Now Lebron wants to form another superteam with CP3, Melo & Wade..Can we disqualify him from GOAT co

[rQUOTEr]Would LeBron's 'Super Friends' squad beat the Warriors in a series?

Spoiler

With the defending champion Golden State Warriors making history in their pursuit of the NBA's best regular-season record, LeBron James might be thinking about how he can beat the Warriors if a healthy Cleveland Cavaliers team is unable to do so. Could LeBron reclaim the title with a little help from his super friends?

In a story published earlier this week, James told Bleacher Report he'd like to team up with friends Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul at some point, along with former Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade.

"I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together. ... At least one, maybe one or two seasons -- me, Melo, D-Wade, CP -- we can get a year in," James said. "I would actually take a pay cut to do that."
If James is thinking sooner rather than later, could such a team -- let's call them the Banana Boats -- contend with Golden State next season?

Projecting a 'Super Friends' team

While Anthony said "somewhere warm" would be a better destination for joining forces with James & Co. down the road when the four future Hall of Famers are nearing retirement, such a team would most easily be built now in Cleveland.

The Cavaliers could realistically swap Kevin Love for Anthony, possibly as part of a long-rumored three-team trade sending Love to the Boston Celtics with young talent and draft picks going to the New York Knicks for Anthony. Meanwhile, a Paul-Kyrie Irving swap would make sense for the Clippers if Paul used his ability to leave as a free agent in the summer of 2017 as leverage to force them into a trade.

In this hypothetical, only Wade would have to sacrifice financially. (He'd have to sign for the Cavaliers' taxpayer midlevel exception, worth $3.5 million.) And the super friends would join an intact Cleveland roster that would feature Tristan Thompson as a fifth starter with J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye off the bench. The Cavaliers would still have the ability to re-sign free agents Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov to fill out the rotation.

Projections using the multiyear, predictive version of ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) and an aging factor suggest such a roster could be expected to win 62 games in 2016-17 with an offensive rating 7.5 points better per 100 possessions than league average (this year's Cleveland team is 4.5 points better per 100 possessions) and a defensive rating 1.3 points better per 100 possessions than league average (slightly worse than the Cavaliers' plus-1.5 rating in 2015-16).

While it's an improvement on this year's Cavaliers' pace, 62 wins might not sound so impressive. After all, Golden State already has 64 wins this season with 11 games left to play.

Keep in mind, however, that projection systems are designed to be conservative to account for the possibility of injuries or unexpected regression. So the Warriors' 2016-17 RPM projection is for 63 wins, presuming the team re-signs free agents Leandro Barbosa, Harrison Barnes and Brandon Rush and brings back an identical rotation.

More than the regular season, though, what we're interested in is how the Banana Boats might match up with Golden State in the NBA Finals, when both teams could give more minutes to their star players and Cleveland probably would go small to match up. Here's how I project those minutes distributions might look:

<PRE>Warriors' Real Plus-Minus
PLAYER MIN OFFENSE DEFENSE
Stephen Curry 40 5.7 1.1
Klay Thompson 36 2.4 -0.4
Andre Iguodala 36 0.5 1.0
Draymond Green 35 2.1 4.2
Harrison Barnes 32 -0.3 -0.2
Shaun Livingston 20 -0.4 -0.5
Festus Ezeli 15 -0.7 1.8
Leandro Barbosa 11 -0.4 -1.1
Andrew Bogut 10 -2.2 3.7
Marreese Speights 5 -1.0 -0.5
Total 240 7.2 5.1

Cavaliers' Real Plus-Minus
PLAYER MIN OFFENSE DEFENSE
LeBron James 42 4.3 1.6
Carmelo Anthony 38 2.3 -0.9
Chris Paul 37 4.5 1.3
Dwyane Wade 30 -0.1 -1.6
Tristan Thompson 25 0.3 0.2
J.R. Smith 20 1.0 -1.1
Iman Shumpert 20 -0.1 1.8
Matthew Dellavedova 13 1.0 0.2
Channing Frye 10 0.5 0.8
Timofey Mozgov 5 -1.8 1.7
Total 240 9.7 1.5
</PRE>

In a possible 2017 Finals, RPM estimates a healthy Warriors squad would be 12.3 points better per 100 possessions than an average team. With all their stars, the Cavaliers would project even better on offense but 11.2 points better than average overall. We'd expect Golden State to win such a series a little more than 60 percent of the time with home-court advantage, though Cleveland would be a slight favorite if it could somehow snag Game 7 at home.

