I personally think Wade is capable enough to take games over himself (actually I do not think that, he IS capable enough). You replace LeBron with any All-Star, I guarantee you that the Heat are exactly where they are right now.
and what did Lebron do with NO All-Star? oh, that's right. he took a team of scrubs straight to the Finals.
wow, thats a bit of a stretch there...lebron is not replaceable... hate that argument that ppl say...oh no kobe no t-mac this team would be even better!!! rubbish...in that case the minnesota timberwolves should have won a championship last year. addition by subtraction? utter rubbish...that and along with superstars not making their team better...*facepalm/*
Really? Lebron is tailor made for the way the Heat play, no other player in the league can do what he does. Same could be said for Wade, as he has locked down any player he has played on, and helps spread the floor for Lebron to work.
Nope, I think I'm going to have to say that LeBron would have been hated on everywhere as soon as he left Cleveland. Leaving Cleveland was the H-Bomb that triggered everything. Weren't half of the people of this bbs calling Bosh a softie or a scrub, even perhaps worse than Scola? Well in that case LeBron would have only been teaming up with one other "superstar". (but of course ppl are going to jump in and say the opposite to what they said before and say bosh is a true superstar to try to be right). This hate on LeBron is a bit extreme. If Cleveland had put up a good team, LeBron probably would have never left, or he would have left with a ring or 2 which is basically all Cleveland wanted. Those 2007 Spurs and 2006 Mavericks were beatable if LeBron had someone say, Kevin Garnett on his team.
This is different from your argument since this team has two allstars along with LeBron including one superstar in DWade. I didn't say subtraction. I said, replace LeBron with another all-star and they would still be here and I stand by it. Same can probably be said if you replace Wade with a different All-Star. I am not aware if you know this but Dwyane Wade is really good.
Shaq put up 20/9/2/2 on 60% and was 1st team all-NBA that year. Until this year, LeBron never had anyone close to that caliber on his team. Like I've been saying for years, the moment LeBron got some real help, he'd win titles. That's why using titles to rate a player's individual legacy is absurd; it depends just as much on the teammates they have. Dominique Wilkins shouldn't be punished because he always had ****ty teammates.
what amazes me is that people who make these claims apparently didn't even watch the game. any general NBA fan can tell you the mavs doubled shaq in the finals series and let wade go 1-on-1 ALL SERIES. avery johnson didn't make a single adjustment defensively on wade at all.
a past his prime 2006 Shaq was a lot more than Lebron ever had. also, i love how Wade gets a pass on this whole situation. He wanted Lebron and Bosh as much as the other two wanted to be in Miami together.
Luck is always a part of winning a championship. The Rockets got lucky in 1994 and 1995 that somebody else took out the Sonics in the first round. Your boy Kobe got lucky in 2000, 2002, and 2010 that the referees decided to start calling fouls completely differently in the fourth quarters of elimination games than they had all game before that. The Spurs got lucky in 2005 that Rasheed Wallace, supposedly one of the smartest players in the game, left Robert Horry wide open for a game winning three. The 2004 Pistons got lucky that Karl Malone got hurt and everyone else on the Lakers forgot that Shaq was on their team and being guarded by a guy giving up 7 inches shorter and 80 pounds lighter.
I'll take a past his prime Shaq(Miami) over a past his prime Ilgauskas(Cleveland). Cleveland Ilgauskas was not good enough to be in the same arena as the Miami Shaq.
All NBA champions are tainted because no matter how you look at it, the way the rules are implemented and the referees are instructed it is all about the individual. If referees would be fair, the NBA would be totally different. Since the NBA is big business and all about the money, they are not going to change because in the end it is about the entertainment of people. I don't know how that was in the early days but it has become worse. Taking away handchecking was made so stats would go up, scores would go up and to make players, especially really good ones, to look good. Now, players cannot even touch a guy like Kobe, Lebron or Wade without the whistle being blown. Even if it so much looks as if Wade / Lebron is being hindered (stepping in the way, swiping at the ball, touching etc.) they got the foul. That's why I cannot compare now to the 90s or even say MJ is the best or whoever. MJ got his share of superstar calls so those 6 championships I would also call tainted. By the way, calling the team who wins the NBA championship World champions is hilarious to me.
