Nice team? This is getting tiresome but one last try. Have you watched the Cavs much this year? You must have missed the games LeBron literally carried the team on his back to wins because nobody else was worth a cup of coffee. And the other games they lost because he was the only Cavs player who showed up. There were a few games when the team played well but their whole offense is predicated on the defense keying on LeBron. On some of your other points: 12/8 makes Big Zero a top 5 center? Hmmm. Yao, Amare, DHoward, Shaq, Curry, Okur, Camby, etc. Plus he is a master choker! The Cavs signed Hughes because of what he is capable of. The problem is he almost never plays to that capability. If the Cavs had a second go round of the Summer of 2005 they would treat Hughes like radioactive waste. He is one of the biggest free agent busts in recent memory. The Cavs are paying him for the one career year he had as a Wizard. Drew Gooden is a rich man's Stromile Swift (in that he can rebound and has some strength). He disappears for long stretches during seasons and during games. Varajao is another guy who isn't worth a dime on offense other than for layups, dunks or offensive rebounds. I'll grant you he has shown some flashes at times. Surely you can't be serious about Damon Jones and Eric Snow. Damon has been a complete joke since he left Wade's side and Snow is "wiley" with no offense at all. On top of it all, the Cavs have a coach that defines cluelessness on offense. It shows that he's drilled the Cavs very hard on defense because they can derail the Pistons without committing a ton of fouls. But their offensive sets break down 99% of the time and it's always on LeBron to improvise and make something happen. LeBron isn't a great leader in the mold of MJ, but he's definitely ahead of Tracy.
are u kidding me? he is in the east for god sakes, which is even worse than when tmac was over there if that can be imagined. plus, he has good help to contend in the east. and lebron has faced softer competition and his stats are not all that great so what are u talking about? he's shooting 40% like tmac. facing weaker defenses until the pistons. and the first two games, he sucked like hell. so how is lebron a better leader than tmac?
yea, watch the first 2 games v. the pistons. um yea. um yea. and we've seen what lebron is doing facing a good defense. wiz and nets don't count brother.
did yao? a 7'6 enormous with a 6' inch mismatch over anybody shooting merely 44%? 4% better than tracy, a guard??? turning it over more than iverson and wade? grabbing boards like a grandmama. did head? howard? alston? damn. o well, tracy has to win to shut all these fools up. again, i emphasize. lebron plays THE EAST. he faced the wiz and nets. two teams we can beat without yao EASILY. to compare the west and east is like comparing the NBA to high school
Give it up, A3. There's always going to be a few rabid McGrady partisans out there who just wont' face the facts - Mr. "it's on me" just can't get it done in the way that his peers routinely do in May if history is any guide.
and until game 3, has lebron have a dominant game in this yr's playoffs yet? i don't think so. at least tmac has 3 (games 2, 5, 7). => which is sgtill not good enough. apparently, rockets suck so much that tmac has to show up EVERY game for them to have a chance. while bron doesn't. while wade doesn't. while deron doesn't. while boozer doesn't.. and so on. while kobe with shaq doesn't... tmac has to be perfect or else he's a choker. "sigh"
bron's supporting cast since he entered the L > better than every yr tmac has been a superstar except for this yr. and e plays in the east. and u want to know why lebron aint a leader? who the hell bites their nails in cruch time and then goes out misses fts? who the hell shoots 30% in the 4th quarter in this yr's playoffs? 30% IN THE 4TH QUARTER? is that a leader to you? in games 3-5 v. the nets, this is his stats in the 4th: 1-4, 1-5, 1-4. not including the missed fts either. in the 2 fourth quarters v. the pistons in games 1 and 2, he avagers 3 POINTS in those quarters. so now really, does he have an easy opponent? or is he a better leader? really. i am fine w/ ppl bashing on tmac, but to use lebron as an example??? the guy who's the worst 4th quarter superstar in the L outside of dirk is baffling. u think tmac misses fts?? ESPN radio w/ dan patrick said many in the cavs organiation wishes lebron would not shoot fts in the 4th for fear he'll miss them. yes, he's a better leader than tmac.
