LeBron James just announced live on ESPN that he will play for the Miami Heat, meaning he is officially gone from the NBA's Central Division.
This announcement is not surprising considering ESPN has been reporting it all day long, but in the grand scheme of things, it's hard to believe LeBron actually decided to leave Cleveland to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. All of this talk about the three of them playing on the same team seemed like wishful thinking on the part of some people, but now it's going to be a reality starting next season.
Personally, I think this "Super Team" will not be quite as good as everybody thinks, at least not early on. Will they have some ridiculous talent just with LeBron, Wade and Bosh? Absolutely. But I think there will be no shortage of drama at the first sight of struggles. As nice as the idea of everybody sharing the spotlight sounds, I just have a tough time believing it will actually happen. Perhaps I'm a little naive about this, but in the end I wouldn't be surprised if Miami doesn't get a single title out of this deal. I guess we shall see, though.
Either way, LeBron is gone from the Cavaliers and the Central Division, so at the end of the day I'm happy. Yes, he is still in the Eastern Conference, but like I said earlier, the Pistons aren't exactly concerned with getting to the NBA Finals at this point. The first goal is to start being competitive in the Central Division, and with LeBron gone, that suddenly got a lot easier.