LeBron's Latest Foray into Free Agency Much Better

A lot has changed for LeBron James in the last four years. On July 8, 2010 James made the worst mistake of his career, announcing his decision to leave Cleveland for Miami with the slimy Jim Gray as host on what was dubbed The Decision. Televised on ESPN, The Decision set off jersey-burning in Cleveland and has guaranteed that James will be booed mercilessly in every city that he spurned.

Now in 2014, James has two rings on his fingers, two more MVP awards (which brings the overall count to four), is the undisputed best player in the league and has taken the Heat to four straight Finals. But free agency has come calling again and James is still undecided on his future. Twitter has never been more abuzz with speculation and poor reporting. The need to "get the scoop" has usually-credible journalists losing some of that credibility every day.

Some people are mad at James. Make a decision and keep us from waiting any longer, they say. His every move is followed and documented by a basketball paparazzi. Everybody and their mother seems to be a source these days and that includes the Akron police force. Akron's finest set the Twitter nation in motion the other day, telling reporters that they were asked to station a few men outside James' home and expect a 3:30 announcement. That announcment never came, but Clevelanders came out in droves to park their cars in front of James' home. What were they waiting for? Who knows -- James was in Las Vegas at his annual basketball camp.

People seem to be growing angry at James for not announcing his decision. He is made out to be the villain again if he chooses against Cleveland. Yet there is no need for animosity towards LeBron this summer. He has done everything right.

Amid all the tweets, all the speculation, all the propaganda put out by ESPN, remember this: LeBron James has not said a word. He has not led any fan base on nor has he really given any team hope. If you have hope of James returning to Cleveland then it wasn't he who gave it to you. It was ESPN and the rest of the basketball reporting world.

I don't particularly like LeBron James. I appreciate his greatness and understand I will probably never watch another player with his set of skills and size. I don't think he's the greatest player ever and I don't think he ever will be. However, I do appreciate his maturity in this case and it clearly shows he has learned from his mistakes.

Chris Sheridan, Frank Isola and whoever else can keep on giving false reports from their "sources." LeBron is entitled to make a decision when he sees fit and he has handled it correctly. Why don't we all get off the guy's back and slow down with the Twitter reports.

Stop calling this "Decision 2.0" because James has never called it that. ESPN has. The network has employed all the best gossip journalism tactics and has set up James to be the villain once more. However, be smart enough to really look at the situation and see that LeBron James has handled this round of free agency with much more maturity than he did last time. He shouldn't be the villain this time.

So don't make him one.