Then it's a misunderstanding because your second question seems to be rhetorical. It reads like you established that Cleveland was the worst city. My bad.
As for big and small markets, it is mainly based on the size of the media market which is linked to the population and not about the attractiveness of the city itself. The other thing regarding certain states is that for example Texas and Florida have tax systems that can be advantageous for athletes.
As an aside Miami
isn't a large market whether we talk about the NBA or the NFL, it's a medium size TV market and marginally larger than Cleveland.