Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

[DIESEL]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

Obviously like everything else, not every single fan of those teams felt that way, but there was a significant number of people that voiced that if they're team didn't sign LeBron they hoped he stayed in Cleveland to live up to his promise. There were even a select few who said the whole time that they wanted to see him stay in Cleveland. Not every fan rolled with the line of thinking that you're trying to dump on entire fan bases of those teams.

You are pretty much confirming what I said here. I never lumped any team's entire fan base into this but I will stand by what I said.

During the recruitment of Lebron James in the summer of 2010 the ***majority*** of Bulls, Knicks, and Nets fans:

a. Hoped their team could convince Lebron to leave Cleveland by offering him the opportunity to play with a better supporting cast

or

b. Figured he would stay in Cleveland and be able to lure a decent 2nd option

When Lebron chose:

c. Go to a team nobody even considered and play with better players than anyone else could possibly offer......

many fans from the 3 teams I mentioned earlier, instantly found a laundry list of reasons to despise the player they were salivating over just days before. I have no problem with people feeling this way, but it's disingenuous to pretend they wouldn't have welcomed Lebron and his friends to their team if given the opportunity.

[cam21224]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

I don't necessarily have a problem with them "joining forces" either. Boston had a big 3, LA had a big 3, San Antonio had a big 3, and now pretty much any team that makes the playoffs (especially the West) have 3 All-Star caliber guys.. They needed all 3 to currently compete and as we've saw over the years it has been far from a cake walk for them, even with all 3.

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I agree, initially I was pissed but as time went on it just became oh well, who cares type of situation. I just felt all the other teams in the hunt for them never had a fair chance, and it was different seeing players working behind the scene to come together rather than the front office doing such. I also wasn't a fan of LeBron antics in Cleveland either, but I've grown to see he's just a guy who enjoys having fun with his teammates.

Most of the people who strongly hate them either fall into two categories, fans of teams spurned by them or hypocrites, because if they joined together on their favorite team, they wouldn't give two ****s how it was done.

Do I enjoy seeing the Heat lose yes, do I hate them no. It's more so the issues I have with the blatant bandwagon fans on my time line. You know the diehard one who was just cheering for the Celtics for years eliminating the same guy's he's riding now, and rooting on to destroy former Celtic players, like really.

Before the Heat, it was the Celtics and in a few years it'll be a new group of bandwagons for whichever team is the most popular (it) team at the time. Even the ones for the team I root for were driving me crazy, like **** u wasn't with us when Smush was shooting in the gym.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

You are pretty much confirming what I said here. I never lumped any team's entire fan base into this but I will stand by what I said.

During the recruitment of Lebron James in the summer of 2010 the ***majority*** of Bulls, Knicks, and Nets fans:

a. Hoped their team could convince Lebron to leave Cleveland by offering him the opportunity to play with a better supporting cast

or

b. Figured he would stay in Cleveland and be able to lure a decent 2nd option

When Lebron chose:

c. Go to a team nobody even considered and play with better players than anyone else could possibly offer......

many fans from the 3 teams I mentioned earlier, instantly found a laundry list of reasons to despise the player they were salivating over just days before. I have no problem with people feeling this way, but it's disingenuous to pretend they wouldn't have welcomed Lebron and his friends to their team if given the opportunity.

Speaking for Nets fans here(because there were only like 3 of us here during that time)I can tell you right now that Option A is simply not true because we all knew at the time that he wasn't coming to New Jersey mainly because...it was still New Jersey.

Sure he was "tight" with Jay-Z at the time because nobody including Nets fans ever thought that it was strong enough to convince him to join the Nets. Hell, we all seen what that highly glorified "cap space" got us that Summer.

Would I loved to have him come here? Of course, what team wouldn't? I don't blame any team for trying to clear out space to make a run at him, even though he, Bosh and Wade had pretty much known where they were going to go before that summer anyway.

So yeah, the things you mentioned may have been true for Bulls and Knicks Fans, but as far as Nets fans go, that's not true or accurate at all.

[Matty Aqua]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

You sure about that?

