The LeBron James Thread

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Yup. People keep forgetting that they're the Clippers for a reason and just like Cleveland Sports is Cleveland Sports for a reason and just how the Lions used to be the Lions for a reason.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Yup. People keep forgetting that they're the Clippers for a reason and just like Cleveland Sports is Cleveland Sports for a reason and just how the Lions used to be the Lions for a reason.

Cleveland Sports may suck, but it seems more cursed than flat out sucking.

The Clippers just suck because they have the worse owner in professional sports. And until he either dies or decides to stop making money....err, to sell, it will continue to be that way.

It all starts at the top.

[55]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

I don't get why the owner should matter so much. Hell, even Marge Schott won a World Series as an owner.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

I don't get why the owner should matter so much. Hell, even Marge Schott won a World Series as an owner.

Normally it doesn't.

However, in Sterling's case, it most certainly matters. You saw how long it took for him to fire Dunleavy.

Let me put it this way, would you entrust your future to Donald Sterling if you could make the same money in basically any city in America?

[Dice]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

I don't get why the owner should matter so much. Hell, even Marge Schott won a World Series as an owner.

Schott wasn't that bad of an owner. Was was a cheapskate racist? Of course she was. BUT she did have sense enough to hire baseball minded people to run the team for her. In her years of being the majority owner, the Reds have finished over .500 10 times, 2 playoff appearances and a World Series.

And how long did Sterling let Elgin Baylor run(or ruin) the team as GM? Too long. And Sterling himself says he doesn't care if the team wins or looses. The bottom line is the profit. Which the team makes every year because of their sweet deal sharing the Staples Center revenue with the Lakers. If the Lakers weren't playing in the Staples Center, the Clippers would have been filing for bankruptcy by now.

[ProjectRipCity]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

That's why I said severe homerism, Mr. Love.

lol if you don't like the forum why post on it?

[brahmagoul]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

See below.



Just because a guy is a 20 and 10 guy in the regular season doesn't mean he'll be one in the playoffs which is why LeBron would leave Cleveland in the first place. If you're gonna leave a situation where you can win 50-60 games a year, you leave it for a situation that's potentially better, not the same thing or worse. If LeBron has made up his mind that he can't win with the guys in Cleveland, then it's friggin ******** to go to NJ or NY where he has no idea if the guys will be able to step up and play when they get to the playoffs, whereas those guys who haven't won a playoff series (keep in mind they should/could have beaten Boston last year) have shown that they aren't going to shrink or give up when there's extra decorations on the court. I'm not saying it's a lock for the Bulls to do anything with LeBron, but acting like choosing the Bulls is the same as deciding to eat a bowl of dog crap over a steak is pretty friggin ridiculous.



The Bulls can't outright sign LeBron and Bosh, but they could acquire both. One signed straight up and the other in a sign and trade that would require including either Hinrich or Deng in a deal. Doing the S&T would save the money that would need to be spent to sign the other free agent.

To get back on topic, this is a great post. Now that the season is officially over, I think it's Chicago or Cleveland ... like 46 percent Chicago, 44 percent Cleveland, 8 percent New York and 2 percent Nets.

Ha, I know that's a guess, but I want to give a percentage guess just based on reading LeBron since the Boston series and with what's happened since then.

I'll ask this, though. LeBron brings Chicago much closer to a title by going there, but is LeBron really that much closer to a title with Chicago than Cleveland?

Seriously, think about it. The Cavaliers have had the best record two straight years (I think they're the only team ever to do that and not win the title), but you have to say they're high on the mountain. They played their best ball with Varejao, Hickson and Jamison rotating between the four and five, and it's likely Shaq won't be back.

The key is truly in LeBron's hand. He stays, they can bring in a top-tier coach and are STILL ONE OF THE LEAGUE'S BEST. He goes to Chicago, he's EXPECTED to contend with a great cast. He goes to New York or the Nets, he's STARTING OVER.

The sting of Cleveland's loss to Boston makes it easy to feel like LeBron should leave for a better situation, but that's forgetting that Cleveland was the best situation for 99 percent of the year.

[Bornindamecca]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

With the rosters as they are now, he should stay in Cleveland first and foremost, if we're just talking about players. (talk about coaches, and the discussion changes.)

