[hoopsworld] Imagine if MJ joined Rockets in '89, like LBJ joined Heat. (hypothetical

Jordan didn't demand to play with Pippen. Pippen was put on his team. Some of you guys seriously don't understand what Lebron did. Back then basketball meant more! it was about who you beat, not who you played with. He is Michael Jordan, he could've demanded to go anywhere he wanted!

Michael did not win a championship until his 6th YEAR. wake up! He wasn't whining and complaining and getting ready to leave chi-town. He never quit on them in the playoffs. Lebron did something you do when you've served your time and you haven't won a championship. You can go to any team and still be respected when your older.

You should never leave your team to make a dream team when your that young it makes the game meaningless. Now you see Chris Paul wanting to do it and Carmelo Anthony thinking about it. They are killing the NBA. If you think for a minute that Michael would've done that, you don't know basketball. Guys like Hakeem, Michael and even Karl Malone, They had more loyalty back then. The game has changed.

Lebron can never be compared to any of the greats now, he ruined it. No matter how many championships he wins with the heat. They will just look like bullies, not the good guys.

 

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today


Anyways, my point is this is getting old. Are these writers running out of things to write? I think so.

What if. Imagine.

yeah yeah... the season couldn't start any sooner. Once that's over with, the playoffs couldn't start any sooner, so we can put these talks to rest.

 

So the only difference between LBJ and MJ is Mj was handed a power team while LBJ created his own? Why is waiting on your ass a good thing while making something happen with your own power a bad thing? You forget that LBJ didn't demand a trade. He was a FREE AGENT, and as the name implies he's free to go to anywhere he wanted.

As for who you beat, Dwade and Bosh just won 1 ring between the two of them, and none of them have been to the finals in the past 3 years. The teams to beat are the Celtics and Lakers. So if its who you beat and not who you played with why are you making a big deal out of LBJ playing with Wade?
As I said Pippen before was comparable to Wade now. Why is it ok for MJ to play with Pippen but not ok for LBJ to play with Wade?

In case you've never bothered to look last year is also his 6th in the league. He's already "served time" as you put it for the past 7 years. The only difference is he started playing in the NBA earlier.

I guess in your world Athletes should be dumb as a rock and should never get any rights. They should toil away on teams that aren't good enough and just start to think for themselves when they're old and have creaky knees.

MJ retired like 3 times. That's loyalty, when you go ahead and take a break from B-ball? How about Malone? Didn't he leave Utah and jumped ship to play with the Lakers? I guess being Loyal worked out for Hakeem right? Despite being the best big man in the league for more than a decade, he only won 2 rings and people doubt whether he would have won any had MJ played. Also the Rockets definitely repaid his loyalty when they traded his ass to Toronto.

So when a team gets rid of a player its just business, but when a player leaves a team they aren't loyal? LOL right.

The Bulls weren't bullies? Didn't they win 6 rings in 8 years and establish the most wins in a year? I'm sure guys like Drexler or the Human Highlight reel appreciated it when they faced off against MJ, Rodman and Pippen who's actually good enough to be a franchise guy on his own.

 

You're right of course about Oakley. I meant Horace Grant, who the Bulls picked up in 87. Ironically the reason why Oakley was traded was because Grant.

I don't know. If Jordan had been provided with a choice between never winning a ring and joining someone else to win one and he truly believed those were his two options he could well have jumped ship. It's largely conjecture whichever side you are on (whether those were Lebron's 2 options of course is an entirely other debate).

To roslolian's point, Jordan had great teammates. Think how different Lebron's career would have been if they'd retained Boozer. He ****ed Cleveland at the last minute. Compare that to Pippen who took a r****ded longterm contract to stay with the Bulls. Then again, maybe Jordan did some voodoo behind the scenes or Lebron could have done more to keep Boozer...

 

I'll try to do this in bullets, or short statements.

But Man! where do I even start! Hakeem is a legend in Houston. Don't you get that you can have all the rings in the world but it doesn't matter without people's respect! Hakeem won TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS, thats alot! I don't have two rings do you??? What happened to Hakeem at the end of his career did not happen between him and his fans. I never said anything about liking what the Rockets did to Hakeem. I'm pretty sure no one in Houston liked it.

The Bulls GM's were smart enough to put together one of the greatest teams ever. When you play five on five in the park and you pick your teams, you don't quick in the middle of the game and wait for the next one so you can switch teams, thats the punk way out.

There were legit reasons why Jordan left(his father's death).

Lebron left because he was pretty much scared of losing. He saw an easier way, He quit in the playoffs, he had this all planned and he said he didn't. He had the whole media and everyone thinking he just made up his mind when he really had it planned prolly for a couple of years now.

