MJ: "I would never have called up Larry, Magic & say lets get together."

Certainly - if you can win 60 games, you're capable of winning 16 in the playoffs. No question about that part. But if the argument is he should have stayed because Cleveland managment did put a good supporting cast around him, then we have to measure only the supporting cast. If the team wins 40+ games without him, we know that he had a pretty good supporting cast. If they win 20, then it's clear that he was carrying that entire team.

 

Jordan's rookie contract was a 7-year, $6.3 million contract, which was renegotiated 4-years into that contract. He didn't become a free agent until June 1996, when he negotiated a one-year, $30 million contract with the Bulls.

 

In 2009/10 season they went:

2-2 against Boston

3-0 against Miami

2-2 against Orlando

3-1 against Atlanta



In 2008/09 season they went:

2-1 against Boston

3-1 against Miami

1-2 against Orlando

3-1 against Atlanta


Those were the top 4 teams AFTER the Cavs in the East over both those seasons.

They went 19-10 against those teams.

Let's stop the revisionist history that the Cavs couldn't play with these teams.

 

The question isn't the supporting cast...the question is, as a team, were the Cavs good enough? Certainly they were.

It took the Rockets a while to put the pieces around Dream.

 

A while would probably be understating it, considering Hakeem got his two titles near the end of his career, even after playing godly b-ball from day 1. Sorry to say it, but clutch city failed Dream and wasted the career of one of the best players in history. Had Hakeem gone to bulls instead of Jordan, I'm pretty sure he would have won more than 6 rings. Hakeem with Rodman and Pippen? Who the hell will be able to score on that frontcourt?

So IMHO Hakeem is definitely a reminder why staying with your team isn't always the best idea. esp. if your teams fails to give you a good cast for 7 years straight.

 

so many "ifs" in this, i don't know how to even respond. the assumptions that if they had Hakeem everything would have been exactly the same for the Bulls (including still signing Rodman and Pippen) or that Dream wouldn't have left before then are just that...assumptions.

by the way...it took the bulls some time to put something alongside Jordan too. he was never thrilled with his supporting cast.

 

Hakeem got his titles in the prime of his career. Management surrounded him with adequate players by 1992 - 8 years after being drafted. That season they had the 3rd best record in the West and very capable of winning the title.

 

What kind of bullcrap is this? You're asking your GM to get you help, how is that "shaping team in your image"?

Is Pau Gasol a person in the image of Kobe Bryant?

Jeezus, you act like staying on a team gives you the executive power to sign players, when the reality is you're more like a baby crying his eyes out because he's hungry.

Also, why don't you ask CP3 how fulfilling his "journey" is, losing season after season in NO while the three kings party in south beach LOL.

Fact is, its easy to say **** like this because you aren't the ones experiencing the frustration of knowing your peers are considered better players simply because they had the fortune of landing in great teams with great GMs. Like I said the only ones who have the right to codemn LBJ are guys like Wade, CP3 and KG, and so far, I haven't seen any of them throwing stones.

MJ. Kobe and Durant certainly need to shut up. NBA wise those three have been born with silver spoons in their mouth, and its like rich people condemning a beggar to man up and look for a job.

 

wrong again, when jordan first came into the league he had a teamate by the name of Orlando Woolridge, a player that was good enough to get traded because the bulls didn't want to have any doubt who's team it was

 

the Boston team that took LA to seven games remember, is well documented to have rested their stars during the regular season.

the orlando team they went 1-2 against, yeah they lost to them

 

LOL during the 1992-3 Hakeem was already 30 years old by then. The season he started his campaign after his 2nd ring he was already 33 years old, hardly a big man's prime. In fact grizzled veteran Brad Miller is 33 years old.

 

He never had a bigman like Zydrunas Ilguaskas
He never PFs like Boozer/Gooden/Jamison
He never had a PG like Mo Williams
He never had a deep bench


LBJ has had these pieces throughout most of his career.

 

Seriously, if you people really think LBJ has been winning 60+ games by himself over the past couple of years, I really don't know what to say to you.

 

Exactly. It's actually pathetic. The Cavs win 60 games and have the best record in the league, his fans, "Lebrons the greatest player ever, such a great player & leader. Wow that Lebron!!!". As soon as they lose, "It's not Lebrons fault. It was Mo Willams, Jamison, & Big Z's fault!!! Only if Lebron had a player like Derek Fisher"

 

or pau gasol, or ron artest or vince carter or kevin garnett or etc etc

 

I'd do anything just to get some recognition points by MJ...lol

 

Because when teams build around a player, it's very rare that they sign two other top 10 NBA players to play along with him. It's typically through small moves that pan out (Pippen), or through the draft (Horace Grant), or by adding role player pieces to fill a need (Rodman). This is exactly what the Bulls did.

If MJ was asking the GM to get immediate help (like bringing in two top 10 players), then the GM failed pretty miserably, so I don't even know how this is relevant. Rodman was probably the best already-established player that was ever brought in during Jordan's time with Bulls, and he was really just a role player on steroids.

Who did the Bulls ever bring in that was already as good as Pau Gasol? No one was even half as good as Gasol when they came to the Bulls.

Uh, you just proved the point. It's much easier to just jump to a team with two other top 10 NBA players than it is to stay and build up with a team like Jordan did.

 

It's probably because he views Lebron as weak in the head, something that MJ would prey upon by his nature.

 

the point i was countering was that their 60+ win seasons weren't of significance because they just fattened up on weaker teams in the Eastern Conference.

19-10 against that conference's best teams suggests otherwise.