They are probably making more of Lebron's disappointment than what's there. Maybe in negotiations, some of this stuff was assumed -- like lattitude to change flights -- but he had to know going in that stuff like accomodations for his posse wouldn't continue if he didn't negotiate it upfront.
Not if it you need a lot more possessions to score 104 points against one team versus the other (which is the case -- look at the difference in pace). And that's not even considering that those teams are in different eras, facing different offenses.
It's a comparison of how difficult to score 104 points total, not how difficult to score per possession, don't distort the concept. I can't see how pace matters here. And It's 82 games and 20+ teams to back it up, it's not a small sample size. I am totally fine if MJ said he would be more efficient today, though the overall fg% in the league is actually down a few percents from late 80s. But if MJ would score 100, I don't care if he's using 30 possessions, or 1000 possessions to make it, as long as he can shoot that many times in a game.
I'm inclined to believe this report. One one of the Bill Simmons podcast circa "the decision" he told a few rumors about the level of privilege Lebron got in Cleveland. He mentioned that every NBA GM normally has a pair of floor seats reserved for the other team's GM +1. It's a customary thing to offer that to the other team when they are in town....except in Cleveland where they were Lebron's personal tickets to offer to friends. I think Simmons even mentioned at the time he couldn't see Riley buying into that type of preferential treatment.
The fact that both scoring per possession, and pace in the league are down comparing today to late 80s, make scoring 100 a more difficult job today than late 80s. And if he couldn't score over 70 in his old day, he couldn't scratch 100 today for sure. The only thing favoring that argument is touchy foul today on certain star players. But overall FTA/FGA is not higher than 80s, and a few extra fouls don't get you 30 more points. It's only 0.6 pts per possession. I wonder how many more fouls need to be called to overcome the huge gap there.
rileys the man, lebron is his b**** for the next however many years.... bron isnt gonna be babied like he was in cleveland... which is good and what he needs.
How difficult to score -- meaning how good the defending team is at getting stops. Because that's what defense is about -- getting stops. Not slowing the game down. You can be a good defensive team that plays fast, or you can be a bad defensive team that plays slow. If you insist on looking at PPG as some sort of defensive metric, you are the one distorting the concept by mixing together actual defense (getting stops) and game pace (how long the game is in terms of possessions).
Oh, is that what we're talking about? How easy it is for Jordan to score 70 against the Pistons versus Kobe scoring 70 against the Raptors? I thought you were arguing that the Raptors were as good a defensive team as the Pistons because they both gave up 104 points. If you're arguing something else, then nevermind.
I don't care how you want to measure good/bad defensive teams. We were discussing how many points you can score against them. MJ was talking about he could score 100, I don't even care if he uses 10 or 1000 possessions, as long as it's in a game. I was not commenting whether Raptors were a better defensive team than Pistons. Merely it's as easy to score 104 points against them, and it has an entire season, 82 games to back it up.
Stop being an *******. People use grammar correction when they have no other points for an argument, like what you're doing. And "I can care less" isn't an improper expression anyway..
People who accept consistently malformed text because "this is the Internet" have low-standards and are only contributing to the dumbing-down of society. It is one thing to nitpick the occasional spelling error; it is another altogether to tolerate (or even support, as you do) this kind of nonsense. I legitimately cannot follow half of goodbug's posts because he doesn't take the time to edit them. I'm sure I'm not the only one. And "I can care less" is nonsensical when you are trying to imply that something means nothing to you. It's as inane as using "literally" as "figuratively".
one difference here with MJ, and i guess also with kobe, those guys dont roll with entourages, they aren't talking about making friends do their business decisions and have spots on planes, they just come and come to win..and heres this guys wants to get paid but treat it like his playhouse too
This is exactly what we were arguing about in the other thread. He believes that since opponents of the 88 Pistons and 06 Raptors both averaged 104ppg against them, then it must have been as easy to score against the 88 Pistons as it was against the 06 Raptors.
In 40, 50s, when there's no 24 seconds rule, there were games players could just dribble forever, and the score went under 20. Are they better defensive team than any team we mentioned here? No. Is it harder to score 100 points against them, definitely. Both pace and efficiency are factors in how many you can score against a team. If you can score more efficiently but forced to play a slower pace, it's not easier to score against them.
It's your problem, not mine. As I said, you should jump on Twitter, that's a gold mine for your grammar correction business.
I see what you're saying. Its harder to score efficiently against the Pistons than the Raptors, but because they played at a faster pace there would also be more opportunities for the primary scorers to get points. But also look at it this way. If you're a dynamic wing scorer and you're facing a team that simply can't guard you, you're much more likely to consume a higher percentage of your teams possessions in looking for your own shot. Because its just so easy for you. On the other hand, if you're facing a much stauncher defense that has good perimeter defenders, you're better off using your teammates more and going for a balanced attack instead of forcing up a lot of tough shots 1-on-1. And just as a general trend, possession usage was more spread out back in the 80s than it is in the current era. If Jordan played today, with the way perimeter defenders have been neutered by the league, he may have looked for his shot a lot more. That said, I don't think he could have scored 100. 80 points? Maybe.
