The LeBron James Thread

[Cebby]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

No way in hell that happens

The real reason it won't happen is that LA is so far over the cap that Kobe resigning for less won't mean anything.

[utexas]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Magic and Larry were already established stars when Jordan came into the league. Of course he couldn't see himself playing with them, as he trained hard everyday to beat them and their great teams. All 3 of these guys played for HOF coaches and with multiple HOF teammates. Wade,Bosh,and Lebron were all drafted together and cut their teeth in the NBA together so they have a since of bond that probably never existed with Magic,Bird and Jordan. But if they were playing for 7 years with a team that couldn't seem to attract or trade for a truly talented roster that would help their talents shine brighter, they probably would have left as well.

On a side note, I never thought I would see the day when an athlete would take less money for the sake of winning championships and be criticized so much for it. Its mind blowing. Rings and the reason you play. Barkley chased rings, so did Malone,GP, Drexler, etc. That doesn't diminish how great they were. I never say Bird/Magic/Jordan/Hakeem/etc. isn't great because of the talent around them. In an era were athletes are portrayed as the most selfish human beings on the planet, 3 stars come together to win the ultimate prize in their prime, take less money, and people are critical. I don't get it.

[brahmagoul]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

What Magic has to say means nothing because he had Kareem and Worthy very quickly. Jordan, on the other hand, could have said he always wanted to play with Barkley and Ewing in the last 80s to take them on. He didn't.

[J_Posse]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

On a side note, I never thought I would see the day when an athlete would take less money for the sake of winning championships and be criticized so much for it. Its mind blowing. Rings and the reason you play. Barkley chased rings, so did Malone,GP, Drexler, etc. That doesn't diminish how great they were. I never say Bird/Magic/Jordan/Hakeem/etc. isn't great because of the talent around them. In an era were athletes are portrayed as the most selfish human beings on the planet, 3 stars come together to win the ultimate prize in their prime, take less money, and people are critical. I don't get it.

You realize that they're all still making around $15 million next season, right? These guys aren't taking pennies on the dollar to help build the roster, and they still got the benefit of the sixth year with the Toronto & Cleveland sign-n-trade. LeBron and Wade can easily make the money they "lose" with endorsement deals, while Bosh's name and profile will grow because of this move. These guys mainly took less money to play together, otherwise I'm sure the would've taken the max amount from any suitor.

Also, those contracts could handcuff the Heat if the CBA is radically altered next summer/year. Wade, Bosh and LeBron need to maintain a high level of play throughout the life of those contracts and stay nearly 100% healthy. The move won't work if injuries happen or "better" roster moves are needed.

Side-note: Drexler was traded to Houston, he didn't willfully leave Portland to win with Hakeem. Houston was the 5th seed and was guaranteed nothing even with Dream and Glide.

[brahmagoul]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Side-note: Drexler was traded to Houston, he didn't willfully leave Portland to win with Hakeem. Houston was the 5th seed and was guaranteed nothing even with Dream and Glide.

Petty correction, but I think they were the sixth seed. I remember they were 47-35.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

LAS VEGAS -- Derrick Rose texted LeBron James and talked to Chris Bosh about coming to Chicago, but in the end, the face of the Bulls franchise remains a 21-year-old point guard whose confidence in himself and his team was not shaken by any free-agent snub.

"I want to be that guy," Rose said Tuesday in an interview with ESPNChicago.com before the start of Team USA's training camp. "I want to be the reason why the Bulls are back to what they were [during the Michael Jordan era]."

How a guy probably should feel....

[Murkurial]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

How a guy probably should feel....

Be ready to be told that recent events show just how much the league has changed (yup, everyone feels like "Young Hollywood" now) and how from this point forward that doesn't matter anymore...that was then, this is now...Jordan ruined it for everyone...

[BlueNGold]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Ugh....why couldn't LeBron get it like Derrick does? :

[jeebs9]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

No way in hell that happens

I wouldn't be too surprised if the Miami Heat dominate the way people and their roster on paper has been dominate. If a lot of superstars start doing this. Especially Kobe...He is only getting older lol Just kidding people...

[jeebs9]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Ugh....why couldn't LeBron get it like Derrick does? :

These guys are in 2 totally different situations. I think one of the biggest moves or reasons LeBron left. Was that he couldn't get anyone to sign with Cleveland.