Perils of projecting superteams

As we've learned from James' past jumps from one team to another, projecting his new team isn't quite as easy as adding up individual player ratings. In particular, the need to share a single basketball creates issues.
Even as close friends in Miami, James and Wade were an uneasy alliance on the court because both operate best with the ball in their hands. By the end of James' time in South Beach, the Heat were a better team with James running the show and Wade on the bench. As he ages, Wade makes even less sense from a basketball standpoint alongside so many other stars.

Paul would need to adapt too. He's used to constantly directing the Clippers' offense. According to SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats, only Damian Lillard (8.4 minutes per game) has had more time of possession with the basketball per game this season than Paul (8.3).

Based on that figure, Paul has the ball in his hands almost exactly half the time the Clippers are on offense. By contrast, Irving's time of possession suggests he has the ball barely a third of the time when the Cavaliers are on offense, with James possessing it more than a quarter of the time.

Anthony, Paul and Wade are good enough, and smart enough, to figure things out but there would surely be an adjustment period -- a problem for a team whose core players would all be in their 30s. Because of their age, the super friends would almost certainly have their best shot at a championship in their first season together. A slow start to the season might prevent them from making a run at home-court advantage.

Ultimately, even four Hall of Famers teaming up on the back nine of their careers probably wouldn't be enough to knock the Warriors off their perch.

But if this season's Cavaliers fall short, the Banana Boats might be James' best shot at another ring.

[/rquoter]

 

It definitely takes him down a peg in my book. I thought that when he left Cle for MIA.

 

Willing to donate JBB & Brewer. Enjoy! They're ssuuuuper sucky.

 

Awesome! I hope he retires as a rocket

 

Pretty sure Jordan had no buddies in the NBA other than maybe Pippen.

Rodman said he and MJ didn't even speak for most of the 72 win season.

 

Super team like Shaq, Kobe, Mailman, & Glove. Worked out good for those guys.

 

How is the current Cavs team not a superteam?

Swapping CP3 for Kyrie would probably make sense, but not sure how playing alongside Wade who can't shoot 3s and Melo, who takes the ball away from Lebron makes his team better.

In all seriousness, which team says no to this offer: Love + Kyrie for CP3 + Griffin?

K-Love back in LA, Griffin gets out.

CP3 plays alongside Lebron but drags Griffin with him.

A CP3-JR Smith-Lebron-Frye-Griffin lineup makes a hell of a lot more sense in spacing the floor hypothetical matchup against the Warriors than the current makeup of the Cavs.

And the Clippers with Kyrie-Reddick-Green-Love-DeAndre make a lot more sense too. Love & DeAndre pair together much better than Blake & DeAndre.

 

Kyrie is loser. They should gave gotten klow for kyrie.

 

When you say don't mention LeBron with kobe i'm hoping you are saying that because it's an insult to LeBron right......?

 

/rant

 

Yeah, but he was basically on a super team. Same with Magic and Bird. The only difference was whether it was orchestrated or not.

 

When LeBron returned to Cleveland, he proclaimed himself the sole leader of the team. At the time that seemed the natural thing. It appears that his management methods as well as his leadership qualities are somewhat non-conventional. I don't believe his latest media appearances have encouraged his teammates. How they improve Cleveland's championship hopes is beyond me.

 

ring chaser

 

That's exactly why people frown on it.

 

Morey. Make it happen!

 

#pursuit :grin:

 

Melo is not a future hall of famer.

 

Wot? I've constantly clowned on Melo, but he most certainly is.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/hof_prob.html

 

Houston-Durant/Horford/Beasley/DMo/Llull......with Harden, Ariza, Beverley, Capela, Harrell
(Find a couple of hired hand long range snipers for a season or two).

LeBron probably sees this happening and feels left out. No top stars don't want to go to Cleveland willingly. They have to be traded there. Harden, Durant, Beasley are friends and Horford would do well to join the Rockets with the supporting cast. So LeBron will turn to his friends. CP3, Melo, D-Wade. None of them want to relocate to Cleveland. Wade is 34 so they have to act this offseason. Again, after losing in the finals this year....LeBron will be 2 years in a row to the finals, with 2 losses. Half way being the Buffalo Bills....4 straight years to the super bowl with 4 losses. LeBron doesn't want that on his "Legacy".