LeBron finally admits he screwed up

Almost.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/ ... NHeadlines

NEWARK, N.J. -- LeBron James said he has no regrets about ending up in Miami, but did say he would handle his decision differently if given another chance.

James has been heavily criticized for announcing his free agency choice during an hour-long ESPN special.

The Ohio native did not specifically say what aspects of "The Decision" he would have changed.

"If I had to go back on it, I probably would do it a little bit different," James said. "But I'm happy with the decision I made. There's always going to be a misunderstanding. I don't know what I would [have done], but I definitely would have changed it."

James joked Sunday that it's not too soon for teams to start recruiting him for the 2015-16 season after his current contract expires.

Barring injuries, James would still be in his prime when his six-year contract ends, although there are options that would allow him to enter free agency a year or two earlier.

"I'll be 30, I'll be alright still, too," James said before the Heat played the Nets at the Prudential Center. "I'm here. I'm a Heat, man. So we'll see what happens."

The Nets were one of six teams that met with James when the free-agency recruiting period opened in July. He also received visits in Cleveland from the Heat, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and the Cavaliers. The Nets, partially owned by hip-hop mogul and James' good friend, Jay-Z, had the first meeting with James.

But James said Sunday he never established a ranking or order of preference beyond the Heat.

"Not really," James said. "It was some meetings that were better than others. But at the end of the day, this was the team I felt like I had the best opportunity to win for a long period of time. I didn't have a list, one through six or one through five, whatever the case was."

James said his summer sit-down with Nets officials, including owner Mikhail Prokhorov and coach Avery Johnson, was a positive experience.

"I'm here in Miami, but it was a great meeting," James said. "I left with definitely respect for this organization, respect for Avery Johnson, respect for the owner and for everyone that has anything to do with the Nets. Nothing bad from that meeting and nothing bad I have to say about this organization. It was great."

The two-time MVP also said the Nets' record last season didn't automatically eliminate them.

"No, you can't go off that. They're 2-0 now, so I don't think they won their first game until mid-December last year. So you can't go from previous years," James said. "If that's the case, this Miami Heat team won like 15 games [in 2007-08]. Before I got to the Cavs, they only won 17, even though I didn't have anything to do with that because of the lottery. But you don't take a team's past year and based on what the following year could be."

The Nets' case could have been strengthened if they were already in Brooklyn, but their planned move has stalled and they are now scheduled to play two years in Newark before the Barclays Center opens.

James said he didn't know if that hurt New Jersey.

"I think this place is great," he said. "Brooklyn is a great city also. But I've never been in Newark, I've never been in Brooklyn, so I don't know if it would have helped the case or not."

James was booed frequently in the first half, though there were loud cheers after a pair of powerful dunks.

Probably as close as he's ever going to come to saying the special wasn't the best idea, nor his handling of the situation as good as it could have been. So be it I guess, what's done is done.

anybody hear about him taking back what he said about contraction? it's the 2nd time this season he's opened his mouth and said something dumb and his fake excuse of "i didn't know what i was talking about" doesn't come into play because he talked about removing teams from the league so he obviously did.

Like Jordan said about Barkley "He talks first then thinks after". James is definitely on of those

anybody hear about him taking back what he said about contraction? it's the 2nd time this season he's opened his mouth and said something dumb and his fake excuse of "i didn't know what i was talking about" doesn't come into play because he talked about removing teams from the league so he obviously did.

Yeah, I saw it on NBA.com and I was like "wait, didn't he just said that he's in favor of a contraction?" and the next thing I saw was him taking back his words. It's funny how he's running his mouth now after being quiet for the first 6 years in the league. He used to handle all the fames well but I guess that's changed.

anybody hear about him taking back what he said about contraction? it's the 2nd time this season he's opened his mouth and said something dumb and his fake excuse of "i didn't know what i was talking about" doesn't come into play because he talked about removing teams from the league so he obviously did.

Once again, he just dug himself a deeper hole with his attempt at an explanation. Even if he's telling the truth about not knowing the meaning of the word, he still comes off looking bad for brashly using a word he doesn't know the meaning of (not to mention not knowing the meaning in the first place) but I'd be inclined to believe it's another shoddy attempt to backpedal from a remark that didn't go down so well.

From the "I'm a winner and winners don't shake hands" fiasco to the fallout from The Decision and the weak attempts at answering the criticism of the special itself to this latest gaffe, he's just not that good when it comes to PR and damage control in particular. Fortunately the folks at Nike are more talented in that regard with his "What should I do?" commercial, but even that left itself wide open to sarcastic responses and some amusing parodies. He's an amazing player and I like watching him play, but he doesn't do himself any favours when he gets behind a microphone.

Didnt we talk about the contraction fiasco when it happened? Trying to find the other thread and failing.

I don't think we did, at least not LeBron's remarks on the matter.

ah, no, I was making the thread, making a side rant about how I want more teams and less games with a euro soccer setup with multiple divisions and teams switching divisions and such. basically 4 divisions of 16 teams, each with their own playoffs and top/bottom 4 switching divisions at the end of each season. each division gets a playoff and a champion then they have a final 4 between them all.

then the power went out

Fortunately the folks at Nike are more talented in that regard with his "What should I do?" commercial

You thought that was half-decent? The message I get from that is 'yes, I'm an asshole. You don't matter, though, so fuck off.' Which is pretty much the exact impression he gives the rest of the time anyway.

The message I get from that is 'yes, I'm an asshole. You don't matter, though, so fuck off.

Wait, are we talking about LeBron or Kobe?

You thought that was half-decent? The message I get from that is 'yes, I'm an asshole. You don't matter, though, so fuck off.' Which is pretty much the exact impression he gives the rest of the time anyway.

Of course that message comes through, but it was still miles better than the clumsy attempts at PR and damage control by LeBron and his advisers/entourage, trying to put a positive/creative spin on the backlash. Like I said though, it certainly left itself open to parody and snide/sarcastic responses.

Isn't the general purpose of PR to give people a positive impression of something? All that commercial did, at least to me, was reinforce the negative impression I already had, which was a negative one. I'd call that a failure.

I said it was better, I didn't say it was great or a huge success. I thought it was creative, a decent attempt to try and take the negative publicity and spin it into something positive, but it was not universally successful and while I didn't think it was a bad effort it didn't change my perceptions about LeBron either. It was at least better than playing the race card though.

It was at least better than playing the race card though.

Well, there is that, though that's not exactly a high standard to surpass, though.