No im not 100% sure, but you get the point i was trying too make

[ThreeKing]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

I really wish people would stop bringing up the Celtics of '08. KG and Ray were trades, plus those guys were clearly on the 'back 9' of their careers. LeBron and Bosh were right in the beginning of their prime and they were free agents. Not a legit comparison.

It is what it is.

I can get over the fact they teamed-up. I can get over the fact they have ring-chasers. I also can just sit back and laugh at their fanbase.

What I DO have a problem with, is the type of officiating they receive during the playoffs versus what happens in the regular season.

Do I still have 'beef' with them? Sure. But I guess a lot of my focus or hate should be directed towards the league itself. It's just crappy all the way around in my opinion.

[cam21224]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

I really wish people would stop bringing up the Celtics of '08. KG and Ray were trades, plus those guys were clearly on the 'back 9' of their careers. LeBron and Bosh were right in the beginning of their prime and they were free agents. Not a legit comparison.

If directed at me, I never said that as its noted in my post.

If not sorry for the confusion.

[ojandpizza]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

KG and Ray were trades because they wanted out. So technically while it was different it was the same in principal.

As far as playoff officiating goes, we can have the argument over and over again a thousand times. You seem to be one of the only ones here who believe they have been getting superior calls night in and night out, so I'll just say we disagree.


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[King_B_Mack]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

KG and Ray were trades because they wanted out. So technically while it was different it was the same in principal.

As far as playoff officiating goes, we can have the argument over and over again a thousand times. You seem to be one of the only ones here who believe they have been getting superior calls night in and night out, so I'll just say we disagree.


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KG didn't "want out." They had to convince that dude to leave that mess in Minnesota. I don't even know if Ray "wanted out" of Seattle at the time. I don't recall hearing that at the time, but it was a long time ago.


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[ex carrabba fan]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

Neither KG nor Ray Allen asked for a trade. Ray Allen actually just signed an extension before getting traded.

Overall, I don't hold anything against the Heat for the way they all came together. It wasn't James' fault that the Cavs' organization was incompetent in getting him even decent help. 7 years. 7 years and you couldn't do better than that ****? I don't blame James for leaving to a better situation and it's not like the Heat have had really that deep of teams outside of the Big 3. Bosh and Wade themselves... great players still, just not what we all built them up to be when they first came together.

To defend the Cavs to an extent, It's not James' fault his team wasn't blessed with a game-changing trade or All-Star draft prospect. Most title teams have been fortunate enough to have things fall into place. The Cavs never did, a lot had to do with their incompetence but they really didn't get any luck at all.

As far as the other teams like New York, Chicago etc. all trying to shuffle their rosters to sign Wade/LeBron/Bosh/Amare.. well tough. Nobody asked them to do any of that. They took a risk, a measured risk. In sports you have to do that sometimes.

[ojandpizza]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

That's my bad on that then. I thought they both wanted out.


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[vtcha]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

To defend the Cavs to an extent, It's not James' fault his team wasn't blessed with a game-changing trade or All-Star draft prospect. Most title teams have been fortunate enough to have things fall into place. The Cavs never did, a lot had to do with their incompetence but they really didn't get any luck at all.

Adding to this, the Cavs over-achieved too early, mainly because of LeBron- not his fault. They only had 1 lottery pick throughout the 7 years, which turned out to be a bust (#10 pick in 2004 - Luke Jackson). Had the Cavs sucked for a few more years they could have went through the OKC route and built the franchise from the ground up. On a side note, I'm looking through OKC's draft history and wow, didn't realize they drafted Eric Bledsoe.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

KG said all the right things publicly, and gave us some heartfelt interviews and all, but he wanted our of Minny....it's evident by the attitude he's shown toward them since he left...

[BringTheHeat]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

Also, are we faulting guys for wanting a better situation? Bosh didn't necessarily want out, and If Cleveland was competent LeBron wouldn't have either. The owners and GM were thriving off LeBron being so good but not willing to spend the money to get him real help. Miami again, simply offered more, why waste your career in a city where you're clearly not going to win or get help, when you get offered an opportunity like Pat and Micky Arison gave?

