You make some good points, but the main point your missing is that the Lakers, Celtics etc, has had 3 to 5 years to build there roster, where Miami has only had 1. Miami will be at full strength in two years, when they can use the MLE for a PG, Center etc and get ring chasers. Also, since Haslem and Miller have started playing together, the Heat have been on a huge playoff run. Also, they beat the Celtics without Miller and Haslem, there 2 top bench players, and there 4th quarter starters.
I thought New York or the Clippers would have been great situations for him to win and still be the man. Chicago at the time wasn't quite as attractive as they are now because Rose hadn't taken off and I couldn't fault him for getting lucky and hitting the jackpot with Rose. However in the situation they wouldn't have got Boozer. Honestly I was really hoping he would go play with the Clippers and challenge Kobe in his own city. Gordon/Lebron/Blake/Kaman would have been nasty.
Here is a great article about Lebron and the misguided and wrong view by people that Lebron played a bad game 3 in the finals http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/fl-hyde-heat-mavs-0607-20110606,0,6668461.column Game 3 showed the greatness of LeBron - if you wanted to see it DALLAS — Maybe America can't hear the music above the noise and nonsense. Maybe it can't see the beauty through the poison and passion. Or maybe everyone's just so deeply dug in against LeBron James they refuse to see beyond the daily referendum of "Whose team is this?" or the simplistic notion of him "shrinking in the big moments." It's not good enough for the Heat to rise above Dallas in the NBA Finals. LeBron also must bring out a special skill set of patience, thick skin and borderline elegance in dealing with a media swirl that refuses to graduate to the good stuff. "Do you feel you can't win?" a reporter asked him Monday about all the criticism he caught for scoring 18 points in Game 3. "I did win,'' he said about the game itself. "That's what it's about." He smiled. He knows what he wants and it's two wins away.So many radioactive topics about LeBron are overplayed. But so much is underplayed, too. His desire to win. His willingness to share. His flexibility to defend every position on the floor in a manner few superstars want and none has done. That's the real shame of Game 3. LeBron wasn't at his offensive greatest. But Dallas has no one to cover Dwyane Wade — journeyman DeShawn Stevenson? 38-year-old Jason Kidd? – and the Heat knows that. LeBron sure does. He had nine assists. He played defense to the point Jason Terry didn't score again in the fourth quarter. He played the kind of game the Heat needed right down to the last minute, when Dallas center Tyson Chandler came off Chris Bosh to double-team LeBron. If Magic Johnson throws an acrobatic, behind-the-back pass to James Worthy, America swoons. But when LeBron did the same to Bosh for Sunday's winning basket, America anointed this Wade's team. How childish. How formulaic. Never mind a week ago that Scottie Pippen lit a national discussion by saying LeBron was better than Michael Jordan. That's so yesterday. The real thought is a revolution. Wade and LeBron aren't Batman and Robin like Jordan and Pippen. They're Batman and Batman. They're Alpha Dog and Alpha Dog. They're John and Paul in the early years. Success is the next hurdle they'll have to handle. But in the early days that ability to mesh egos and games is another underestimated talent about them. "It's what makes them so special,'' Spoelstra said. LeBron ran the table in the fourth quarter against Chicago. But after Wade's past two big games came a a drive-by question about why "at a moment superstars become superstars" he was "shrinking" on the big stage. You know how a first-class celebrity handles that? By simultaneously answering it and staying above it. It's a delicate two-step to carry off, but LeBron did so in a conversational tone. "Um, I think that you're concentrating on one side of the floor and all you're looking at is the stat sheet,'' he said. "Honestly, I'm a two-way player. D-Wade had it going offensively so … we allowed him to bring us home offensively. "You should watch the film again and see what I did defensively and you ask me a better question tomorrow." It took a while to get to this point with LeBron. If Erik Spoelstra kept calling the Heat's growth a "process" this year, it's also been a process for South Florida in getting to know LeBron. "The Decision" was the pits. November brought issues. The the national narrative of the Heat hasn't kept up with the season from there. It's still stuck in July. An ocean liner is so big and clunky it takes seven miles to turn one in the open sea. The same idea applies for the national media. They'll turn eventually to see the Heat for what it is. But it'll take time. And patience. As the Heat win not one, not two, not three, not four … America will come around. Dirk Nowitzki scored the final 12 Dallas points before throwing away a pass and missing a shot in the final seconds. The media storyline is Dirk needs help. That's a proper one. It's exactly what LeBron said in leaving Cleveland. He's got help. He's playing beautiful basketball. Can you hear his music above the noise?
