBron James has made it clear who that is, and where his true loyalties lie.

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