To be honest I starting to think most fans are. People complain about Bosh, James and Wade joining together for one team but no one gets upset when GM's that are former Lakers and Celtics trade all-stars to thier former teams. I'm just saying.
It's not to the same scale, but technically you're wrong. Magic Johnson took a $250k paycut late in his career so the Lakers could sign Terry Teagle. Teagle was no star player, so it is different. But it's still a guy taking a paycut so that his team could bring in another player that would help them win.
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plenty of people complained very loudly about those things. but the difference is how those other guys handled it and conducted themselves. they didnt have "the decision". they didnt play the race card when people criticized them. they didnt talk about how they were going to win 5 championships before even playing together. and they sure as hell didnt do this... <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZJgoZ1Vs5_E?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZJgoZ1Vs5_E?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object> for the record, i didnt have a problem at all w/ lebron going to miami. i kind of respect the fact that those 3 were able to put their egos and personal agendas aside for a chance to form an all-time great team. but the way lebron has conducted himself has been an embarrassment. that intro is the gayest thing i have ever seen in the nba...and im old enough to remember this...
There are about 15 elite players in the league. If you put 3 of them on the same teams, that's about 5 teams that are worth watching. Let's put 3 more teams there just to be beaten up. So I propose an 8-team league. That's probably what LeBron wants.
You must be confused because I'm not arguing anything -- I'm explaining why there is a lot of hate around it. When you trade for a star player, you're most likely giving up a lot of talent. When they take a big paycut to play for you, you're barely giving up anything. Off the top of my head, I can't think of who GA is. I'm sure it'll become obvious once I hit submit. Duncan took a paycut so that the Spurs could retain the guys they drafted -- not so that other stars could come help him win. There's a difference, however big or subtle in your mind, and it is why a lot of people hate the Heat. True. I guess I should clarify my comments to say, "three of the NBA's top ten, or really even two of the NBA's top three, guys have never taken pay cuts to leave their original teams to join up together." It's just not something we've seen before, and it's pushed this idea of "teaming up" into the new-age NBA. New Orleans and Denver are seeing the effects of it. In the end, I think a lot of people (including myself) wanted to see Lebron v. Wade battle it out in the playoffs.. not team up against Brandon Jennings. Wade v. LeBron could have set the stage for some epic playoff series battles.
The only reason I hate the Heat now is because I think these guys are completely arrogant. If you have even a minimal understanding of the salary cap they must've understood the implications of what there were doing. So in effect these guys think they can win a title playing 3 on 5. I don't like to see basketball played that way, so I will always cheer against them. I guess that it is a bit of sour grapes, but I really don't see any comparison to the other examples people are trying to draw here. The Celtics were three guys at the tail end of their careers that got traded to one team. But that team already had Pierce, Rondo, Perkins and Tony Allen, and a great coach in Doc. The showtime Lakers drafted Magic, had Jabbar at the tail end of his career and Worthy was great, but not a top 10 talent in his era. My point is these front offices created great teams. In the case of Miami it seems to me that the players are trying to side step paying their dues.
Actually, I think you're still wrong. Grant Hill and T-Mac did the same thing. Ok, T-Mac was not yet recognized as one of the top 10 players in the league, but he immediately became one. Tim Duncan almost went to Orlando that same offseason. Wade v. Lebron was never going to lead to epic playoff series battles because neither of them had teammates good enough for the series to matter much (especially Wade). Wade wasn't going to be playing any epic series with Haslem as his second best player.
This is the thing, though - the Heat have the 20th highest payroll in the league. There are lots of teams that spend more money than the Heat, and many of them pay their top 3 stars a lot of money. Very few teams spread their cash around to 8 players. This doesn't make sense to me. The guys had 7 years in the league - lots of good players are done after 10. Dwyane Wade is already almost 30 years old and has won a championship, it's not like they have "paid their dues."
You're absolutely wrong. The Heat Big 3 saw that for the last half dozen years, former star players just past their prime have been signing with championship contending teams for peanuts just to win a ring. The Big 3 figured they could fill out their roster that way and they wouldn't have to play 3 on 5. Rondo, Perkins, and Tony Allen (really?) were young guys that were considered by many to not be ready for prime time yet. Doc Rivers was constantly being questioned for his inability to manage the game properly, especially with respect to rotations. And the Miami front office did create this Big 3. It was Riley that got the cap space to sign three max players. How is that less impressive than the Celtics tanking several years in a row and trading their high draft picks and young players for two superstars? You know those guys have been in the league seven years already, right? Wade has already won a ring. Lebron took his team to the finals years ago, only to see them fail to make it back because management thought the answer was to continue bringing in has-beens to pair with him. Bosh has never been good enough to be a true franchise player. He tried, he failed. These guys have paid their dues. It's not like they're young guys just drafted who refuse to play for a bad team before they've earned or proven anything in the league (e.g., Danny Ferry, Kobe Bryant, Steve Francis).
So the main problem is that these guys took their careers in their own hands instead of waiting to get old before hoping that someone would trade them to a good team? I can't even process why you can hate someone for that, but I guess that culture of pro sports is that you are supposed to be owned and that if you do anything to upset the status quo you should be chased after with torches and pitchforks. It seems as though most people feel free agency should only be allowed for non-franchise players, would that be accurate?
I'm not. Neither Grant Hill nor McGrady were in the top five best players in the NBA the year before their move. In fact, McGrady wasn't even considered in the top 10. What he became after the fact is irrelevant. And 'almost' doesn't count. Uhh... what? Wade would have had Chris Bosh and the Heat would have still had a ton of money to add players around them. LeBron could have went to Chicago (Noah/Rose) or the Knicks (Amare) and still had great teammates around him. Make no mistake about it, if Wade/LBJ would have went different directions, we would have had some GREAT playoff battles for the next several years. Now, after the Celtics wheels fall off.. whose going to challenge Miami? Nobody that I can think of.
The egomaniacal cross country tour of teams that the Miami 3 chose to individually undergo, knowing damned well what their true intentions were, is what turned me off about them. LeBron capping it off with"The Decision", where he pretended that he really didn't know until that morning (yeah...we are all that stupid, LeBron) solidified their enshrinement into the douchebag Hall of Fame.
I think you've forgotten how great Grant Hill was if you don't think he was a top five player. The guy was third in the league in scoring, and that wasn't even what he was known for. The guy had a 26/6/5 stat line, and shot 49% from the field. He was definitely a top 5 player.
Grant Hill was a great player, no doubt. But so were Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Chris Webber, etc. Grant Hill was definitely a top 10 player.. but you'd have to make an argument to put him in the top five. You won't find many people, if any, arguing that Wade or LeBron weren't amongst the top five best players in the NBA last year.