I would have loved for LeBron to have come to the Clippers, but that team would have been just as talented, if not more, than the Heat are now. The only way for LeBron to "prove himself" in many people's eyes would be to go to a team with no talent and win a title, eg New Jersey or Minnesota.
I am definitely not one of those people. Everybody needs a good amount of talent to win. I like the Clippers for Lebron because he gets to lead two young talented players in Gordon and Griffin. I think the talent level is comparable but because they are so much younger and nobody has a ring and playoff experience it makes the task harder. He would have been the captain of the team unlike his current situation. I'm not calling him Robin but Wade says himself that he is the captain and that means something to me. As big a Kobe fan as I am Lebron taking the city from him would have just been too good of a moment in sports not to appreciate.
Nope, the clippers would have been perfect. Nobody would have said anything. What would they say? The clippers are too good? Silly.
Why on earth would LeBron go to the Clippers? That franchise is the laughing stock of the NBA, and they probably would have been worse than the Cavs. Blake Griffin hadn't played a single game before the season and you want LeBron to bet his NBA career/legacy on Blake's potential? The grabbing at straws is becoming embarrassing. The Kings would have been a great choice too. Tyreke Evans was ROY, top five pick, and blah blah blah. But why on earth would he do that? He wants to win, but become a savior for losers so you can sleep at night. There were only two legitimate options for LeBron: Knicks, Bulls. The Clippers? You kidding me? Clippers? Insert the Iversion rant in here because it's hilarious. I doubt anyone wants to be remembered as the greatest player in Clippers history.
Miami was a great choice, as it has a great coaching team, great facility's and Pat Riley, who is the best GM in the NBA. Also, working with your best friend is always a bonus, plus Miami is Miami still.
Just shows how obsessed the media is to talk about LeBron. Heat won and all they talk about is how Lebron played in the 4th. There is hardly any talk about what Dallas needs to do.
So you're saying LBJ should make it harder on himself just for the sake of making it harder for himself? Why doesn't he go and cut off 3 of the fingers on his left hand while he's at it, I'm pretty sure people will call him the GOAT if he wins a ring with only 7 fingers on both hands The problem here is people are holding him to standards that defy logic. Why will a logical person make it harder on himself to win rings? You don't hear Kobe complaining that he got drafted by the team that had Shaq, and in fact he threatened to leave unless the Lakers got him help. MJ certainly didn't complain about playing with Pippen and the rest of the Jordainers...if he wanted to he could have left the BUlls and played on a crap team to really cement his legacy. Instead, he went back to the team that still won 55 games without him! MJ, what a coat-rider
maybe it be wrong or right, Lebron will always be a follower who couldn't win where he started sorry, there is maybe like 1 guy (kareem) in the top 10 of all time that left teams to win more? But i think he already won where he was at to start? this is how the media will do it, and i love it.
1. Shaq left Orlando. Do you ever hear about him abandoning Orlando? Nope. 2. Moses Malone left Houston. Do you ever hear about him abandoning Houston? Nope. If LeBron wins a championship, he'll be known as a champion. They all are.
How the hell is it making it harder for himself when he's going to a better team? I'm just saying he took the easiest route. *waits for Icehouse to say but all he did was get teammates as good as past winners*
Anybody that had seen Blake Griffin play knew the guy was going to be a beast. He had had no real injury problems in college and had a freak accident in the preseason that cost him his rookie year. The injury risk of going to play with Griffin was only a little higher than going to play with a 29 yr old Wade based on his history. You can rant all you want about the Clippers but if the Lakers chose Shaq over Kobe, Kobe would have went to the Clippers back then.
Hell of a follower, to be leading the team in numerous categories. I wish my Rockets could get a follower to lead us in points, boardsa nd assists in the playoffs, while also being a lockdown defender.