On the fans: teams that are successful are going to have bandwagon fans. Simple. Get over it. It's been happening since sports began.

On "taking the easy way out": As a competitor, and as an NBA player of their caliber, your main goal is to win. To get the rings and accolades so that you're cemented in history and remembered forever. Any athlete in any sport trains for their sport, why? To gain an advantage over the competition, it's not the easy way out, it's the smart way as a competitor.

Let's be real here:

Miami was 47-35 in 2010. Wade, Chalmers, QRich, JO'Neal, and Beasley were their starting 5. Cleveland was 61-21. LeBron, Anthony Parker, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams, and Shaq(for a good majority) were their starting 5. Toronto was 40-42. Bosh, Bargs, Derozan, Hedo, Calderon/Jack were their starting 5.

None of those teams are championship teams. Why would you not make the route easy on yourself, the concept of increasing your advantage applies to everything in life, not sure why these guys get so much criticism for coming together. It's not even like they didn't try with their team. Wade won a ring because Miami got Shaq out of his LA situation and they built around him with solid role players. Bosh isn't a championship type player you build around. LeBron is, Cleveland just didn't do it.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

The Cavs really catch too much flak for "not doing anything to put talent around LeBron."

I'll say, they probably should have taken Al Jefferson with that 10th pick in the draft the year after LeBron, especially after the way Boozer screwed them over, but for the most part who were they taking in the drafts after LeBron? Picks that were already traded in prior years, picks at the back of the first round, drafts that really weren't deep with talent in those years of LeBron in Cleveland, coupled with the fact that he wouldn't confirm whether or not he was staying or even leaning towards staying with the team all but completely eliminated quality free agents from signing there. There's already not a whole lot of reasons to willingly go play for the Clevleand Cavaliers, when the best player in the world is likely not a possibility to still be there after you sign on long term, that's a bit of deterrent. Like Elton Brand getting Baron Davis to sign in LA and then bolting on him to Philadelphia.

Also, back to other topic of Diesel painting fans with the same broad brush, the majority of Bulls fans flipped off the LeBron to Chicago train when Dwyane Wade made his fake *** unannounced visit to the United Center on the first day of free agency and his even faker second trip. There were only a select few that wanted to continue pursuing LeBron and wanted to instead focus on bringing Wade home which is why up until he stated acting like a dick Chicago was the only place booing the living hell out of Dwyane in the whole thing.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: Sound Off: Why Does America Hate the Heat?

Also, are we faulting guys for wanting a better situation? Bosh didn't necessarily want out, and If Cleveland was competent LeBron wouldn't have either. The owners and GM were thriving off LeBron being so good but not willing to spend the money to get him real help. Miami again, simply offered more, why waste your career in a city where you're clearly not going to win or get help, when you get offered an opportunity like Pat and Micky Arison gave?

On the fans: teams that are successful are going to have bandwagon fans. Simple. Get over it. It's been happening since sports began.

On "taking the easy way out": As a competitor, and as an NBA player of their caliber, your main goal is to win. To get the rings and accolades so that you're cemented in history and remembered forever. Any athlete in any sport trains for their sport, why? To gain an advantage over the competition, it's not the easy way out, it's the smart way as a competitor.

Let's be real here:

Miami was 47-35 in 2010. Wade, Chalmers, QRich, JO'Neal, and Beasley were their starting 5. Cleveland was 61-21. LeBron, Anthony Parker, JJ Hickson, Mo Williams, and Shaq(for a good majority) were their starting 5. Toronto was 40-42. Bosh, Bargs, Derozan, Hedo, Calderon/Jack were their starting 5.

None of those teams are championship teams. Why would you not make the route easy on yourself, the concept of increasing your advantage applies to everything in life, not sure why these guys get so much criticism for coming together. It's not even like they didn't try with their team. Wade won a ring because Miami got Shaq out of his LA situation and they built around him with solid role players. Bosh isn't a championship type player you build around. LeBron is, Cleveland just didn't do it.

Not willing to spend the money? Dude they were over the salary cap while LeBron was there.