Would this be a little different if Bosh would have joined the Cavs. And then Wade joining the Cavs after?

[snepp]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

How a guy probably should feel....

Just a heads up, but posting entire articles, especially without including a link to it, is frowned upon.

[wwharton]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Im prolly "the kid" (since I was heavy on the subject) but to clearify...

I didnt start that discussion, someone posted that "Magic and Bird" wouldnt have join forces (which people already mention including myself a number of times that it is not a good example and is a horrible comparison)


However, I just presented a hypothetical situation that may drive the two to want to play with each other...

I still stand by my opinion

But that was last week...

I'm pretty sure it wasn't you, Jukeman.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

These guys are in 2 totally different situations. I think one of the biggest moves or reasons LeBron left. Was that he couldn't get anyone to sign with Cleveland.

Would this be a little different if Bosh would have joined the Cavs. And then Wade joining the Cavs after?

LeBron didn't try to get anyone to Cleveland. He was too busy making sure he didn't do anything to jeopardize the prospects of playing with Dwyane and Chris this year. Trevor Ariza for one sure would have looked nice in a Cavs uni.

[nuckles2k2]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

These guys are in 2 totally different situations. I think one of the biggest moves or reasons LeBron left. Was that he couldn't get anyone to sign with Cleveland.

Would this be a little different if Bosh would have joined the Cavs. And then Wade joining the Cavs after?

Well in that scenario LeBron is "Batman" recruiting "Robin and...Batwoman?" Whether he's on the Cavs doing the recruiting or on another team without a perennial All-star already established there, it would still be his team, I think that's the main argument. Whether you support or hate his decision I think you have to agree that at the very least he is sharing a team with Wade (but I bet if you were to poll the Heat fans in Miami as to who's king of that court, Wade wins the poll. 7 years and a ring counts for something.) And he's only "sharing" that team because of a decision that he made, he wasn't traded there...he's not chasing a ring on the tail end of his career. He had several options to lead a team, be it with the Cavs, Bulls (arguably) Nets, Knicks, or Clippers...and at least three of those teams had more cap flexibility than the Cavs and no megastar establishing a legacy of his own there for almost a decade.

No matter who Magic and Mike played with when they won, they didn't make the decision to go to someone else's team. They also didn't do it alone, but other players were put around them, not vice versa. So yea, I think it would be infinitely different if LBJ stayed in Cleveland (or went to another team with cap room sans a megastar) and basically told Bosh, or any other big name FA, "look, your best chance of winning is here with me and these guys here...if you don't want to come here, fine, but be ready to have to go through us to get your ring." Not "let's go play with Wade in Miami...maybe we can get a ring that way."

To me, I think that's different than any situation of an established player being traded to another established player's team. And I don't know how this is "the new era" in basketball when the latest example of this was the Celtics and Ray didn't even want to be traded from Seattle. It's not like he was saying "yes send me there, me and Paul Pierce will light things up," the dude was traded unwillingly in a draft day deal...and then KG warmed to the idea of playing in Boston once they already had Ray along side of Pierce. But that deal only happened because the Celtics were sitting on a nice commodity in Al Jefferson. It's not like KG forced his way out of Minnesota. He got standing ovations when he went back to play on the T'Wolves court for all of the work he put in as a T'wolves player. Will LBJ get that warm reception in Cleveland?

[Dice]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Hypothetical(and I mean HYPOTHETICAL) question. Say the Bulls meet Miami in the playoffs and the Bulls beat them. How would that affect LeBron and what would that do to his image?

Honestly, I think he would never recover from that. We would be looking at a guy who we thought would be in the upper echelon of Jordan, Magic and Bird at the end of his career TO being in the group of Dominque Wilkins, George Gervin and Charles Barkley. Guys who were great talents but could never put their team over the hump.

And his brand/image? His brand has taken a hit in the last couple of weeks, if the presented situation happens, you could probably throw his brand in the garbage.

Now as I said, this is a hypothetical. I believe the Heat can(and probably will) beat the Bulls in the playoffs. But if the Bulls won that series not only are you looking at one of the greatest upsets of all time but you are looking at a player take his image into the furthest depths of hell.