Throughout their development, LeBron James seemed to stay just one step ahead of his competitor and friend, Carmelo Anthony.

Now that the “Summer of LeBron” has come to a close and the “Decision” has been made, James can firmly place his focus on moving forward with his new team…but not before gaining some closure for the backlash that he received during his free-agency period.

LeBron’s story, entitled “Three Weeks in Crazyville”, will be featured in the September issue of GQ magazine.  In it, he is interviewed by J.R. Moehringer regarding various topics emanating from his experiences in the midst of the most discussed free-agency in NBA history.

After being blasted by Cleveland natives, Dan Gilbert and Charles Barkley, here’s what he had to say about each of his critics:

LeBron on Clevelanders:

“And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us.… So we didn’t actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There’s a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day.”

“Maybe the ones (fans) burning my jersey were never LeBron fans anyway.”

LeBron on Cavs owner Dan Gilbert:

“I don’t think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: ‘You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You’ll get a good sense of their character.’ Me and my family have seen the character of that man. (Gilbert’s reaction) made me feel more comfortable that I made the right decision.”

The top three players in the 2003 NBA Draft.

LeBron on Charles Barkley:

“Charles was probably trying to be funny. It wasn’t funny to me.”

Well…there’s not much else that we wanted to here from LeBron…that just about covers it.  Now we’ll all wait and see what happens in Miami in the fall.

And by next summer, there’s a possibility that another mega-team may be formed.  This time, the potential destination would be the Big Apple.

All eyes have been focused on Nuggets All-Star Carmelo Anthony for several weeks now.  The Baltimore native curiously left a 3-year, $65 million extension on the table.  Leaving that type of scrilla on the table sends a message loud and clear to Denver’s front office – “I don’t want to be here.”

Expect Denver to catch this message loud and clear – especially after watching Cleveland get its hopes shattered by an exiting James with nothing to show for him in return.  The good thing is that they have the requisite time to field enough offers to ensure that they are able to come close to getting equal talent in any potential trade scenario.

But from ’Melo’s standpoint, this was one time that staying one step behind LeBron paid off – - in a big way.

There’ll be no “Decision,” there’ll be no free agent touring – just a clean getaway and a chance to start all over again.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author