Lebron accepted the whole KING treatment and left his home town the first time he got the chance. Imagine if Hakeem left early in his career, we would have never won those championships.

Karl Malone was on his last leg, I clearly said it was respectable if you leave your team when your getting older and your chasing a championship, he is still a legend in Utah, people respect and understand that decision. John

Stockton was also a Top 50 player, they lost to Jordan, that's how the game goes.

My whole point about Jordan not winning for 6 years is after the fifth he could have quit or demanded a trade or something, he didn't. They went on to win 6 championships.

Lebron is still very young he has time. He has another good 10 years maybe more, your tellin me that the cavs would not have won a championship in all that time.

Last I checked Lebron wasn't hurting that bad in cleveland, they had the best record in the NBA and they were getting better. Your point about Pippen and Jordan is kinda silly, because they were put together, they didn't betray anyone to be on the same team.

We are talkin about Respect, Loyalty and Drive. This game is for the fans who pay to go see the games. I was one of the biggest fans of Lebron, but I no longer respect him. Sometimes it's not what you do that counts, it's how you do it.

 

Jordan was so intensely loyal that he made it a point never to renegotiate his contract with Reinsdorf, even if he was severely underpaid relative to his contemporaries. I don't think his ego would have allowed him to share the court with another dominant personality. You can say all you want about Pippen being one of the all time greats, he is better described as the all time greatest sidekick. He always deferred to Jordan, and that dynamic was what allowed their relationship to work.

There is no way that Jordan would ever leave Chicago to join someone else's team. Too much pride in him to do that.

Sidenote, Hoopsworld is pretty much another name for bleacherreport. Are these amateurs writing these pieces? Even the Scola article was researched quite poorly.

 

Err you mean except for the year when he signed for 36M and basically became the highest paid b-ball player in history right?

Here's a sample of the 1995-1996 All star peepz sorted by salary. Notice how although paid a small amount, MJ's salary really isn't that far removed from his contemporaries like Hakeem, Shaq etc. Sure he should have been the one making 18M in this list, however the difference between Hakeem's 5.3 and MJ's 4M is kinda small. Factor in the excess from that massive 36M contract he signed and he probably made around the same as these guys salary wise.

1. Patrick Ewing New York $18.7
2. Clyde Drexler Houston $9.8
3. David Robinson San Antonio $7.7
4. Shaquille O'Neal Orlando $5.7
5. Hakeem Olajuwon Houston $5.3
6. Sean Elliott San Antonio $5.3
7. Anfernee Hardaway Orlando $5.23
8. Charles Barkley Phoenix $4.76
9. Alonzo Mourning, Miami $4.6
10. Grant Hill Detroit $4.05
11. Michael Jordan Chicago $4.0
12. Vin Baker Milwaukee $3.785
13. Karl Malone Utah $3.68

 

id say about 8 championship rings----

 

Did you notice how Jordan and Hakeem were the only true superstars there that weren't on rookie contracts? 4 million per year for Michael Jordan was criminal when you had guys on rookie scale contracts making more coin.

 

Those old vets & overpaid players had the best record in the NBA the last two years. LBJ leaving because he didnt have capable players is a cop out, an a excuse people use to change subject of him quiting. I dont know why people even compare LBJ to MJ when he still hasnt surpassed a 30+ yr old Kobe Bryant. Bottom line, Lebron will NEVER go down as top 5 greatest

 

What?!

 

I'm afraid I had to rep this post, laying down the situation quite nicely.

 

MJ and Dream? They be even better than Magic and Kareem. They will not just be building a dynasty, they be creating a legacy.

 

Lebron was constantly given all star level talents for nothing (jamison for cap relief, mo williams for damon jones).

 

Bad analogy. As has been pointed out numerous times, Lebron never demanded a trade ("quit in the middle of the game"). He waited until he was a free agent and "started the next game" with a team of his choosing. That's not a punk move. When I play ball, I prefer to be on the same team as my friends, too. It's more fun.

 

The game in this analogy is his career. He did quit, I'm sorry but he did. He quit in the playoffs and he quit on his team. He had the thing planned for a lot longer than this summer, he quit awhile ago.

 

If the game in this analogy is a player's entire career, then why did you say this in the same post:

Karl Malone left Utah before the end of his career. Using your analogy, that is quitting during the game just like Lebron did, but in Malone's case you say it is respectable.

Like I said, bad analogy.

 

LBJ isn't the first to leave his team in hopes of winning elsewhere, but loyalty certainly is a lot less common then it used to be.

Shaq is a Celtic? Seriously? That's just wrong.

 

I pretty much typed anything just to respond to you, lol. I would've and still could give you a better explanation if I thought you would try to understand it, but you won't and I don't really care, your being trivial. This has nothing to do with the overall subject.