No you haven't, otherwise there's no way you would've come to the conclusion you did. In fact the stereotype on James w/out watching a single game is still nowhere close to what you said. Watch an actual game. How about tonight? Then post your thoughts. Otherwise stop guessing.
why can't juwan howard be like drew gooden hitting those open 15 ft jumpers like gooden is tonight v. the pistons?
gooden has had a few games like this in the playoffs brother. and look at him wanting to fight sheed . so is it all lebron? our hayes/howard pales in comparison to this fool
Luther Head and Juwan Howard didnt step up for us while we see Daniel Gibson and Drew Gooden playing well for them.
lebron's 25 and 11 apparently > tmac's 29 and 13. but again, utah > detroit. that's how good this conference is. houston WITHOUT yao could go all the way to the finals playing in the damn weak east. that conference literally sucks balls.
Lebron and T-Mac play a similar style, but Lebron can at least drive. Both have questionable heart and killer instinct though.
They really aren't similar players. LeBron's relentless driving is what sets him apart from Tracy. He doesn't just jack up jumpers because he dislikes contact. In fact, during most of their games LeBron passes up multiple outside jumpers while Tracy will stay out there all game: "I'm gonna keep on shooting" For tonight, LeBron was killer enough for me. It remains to be seen what will happen if/when the Cavs have a chance to close the Pistons out. He passed this test but tonight wasn't a final exam for LBJ.
wow. u can't hate tmac that bad? ANYONE whos a casual fan saw a guy filled with heart playing in that game. u ask a casual fan and they would say he put his heart into the game. there's a reason the rockets were down 16 and tmac brought the mback. a guy with no heart would quit when we were down by 16. but again, seems like some of u know a lot about heart. go donate your heart to one who needs it b/c obviously u dont know much about the heart
so u disregarded gooden's shots, which were more huge? that gooden steal? gooden won that game. bron did his part, but that's why our role players suck. howard got those same shots. head got those same shots. alston got those same shots. if they made 40% of those, we'd win. then u all would talk about how great of a playmaker tmac is really is. but again, its very easy to hate on tracy mgrady. more than 50% of ppl in houston does so it's not really surprising. i mean, i get the tmac hate reading the chron dail.
I didn't want to address the thread title because it's inevitably going to get ridiculous, and truthfully it doesn't matter who's better. But if you guys are going to bring up nitpicking single case evidence... 25/11 vs 29/13? Well if we're going to bring this point up, we should also mention that the Cavs game was a lower scoring game (approx -10 for each team). Better defense? Worse offense? You all know there is a difference between games in the 80's and games that go near 100. People have sunk to proving 'WHO'S GOT THE WORST ROLE PLAYERS!!11!!'. This is getting stupid. First of all, I'm surprised everyone is jumping on the Cavs bandwagon! These guys are so great! But they suck because everyone in the East sucks. So which is it? You can't have it both ways. Not to mention you guys sound like analysts who think Yao is a finesse jump shooter. And throwing the Rockets in the East to prove your point? That's a lot of variables. How about this argument: put Lebron on the Rockets and Tmac on the Cavs, what would happen? My perception: Tmac's a better shooter. Lebron's a better driver. Lebron's a better post player. Tmac's a better defender. Passing is pretty even, I'd give an edge to Lebron if I had to. 'Leadership' is so hard to judge considering we aren't on the bench. But I'd give the edge to Lebron who really seems vocal and it's pretty obvious he plays the 'floor general'. OVERALL RIGHT NOW: The edge to Lebron. Does it mean Tmac sucks? No. I like having Yao and Tmac on our team after these few years. I don't want to trade either of them for anyone. Call me a fan of them. No one implies Tmac sucks when everyone knows Kobe is a better player. Why is it different w/ Lebron? When we're judging the star guards/forwards it's a very close bunch. Kobe, Wade, Lebron, Tmac, Arenas. That's pretty good company. It's like arguing who's got more money between two billionaires.
I don't hate Tracy at all. But I'm fed up with him being a softy. Yao is better than any 3 teammates of LeBron's combined. Shane is as good as any an Cavs player not named LeBron. I've watched them more than a few times this season and except for when Yao was out and rounding back into shape, LeBron had a much heavier load this season than Tracy. If you put Tracy on the Cavs this year, they don't finish #2 in the East because Tracy couldn't have carried that kind of load for 82 games. In the playoffs, Tracy would have led the Cavs past the Wizards, clearly. The Nets I'm not so sure about. You also have to factor in Mike Brown's inability to coach offense at all. The Cavs need to get rid of him but every game they win guarantees their return. I said in another thread they need Adelman 10 times worse than the Rockets.
