So not top ten. I'll concede that. Still a damn fine player, and miles ahead of anyone LeBron has had in the last four years. That's all my point was. To argue that LeBron isn't in Kobe's league because he can't win without a really good team around him is ludicrous. There are a dozen other arguments that could be made about why Kobe is better than LeBron that would make more sense than that. Like I said, Kobe was getting bounced in the first round and demanding a trade until he got a quality big man (not top ten, top 25 though), and even then he couldn't beat the Celtics Big Three.
I'm not claiming it's justified at all. I think it sucks for the city and the fans of the Cavs. Like I said, especially doing it on national TV, LeBron is a cold hearted bastard who doesn't get "it", it might be because he doesn't have "it". Don't know, but leaving your fiance at the altar in favor of the hot blonde winking in the back of the chapel is ... well, it sucks. Plain and simple. And it portends bad things for us small market fans.
In the Cavs case, however, my primary pushback is against the idea that he played them, that he pretended to love them, that this was some epic betrayal, like he just decided a few days ago to explore free agency. The writing was on the wall in the summer of '06 when he insisted on a player option for 2010. If we try to extend Reke in a couple years and he insists on a four year deal with a player option after three, well then the front office is officially on notice. Not that it's right, but we can't come back four years later when he leaves us standing in the rain and say "WTF Reke?" WTF started happening four years ago, and Dan Gilbert and company screwed up.
It's also worth noting that the three you mentioned didn't go straight to the pros. LeBron has as much mileage at 25 as Jordan had at 27, maybe more. The clock's ticking.
I'm not claiming it's justified at all. I think it sucks for the city and the fans of the Cavs. Like I said, especially doing it on national TV, LeBron is a cold hearted bastard who doesn't get "it", it might be because he doesn't have "it". Don't know, but leaving your fiance at the altar in favor of the hot blonde winking in the back of the chapel is ... well, it sucks. Plain and simple. And it portends bad things for us small market fans.
In the Cavs case, however, my primary pushback is against the idea that he played them, that he pretended to love them, that this was some epic betrayal, like he just decided a few days ago to explore free agency. The writing was on the wall in the summer of '06 when he insisted on a player option for 2010. If we try to extend Reke in a couple years and he insists on a four year deal with a player option after three, well then the front office is officially on notice. Not that it's right, but we can't come back four years later when he leaves us standing in the rain and say "WTF Reke?" WTF started happening four years ago, and Dan Gilbert and company screwed up.
It's also worth noting that the three you mentioned didn't go straight to the pros. LeBron has as much mileage at 25 as Jordan had at 27, maybe more. The clock's ticking.
