The LeBron James Thread

[jeebs9]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Did I say it was obvious from the start? No, but now that the puzzle has been put together, it's obvious how the pieces were set up. By the way, Miami was the only team that had a shot at getting them that actually had a dog already in the fight and could pass along information about the intentions but...hey whatever. We don't know 100 % so that obviously means none of this ever happened.

You guys were making it seems like it was so obvious. I was just trying pump the brakes. Because it seem like a lot of you were talking like "this is what happen". And thats wrong. That was my whole point.

[Jasong7777]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

If you say so. Guess we all should just agree to disagree.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

I don't blame you guys one bit.

You have all had to put up with the "James has surpassed Kobe" thing when James hasn't even gotten one ring yet.

But let's keep it real and call it what it really is.. Laker and Kobe fans are loving the situation right now because James basically copped out. You guys use the Boston series and the Miami signing as your diving boards into the Haterade.

MJ fans are in the same boat because now their hero's legacy is safe. Or Bulls fans are still salty for the Noah/James showdown.

As for the others who don't fall into either category, cool I'm not talking to you.

[jeebs9]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

If you say so. Guess we all should just agree to disagree.

Jason you know what I mean?...Thats similar to people calling Kobe a rapist. He was a suspect. Never got convited.

Regardless, trying to pass off Kobe's rebounding total from game 7 as "another way to impact the game outside of scoring" is pretty lame.

LeBron had 19 rebounds in his last game last year, and by all means he had a terrible last two or three games. Only difference between James and Bryant is that Bryant has the most and best help in the NBA.

This was the point I was trying to make before about the rebounding. If the Lakers lose. People could easily say Kobe quit. Or Kobe was settling on jumpshots.

Rebounds are a huge effort stat.

[Jano]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

LOL....You trying to tell me I didn't watch these games. I've been watching the whole series with friends every weekend (at least once). I have it on my PS3. All 6 games (I actually have every single playoff game of LeBron's in HD on there. I got a 500 gb in there. with a ton of other movies and Kobe games as well). So lets not label me the "stat guy".

I probably have more games (and watched more games) Then a lot of people on this forum has in their whole life. I also have a 2 TB harddrive just for other games.-

Lol I'm not saying you didn't watch them I was just respondin to the 19 rebs thing and you saying quit is a strong word.

While rebs is one of the best hustle stats it still doesn't stop me from saying he quit at least according to my own view of "quitting" in a game.

Quit wasn't a strong word for that situation imo, and I didn't mean to question your knowledge on Bron just responding to part of post haha!

[Brankles]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

First, let me say thank you for having an intelligent discussion about this. Some people...

This is probably going to sound dismissive even though it's not meant that way. I don't really think I can say much more if that's your interpretation of "hindsight is 20/20". Basically my entire post was explaining what I meant when I said that so if you missed the connection then I can't help but think you missed everything that I was saying in that book that I wrote before.

I'll just say this, I expect every player to play up to their potential... physically and mentally and for the greater good of the team. I've coached for years and I've had teams where there was one "superstar". Some were champions with everyone working well off of the star, and others couldn't gel because the star wasn't good enough to carry the other pieces. On a much lower level I've seen both sides of the coin. I've also played with guys like that and you have no choice but to stand around and watch on offense unless they are just another member executing the coach's plan OR they make an effort to keep everyone involved properly. You're expected to be ready when they decide to take a break? The dynamics of a team aren't as simple as you're making them out to be. When it works, everything is great, the supporting cast was perfect, the 2nd best player is a great #2 option, and the dominos continue. When it doesn't? Well we know the best player was great so we skip his evaluation and look at what's left.

Evaluating the situation after the end result... hindsight is 20/20. The examples I presented earlier were all cases where players were looked at one way when the team was losing and looked at completely differently when the team won.

I appreciate the good debate, too.

I wouldn't compare LeBron and the NBA to what you experienced as a coach (I'm guessing HS level). There you don't have a choice who your players are, you just pick who's at your school and you roll with that.

In the NBA, you have the luxury of building teams. The Cavs could hire the coach they wanted, the GM they wanted and make moves for the players they wanted. The best teams in the NBA are the teams where you worry about more than one player, where you have to scheme for KG/Ray/Rondo, Pau/Odom/Artest/Bynum, Pippen/Grant/Kukoc, Prince/Billups/Rasheed/Webber.

With the Cavs, there's no guy on that team that can absolutely light you up besides LeBron. Yeah, Mo Williams can get hot for a few minutes, and Anthony Parker can hit a jumper or two, and Jamison might start making his garbage floaters... but these aren't guys you can rely on.

LeBron has never had a reliable teammate. Mo Williams doesn't turn into Rajon Rondo just because he's the #2 option on the team. Anthony Parker doesn't turn into Ron Artest just because he's the designated defender on the team. And Antawn Jamison isn't gonna go out there and give you 23, 18, 4 and 3 blocks the way Gasol does.


