I hope you didn't pick him in the first round of a fantasy league. On Minn, Kevin Love would not play defense in order to stay near the rim for rebounds. He is notorious for not challenging shots. He was somewhat cheating. At CLE, I suppose they are ordering him to play some semblance of defense, now his rebound numbers have falling back into line where he really should have always been.
I knew he didn't play defense in Minny, but didn't know cheated to get into position. I guess I didn't watch close enough, but that would make sense.
Besides no longer cheating off his man he's also playing his fewest minutes in a few years. He sat out the fourth quarter for many if not the majority of games last season.
Let the LeBron excuses begin. Wade is garbage. Bosh is garbage. Get the man some help! Next is Love is garbage! Then shortly after...Kyrie is garbage! Get LeBron some help! Maybe...and i know this is blasphemous to speak of the "King" this way, but maybe LeBron James doesn't make his teammates better like everyone believes or not exactly GOAT level in that regard as many today believe. Most players usually have a sharp drop off when they get to play next to LeBron. Just saying. The guy isn't Magic Johnson. Hell, i wonder how much better Larry Birds #s would look if he had LeBrons Usage for his career.The one time Bird actually had usage over 27%, he had 4 straight years of an average of 28ppg, 10rpg, 7apg, 2spg, 1bpg. LeBron has had a usage of over 32 for his entire career...4 seasons of over 33% Now Magic Johnson. There's a guy who made his teammates better and the numbers are expected yet still out of this world. Career Usage of only 22% with an incredible 45.8 Assist % as strictly a PG. Sure there's other PGs with over that like CP3 and John Stockton's incredible numbers, but those 2 guys weren't out there grabbing 8+ rebounds and 20+ points every night. Weird little thing, but i never realized...Did you guys know that the last 3 years of Magic's career he averaged 7 to 8 free throw attempts per game and shot 90.2%? That's nuts! 1,599 out of 1773 in those 3 seasons in which he played 77,79, 79 games. To have improved 76% to as high as 91.1% just blows my mind. Has anyone ever improved their FT% that much in their career? Anyway I can't draft LeBron over Magic despite the overwhelming athletic superiority. I'm not even sure i'd draft LeBron over Bird. That one's tough. If both players are 19, then of course i take LeBron for the athletic potential. Bird was winning in college while LeBron though losing was putting up crazy #s in the NBA as a 20, 21 year old. But...he didn't even make the playoffs his first 3 years in such a weak conference that remains pathetic today. Bird meanwhile was a 23 year old rookie who took a 29 win team and turned them into a 61 win ECF team. Champions by his sophomore year. 3 titles in 5 trips his first 8 years. Failed to make it to the ECF once during his prime before his back gave out and he sat out the 88-89 season. He was never the same after the back problems, but he was still a beast on and off for his last 3 years.
Lebron is aa great player but Magic was GOAT. No point in comparing. MJ didn't start winning until the 90s for a reason.
Well...that's the work of the Bad Boys. If they weren't around, Jordan and the Bulls would have been battling Magics Lakers twice and the Blazers once before they won in 91 against Magic and the Lakers. So i wouldn't say Jordan didnt start winning because of Magic Johnson.
A dislocated shoulder injury will make you think twice about rebounding and risk dislocating it again.
If you watched the game last night the times when he was guarding Gibson they were having some really good battles down low. He drew a lot of attention and Noah/Gasol would shade over to help and basically double team him when it came to rebounding. But when he was around the paint area and not outside guarding Mirotic he still showed the ability to gain great position and instincts for the ball. He may not average the 14-15 boards a game like in Minnesota but he'll be 10-11 I would expect. Mozgov, James, Varejao, Thompson are all above average when it comes to rebounding so a dip in his numbers is expected. Seeing Gibson and Love battle for position was one of the biggest highlights for me in last night's game
