Bill Simmons Lebron mailbag, some nice stuff

i liked this one the most:

While my heart hurts for Cleveland right now, heel turns in the WWE are awesome. I'll never forget that moment when Triple H revealed he had married Stephanie McMahon the night before her wedding right as she was supposed to tie the knot with Test (or when Stephanie subsequently revealed to the now-deceased Test that the whole thing was a ruse all along). It makes for great theater. And LeBron and Bosh and Wade together in Miami makes for great theater too. Hopefully, LeBron will embrace that role and ascend to Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Rock-like levels, cementing his greatness once and for all just like they did. 'Cause anything otherwise and LeBron James is a complete sellout.

lebron just pulled a hulk hogan joining nWo. and as we know now, nWo worked out extremely well for both hogan and wcw.

i think lebron and wade want to be liked so i don't think they'll play that angle, but i think it's probably lebron's best play at this point. play up the bad guy role for a while, make the heat the most interesting team in the league, and then wreck shop on the league. that's how you need to do it and how you have to hope it works out. people will say you were ruthless, did what you had to do in turning your back on cleveland, and then won as the best player in the game. and people will come back to your side. but you have to give it a little time. don't try to play up the "no i'm still a great guy" angle right now.

look at kobe. he was accused of rape, called uncoachable in a book by phil jackson and considered a malcontent who didn't get along with teammates and who would never win as a leader of a team. he was bashed relentlessly, often for ridiculous stuff. then he gets pau gasol as a teammate, the lakers start winning and he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. people love to forgive and sports fans are never gonna fire up more than about one brain cell at a time to give any sort of deep thought to the revisionist history that is playing out in their brains. so be the bad guy, let people vent, and then win them back later. and all you have to do is win multiple championships.

 

Kobe is exactly the source of problem. He proved that winning is everything. As long as he get rings, he can rewrite the history as Shaq is his sidekick, females are what god created for him to rape, teammates are paid to endure his donna-prima attitude, wife is bought with huge diamond ring, MVP is for Gasol and Artest to win for him, Fisher is the best person on the earth, etc.

If I am LBJ, and Bosh, I would make the same decision too. Obviously once you win the championship, all wrongs will become right. Everything will be on your side. Who cared the process to win the ring, as long as I can win more rings than Kobe or even MJ.

Blame it on the media and fans and even other players or organizations for showing the recent generations how they can get away with anything by winning.

 

What?

Everyone still says that Kobe was Shaq's sidekick back then.

He was still the overall best player in the Finals. He had one bad game, Gasol was a no show half of the time.

Artest only played well in Game 7.

EVERYONE says Fisher is an excellent teammate and leader. I hope you're not gonna blame him for leaving Utah because his daughter needed surgery.

 

You just look at the forum, how many thread about Kobe be GOAT or surpass MJ or Best player played the game created every day and then read the posts inside and come back tell me again if "Everyone still says that Kobe was Shaq's sidekick"

If my memory serves me right, Fisher's daughter was in NY? Why sign with LA then? Because it's 2 hours closer by the planes? Come on. Everyone knows he just used that convenient excuse to go back to the Lakers without Jazz fans start burning crosses in front of his lawn.

 

THAT is funny...

 

Thanks for digging that out, DonnyMost! I can't decide between nazgul and the Sisterhood of the Traveling that's Never Called.

 

Nazgul imo, Lord of the rings was such a good movie. :grin:

 

They're both brilliant.

I think the Nazgul was more appropriate for the 2004 Lakers w/ Payton and Malone.

However, in a few years, it may be entirely appropriate for the Heat...

 

City: Richfield, Minn.
Name: Aaron
If I'm Cavs owner Dan Gilbert I immediately look at the schedule for when the Heat come to town the first time. I then arrange a ceremony where they retire jersey #23. Even have LeBron help raise it into the rafters. Do it up right and honor the accomplishments. I'd have an emotional speech put together honoring all the ups and downs that they've seen; bring up all the heartbreaks and near misses in the playoffs and regular season.

The name on the back of the jersey? Jordan.

---

This definitely takes the cake for me.

tm

 

This would be epic.

 

That's because Kobe was Shaq's sidekick. Anyone could see that. Who won all the Finals MVP during their run? That one bad game Kobe had in the Finals happened to be the biggest one. He could have played horrible up until the last game and if he brought it then, nobody would have made a big deal. Lakers lose if Artest and Gasol don't bail Kobe out in Game 7. NOBODY wins on their own. As good as the Cavs were, they never brought in a legit #2 for Lebron. Jordan had Pip, Shaq had Kobe, Kobe had Gasol and Hakeem had Drexler.

 

Hilarious.

 

This is what happens when someone's worth is based solely upon how many championships they win.

In that sense, I don't blame LeBron for trying to go to a situation where he has the best chance to win.

The media and fans these days are programmed to believe that a player cannot be considered great unless they win championships.

 

Here's the annoying part: when the Celtics got KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, it wasn't a big deal because these guys were starting to get old and thus they're window to win was maybe only three or four years. Lebron is 25, Bosh is 26, Wade is 28. 5 years from now, these guys will still be young enough to be exceptional players. Plus didn't they get a T-Wolves first round pick for Beasley? That's a guaranteed lottery pick. Miami is going to be good for a very long time.

 

Yeah, the ppl criticizing Lebron for taking the easy path and not being "the man" on his own team would also be criticizing Lebron for failing to win championships if he stayed on in Cleveland. Even if he managed 1 or 2 in Cleveland they'd say he's not as good as Kobe for winning less rings.

 

if his stats continue to be out of this world while playing on the heat and winning MVPs and winning championships, he'll go down as better than kobe for sure.

the only way for him to fall out of the GOAT conversation is if his stats go down to 20, 5, 5, no more MVPs...

 

Not the first time.

 

They only got a second round pick for Beasley. That's some haul for a recent #2 overall pick.

 

No, the Heat were basically giving Beasley away. They got a 2011 second rounder in the deal, which I believe they sent to Cleveland for Lebron's sign and trade.