In the NBA, talent trumps chemistry. These guys have been playing for so long and understand the game at such a high level that you can't compare them to the people you run pickup with or coach. No matter how much chemistry the Cavs built, it's not going to give them a more desirable roster than the Lakers, Magic or Celtics... especially when Mike Brown is their coach.

In this case, the Cavs lacked the talent and the chemistry to fight through adversity. That roster was not strong mentally or as basketball players. It was all LeBron and was built that way, against all signs of NBA history telling them that it would eventually fail.


And I'm wondering from your personal point of view, when you coach and play, what do you think of a great player on an average team losing to a good player on a good team? Oftentimes I would see a D1 player on an average team that would get knocked out in the playoffs early to just better overall teams, however those teams that win might not get any guys into upper-level schools because they're not cut out for D1 ball.

Or if you were coaching, and playing a team that was better than you at every position except where your star player was at, would you be disappointed at your star player if your team lost? Would you think he was a loser or lacked leadership?

That's kind of how I view LeBron's situation and how he's the best player in the league and he's on an average team that becomes out manned at almost every position when they start getting deep into the playoffs. Where guys like Dwight and Paul Pierce continue to knock him out but most don't consider them better players, they're just on better teams.

[Jasong7777]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

I will stop saying that Lebron quit, i'll just say that he didn't give Lebron effort. We all know Lebron is great, and that wasn't his best effort.

@Ex
You are right. After defending Kobe in those classic kobe\lebron debates, I said as soon as Lebron slips up I am going to talk ish about him. And here i go. Lol. Just keeping real. So yall can take my post about Lebron and the Heat with a grain salt. Lol

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Hey like I said you know I can't blame you and I understand. It's the nature of the internetz.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Where in the world has this thread gone from the last time I posted in here? LOL

Got people trying to make a new definition of the word "quit", got the whole "He had enough help/no he didn't" debate going on(which was a good one between Brankles and my man Wwharton)got people being labeled as the "hatas".

I can only imagine what next year's Playoff Threads will look like in comparison with this one. Thank god Football is starting up lol.

[mKoz26]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

MJ fans are in the same boat because now their hero's legacy is safe. Or Bulls fans are still salty for the Noah/James showdown.

As for the others who don't fall into either category, cool I'm not talking to you.

I don't think any Bulls fans are salty from that little ordeal. I thought it was funny.

I was actually a Bron fan before this whole Superfriends/Decision fiasco went down. I was disappointed when he seemingly gave up in the playoffs, because I thought he had greatness in him. It's obvious now that he's just an extremely talented player (maybe the most talented ever) without the killer instinct, which I was hoping he had.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

I will say this: He definitely needs a new PR team. I understand they're his boys and he "supposed" to look out for them but he needs to separate the personal side from the business side because all they've done for him is just making him look bad even more after all of this stuff has come out.

As for the letter, I'm not bothered by the fact he didn't include Cleveland but that's a whole other issue right there, but IMO he would've been better off not issuing that as opposed to waiting til Z did it and THEN following his lead a month later because all he's doing is giving folks MORE ammo than they have to still be pissed at him.

[Brankles]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

I will say this: He definitely needs a new PR team. I understand they're his boys and he "supposed" to look out for them but he needs to separate the personal side from the business side because all they've done for him is just making him look bad even more after all of this stuff has come out.

Why in the world would anyone think it's a good idea to have your boys from Akron handle your business when you're a global sports icon?

You have to go big time corporation to handle that stuff. Also, never trust anyone named Maverick

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

Exactly lol.

I got friends in DC that I know would have my back and would look out for me if anything were to happen. However, when it comes to my "image" and my money, I wouldn't let them dudes manage one penny because they'd mess around and have me on Antoine Walker status in a matter of months

[pietasterp]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

I think the letter was poorly timed, if nothing else...it just makes it look like damage control at this point (and not even good damage control). I think LeBron lives in a cocoon of his homies and yes-men, and has no real concept of the real world. I don't know how genuine a person he is at his core, but based on what we can see, I don't see much substance there. Which, I guess, isn't his fault - he's been treated like a god for most of his 25 years on the planet and has had virtually every adolescent whim catered to for his whole adolescent/adult life. Hard to be normal/grounded under those circumstances....

Leaving out Cleveland in the letter was obviously intentional, and just makes him even more reviled in the city. Honestly, everything he does just lacks sincerity and class. Sure, he'll win back a lot of fans by winning games/titles (although why that's the case I honestly will never know...I guess Americans just like to back a winner), but there is a certain amount of irreparable damage that's been done to his "brand", which he claims to care about and tend to so assiduously. I guess it's a sign of the times that athletes even refer to themselves as a "brand". I hear Bosh and Wade hired camera crews to follow them around during the whole free agency process...it's like these guys are just reality stars that happen to play basketball. Whatever, the NBA just holds so little interest for me at this point, if the Heat win it all I'll know about it only when it hits the funny papers...

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: LeBron James Signs With Miami Heat

So are they(Bosh/Wade)really planning on releasing that "documentary" or was that just for show basically?