Basically the entire state of Ohio descended on downtown Cleveland on Wednesday to celebrate the Cavaliers ending the city's 52-year championship drought with a joyous parade. And just like they witnessed during the Finals, fans were treated to quite the show by LeBron James.
Seemingly still in shock that he brought a championship to Northeast Ohio like he promised two years ago, James delivered a rather moving yet lengthy speech to his teammates and Cavs fans. James also had no filter during his monologue, frequently cursing just because he felt like it.
But the crux of James' speech was his teammates. Mentioning every single one of his teammates by name, James praised them all and at times offered up amusing anecdotes about a member of the Cavs:
The entire speech is about 15 minutes and well worth your time but here are some notable mentions by LeBron (transcribed by Dime's Bill Difilippo):
- Kevin Love: "You guys saw his struggles throughout the Finals...and everybody just burying him alive throughout the Finals. And to be able to respond like he did in Game 7, that's what real men do, they respond at the most adverse times."
- Kyrie Irving: "He thought I was blowing smoke up his ass early in the season when I said he could be the best point guard in our league and also be an MVP in our league."
- J.R. Smith: "You guys all heard the stories - false. Everything about J.R.: 'He's not a team player. You can't with with J.R. on your team. J.R. takes bad shots.' You all heard them weak ass stories. But when our GM came to me and said we had an opportunity to get J.R. Smith...I was like 'I would love to have J.R. Smith.'"
- Matthew Dellavedova: "Y'all saw it for the last two years, Delly giving everything. He damn near gave his life last year in the Finals, he had to go to the hospital after one of our Finals games."
James also thanked some non-Cavs like Clippers center DeAndre Jordan for spurning the Mavs in free agency which allowed Richard Jefferson to become a Cavalier and the Knicks for trading Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland.
It was a speech fit for a champion, which James most definitely is.
