Former Miami Heat great Alonzo Mourning recently did an interview with Adam Figman of SLAM Online that elicited some very interesting, and possibly controversial, opinions about former Heatle LeBron James and current Cleveland Cavalier Kevin Love.
“SLAM: One of the really impressive things about the Miami Heat is how well the franchise takes care of its own. If you look at the moves the team’s made over the past half decade, whether it’s sticking with Coach Spoelstra when things were tough in the beginning, making sure to bring back DWade last summer, or even giving Michael Beasley another shot, Pat Riley shows so much love to guys who came up within the organization.
AM: That’s a Pat Riley thing. I think that’s the only way to do it, it really is. I think if you’re gonna be a consistent organization, you’ve gotta take care of your own people. You do. Every year, you can’t have turnover. First of all, Spo knows the culture—it’s just a matter of getting the guys to come in and buy into it. We had a great team for four years straight, and the reason why we had a great team was not just because we had the best player on the planet, it’s because we had the best team that bought into a culture. Everybody bought into this culture. After going to the Finals four years like that, I find it very difficult for individuals like we had to stop buying into the culture that got you four straight NBA Finals appearances. How do you stop buying into that? If you got there four years in a row, why not get back there four more times? And then four more times? Why not get back there 10 years in a row? It’s doable. And Pat Riley wasn’t gonna stop bringing pieces in to complement, you know? So why walk away from a dynasty?”
It’s interesting how much ‘Zo stresses the importance of the Heat culture, and just how much he believes in the model Riley has built in Miami. Mourning is legitimately asking the question “why?” in regards to why any player, not just LeBron, would leave a stable organization, or better yet, not trust an organization with the track record the Heat has had over the years. Going to four straight NBA Finals, winning two of them, along with winning another championship in 2006 while Riley does everything he can in between to ensure the franchise stays relevant – even in down years like the 2014-15 NBA season.
These are fair questions to ask and think about if you’re Mourning; there has got to be a really good, non-basketball reason for a star, like LeBron, to walk away from an organization that brings in stars, employs a top-5 head coach and is led by one of the best basketball minds of all-time.
Essentially, what Mourning is having trouble understanding is how a player can walk away from an organization with all of the traits the Heat possess for an organization that has been in disarray for years because it’s never had any of those qualities.
I get it.
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Then things get really interesting:
“SLAM: You gotta ask LeBron.
AM: [Laughs] Yeah. That’s the question. Why walk away from a dynasty when you have to go somewhere and rebuild, basically? Then you’ve got Kevin Love, who’s not happy at all. He’s outta there.
SLAM: It’s just different priorities, right? It’s the mindset that the NBA Championship isn’t everything, that there’s more to it than that.
AM: Evidently. It had to be. It’s very difficult to even think about walking away from something like that. How do you walk away?
SLAM: Where do you think Kevin Love is going to go? LA?
AM: I think he’s probably going to go to LA. I could see that.”
What LeBron has done in Cleveland is a little bit more than, “…rebuild, basically”, which Mourning knows, I’m sure. Or perhaps he’s speaking more about rebuilding the culture of one of the worst NBA franchises since the King left for South Beach. He could mean a lot of different things, but what’s happened in Cleveland since LeBron’s return is a very rare rebuilding situation that lasted less than an entire offseason.
Mourning then says Kevin Love is “outta there”, which seems a bit odd for a couple of different reasons with the most glaring issues being that, well, Mourning is probably not Love’s most trusted confidant. Also, anyone, including fans, analysts, whoever, can see from watching Cavs’ games this season that Love is not being used the right way, and that it’s probably not a guarantee he’ll be with the club long-term. Still, the Cavs haven’t even gotten through one postseason with their Big 3, so using the phrase “he’s outta there” might just be a bit premature.
Mourning’s answer on where Love would end up, if he does decide to leave the Cavs this summer, was strange, too. He says “he’s probably going to LA”, but follows that bold assertion up with, “I could see that.” In the same answer, the former Georgetown Hoya contradicts himself with a strong, possibly controversial, prediction but follows it up with a shrug-type answer of “I could see that.” You could use that answer to describe just about every team in the League, so I’m also going to go out on a limb and say Mourning has no idea whether or not Love winding up in Los Angeles is a real possibility, which is fine. However, stirring up these kinds of rumors without much reasoning to fall back on is never a good idea, even for a Vice President, Players Program of the Miami Heat like Mourning’s title reads.
Chase Thomas is a contributing writer for Bloguin’s NBA blog Crossover Chronicles. Follow him on Twitter @CutToTheChaseT.
