2012 FWIW: <PRE>2015 Golden State -190 Cleveland +170 2014 San Antonio -125 Miami +105 2013 San Antonio +200 Miami -240 2012 Oklahoma City -160 Miami +140 2011 Dallas +160 Miami -180 2007 San Antonio -500 Cleveland +350</PRE>
So favored twice, underdogs four times. That's what I would have guessed. West's general points are right, but he definitely hasn't always been on the underdog team.
i definitely would not have guessed that the thunder were favored in 2012. i mean they did beat a spurs team on a 20 game winning streak (10 in the regular season, 10 in the playoffs), but still figured the heat had enough hype to be favored. i could've been miami being favored over SA in 2014 even though the heat only won 54 games and the series made it clear SA was a better team.
Just for fun, of the 3 seasons Parker played in Toronto, they got twice to the playoffs (the year Parker arrived there and the year thereafter). Bosh played 7 seasons in Toronto and got to the playoffs twice (yes, with Anthony Parker both times). Both times when Toronto was in the playoffs, Anthony Parker played 40 min per game. He was a starter in Toronto and Cleveland. When Anthony Parker arrived to Toronto he was the third in scoring (903 PT) after Bosh (1561 PT) and TJ Ford (1047 PT) and the year after second (1025 PT) after Bosh (1496 PT). So Anthony Parker was not a nobody as presented here. That's all I wanted to say.
SMH. He was never an excellent shooting guard, maybe a decent to good starter, but let's not pretend he was an all star guard or a top 10 SG in his playing days. He was a serviceable to slightly above average starter at best. Hardly, would consider him a serious contributor for a really good team.
Parker was a respectable role player who had no business being the third best player on a team that was trying to compete for a championship. Normally, that would put a team in the situation the Raptors were in: mediocre first-round fodder. Because Lebron was so great in 2010 (and the East was so weak), he made the Cavs look like a legit contender even though the next two best players on the team were Mo Williams and Anthony Parker.
Cavs aren't that good, they are 4th best team in the league. Not suprising they can't keep up with Warriors. I could see LeBron declining his player option and teaming up with KD in LA.
Lebron declines so quick. He needs to perfect that midrange J and Post game like MJ or Kobe or we wont be seeing this guy in a few years time.
This. Last year, Lebron looked like he was halfway done with developing a post game, including jumpers and decent foot work. This year, his footwork and post moves regressed to his rookie season, only now he doesn't have the athleticism.
His J is broke. You could leave him open like how the Warriors have done and he can't hit those shots. His post game involves him just shouldering his way inside but you need a ton of dribbles for that and the defense can just crash on him and either strip him or force him to pass it out
It's less the failure of the team and just the unstoppable force of Curry and Golden State. I mean Curry hit 400+ threes this season, his team won 73 games, they came back from the 3-1 deficit against OKC who looked absolutely unstoppable outside of Durant. Also that Golden State team is constructed very well. Very few weaknesses and they have so many strengths. Should the Cavaliers be doing better than they are now? Absolutely. He also shot like sub 40. He had to do everything for his team last season to score because nobody else was healthy and JR disappeared. LeBron has addressed this before, team success was achieved without LeBron overdominating the ball and lowering the efficiency of the team as a whole. Sure he can put up 30+ ppg again. It won't lead to wins, just like it didn't lead to wins last season. Iggy is a very good defender. Steph is not. It would be in the team's best interest to showcase Kyrie. At the very least Kyrie should be exploiting that to at least nullify the amount of points he is giving up on the defensive end.
So he was not an excellent shooting guard or an all star. OK. Looking at the Cavs today, I would prefer Parker of those days to JR Smith or Iman Shumpert of the finals against the Warriors. The point is this: Parker was very unselfish player and, therefore, an excellent sideman to the ever so dominant Bron. It was not his production that provided him those minutes. It was him fitting the system so well.
Perfect! This is the plain truth. The Cavs before LeBrons return started to have a respectable roster from drafts and trades. They were all traded because LeBron wanted the players he liked on his side. Then LeBron fired their, in my opinion, excellent coach (Blatt) who understood how to make that roster play good defense. Here, too, he replaced the coach with his man (Lue). Now, the Cavs, with their full and improved roster, seem to be no match to the Warriors, a team that has not changed its roster from last season.
I m pretty sure without Lebron and they kept Wiggins 2 season ago. The Cavs will probably won the lottery last season again and drafted KAT. With the roster of KAT, Wiggins and kyrie they were not better than the T Wolves so that they probably able to draft Simmons or Ingram again. Compare to 2 consecutive nba finals apperance with Lebron, I really don't know does the Cavs make the right choice or not.
