2010 NBA Postseason

Parkers second paragraph summed it up better than I could have. James emphasized the fact that he was going on the market long before it happened. This is a quote from LBJ in 2008. "LeBron said he would not think twice about leaving Cleveland if another team offers him a better shot at winning multiple NBA titles". Obviously, who wouldn't, but this was two years before he was even a free agent meaning that he was creating a buzz long before his time.

This much Free agent buzz is doubling the amount that was around Kobe in 2004, not to mention he is a free agent next year and unlike Lebron he's not trying to make a huge deal out of it. He loves the attention. You know who else is a free agent next year? Kevin Durant, one of the biggest developing stars in the NBA. Rather than making a huge arrainment out of it he recently and quietly, I bet rarely anyone knows about it as they shown it on sportscenter like once, he signed a 5 year extension I believe.

Not to mention, I'm not criticizing how he is as a person, he does charity work alot but I dont like him as a player. I can't throne anyone the best overall player in the league, which people say he is, if his jumpshot is terrible and inconsistent. I would put the ball in Mo Williams hands 10/10 times before LBJ if it came down to a game winning jumper, not to mention DWade if this thing goes through. Unlike Lebron I would trust Jordan or Kobe 100% with the ball with the game on the line involving a jumpshot.. Then there is the whole "Crab dribble" where he came up with an excuse. Anyone who plays basketball at a level higher than middle school knows anything more than two steps is a travel. "You have your trademark play, and that's one of my plays. It kind of looks like a travel because it's slow, and it's kind of a high-step, but it's a one-two just as fluent as any other one-two in this league. I got the wrong end of it, but I think they need to look at it -- and they need to understand that's not a travel," James said. "It's a perfectly legal play, something I've always done." He's telling referees how to call the game. That makes alot of sense.

Then he has the fact that he has "no one around him" and the injury complaints. Im not sayin, but im sayin. Kobe played with a seriously injured finger, the most important one to shoot with also. "As it turns out, that dedication might have cost Kobe a finger. No, it's not like he's going to lose it, but it's definitely going to be a pain in the hand for the next 50 years of his life." I just see LeBron as to much of an attention whore and a drama queen as he keeps changing his mind and blowing things up until 9:00 tonight where he is going to announce it in the first 10 minutes of his own hour special.

Im sure I sound like a Kobe dickrider but I can't help it. I dont think Lebrons as good as he's hyped up to be especially in playoff time.
I'm not believing anything until 9:00pm tonight when he himself announces it. First he was staying wit the cavs, yesterday he was going to the knicks and now today hes going to Miami. I'll take a raincheck for now.

 

"Just after noon, US Magazine.com reported that James has rented six cabanas at the W Hotel South Beach this weekend to celebrate his team decision."

 

Well, it does look like Miami is his destination (if you believe the hype).

Again, I think this is the wrong decision for him for a multitude of reasons. Yes, those three playing together are going to be an absolutely dominant trio, and immediately become a playoff and NBA title contender, but one has to ask the following questions:

1) What happens if they don't win it?

Seriously, think about that for a minute. What if they make it to the NBA finals against the Lakers, and come up short?

For years, LeBron seems to have maintained that he could win a title if the pieces were around him. Essentially, he has always shifted blame for losing titles to his teammates and team for not giving him what he needs to win. If he goes to Miami, with Wade and Bosh, and still comes up short? I know they're friends and all, but how long before those guys turn on each other and blame each other?

Let me be clear about this: I don't hate LeBron. I actually find him charismatic and likable. However, that doesn't change the fact that the man clearly has a huge ego. These are three superstars playing together, and if they can't get it done, I don't think it will take long before the blame game kicks in. All of this will be compounded by the fact that they all will actually have to take LESS money to make this deal work. They all take LESS money to play together and win titles, and then they don't win the title? That has disaster written all over it.

How long after they lose do they start to fight over who should be getting the ball more? If Wade is scoring more, they'll scream to give the ball to LeBron. If LeBron is getting the ball more, they'll scream to give the ball to Wade.

In almost any situation where a team comes up short with such high expectations, a scapegoat is going to be created. If LeBron signs with the Heat, and they come up short, who becomes that scapegoat? It won't be D-Wade, he is LOVED in Miami. It likely won't be Bosh, because the expectations aren't on Bosh to be the man in Miami. I think all of that heat (not a pun) will fall to LeBron.

