There was a time when great players would put their hearts on the line for a city, not a trademark. Respect is earned in such ways...
Why is it that everyone is suddenly arguing that it's Lebron's team now, Wade's, Bosh's, or whatever?
Great article if you don't hate that cocky piece of ****. Most of us hate him. Makes it a pointless article.
Lebron has done nothing with Miami that has wowed me. There were a few moments in Cleveland where he did some incredible things but nothing jawdropping like Kobe playing out of his mind trying to shake the rape image or MJ pretty much his entire career. He contributes of course and is not technically "coatriding" but he sure as hell isn't dominating on his own team.
I'm not arguiun whose team it is, because that's not the point. The problem with the Miami superteam is that two superstars and a borderline superstar decided to team up way before they got close to the end of their career, to make sure they'd haul in lots of rings. That completey messed up the power balance in the NBA and (unless the new CBA will make this impossible) will lead to the point where the rest of the superstars will also try to join up in a few big markets to have at least a chance at a ring against Miami. We've seen what happened with Carmelo & Amare, next we'll see what will happen with Dwight & Chris Paul. The end of the story: predictable story lines, only a few games / series in the whole year will be interesting at all, because the rest of the teams has no chance. So, Bron teams up with Wade and Bosh and manages to beat Boston which was weakened by the stupid Perkins trade and by Rondo's lack of one arm and then manage to beat Chicago, which had not impressed in the playoffs so far, either. I don't see why I should be super impressed by that. Of course, Nike, the NBA and just about everybody commercially involved in the business would love to be able to advertise Lebron as Jordan 2.0, greater! stronger! bigger!, because they all expect make more money with a new Jordan. So they try to shove the message down our throats. But the excitement just isn't there for me.
Stans will be stans, no matter whose nuts they decide to hug...... If it's not LeBron's team, it may as well be nobody's team. Sheesh....
Dude you don't even know the meaning of coat riding. How can the best player in the series be coat riding? LOL! Rather than saying LBJ is coat riding, Wade and Bosh are riding on his coat-tails. When the last time a 20+pt triple double performance get called a coat riding one?
Man what a way to lose all your credibility. 28 pts, 11 rebs, 6 assists while shutting down the MVP and it still isn't enough to impress you? Honestly I don't think Kobe has done anything that comes anywhere near LBJ's playoff performances. He was Shaq's sidekick the first 3 titles, and then the next 3 playoffs were more of a battle of the bigs and sfs than anything else.
James is the best. However, only Wade has got what it takes to get past the Celtics. Wade is better at one thing - winning. If it wasn't for Wade, Celtics would still be James's Achilles heel..
This is a pretty ignorant way of thinking, the NBA has always have and will always be dominated by super teams. The showtime lakers, Boston's original big 3, MJ's bulls, all those are superteams, and they're the ones that people remember. Saying the Heat destroyed the power balance is ridiculous, the Lakers and Boston actually have more talent than Miami. In fact, pre-trade Boston has 5 people worthy of an all star spot, and they're not breaking the power balance? Saying its ok for players to team up when they're old and its not ok when they're young doesn't make sense to me. Why waste time? I'm pretty sure nobody told MJ to get Pippen and Rodman traded because they're the same age, or Bird to trade away Mchale and Parish so they wouldn't create a dynasty.
Im gonna take this argument a step further...i believe Scottie Pippen hit the nail on the head...Lebron COULD go down as the greatest player ever. MJ was a better offensive player than LBJ. MJ also had greater drive to win and was a great leader. I believe LBJ is or will be better at all other facets of the game. He is better at making his teammates better(his passing is ridiculous). At the end of a close game he can guard the teams best player regardless of position. He can d up any player at the 1-4 positions and most centers. He rebounds better than MJ. I hate the way he went about free agency and he lost alot of my respect. That being said i truly believe we are witnessing a player who could go down as the all time greatest player.
