South Beach, South, South, Beach

The King James era is set to begin in Miami and LeBron has some friends in Dwayne Wade (who's staying) and Chris Bosh (who's joining the fray.)

Bosh and Wade were a given and served as old news (and a major indicator that the Cavs were losing their native son.) For the past couple of years, sports fans have heard that this was the free agent class to look out for - with some big market teams having some deep pockets to spend on some of the cream of the NBA's crop.

Add in some static with players opting out (Pierce and Nowitzki) and players re-upping (Durant) and it made for an interesting week. A week that ended with the most amazing sports spectacle I can recall. The Decision was aired for the world to see as LeBron set up shop in CT and was peppered with some soft questions that basically asked which toothpaste he used? Boxers or briefs? Grimace or the Hamburgler? And to confirm if he's truly a never nude?

The reaction generated, both before, during, and after the saga that was the decision was the perfect recipe for sites like Facebook and Twitter as a stream of LeBron based messages littered the boards - even if the message was sent by someone claiming the didn't care, it was evidence that they cared, at least a little.

The decision to join his pals Wade and Bosh in Miami, soon to be coached by the iconic Pat Riley, was surely a difficult one for LeBron. For starters, he was leaving home (which if you ask me is easy, stay in the dump that is Cleveland or relocate to South Beach? Hmmm, gimme about a minute to torch my mansion and we're on our way south.) Next, Bron Bron was leaving $30 mil on the table. That may seem like chump change to some but I'm sure he'll feel that somewhere along the line.

In reality, James is not a sellout. He is an athlete that wants to win. In sports, all athletes are judged as winners or losers and winning is the only vindication for one's career - ask A-Rod and then ask Jim Kelly. The big stats for James are back-burnered (fastest to scoring title, MVP, 15k points) until he wins. Leading his teams to the best record in the East, the playoffs, and the Finals are not enough. Nothing will ever be enough until he wins.

Kobe did not get vetted until the Lakers won without Shaq. Pippen never could get vetted because the Bulls didn't make it happen without Jordan. Patrick Ewing is vilified for never bringing the Knicks to a title. Charles Barkley. Karl Malone. And the list goes on and on. Putting yourself in a position to win is nothing new. Veteran players do it all the time, this time, the veteran is LeBron and he's taking less money and a more attractive situation to give it a go in Miami. We don't know the details of the deal yet but here's my guess, it's got an escape clause after a year or two so that he can jump ship if need be to a team that can truly win...If the Heat win it all, LeBron loses. If they don't win, he loses.

I guess the salary cap watch for 2012-13 should start now...