I agree with this too. I guess when I read Simmons articles I read them as entertainment pieces where he can throw out jokes and crazy theories like Lost fans just for kicks.
How is LeBron a cop-out for choosing to go play with Wade & Bosh, but Kobe wasn't for crying for LA management to get him more help? I guess it's ok for management to get a player help but not ok for a free agent to choose it on his own.
that's what's astonishing to me. this has been the biggest nba storyline for 2 years running and been the biggest sports storyline for a couple of months now and we still have no real idea what is happening. miami seems to be in the lead but we're just hours away from the announcement and he could still say any of 4 teams. crazy to keep it secret this long.
i like reading simmons and he might even say lebron is the best player, but he always seems to be in overdrive trying to play amateur psychologist to figure out how lebron is once again showing us he doesn't have "it" mentally. despite the fact lebron has been leading his team single-handedly his entire career and pretty much made all of their big plays, he seems to want that "lebron isn't an alpha-dog" storyline really badly and anything he can use as evidence, he will (look at him making wade jordan and lebron "mega-pippen" and saying lebron wants wade to take over at the end as if lebron doesn't have "video game on god mode" clutch statistics and doesn't have plenty of game winning shots and assists to his credit). admittedly i kind of want lebron to not join with wade because it will make it hard how to figure out who gets credit/blame for whatever they end up accomplishing/not accomplishing, but it is funny to want guys to be all about the rings and then call wanting to play with another top 2 or 3 player in the league a cop-out. maybe lebron and wade are tired of mo williams and michael beasley being the 2nd bananas on their teams and watching kobe go out there with the best front line in basketball and getting all the glory. maybe they're trying to make their own luck instead of hoping something breaks right for them like a gasol trade. no one wins it on their own. jordan didn't because he had pippen, kobe hasn't, magic and bird played with friggin' all star teams. that's why guys are always trying to get on the best teams possible even if all you're really doing is trying to stack your team until you almost have to win. because winning ends up being a lot more fun than losing.
I don't understand it either. There's a lot of hypocritical thought processes amongst sports fans. We say we hate it when players only care about money, but then people whine when there are rumors of Wade, Lebron, and Bosh taking pay cuts to play with each other. You don't get bonus championships for winning with a higher degree of difficulty, so why wouldn't players want to seek out and play with the best players they can get on their team?
Can you imagine a player telling their GM 'no please don't bring that guy here it will make it too easy.' Whether you ask your GM to make moves or you make the move yourself, same difference.
Well....Kobe asking for HIS TEAM to go out and get talent is very different to HIS TEAM'S fanbase than it would be if he just walked away. Honestly, how can you not see that difference? Every player should want his team to get better...to put great pieces around it. You hope the player is loyal enough to want that....and to stick around if it doesn't happen right away. But leaving your hometown...and the only team you've ever played for...where you've been annointed THE KING (and you're actually goofy enough to call YOURSELF that)....and labelled a once-in-a-lifetime sort of player.... to go play somewhere else that's just stocking up on all stars.... yeah...compared to the Hakeems/Robinsons/Jordans/Birds/Magics/Isaiahs/Duncans/Kobes of the world....the guys he wants to be compared to when he retires.... yeah, that's a cop out. And I don't have any bitterness because MY TEAM was rejected here...I'm a Rockets fan and never even considered LeBron coming here. Has nothing to do with that. Also...aside from Hakeem, I can't think of another player of that ilk who had SUCH A STRONG CONNECTION with the city he played for as LeBron has with Cleveland. It's very different from Kobe's connection to LA, for instance. Hakeem was close, because he played his college ball here...and it was the only US city he had lived in. But LeBron's connection to Ohio, generally, is deep. That absolutely factors into the way people feel about this...particularly if he does it this way.
I think the premise is that Kobe wanted help and got a Second Banana player in Gasol to help him get the rings he wouldn't have gotten on his own. Meanwhile, the notion that LeBron, the best player in the world, has to pick up his bags and go to another city where an Alpha Dog (Wade) already exists in order to win a championship just cheapens any type of legacy LeBron will have once he retires. In other words, Simmons' thinking is that Kobe begging and demanding for help and getting it in the form of a sidekick/Second Banana is okay while LeBron asking or seeking for help and getting it from a clear Alpha Dog is not.
I hope Lebron signs with Chicago ... would be craaaaazy if he joins Wade and Bosh, scary also IMO. Chicago with James is a contender for years to come: C: Noah PF: Boozer SF: Lebron SG: ? PG: Rose
Wow.... is the story abt the 4 of them making a pact to play together true? Might not be feasible financially, but they're players, not GMs/capologists.
#10 about sums up what i've been thinking all along. ESPN is too busy drooling over the trio no one has mentioned it from what i've heard. one of them gets hurt and are out for an extended period of time, they arent winning jack in miami
One of the best things about Simmons is that he doesn't seem to have much direct access to players/personnel (except Morey), his sources seem to be other writers, so he has little to no access to protect, he just goes out and bashes whoever he likes lol. And a different opinion is a good thing. We have enough Wojs out there digging up factual news.
While I don't necessarily disagree, Simmons does know a number of players, some of them pretty well: Steve Nash, Jared Dudley, Baron Davis, etc. Not a lot, but he knows some.
I think he got some info from Morey since they are good friends: 1. The Bosh reality thing when Morey was giving him a presentation 2. The under 50 win thing for Miami.
I thought .. . when you are THE KING . . .folx came to you not the other way around someone mentioned on the radio this morning DWade comes out looking good in all this. HE WENT OUT AND IMPROVED HIS TEAM FOR HIS FANS LeBron and Bosh just took a dump on their teams and fans For DWADE and HIS FANS Rocket River
Because Luke Waton wasn't Cavs' 3rd best player, and Smush Parker 4th and Kwame Brown 5th? And Cavs did top the league in regular season for last 2 years. When was the last time a superstar cried for help when they were the top seed in regular season?