Derrick Rose may turn out to be an MVP caliber point guard, and Joakim Noah is big, athletic, does all the little things, and some of the big things. Obviously they'd have to get rid of Deng. Problem is, who wants him? If they keep him, they can't afford anything besides Lebron, and that makes Chicago a fairly poor perimeter team. So i don't know if Chicago is a better situation.

But that's not the way to look at it. The main thing is the four/five year plan with these teams. Starting next year, who has the best odds of getting to the Finals and winning?

Cleveland is the runaway winner here, probably by far. Unfortunately for them, they have a lot going on. No coach. New GM. Potential behind the scenes problems. Aging centers.

And none of that is the glaring problem. Regardless of how these guys play during the regular season, they have failed to show up twice in a row in the playoffs. Now this is a little unfair to Jamison, who not only joined the team late in the season, but went up against one of his two worst possible matchups in the playoffs(Garnett/Gasol). For Williams, this is not only fair, but shamefully accurate. So from a playoffs standpoint, Cleveland isn't as rosy as their 125+ wins in the last two years would indicate.

Now Chicago is almost the opposite when it comes to the playoffs. They stumble and bumble through the regular season with their horrible road schedule early in the year, injuries and up and down shooting, but in the playoffs, they have shown tons of heart.

From a matchup standpoint, I don't see how Chicago fares well against Boston or Orlando, as is. Good thing is, Chicago's talent is very young, so there is a large window to adjust. Cleveland's talent is older, so while they are better right this moment, that probably isn't true by the middle of the 2011-12 season.

So out of those two, I'd pick Chicago.

Out of Chicago and the Nets, I'd pick the Nets. Proven coach. Better Center. PG who doesn't need to run the offense. High draft pick. Intriguing owner. If the Nets were already in Brooklyn, I don't think it'd be a debate, quite frankly. Plus, don't the Nets have the money to sign a B class player as well?

I'm seriously puzzled that the Nets are so out of the picture in people's minds. Lebron gets all of the benefits of being a Knick with none of the drawbacks. NJ and NYC are so close he wouldn't even be relocating when they move to Brooklyn. Brooklyn move is guaranteed after the sale to Prok. Also, competing for the legacy of best franchise player ever is much easier against Dr.J than it is against MJ.

[ehh]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

http://www.fromthebaseline.com/knicks-interviews/2074-steven-a-smithlebron-has-been-asking-questions-about-walsh-and-dantoni

Screamin' A. Smith is rumoring that the Knicks are currently the front runner.


Keep in mind that he's been saying for like two years that LBJ would be a Knick. He's also saying that the Shaq is coming to NY too. Where is his salary coming from?

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

With the rosters as they are now, he should stay in Cleveland first and foremost, if we're just talking about players. (talk about coaches, and the discussion changes.)

Derrick Rose may turn out to be an MVP caliber point guard, and Joakim Noah is big, athletic, does all the little things, and some of the big things. Obviously they'd have to get rid of Deng. Problem is, who wants him? If they keep him, they can't afford anything besides Lebron, and that makes Chicago a fairly poor perimeter team. So i don't know if Chicago is a better situation.

But that's not the way to look at it. The main thing is the four/five year plan with these teams. Starting next year, who has the best odds of getting to the Finals and winning?

Cleveland is the runaway winner here, probably by far. Unfortunately for them, they have a lot going on. No coach. New GM. Potential behind the scenes problems. Aging centers.

And none of that is the glaring problem. Regardless of how these guys play during the regular season, they have failed to show up twice in a row in the playoffs. Now this is a little unfair to Jamison, who not only joined the team late in the season, but went up against one of his two worst possible matchups in the playoffs(Garnett/Gasol). For Williams, this is not only fair, but shamefully accurate. So from a playoffs standpoint, Cleveland isn't as rosy as their 125+ wins in the last two years would indicate.

Now Chicago is almost the opposite when it comes to the playoffs. They stumble and bumble through the regular season with their horrible road schedule early in the year, injuries and up and down shooting, but in the playoffs, they have shown tons of heart.

From a matchup standpoint, I don't see how Chicago fares well against Boston or Orlando, as is. Good thing is, Chicago's talent is very young, so there is a large window to adjust. Cleveland's talent is older, so while they are better right this moment, that probably isn't true by the middle of the 2011-12 season.

