Gray & Company, Publishers

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.

Now, it seems everyone has 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.

Award-winning sports journalists Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst take an in-depth look at how a team and a city are being rebuilt around LeBron James. They 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.

Reviews

The Franchise knows its material inside and out, and offers about as close to an insider's perspective of events as possible. Pluto, a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer and the author of more than 20 sports books, brings decades of experience to the project. He writes in the classic sportswriter's voice, elevating everyday events to high drama, sometimes going overboard with purple prose.

Windhorst, a reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal, has earned a reputation as the guy for insider info on Lebron James and the Cavs. Young, objective and extremely well-informed, he makes an excellent writing partner for Pluto. His contributions are evident in the “back-door dealings” chapters (such as one describing the fierce but largely unpublicized competition between Nike, Reebok and Adidas to ink LeBron as spokesman). Windhorst has been covering this story since well before Lebron appeared on the national media radar, gaining access, and it shows. — Free Times

Anybody with access to the NBA's highlight reel knows how well James plays. But fans know less about how teams are constructed, dismantled, and reconstructed, and how challenging it must be to build a group comprised of stars, role players, has-beens, deluded rookies, born-agains, and self-absorbed wackos into a team that wins a lot more often than it loses. “The Franchise” gives us a look at that process. — National Public Radio

A fast break the moment that you open the book. Pluto and Windhorst double team James, as only they can and give you accurate, detailed information that only adds to the legacy of the young Superstar. The final chapter of this young man's career hasn't been written but the journey up to now has sure been excited and we are all “Witnesses”. — Blackathlete.net

The Franchise flows quickly and smoothly with facts, analysis and interesting insight into the life of “King James”. It is an intriguing and somewhat nostalic recap for those who have followed the Cavs loyally. New fans will enjoy this book as a celebration of the life of a super-achieving athlete playing in an underdog city. — Cleveland Magazine

Highly recommended to sports fans and analysts who want a wide ranging look at today's NBA. — Midwest Book Review

In their book, Windhorst and Pluto chronicle the life and times of a superstar in the making. They're particularly insightful in describing the big-money shoe endorsement squabble between Reebok, Nike, and Adidas--summarized neatly in an exchange between Adidas' Sonny Vaccaro and Nike's Phil Knight at one of James' games.Though the book ends abruptly-only a short final chapter describes the 2007 playoffs-The Franchise is a must-read for any LeBron James or Cleveland fan. All told, it's an informative study of how one individual has changed the marketing landscape for professional athletes-and resurrected a Midwestern city that was dying for a star. — bleacherreport.com

A must have for every basketball fan who wants the inside story of how LeBron James became the young superstar shouldering the weight of an entire NBA franchise. — cavsnews.com

— Library Journal

— Madison Press

About Terry Pluto

Terry Pluto is a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's 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 Illustrated's 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. More About Terry Pluto

About Brian Windhorst

Brian Windhorst is a reporter for the Plain Dealer and has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers since 2003. He has been an NBA correspondent for ESPN.com and ESPN First Take since 2006. His writing has been honored by the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Associated Press. He earned a degree in journalism from Kent State University in 2000. He lives in Brook Park, Ohio, and Jupiter, Florida. More About Brian Windhorst