An Inside Look at Free Agency – Allegedly
When I first read Adrian Wojnarowski’s take on LeBron’s free agency journey from Cleveland to Miami, I, like most Cavs fans, said, “yep, that’s the LeBron I know.” A me-first, spoiled, athlete who treats others poorly and who turned his back on Cleveland.
But when I went back and read it a second time, I started to wonder. Am I agreeing with Wojnarowski because his story is accurate, or do I believe it because, as a jilted fan, I want to believe it? I’m not sure, but what I do know is, it would be a lot easier to buy into this tale if Wojnarowski actually quoted someone.
That’s right, in almost 4,100 words on how LeBron landed in Miami, we get exactly two quotes – one from a “league official” and a “top NBA front office executive.” Neither are quoted by name, of course.
The article lays out some pretty harsh criticisms of James:
- claiming Team USA did not want him on the 2008 Olympic team
- that James forced Dan Gilbert to fire coach Mike Brown and that Brown did not respect James
- that James wouldn’t allow photos or videos at the birthday party of Chris Paul’s son because James was attending
- that William Wesley was driving a wedge between James and Maverick Carter
And on and on.
Now all of this may be true, or at least mostly true. But without a single person willing to go on the record for the article, how can we know? How do we know that someone with an ax to grind didn’t feed Wojnarowski an “inside look” that is more speculation and half-truths than reality?
Or that Wojnarowski wanted to believe this so he allowed himself to be led down the path? He wasn’t exactly balanced in his coverage of LeBron during the free agency period:
- Easy come, easy go for King James
- State of LeBron: Live at 9, from his ego
- Team LeBron reaches for prominence
- Summer of LeBron overshadows draft
- NBA stands at LeBron’s beck and call
Sadly, as we all learned during the past few months, proper sourcing and going on the record just isn’t all that important in today’s media. On any given day, ESPN will have 3-4 stories on it mainpage without any attribution.
And that leaves it to us, the fans and readers, to try and sort through the mess to find out what’s the truth and what’s propaganda.
Red Right 88 