What are you talking about? Those numbers are spectacular and I am not denying it because the guy is in his own league. But is this really a suprise? He has always been spectacular during regular season. Closing out games, playing in the playoffs is a completly different story
Bulls and Cavs are one in the same. Both teams played great defense which gave them a chance to win. On the offensive end, I think both teams were pretty even. LeBron may have had more of an impact on the offensive end, but yeah it's pretty much the same thing.
Name one person on the Cavs that were as good as Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, (older) Richard Hamilton, or Joahkim Noah (defensively). Let's see Larry Hughes, Anderson Varejao, Zydranus Illgauskus, Drew Gooden, Daniel Gibson, and Mo Williams. Cleveland was an annual lottery team without Lebron, while the Bulls could definitely challenge for a playoff spot.
Well yes, it's like talking Tracy McGrady. Those Cavs teams were not good enough to even get to the Finals so I don't blame LeBron. I blame him for his Game 5 performance against the Celtics, and I blame him for not showing up in the Finals.
it is a known fact that harden is not good at defense. it would just look idiotic to argue that point.
You guys will continue to say this and make excuses for them every year they dont get it done. It's pathetic
Luol Deng is inconsistent but he'd be the same as Antwan Jamison IMO. Boozer, yeah they didn't have a guy like that but still.. the Cavs had Mo Williams who wasn't a bad player. They both average around the same number of points (though that's all I can compare them with since they both play different positions). The Cavs had a bench too. Gibson, Moon, Varejao, Delonte West, Hickson. You're overrating some of the Bulls players.... Noah is a good offensive rebounder but that individually isn't the reason for them winning. It's more of what they do as a team defensively.... which is how the Cavs played defensively. In 2009-2010, they added Shaq. An older shaq, yes.. but he was still a presence inside whenever they had him which made them even better defensively. Some of the guys you're mentioning for the Bulls are guys Rose makes better, similar to how James made a lot of his roster better. Um, that's a small sample size in itself. If I remember correctly, a Bulls fan was telling me how those 7 wins were against cupcake teams and the losses (at least 2 of them) were against good teams. Point is, the east is weak or was weak so I could see those Cavs making the playoffs. I'd say 50% of the reason why they were winning games was because of their lockdown team defense. Missing LeBron would no doubt hurt that, but I think they'd make the playoffs for the same reason the Bulls would make it... because it's the eastern conference.. You can make it and be below .500.
If you're comparing the load of what Rose has to do v. what James had to do for the Cavs, you're delusional. Rose: less points, rebounds, pretty even in assists, worse fg%, worst playoff performances, much less defense... I'm not sure if you're even serious here. You think the Cavs would have gone far in the playoffs if LBJ shot 35% for the entire run???? The Bulls went to the ECF with Rose stinking up the joint every other playoff game. This shouldn't even be a discussion. I thought last year would have illustrated what Lebron had to work with.
I don't think I've ever seen a post so stupid in all my life. Luol Deng has the same impact as 35 year old Antawn Jamison? Shaq made them better defensively? Mo Williams wasn't a bad player? = The worst part is you said you could see the Cavs making the playoffs without Lebron based solely on their defense. Because they DID play without Lebron last season, and not only did they miss the playoffs, they sucked so badly they got the number 1 pick. WTF is wrong with you?
lol.. Again, I said LeBron did more for the Cavs... but they're similar teams. Rose doesn't have much help either with the team he currently has. The Bulls went to the ECF because of Rose... lets not get carried away here. Last years Cavs team was still missing players that LeBron had with their team when LeBron was there, and they did have a lot of injuries to their main guys. It wasn't as bad as the record showed. All I've said is... The Bulls aren't as good of a team as people think they are with the role players that surround Rose and that's why I think it's similar to the Cavs all those years with LeBron. Of course, I know LeBron had a much bigger impact on his team than Rose did as I said previously.
Wait... tell me what Luol Deng does that Antwan didn't on the offensive end. They're both there to score, and Luol Deng really never takes advantage of his offensive game. He's mostly a recipient of great ball movement. Defensively, I'd say Luol is a lot better but again, I go back to team defense when I compare the two teams. Shaq did have an impact defensively believe it or not, a big guy inside will always give you interior defense just because he can alter shots. Mo Williams was bad? If Mo Williams was bad, then so is Boozer right now. Last season is so flawed on so many levels. They didn't have all of the players they did while LeBron was there. Not to mention, Mo Williams was out for a significant amount of games as was Jamison. They aren't as bad as their record showed when you look at everything that happened for them during that season.
The Bulls are still a playoff team without Rose. Rose just put them over the top and turned them from playoff team to contender. That's a pretty good accomplishment, however Lebron turned the Cavs from worst team in the league to contender. Lebron didn't just have a higher impact on his team, he was basically on another level, and people just didn't know about it until he left the Cavs went from a 60-win team to the league's laughing stock. They even went head to head last year, and Lebron embarrassed Rose. He shot something like 0.14% with Lebron on him, I think Rose is a superstar but clearly Lebron is several levels higher than him.
I'm not saying Rose is on the level of LeBron as a player, but his impact on his team itself is always underrated. Of course like I said, and I'll say it again, LeBron's impact was higher on the Cavs than Rose's on the Bulls. The only thing I can compare it to (and again in this isn't comparing them equally) is the Cavs. 1 star and a bunch of good role players.
Well for one thing, Luol Deng scored better than Jamison Luol Deng last year: 54.9 TS% Jamison last year: 51.6 TS% For another thing Deng is also his team's best defender, and he's good enough to decently defend the elite wings like Lebron, Durant, Wade, Kobe etc. Jamison is old and slow, and is a liability on defense. Can he guard PFs like TD, Dirk, Bosh the same way Deng can guard Lebron and co? Of course he can't, the two are not comparable at all in terms of impact on the court. As for your post on the Cav's team defense, has it occurred to you that team was so good on D only because Lebron was there to guard the other team's best player? Once he left their D was atrocious. The difference is CHicago has depth to cover for Boozer. Boozer is playing bad now, but since they have Omer Asik and Taj Gibson they don't feel it. When Mo WIlliams is playing horribly the Cavs have to hope Boobie Gibson has a career night. Shaq being a defensive presence just because he can alter shots? Maybe when he was younger, Shaw couldn't even move properly he has an arthritic toe and had to retire properly. How can he chase guards across the paint? To be quite honest in terms of defense, he was a defensive liability, and the team had to rely on Varejao for interior D. They were 19-63 last year. Even if you give them 10 extra wins due to injuries they'd still be one of the worst teams in the league.
But my point is the Cavs didn't have a bunch of good role players. They had dleague rejects and old useless retreads. Lebron had the same supporting cast Tmac and Yao Ming had, except instead of the team being gutted trading for a super star, his GM surrounded him with useless players like Larry Hughes and players past their prime like Shaq and Ben Wallace. A good supporting cast should still make the playoffs without the star, and that's what the Bulls are. The Cavs posted one of the worst records ever without Lebron.
