The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers

by Terry Pluto

“Not your typical sports biography . . . Take[s] the reader behind the scenes in the Cavaliers’ front office, revealing how championship contenders are built” ― Library Journal Two award-winning sports journalists give an in-depth look at how a team and a city were rebuilt around superstar LeBron James. When the Cleveland Cavaliers drew the top pick in the 2003 NBA draft, an entire city buzzed with excitement. After all, how often does a LeBron James come along? Especially for Cleveland, a midmarket Rust Belt city without a sports championship in forty years. Especially for the Cavaliers, a long-struggling team that had never reached the NBA finals. Soon, everyone had something riding on LeBron―billionaire team owner Dan Gilbert looking for a return on his investment . . . teammates eager for a championship ring . . . the league in need of the next Michael Jordan to promote . . . the shoe company with its multimillion-dollar endorsement deal . . . even popcorn vendors in the stands of Quicken Loans Arena and servers waiting restaurant tables in a downtown that now booms every game night. Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst tell the converging stories of a struggling franchise that had to get worse in order to get better and a highly touted teenage phenom, the local kid who became their future. This book will fascinate any basketball fan who wants the inside story of how LeBron James became the young superstar shouldering the weight of an entire NBA franchise. Chock full of facts and analysis.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, History

206 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2007

About the author

Terry Pluto is a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nations top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers. He is a nine-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award and has received more than 50 state and local writing awards. In 2005 he was inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the author of 23 books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito (selected by the New York Times as one of the five notable sports books of 1989), and Loose Balls, which was ranked number 13 on Sports Illustrateds list of the top 100 sports books of all time. He was called Perhaps the best American writer of sports books, by the Chicago Tribune in 1997. He lives with his wife, Roberta, in Akron, Ohio."

Reviews

[Antonio Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the Cleveland Cavaliers had the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft,the cavaliers drafted Lebron James.The Cavaliers drafted Lebron james because he was all high school phenom and they thought he would be bring a lot of attention to the franchise, so therefor they made him the franchise player of the Cavaliers.Lebron carried the cavs to he playoffs but they never made it to the finals so the cavs fired the general manager and the general manager and that made players want to come to play along Lebron James

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read /The Franchise: Lebron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers/, by Terry Pluto.

I'll have to read the authors' next book on LeBron:

https://sports.yahoo.com/bdl-book-rev...

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

With LeBron now in Miami and the Cavaliers being pretty much awful the last three seasons, it's not hard to imagine that this book read much better six years ago than when I read it last summer. The book was written in light of the Cavalier's loss to the Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals so things were looking pretty good for the franchise at this point. Well, at least it seemed that way then before the Celtics reloaded and the Magic oddly got awesome in 2009. I know it's probably not right to judge a book's merit by what happened after its publication, but it seems hard not to. The authors seem to posit the Cleveland front office as a paragon of brilliance for trading Kemp, tanking, and drafting James, which were all obvious choices. Quite simply, knowing now that the best player the Cavaliers acquired in between the publication of this book and LeBron's departure was Mo Williams (and it's not even close, which makes it even sadder) makes one question the author's characterization of the front office staff and their analysis of the moves and decisions made. They may have looked good in 2007, but with three more LeBron-led seasons and no more Finals appearances, not so much.

Anyways, enough needless basketball history and commentary - it's a good book if you care about the Cavs and front office/behind the scenes machinations. It's not the most literary read and you're not going to finish this book feeling like you know "the real LeBron James," but don't avoid it - just wait to read until you've read about forty other books on basketball first.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Cavs fan, I enjoyed reading a lot of the behind the scenes information about the Cavs before & after LeBron. While there seemed to be some inconsistencies in the details of some years and some other info (mostly concerning the Shawm Kemp stuff, but most people probably wouldn't notice, I just happen to be into detailed sports info), the book is well written & easy to read. Both authors have similar writing styles which is good because it does not distract from the stories. One final thing I took from the book was gaining more respect for Cavs GM Jim Paxson. While he was not the best GM, he seems like a good man and you find out about serious distractions he had outside of his work. As a sports fan, it's easy to forget these public figures have personal lives. The fact that Paxson took so much criticism and always handled it with class with his outside distractions shows the kind of integrity and character he has.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because it chronicles the life of my favorite basketball player, Lebron James. I think this book is very detailed in going into the life of James and in showing what led him to become what he is today. The story shows the struggles faced, but the barriers broken by will and talent.
The book also shows the transformation of the Cleveland Cavaliers as a team from one that was weak to a strong one. I have followed the team since James came along and was highly interested in the book.

[Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite sports books.I recommend this book to everyone.Its about the Cleveland Cabaliers front office.They work hard to win a championship.This book is also about what they think it takes to win a championship, which is funny because they haven't won one.LeBron works hard too.The Cavs are lucky to have one of the top five basketball players ever.

[De'Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book you see the recreating of the Cleveland Calaliers from the worst team in Basketball in the late 1990's to early 2000's. To adding LeBron James and being contenders for a titler in 2007. Great book to read. It also shows that anything is possible

[Reader2007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book about Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was very interesting. And I was surprised that it was such a page turner! Great book if you want to learn about the Cavs.

(thanks Amanda!)

[Katharine Ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers" - written by Terry Pluto and published in 2007 by Gray and Company. Very interesting story of one of our Cleveland sports stars.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cool book. It was interesting to see all the work and behind-the-scenes action it took to get LeBron James signed for Cleveland.

[Brad Budziak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read about the Cavs organization, but sloppy and disjointed. How does a book with so many grammatical errors make it to store shelves?

[Maurice Kaba · Rating 5 out of 5]

he is the best and gud basketball player

[Pololadolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is a good book to read and tells good stuff ABOUT HIS LIKE THAT YOU DONT KNOW. IT TELLS ABOUT HIS HIGHSCHOOL CAREA

[André Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livraço!

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

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