Everyone remembers that glorious Thursday night in the summer of 2010.
The cameras, the ESPN special and the infamous “This fall I’ll be taking my talents to South Beach,” signalled LeBron James’ exit from Cleveland to join the Miami Heat.

James not only lost the respect of the entire city of Cleveland, but the NBA and sports community as well. Seeing James join forces with other basketball stars Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade to create the ‘Big Three’ tarnished his image as a “hero” and replaced it with a “villain” label.

As a fan of the Miami Heat and LeBron James, it bothers me when I hear that the reason people hate James is because he left his team in such dramatic fashion.
I’ll never forget watching the Heat march through the playoffs to face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. However, James didn’t perform in the fourth quarter in games two through six. He scored fewer points than most backups score in 10 minutes. After the late collapses by James on a nightly basis, he became the laughing stock of Twitter and SportsCenter.

But you have to wonder — doesn’t it get old? Is there a point when a player who has given so much to his sport and former community catches a break? When did relocating to improve the future become a bad idea?

Since “The Decision,” James has made 53 percent of his shots and averaged 26.7 and 29.2 points per game respectively in two seasons in South Beach. He was announced as a starter for the Eastern Conference in those two years as well, and he took his team to the NBA Finals. James sports the top selling jersey in the NBA. As a player, he is among the elite players in the league today, and is possibly one of the best players of all time.

Without a championship under his belt, many fans view his career as a failure.

But here’s a fact that most people may not know: Michael Jordan didn’t win his first championship until his seventh season, and legends Charles Barkley and Karl Malone retired without championship rings.

For a player drafted directly out of high school, James has become an icon in the NBA and will earn his championship when it’s his time. Put down your pitchforks, stop lighting his jerseys on fire, and jump on the LeBron James train as it heads back to the finals to win an NBA championship.