So out of those two, I'd pick Chicago.

Out of Chicago and the Nets, I'd pick the Nets. Proven coach. Better Center. PG who doesn't need to run the offense. High draft pick. Intriguing owner. If the Nets were already in Brooklyn, I don't think it'd be a debate, quite frankly. Plus, don't the Nets have the money to sign a B class player as well?

I'm seriously puzzled that the Nets are so out of the picture in people's minds. Lebron gets all of the benefits of being a Knick with none of the drawbacks. NJ and NYC are so close he wouldn't even be relocating when they move to Brooklyn. Brooklyn move is guaranteed after the sale to Prok. Also, competing for the legacy of best franchise player ever is much easier against Dr.J than it is against MJ.

If we're just talking players, I don't see how Cleveland is the runaway winner by any stretch, if the rosters are as is.

That team is built for a great regular season but in the playoffs they still would have a lot of trouble with Orlando and Boston.

I'm not saying that Chicago or NJ are far better choices either, but Cleveland will have trouble even adding talent, so I don't see the upside there.

I'd call it about even with Chicago, Cleveland and NJ.

NJ though I would say has the least shot if we're talking about casts, because outside of Brook and Devin, they're simply not ready. Chicago and Cleveland have decent depth.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

http://www.fromthebaseline.com/knick...sh-and-dantoni


Screamin' A. Smith is rumoring that the Knicks are currently the front runner.


Keep in mind that he's been saying for like two years that LBJ would be a Knick. He's also saying that the Shaq is coming to NY too. Where is his salary coming from?

Pretty sure Screamin' A has said that since 2004.

[Vince]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Screamin' A. was on 'The View' yesterday.

I take what he says now with a grain of salt.

[wwharton]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

Normally it doesn't.

However, in Sterling's case, it most certainly matters. You saw how long it took for him to fire Dunleavy.

Let me put it this way, would you entrust your future to Donald Sterling if you could make the same money in basically any city in America?

Schott wasn't that bad of an owner. Was was a cheapskate racist? Of course she was. BUT she did have sense enough to hire baseball minded people to run the team for her. In her years of being the majority owner, the Reds have finished over .500 10 times, 2 playoff appearances and a World Series.

And how long did Sterling let Elgin Baylor run(or ruin) the team as GM? Too long. And Sterling himself says he doesn't care if the team wins or looses. The bottom line is the profit. Which the team makes every year because of their sweet deal sharing the Staples Center revenue with the Lakers. If the Lakers weren't playing in the Staples Center, the Clippers would have been filing for bankruptcy by now.

These are great reasons why LBJ shouldn't decide to play for the Clippers... but not reasons why putting him on the team doesn't make them a title contender. Those are two different things. We talk about how bad Cleveland has been over the years. Did the owner and management all of a sudden turn a corner? No, they got lucky in the draft and landed LBJ.

I don't think he'd go to the Clippers but it doesn't make sense to say adding him wouldn't make them a contender just bc they're the Clippers.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

These are great reasons why LBJ shouldn't decide to play for the Clippers... but not reasons why putting him on the team doesn't make them a title contender. Those are two different things. We talk about how bad Cleveland has been over the years. Did the owner and management all of a sudden turn a corner? No, they got lucky in the draft and landed LBJ.

I don't think he'd go to the Clippers but it doesn't make sense to say adding him wouldn't make them a contender just bc they're the Clippers.

The Cavaliers organization is a thousand times better than the Clippers.

Now the Gund/Paxson ownership/GM group was horrific and Sterling like. But Gilbert has been a fantastic owner and the team has tried to clean up the mess that Gund and Paxson left him.

[wwharton]

Re: The Official "Where is LeBron going?" Thread

The Cavaliers organization is a thousand times better than the Clippers.

Now the Gund/Paxson ownership/GM group was horrific and Sterling like. But Gilbert has been a fantastic owner and the team has tried to clean up the mess that Gund and Paxson left him.

I don't really understand that reply to my post.

Like I said, I don't think LBJ will go to the Clippers for all the reasons stated and more, but if he did there's no question they'd be a contender. If he stays in Cleveland (like I still expect him to) there's no question they'd be a contender too.