I know people are sick to there stomach about all the talk about Lebron I almost crashed the TV listening to Rick Kamla suggest min Vets to the heat in a summer league game With all the drama now between Gilbert and James .. Looking back at it again I think Cleveland had a big oppurtunity to bring multiaple championships to the city but the way they built around James was pretty messy and wrong .. look at OKC and how there gathering guys around durant using the draft .. While Cleveland failed misreably in surrounding James with Talent I mean from 2003 to now the best player they drafted was JJ Hickson or Bobby Gibson .. And when they had a steal like Carlos Boozer the threw him away .. They surrounded him with bad coaches .. Paul Silas .. Mike Malone .. Even Mike Brown wasnt that good and I thought never utilized James Offensively .. And at the end they didnt prepare well enough for this summer they could of been much more flexiable if they had cap to attract one big name I think Lebron chances of staying wouldve been higher .. I dont blame Lebron for leaving Cleveland rather than the way he did it .. it was very humilating and unconsederate and disrespectful to the fans and franchise .. On National TV .. At the end he will pay the price .. he would never reach the greatness he was capable of reaching and his legacy will never compete with Kobe's or Michael's .. So if the Cavs fans are looking for someone to blame they only need to blame there organisation (Not Dan Gilbert completly because he Just bought the team three years ago Somewhat of a short period) * Sorry for my bad spelling iam trying to minimize errors .. ;D
That's a fine post, but my 2 cents: it could have gone in one of the existing 17 LeBron threads on page 1 of NBA Dish.
Excuses................ Lebron had MORE than enough talent around him. If you win 60 games in two seasons you can't blame ur supporting cast. Lebron KNEW he was leaving so he quit on his team in the playoffs. His move to Miami was nothing basketball related
They put enough around him to have the best record in the league over the last 2 seasons. No one thought the team with the best record in the league over the last 2 seasons was NOT a championship contender.
Since that team was so great....lets see how they do next season. Who cares about the Cavs...time to move on. Back to the basement they go.
so you expect that roster sans lebron to make the playoffs? don't worry. we'll find out whether that best record was due to the "great roster around lebron" or 85% of lebron's doing. so who wants to bet they have a bottom 5 record in the east? and when that happens, lebron is going to say, "now you know how much i had to do for that roster they put around me every night." and his legacy just might grow. how often do you see ONE PLAYER leave a team with the best record and that team just goes straight to the dump standings-wise? next year might be a first.
I love how everyone always bring up the fact that the Cavs were a 60 win team in the regular season. Facts are his supporting cast were inconsistent the last 2 years in the playoffs. Facts are you can't win a Championship with a coach whose idea of drawing up an offense in the playoffs is to give the ball to LeBron and everyone move out the way. That may work in the regular season but come playoff time teams make adjustments to that and can focus strictly on the team they are playing a best out of 7 series in. Sure LeBron had his faults in the playoffs but there is no superstar in the NBA who could have gotten that Cavs team a Championship with Mike Brown as the coach.
I don't think that is really a fair way of looking at it. If you take Kobe off of the Lakers I don't think the Lakers would make the playoffs in the West.
Gasol made the playoffs multiple times in the west back when it was just as stacked and he had a worse team than the Kobeless Lakers. People really underrate how good this guy is just because he didn't win in the playoffs. Getting there with a crappy team is a pretty huge accomplishment. Also, in games Kobe has sat out, the Lakers have fared very well. In one stretch this year they went 4-1 against four playoff teams, and the only loss was to Boston by 1.
Gasol is very good and I give him his props. I just think there are a lot of questions marks on that Lakers team. Their bench is inconsistent. Derek Fisher hits clutch shots at times but every game people point him out as the weakness. Lamar Odom is too inconsistent. Then you have Ron Artest who without Kobe would try to do too much. Sure they had a nice 5 game stretch that you pointed out but for a whole season without Kobe I think they would be on the bubble to make the playoffs.
oh yes they would. they'll win AT LEAST 45 games, esp. with phil jackson coaching them. they went 6-3 without kobe, and some even say at times to end the season if kobe should have sat out more games. and you saw what happened in the first round and 2 games in the finals. kobe can play subpar, lakers can still win PLAYOFF GAMES. lebron puts up 30+, 7, 7, and they still lose.
Let's also not downplay that Memphis team Gasol had. The Lakers without Kobe are on the same level as Portland as is. A good team that won't get too far in a 7 game series. Gasol is good at best, but Kobe is a game changer. Teams plan around Kobe, and not necessarily the entire Laker front. With respect to this Miami team, I think coaches will find a weakness in one of the three and capitalize greatly. It could be something as simple as forcing Bosh to play the 5. The key to shutting down these Super Teams is to shut down the source of the team's momentum. For the Lakers it is forcing Kobe to become a volume shooter. The same will be true of Miami. Defense with a well balanced offense wins championships. Think about this: Super Heat vs. a Rockets team. If Shane is at 95% of what he was two years ago then he can harass LeBron and force him to put up a lot of shots. The long arms of an Ariza will annoy Wade. Yeah, the two may still combine for 50-60 points, but that means nothing. The Lakers still lose all the time when Kobe drops 35. However, defenders like Ariza and Battier can stop the rest of the Heat from getting in rhythm. Then Miami has to place all of its weight on a Bosh, which as we've seen is not a good option. That is the key to winning. If the Rockets can do this, LA can do it with ease. Ron Artest will annoy LBJ, and Odom will make Bosh's life a living hell.
you have to remember, it wasn't those guys that stopped lebron or wade. they build the interior to cut off their penetration. so if lebron and wade are on the same side of the court, who are you going to cut off te penetration of? bron and wade now will see less defenders. so even if ariza or battier are at their best, they can't keep those guys in front of them 1-on-1. the reason the other defenders may have been successful before was b/c the defense can focus only on them and keying their interior defense on stopping them and forcing them to take jumpers. this is a unique situation. you have 2 top tier perimeter offensive players who can shoot or penetrate, and a big man who can post up or take the J. artest couldn't even stop paul pierce. the reason he stopped durant was b/c durant is still very young and doesn't undersetand playoff basketball and settled for too many bad Js. bron and wade seeing 1-on-1 coverages now will just be MORE EFFICIENT. your big men can't slide fast enough to the paint to stop both of them.
