Yeah name the last team to win a championship with 3 legit superstars? Kobe, Shaq and .... (This was a young Kobe too) 1 superstar Duncan, Ginobili, Parker? 1 superstar Billups, Hamilton, .... uh just a good team KG, Pierce, Allen ...back ends of thier careers, KG didnt want to leave Minnesota until the Celtics traded for Allen, still one 3 superstars in their prime Kobe, Pau .... Pau is a borderline superstar D-Wade and Shaq ... this wasnt the Shaq of the late 90s early 2000s A championship of Lebron, Wade, and Bosh? Tainted.
If Pau is a borderline superstar then Bosh is not even a borderline superstar. Lebron has Wade, but Jordan also had Pippen (hall of famer)
You don't see a big difference between what happened last summer (and maybe several more summers in the future) and past NBA history? Oh well, plenty of us do. The NBA better do something about it or a large chunk of the fanbase will be disillusioned. If the Wade/LeBron/Bosh thing was a one-time event, that would be different. But this is a "genie" that won't go back into the bottle unless the CBA addresses it.
Wow, you're joking right? It's tainted because their team is 3 musketeers plus garbage and is perceived to be a great team? What about the Lakers when they beat Iverson's 76'ers? They steamrolled through the playoffs unopposed. Surely, their team was equally unfair and their championship tainted as well? Actually, I guess most of championships in the last 10 years were tainted because the Eastern Conference representative always sucked so hard.. Get real.
Nope. The only difference is that instead of one team ripping another one off to get a talent upgrade or tanking to get a talent upgrade, some free agents decided to put themselves in better positions. If the Heat traded for everyone no one would care. It shouldn't go back in the bottle. What happened this summer is a bunch of free agents decided to make their lives easier.
Bosh isn't a superstar. I don't even know if I would rather have him over Odom (Lakers 3rd best player), Boston's 3rd best player 3 years ago (KG, Pierce or Allen....pick one), Ginobili or Parker (pick one) or Sheed/Rip/Hamilton from 04 (pick one). I definately wouldn't want him over Rodman (Bulls), or the 3rd best player from any title team in the 80's. So please spare me the parity, "this team has too much talent" garbage. I have seen much better teams stomp through the league and win titles.
This would be the nail in the coffin. Every young star is going too want to form the avengers or the super friends. The league will have too rescind at least four teams. Lets all hope the Rockets get at least one superstar in the very near future.
Seriously. Name a team that has traded for the equivalent of Lebron in his prime and Bosh in his prime in the modern history of NBA. (I say modern history because there were old days when there weren't many teams and owners weren't all multi-millionaires.)
Guess you haven't watch many Miami games, but Bosh is very important to the Heat, and will easily average 20 and 10 by the end of the season, and is also underrated at the defensive end.
Why does it have to be in their prime? Pre or post prime stars can't win titles? The Celtics traded for Parish/McHale in the same offseason. Who cares if they were in their prime....it still changed basketball for the decade. The Bulls trading for Rodman? The Pistons landing Billups and Sheed? The Heat landing Shaq? LA landing Gasol? Boston landing Allen and KG (2 Finals in 3 years). No it wasn't for LeBron and Bosh, but Bosh isn't a super duper star like you guys are making him out to be. The last 3 years of basketball have been directly impacted by franchises giving guys away (Gasol and Garnett), to franchises that have combined to win more than half of the titles in league history. Yet I'm supposed to say things are unfair when some free agents decide to hook up? Child please....
I consider superstars the faces of franchises Bosh = face of the Raptors. Wade = face of the Heat. Lebron = face of the Cavs. These are 3 top 10 players in the era of basketball. And Bosh is definitely a superstar or at least our GM believes so. And are you seriously comparing Wade to Pippen? Pippen couldnt lead a team to anything without Jordan Wade lead his team to a championship, and the playoffs Lebron lead his teams to 60+ win seasons and a trip to the finals Bosh lead the Raptors to the playoffs as well
Is Bosh clearly better than the 3rd player from these title winning teams: 2010 - Odom 2009 - Odom 2008 - Allen 2007 - Manu or Parker 2005 - Manu or Parker 2004 - Billups or Hamilton 1998 - Rodman 1997 - Rodman 1996 - Rodman 1993 - Grant 1992 - Grant 1991 - Grant 1990 - Rodman or Aguirre 1989 - Rodman or Aguirre 1988 - Worthy or Scott 1987 - Worthy or Scott 1986 - Parish 1985 - Worthy 1984 - Parish 1983 - Cheeks 1982 - Wilkes 1981 - Parish
Was Steve Francis a superstar? What about Ray Allen on the Sonics, KG in Minnesota, and PP in Boston? Sorry but Bosh is not a Top 10 player.. LOL Edit:::: I completely overlooked what you said about Pippen because of the sheer ridiculousness of the first few lines. Maybe you're just too young to remember but Pippen is a Hall of famer and one of the 50 greatest players of all time.
I understand fans being pro parity and against the formation of superteams. Obviously, being a fan of a team without a single star watching all these guys get together (knowing your team doesn't have a chance against them) is frustrating. It just doesn't make sense to me to punish them for taking slightly less money to play together. I think what scares people most is that these guys want to win more than they want the biggest possible paycheck. That's why it seems like there may be no end, it's the unknown. "Oh NO! Nene might sign for the mid-level, they're not as greedy as we thought they were!" There's no order. The days of knowing exactly where a guy will sign (based on who can afford to pay him most) may be behind us. That's a huge difference from baseball. Miami didn't outbid anyone, Bosh and Lebron chose to join the team for less money. I don't see how you eliminate this issue in any fair way.
Not everyone is "punishing" the players for taking less money to form "super teams". Some of us just don't like how it would escalate and harden the division between the "have" and "have not" franchises. The players are only doing what the CBA allows them to do. I don't blame them for that at all. A lot of people underestimated the effect the Miami trio would have on other players.
Returning to the point of the article on which the thread is based, this looks like great news for a team like the Rockets that could use a quality center like Nene. And agreed with those saying that Nene will NOT be going to the Heat any time soon. To the extent the MLE (all Miami could offer him) even exists under the new CBA, it'll be greatly reduced. He ain't taking a pay cut that big. Let's just hope he'd be willing to sign with the Rockets (assuming Houston goes the cap room route).
