I feel like several people have repeated this several times. Why should great players sit idly by and allow some (potentially crappy) GM to determine their fates when they can put together a great team themselves?
If all the marquee players decide where they want to play, then star power will be concentrated in certain cities (Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Houston (hopefully)). That means that other cities (Cleveland, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Detroit, Toronto, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, etc...) that can't draw star power will have poor teams which will lead to annual operating losses which will lead to bankruptcy. As the number of teams dwindle, so does the NBA's national popularity. And since roster spots would also be declining, that means that fewer foreign players would make it to the NBA.....so international popularity would drop as well.
It's not the fact that it's 3 all stars teaming up. It's the fact that TWO OF THE TOP THREE players basically in the world are on the same team. Other teams didn't have two of the top three talents on the same team.
shaq was the most dominant player by far during the laker years and it wasn't even close. kobe was the best player skill-wise. so it's not unprecedented the top 2 players of the game to team up. that lakers didn't have a 3rd guy as good as bosh, but it had more expeirence and a more balanced team, with the best coach in the history of the L. we will see how great this heat team is. again, we have to see them play before passing out judgements. only lebron and bosh are young (25). wade is turning 29 (and he's an older 29 considering the style he plays).
The star power was very concentrated in the 1980s, and the league seemed to do pretty well. And if the league doesn't want that to happen, they can put rules in place to prevent it. I still see nothing wrong with free agents deciding they want to play for a particular team that has salary cap space. No rules were broken (that we know of).
And? It's suddenly bad for a free agent to decide where to play? You think KG had no say in winding up in Boston?
What's happening on the court? Kobe's busy collecting rings while LeBron was collecting MVP, regular season only.
matter of time before lebron collects the rings. and he'll continue collecting those reg. season MVPs. dude wants it all.
So Bill Russell is the greatest player of all time? If you're going to use rings as your complete determining factor, you must accept this. If you equivocate and say Russell was not a great scorer, played with great teammates, era differences, etc, then your "Kobe has rings" argument over Lebron is invalid. Your choice.
that's why jordan is the GOAT. he had the ridiculous stats, the ridiculous amount of MVPs, the ridiculous amount of rings, and the ridiculous amount of individual accolades. kobe has superstar stats, but not ridiculous. he doesn't have the multiple MVPs. lebron has a chance though. he's only 25.
I don't know about teammates thing. Kobe doesn't need a top 3 player, another alpha dog to get there, that's proven. Talk to me when LeBron can do that.
that's not why he's considered the GOAT. from a skills and achievement standpoint there's many legit arguments to be made for any of the following: Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kobe, Kareem, Maravich, etc etc there are 2 primary reasons why Jordan as recognized is the best which have to do with particular circumstances of his career 1) unlike other players in the discussion, Jordan thoroughly dominated his era. Bird had Magic, Russell had Chamberlain but by the time Jordan starting winning he had no rival to break up his championships or challenge him for the interest of fans. Magic once remarked that he felt sad for Jordan for this but in fact it ended up benefiting him tremendously because: 2) lacking a legit rivalry to promote the league, $tern, Nike and ESPN had to have something to hold fans' interest... so they hyped Jordan's persona as a sort of demi-god of basketball and competition. with 6 rings Jordan was unquestionably the best of his era but the idea of him being the clearcut GOAT over everyone else is largely impacted by the lack of challengers in the specific era he played compared to other alltimers who had rivals and how the league and shoe companies marketed him.
No, he just needs the best frontcourt in basketball. That's been pretty constant throughout all 5 of his titles.
Yes, and as everyone knows that's completely independent of the performance of teammates and coaches.
How about I talk to you when either Lebron or Kobe wins a ring without the greatest coach in the history of the league?