whether ur talking about regular season or playoffs, Kobe trumps Lebron at this point in LBJs career. (yes, list is so long that i had to spoiler) Spoiler 5-time NBA champion: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010 7 NBA Finals appearances: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010 2-time NBA Finals MVP: 2009, 2010 NBA Most Valuable Player: 2008 2-time scoring champion: 2006, 2007 13-time NBA All-Star: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 11 consecutive appearances (No All-Star game in 1999 due to a league-wide lockout) Missed the 2010 game due to injury 4-time NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011 (shared the 2009 award with Shaquille O'Neal) 13-time All-NBA Team selection: First team: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Second team: 2000, 2001 Third team: 1999, 2005 11-time All-Defensive Team selection: First team: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011[26][27] Second team: 2001, 2002 NBA All-Rookie Team selection: Second team: 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion: 1997 15-time Player of the Month: December 2000, November 2001, January 2003, March 2004, January 2006, April 2006, December 2006, March 2007, April 2007, February 2008, April 2008, December 2008, January 2009, December 2009, March 2011 Player of the Month was awarded separately to Eastern and Western Conference starting from the 2001–02*season. NBA regular season leader: points: 2003 (2,461), 2006 (2,832, 7th in NBA history), 2007 (2,430), 2008 (2,323) points per game: 2006 (35.4, 8th in NBA history), 2007 (31.6) field goals attempted: 2006 (2,173), 2007 (1,757), 2008 (1,690), 2011 (1,639) field goals made: 2003 (868), 2006 (978), 2007 (813) free throws attempted: 2007 (768) free throws made: 2006 (696), 2007 (667) 2nd most points in a game: 81 (on January 22, 2006 vs. the Toronto Raptors) Bryant scored 50 points or more in four consecutive games in 2007. Bryant shares four NBA records and holds ten records: Most All-Star Game MVP awards won, career: 4 (tied with Bob Pettit) Most three-point field goals made, one game: 12 (on January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics; shared with Donyell Marshall) Most three-point field goals made, one half: 8 (on March 28, 2003 vs. Washington Wizards; shared with 5 other players) Most free throws made, four-game playoff series: 51 (second round vs. Sacramento Kings, 2001) Youngest player to score 18,000 points: (28 years, 156 days) Youngest player to score 20,000 points: (29 years, 122 days) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Became one of only three players to reach the milestone under the age of 30. The other two are Chamberlain (29 years, 134 days) and Michael Jordan (29 years, 326 days). Youngest player to score 23,000 points: (30 years, 171 days) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Youngest player to score 24,000 points: (31 years, 76 days) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Youngest player to score 25,000 points: (31 years, 151 days) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Youngest player to score 26,000 points: (32 years) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Youngest player to score 27,000 points: (32 years) Surpassed Wilt Chamberlain, the previous holder of the record Youngest player to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team: (1996–97) Youngest player to be named to the NBA All-Defensive Team: (1999–00) Youngest player to start a game: (18*years, 158*days) Youngest player to start an All-Star game Only player in NBA history to score at least 600 points in the postseason for three consecutive years. 633 (2008), 695 (2009), 671 (2010) lbj is prolly the best in the game today but isnt that the reason for the backlash? turning his back on his hometown, joining up with 2 all stars one of which is arguably the best 2 guard in the NBA? He was and still is on the track to greatness but that doesnt change the fact that he's a douche. Kobe is a douche too but he basically forced everyone to respect him. 2006 was a failure to many but that was possibly the most amazing individual performance i have seen. he literally willed his team into the playoffs and then proceeded to throw em under the bus/took em as far as he could(u decide). It's hard to deny ur greatness when ur matching or breaking Wilt n MJs records. maybe LBJ will do the same. he is definitely capable of it. but to put up those numbers he is going to have to put his buddy in the 2nd fiddle position and basically be the alpha prick MJ and Kobe were (not sure Wilt was like that but i wouldnt hold it against him).
MJ didnt recruit Hakeem and Barkley or Magic when they were in their 20's to form a super team that could have dominated for 2 decades. This is what LBJ, DWade, and Bosh are essentially trying to do. Not that u needed that spelled out for you.
If Wade is so much better at winning than James, then why did Wade win zero playoff series the past four years combined, while Lebron won seven? It's crazy how Wade gets so much more respect than Lebron because he had the great fortune of playing the choking Dallas Mavericks (and going eight-on-five most nights) while Lebron had to play the three time champion Spurs the following year.
I hate this Lebron is riding someone's coattails BS. Magic had Kareem and Worthy. Bird had McHale and Parish. Shaq had Kobe Wade had Shaq Duncan had Ginobili, Parker, Robinson, and Elliott Zeke had Dumars, Rodman, and Lambier. Jordan had Pippen, Rodman, Grant, and Kukoc Moses needed Dr J Lebron needed help and he wasn't going to get it in Cleveland. He also had no loyalty to Cleveland because he's an Akron kid. Its like me not being loyal to Dallas or San Antonio because I'm a Houston kid. In fact I would rather play for almost any team other than those two if I were a basketball phenom.
That would be credible if Akron had an NBA team. In fact, is there any other NBA team in all of Ohio other than Cleveland?
Bosh has been pretty bad the entire regular season. Bosh and Wade have been pretty inconsistent the entire postseason. LeBron James singlehandedly makes this team. If the Heat didn't have LeBron, they wouldn't have gotten past Boston, much less Chicago.
