Unfortunately those MVP voters didn't have the gift of hindsight. Iirc, you're a Clipper fan? You should have been around here when Pippen was a Rocket. Couldn't disagree more with your assessment of Gasol, especially about him being the best player in the playoffs. Agree to disagree I guess.
Have you considered the possibility that it takes a very rare situation to even present for the two best players in the league to team up in free agency? I don't recall there ever being an opportunity for, say, MJ and Shaq to team up. Outside of parity reasons, I don't see why this is such a bad thing. A great opportunity presented itself and Lebron took it. So what if he gets great teammates through his own free-agency as opposed to the draft or trades? Maybe if the Cavs were gift-wrapped Gasol he would have stuck around. BFD.
Pippen was well past his prime when he was a Rocket. In his prime, he was the best perimeter defender in the league and a versatile, very capable offensive player. Had he been "the man" his whole career he would have likely finished with much better stats and less titles. Well, he was the best player on the team for the OKC series and the Boston series-- I don't really see how this can be disputed. Kobe was the best player during the Utah and Phoenix series. I think Gasol had a bigger impact because he was the guy the other teams had the most trouble matching up with. That is more the nature of the game, though... bigs are almost always more important than smalls. This is the reason why MJ's accomplishments are so spectacular, and also the only thing that might prevent a Heat dynasty. My point, though, is that we can make an argument for Gasol being Finals MVP and even playoffs MVP, but yet you never hear this considered because he simply isn't hyped. He is a great player that is constantly underrated by Kobe Stans because they fear it hurts Kobe's "legacy" to mention he has help. Every champion has help, and now Lebron does. No shame to admit it.
The comparison to Garnett doesn't fly. He never had homecourt in the first round except for one year. Boston is getting old. Orlando isn't as good anymore. Cleveland was going to break through eventually. They've been favored in every playoff series they've lost the last 2 years. That's nothing like Garnett's career in Minnesota. I also heard on the radio the other day that the deal to send Amare to Cleveland was done last year but LBJ wanted Jamison instead. Anyone know if that's true?
He was with the Bulls the year before he came to the Rockets and they won a title. If he was 'way past his prime' when he was a Rocket, what was he the year before with Chicago? I guess it's safe to say that Jordan was able to win a title with a 'way past his prime' Pippen? Or did all this happen in the span of one off-season? Or maybe Gasol does so well because he isn't the main focus of the defense. Who do you think the primary target is for the defense when playing LA? Do you not think Gasol benefits from that? The whole objective for Boston is keeping Bryant out of the paint. Gasol is guarded straight up every night.
The Cavs wanted to keep Hickson, who had to be dealt if they traded with Suns. And as we all know LeBron run the GM and Hickson's his boy (he even asked Hickson to start at a point in the season). Of course that' LBJ's choice.
Its college basketball dynamics, except on the pro level. Like AAU buddies all hanging out and making pitches to each other to go to the same college. Michigan Wolverines "Fab Five" culture. Also the video game era and fantasy basketball era. How you always intentionally stack your teams with the best players. Maybe a little of that mentality is in the players.
No, cuz the ensuing monumental tank job enabled Houston to get Hakeem and Ralph the Twin Towers. Moses who? :grin: Mo Malone Rockets situation was closer to the Amare situation than Lebron. Exactly what I was going to mention. Though letsNOT kid ourselves if we think that Dr J joining the Bird Celtics would NOT have been news worthy. We'da been all over it simply because people respected stars more back then. Though not the NBA, (I'ma let you finish, but...) the ridiculously stacked Olympic Dream Team is the most famous basketball team of all time. What I think is wrong with the Lebron move is THE WAY it happened. It was not ACCUMULATIVE over time. 3 guys got together and made it all a marketing gimmick, simple as that. If the Heat signed Bosh in 2010, and in 2011 the Heat got Lebron in a midseason trade, then it'd be viewed different cuz it'd look like it happened naturally and competitively. STILL, I think the league is better with players not all concentrated on 2 teams. Owners hate parity, but for the fans its better.
Pippen was 33 when he joined the Rockets. That is well past an NBA player's prime. Not only that, in the previous season he started racking up injuries (as is prone to happen to players past 30), and he missed half of it due to problems with his foot and back. It's pretty clear he was on the decline even at the end of the Chicago run. I'm not really sure what you're arguing here. In his 20s to early 30s, Pippen was one of the best players in the league, but he obviously wasn't as good as Jordan. When MJ retired, Pippen was a top-3 player, so that shows you where he was at. It's a two-way street. Kobe benefits just as much from having Gasol because 1) on offense, a post presence initiates the triangle and keeps the defense honest and 2) on defense, Kobe can shade off his man and just drive him towards the interior (Pau, Bynum, and Odom). And Gasol was guarded straight up by Boston because they had the staff to do it. He most certainly was not given single coverage in the other three series. Gasol isn't Shaq, but he's damn good and his numbers show him to be right on par with Kobe during this championship run. But you never hear about it because Kobe is marketed by the league and Pau isn't.
To me, I think it was Michael Wilbon that really asked LeBron the important question...I think we can mostly all agree that this was a 'weak' move, it shows LeBron didn't want to fight it out and risk not getting a ring with his home team, but Wilbon asked him something to the effect of "LeBron, will winning a championship in Miami mean as much as if you had stayed at home and won it in Cleveland", and LeBron basically said a championship is a championship and that's nice and poetic, but it's not. It's not the same and I don't think it will be the same for him. He's gotta live with that and I think that'll be enough consequence for what he chose to do.
Kobe finished in front of Shaq in MVP votings for 2003 and 2004. If Gasol is that good, he would get similar recognition. Tony Parker was able to get a final MVP for his performance, why not Gasol? You are licking Gasol's balls just to downplay Kobe's achievements, this is getting old.
I mean, do we really know that? Maybe he is, god forbid, immature enough to not know that. Maybe he doesn't feel anything at making this move. He's been loved the second he laced up basketball shoes and has never gotten anything he didn't want. Maybe those few times where he made it to the playoffs only to get ousted by other teams just made him snap and want to achieve the only thing he hasn't gotten yet, at any cost, and with no worries. Maybe he'll regret it later, but I think right now, he's still just a little kid mentally and doesn't recognize the meaning of earning the championship and is instead like the red-faced, spoiled, stomping child at the store screaming at his parents that he just wants that shiny trophy and wants it now.
Hakeem was 32 years, 5 months old when he won his second title, absolutely dominating the field of the 1995 NBA playoffs.
Why wait for eventually when you can put yourself in a position to win now? Teams don't do that so why should players?
This whole ordeal of lebron joining wade's team kind of remind of this scene. Sorry about the phd skill. I'm no guru