2) What happens if there is an injury to one of the "big three?"

With such an incredibly top-heavy roster, their depth is going to be virtually nothing. Now, granted, at any given time they'll have at least 2 of their best 3 on the floor, so it won't be that huge of an issue with all three healthy. But, say Wade gets hurt, ESPECIALLY near the playoffs? Wade is unquestionably their best clutch player, and without him, their chances of winning in the playoffs goes down drastically. They might even still win the east, but I don't think they'd be able to compete with the Lakers.

The fact is, they're literally putting 90 to 95% of their money into these three guys, which means they can't afford to sign anyone that could be a fitting backup. It is going to be LeBron, Wade, Bosh, 1 or 2 decent players, then 10 guys who wouldn't crack the roster on most other teams (except maybe the Clippers, clearly with the Del Negro hire, they'll bring in anyone).

LeBron in Miami has the chance to create an absolutely amazing 3-man combo, and a team that will be instant title contenders. However, I think there is an equally good chance of a flame out of absolutely epic proportions.

I still maintain (and it is likely my blatant homer-ism for Chicago) that the Bulls are his absolute BEST option for winning titles and creating a legacy. I also think Cleveland is his BEST option for making money and maintaining his sense of loyalty. I think Miami is his 'easy way out.' If it turns out to not be so easy, though? I expect a meltdown at some point...

 

I live in South Florida and while I don't think coming to Miami is Lebron's smartest move, going to Chicago is almost as bad as going to the Nets.

If he goes to New York or New Jersey, he's a hero. They won't win a championship, but they will be more competitive than they have been.

If he comes to Miami, it's a huge coup for the players and it will change the dynamic of the NBA for years to come. Even if they lose, he'll be having a ball on and off the court. They don't HAVE to win 3 or 4, just 1.

If he goes to Cleveland, he HAS to win a championship. If he does, he's the Michael Jordan of Cleveland. If not, he's the Charles Barkley of Cleveland. Close, but no cigar.

If he goes to Chicago, he cements his legacy as Michael Jordan, Jr. Unless he wins 7 or 8 or 9 titles there, he is always going to be held up against Jordan's legacy.

There was no change than Wade or James went to Chicago. It's too much pressure.

 

Let me summarize this for you. Name a Miami bench player...I'll wait...go ahead...Google it. *Flips through a magazine...* Google couldn't even tell you could it?

I present Boston to this argument. Everyone knows half of Boston's bench. Fucking christ, people were asking "Where is Scalibrini or Scaliwag", or whatever his name was in games 5 and 6 during the finals!

That's why it's a bad fucking idea for Miami. The big three can never sit out a play, never, fucking ever. And honestly, I don't know who the fuck this Eric whatever is, unless Riley is coaching his damn self, it's still all bullshit.

And this is the last time I'm going to bash LeBron, I swear, but my friend Sarah who barely watches basketball fucking ever was watching ESPN with me and says the following, dead pan serious.

"Wow, these are some amazing fucking highlights and epic musical scores for someone that has been in the league for 7 years and has no rings."

...I'll see you guys later tonight.

 

The Heat only have 2 players under contract right now - Chalmers and Beasley and they are trying to get rid of Beasley. Plus they have some draft picks from last year and this year available. Riley hates young players.

They cleared their cap space to get as many Max FA as possible. You can fill in the bench after that. They still have a lot of money to play with even if they do sign all 3 big names. All they are going to need is role players.

You can bring my nana off the bench after Wade, Bosh and Lebron get done laying waste in the first 3 quarters.

Your friend Sarah just explained why James wont be going to New York or New Jersey or Chicago or Cleveland. Rings.

And she's also ignorant because you don't have to win the championship to be the best player in the league.

 

You can't talk about Miami's bench until after 'Bron signs there, if he does at all. There's no telling the type of veterans who will be willing to take the minimum in order to win a title. Will they be all-stars? By all means, no. But then again, they won't be scrubs off the heap or 12th men suiting up. Plus there's talk of Mike Miller signing on, which would give the Heat the outside shooting presence they would desperately need ... even though that still would leave the glaring post presence to help defend on the block, one of Bosh's true deficiencies.

 

Explain why he couldn't win a ring in Chicago. If we're talking about which of the 5 teams he'd most likely win championships with, it's undoubtedly Chicago. This is a team that was 41-41 last year, and just added Carlos Boozer. Rose is one of the best young PGs in the game right now, and Boozer is a better PF than Bosh, IMO. Noah also gives them the low post presence they currently don't have in Miami. Should they move Deng to make room for LeBron (which would be expected), I'd imagine they'd get at least one good player in return. The depth situation right now looks much better in Chicago, with a minor dropoff in starting talent.

You don't, but it's damn hard. Especially in the NBA, which is more driven by individual players than the NFL or MLB. Let's wait until he wins at least ONE ring before we canonize him like this. He had Jamison, Shaq, and Mo Williams, so let's not pretend like he didn't have talent around him.

 

All this championship talk is extremely annoying, since most chattering heads conveniently forget that 9 of the 12 championships since Jordan retired have been won by exactly the same two teams: Los Angeles and San Antonio. Not coincidentally, those two teams were also coached by the same two guys still sitting at the heads of those benches. The three other stray titles picked up in the off years went to two fairly veteran teams from two fairly solid organizations (Detroit and Boston, both of whom made one other Finals appearances during the same period). And thanks to the most famously bad foul in Spurs history, Miami ended up with the good fortune of winning a championship during the one year a team not wearing purple or black came out of the Western Conference. And even then, they were coached by a man with a handful of championship rings himself and something like 7 or 8 Finals appearances already under his belt (Riley took the Knicks there, too).

What I'm getting at is this: a Miami Heat team featuring Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and nine scrubs is only a championship favorite if the three stars average 45 minutes a game for 82 games and a full postseason. Can they do it? I suppose it's possible, sure, but extremely unlikely. But lost in the hoopla over the free agent frenzy is news that Pierce and Allen are both coming back to Boston and their big three - who've beaten James and Wade already - have been playing together a lot longer than these three guys will have been come playoff time. Plus they have Rondo, Big Baby, and the overrated but effective Perkins. And Jermaine O'Neal may be a stiff but so was Rasheed Wallace this past year, so let's call that pickup a push, too.

Bottom line, the odds are Miami won't be the favored team to win the East, much less the league, because the Lakers and Spurs (who are upgrading silently as we speak) are still out there too. This Dream Team has the makings of a Nightmare Squad in the likely event they fall short of the title, and they'll have no one to blame but themselves for the way they've handled this free agency.

 

Wouldn't this be a good argument as to why Lebron should join Miami? There's starting to be a lot of grumbling about how Miami wouldn't even be favorites to win the East. The critics are starting to say that the 3 good friends can't gel together and win 1 championship, let alone a dozen. But, the #1 reason not to join Miami is always said to be that it's the easy way out.

Plus, the idea of playing in the sun, with 2 good friends, has to be better to play in Cleveland with a few guys.

 

First, I'm glad you mentioned bringing your nana off the bench, cause that just might happen. What player is going to take a lesser contract just to try to win a title, when said title is all but guaranteed. Like it has been said, Boston still has all the players that beat Cleveland and made the finals from the West. Orlando is still around, and Chicago only got better with the Boozer signing. There is also a little team called the Lakers, who still have Kobe, Gasol, and Phil Jackson. Those three men together make them a very forceful team. The Wade/James/Bosh trio are even better than Boston's big 3. The big difference will be that Boston has 3 great players, with a pretty good supporting cast. Miami will have 3 great players, with a very mediocre (at best) supporting cast. Like I said earlier... one injury to one of those big 3, and there is absolutely no one to step in and take over that will even come CLOSE to the level of the guy he is replacing.

The NBA, more than any other sports league, is a league where one guy can make the difference. All those Bulls teams without Jordan? No titles. I'd also venture to say all those teams without Pippen, and they likely would've missed most (maybe not all, but most) of those titles. Therefore, in the NBA, more than any other league, it is extremely important to win a title to cement one's legacy as one of the best. People say that he might go to Miami to escape the pressure he has had in Cleveland to win a title, but if anything, I think the pressure will be amped up to 11. He always had the excuse in Cleveland of not having the guys around him. In Miami, no matter what scrubs they sign to fill out their roster, he still has D-Wade and Bosh.

I disagree here. Why would any decent player that can command a decent salary sign with Miami? Any decent player left can go to Chicago, get more money (Chicago will have it to spend if LeBron doesn't sign), and still compete for a title. They can go to any team that missed out on the LeBron sweepstakes, that will have money to spend, like New York or New Jersey. All of these teams that missed out on LeBron, Bosh, and Wade are going to have a lot of cap space to fill, which means some decidedly average players are going to get contracts that they may not deserve, because teams are going to be desperate to do ANYTHING after missing out on the top tier free agents. Most of these guys aren't in the NBA for titles, they're in the NBA for money. If you asked a guy if he'd rather make 1 mil to play in Miami or 4 - 5 mil to play in Chicago, they'd probably take Chicago (or New York, or New Jersey).

I disagree here, too. With those three guys playing together, is anything less than a title every year going to be acceptable? If LeBron, Wade, and Bosh stick together, anything less than a title is going to be a disappointment in Miami. If they don't win a title year one, there might be in fighting. If they don't win a title within their first two years together? There will be an explosion in south Florida.

Sure, they're going to have a blast at first. But, the first time they sniff a hint of adversity? The first time they lose a game or 2, and the media starts screaming that LeBron or Wade or Bosh isn't getting the ball enough? The amount of pressure on LeBron to finally win a title now that he 'has the talent' around him? He loses, and the talking heads are going to jump on asking if LeBron is really a champion. They'll question his dedication. He will become a scapegoat for whatever goes wrong in their quest for a title.

 

Just checked my DirecTV guide. Is the LeBron press conference listed as "SportsCenter Special" like it usually is? Nope. It's actually listed as "The Decision."

Christ, I don't think ESPN would bend over this far backwards if Tom Brady, Tim Tebow, Jesus, and the Fonz had their own TV special.

 

This is fucking stupid. All the high school seniors who declare to colleges now trying to be "big time" -- from Harrison Barnes committing to UNC on Skype, and the other extravagant signings -- don't begin to compare the ludicrousness of this "Decision." Fuck LeBron, fuck the world we live in now that allows this type of shit to not only happen but compel us ... and fuck me for watching.

 

And they should. With as talented a team as Lebron had this past season, he should have made a deeper run than he did. Mind you with Shaq (albeit a much younger, less injured Shaq) Wade was able to with a bit of convergence of the universe make a championship happen. Lebron likes to bitch about not having a supporting cast, not having a Pippen to go to. But he still gives up in games. Kobe Bryant, say what you will about him (and there are a lot of negative things to say) never gives up in a game. The Lakers can be down by 20 with 5:00 to go in the fourth quarter and this mu'fucker will still be trying to drain 3's every play down the court. Watching that there is a part of you that wonders - "Can this arrogant sum'bitch pull this out?" I don't wonder that about Lebron. He pouts and passes the buck. He's weak in that respect.

During the Finals when there were up mind you, UP, Kobe sat on the bench and ignored Chris Rock's attempts to engage him. Did not even flinch or turn around. Single. Minded. Focus. Lebron lacks this in spades. Until he grows the fuck up, no matter who you put him with he'll still be a punk.

Kobe had some growing up to do as well. I'll never forget during the playoffs during one of his first years he bricked some pivotal free throws late in the stretch. He smiled and kind of laughed in an embarrassed way on his way to the bench. I was livid. But never again. Never again did you see his intensity lack when it counted and many times when it couldn't have counted less. I give him that and shake my head that it is sorely missing from Mr. James. Lebron has had SEVEN years to abandon childishness. Yet he surrounds himself with yes men and dick riders who won't tell him that his doodoo doesn't twinkle and that his farts don't make rainbows. He buys in to his own press releases and our faith in humanity and our tooth skinned disbelief of the corrupting power of money and fame suffers for it.

 

Fuck LeBron. This ESPN thing is a huge vanity project, and since he's probably not going to the Knicks, I hope he pulls a Magic Johnson and tells the world he's HIV Positive.

 

The only thing missing is Denzel (or 'Bron's father, whoever the fuck he is?) playing him 1-on-1 for the ultimate decision to be made for him... that, and Rick Fox taking him around town and setting him up with the "assistant coaches."

 

Ohh... my... fucking... god..... this special could be wrapped up in 2 sec. But no..... apparently Vitamin Water and University of Phoenix are going to milk this for every fucking advertising spot possible. I hate myself for actually caring enough to watch.

 

Over/Under on LeBron's Cleveland home getting ransacked...

 

Congrats Cleveland, you now have another reason to kill yourself.