Did Lebron James Make the Right Decision?
- Thread starter ElRey
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The bandwagon is rolling, baby.
Barkley was an old player by that time and past the point of carrying a team to anything. He went in as a rebounding roleplayer, ala old Wilt on the the Lakers (not BTW that Barkley's demand was seen as particularly respectable at the time either). If LeBron had done this at 33 after banging his head against the wall for another 7-8 years or whatever and never breaking through, it would have been seen as a shame he couldn't be a one franchise guy, but not inexplicable. That's a constant question/temptaion for old guys once time starts running out. That's not what happened.
A man trying to convince you he is the greatest player and greatest competitor in the sport abandoned his post and took the absolute easiest way out right in the prime of his career. And winning now means next to nothing. This trio is already being appropriately tagged as maybe the best in NBA history. He essentially forced himself into maybe the easiest situation any major NBA free agent has ever chosen. You can't be a winner without a challenge. You can't be great without not only accepting, but demanding responsibility. LeBron should have been the GOAT challenger to Jordan. Now he just looks like a clueless kid playing on his PlayStation.
A man trying to convince you he is the greatest player and greatest competitor in the sport abandoned his post and took the absolute easiest way out right in the prime of his career. And winning now means next to nothing. This trio is already being appropriately tagged as maybe the best in NBA history. He essentially forced himself into maybe the easiest situation any major NBA free agent has ever chosen. You can't be a winner without a challenge. You can't be great without not only accepting, but demanding responsibility. LeBron should have been the GOAT challenger to Jordan. Now he just looks like a clueless kid playing on his PlayStation.
You know whats awesome, and what makes it hard for me to really get all bent out of shape over this whole Miami thing - The Kings are one of the few team geared to match up with them, or anyone.
Im not saying I belive in this big 3 (Bron, Wade, Bosh) but if they are as dominant as they think they will be .. there are only a handful of teams that could compete with that trio, and we have the potential to be one of them. You have the Lakers, the Thunder, the bulls .. aside from those teams, who else is loaded enough to compete with a potential powerhouse like the heat? not many teams.
We have the star ( Evans ) we probly have the big ( Cousins ) and then we have other super young talent all around them. Not to mention the load of capspace we have just waiting to be used. It finally feels good to be a Kings fan. I couldnt be more happy with the position we are in right now.
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On another note. Who actually wants this team to win? They are all so arrogant .. Lebron tonight saying "Not one title, not two, not three " ect .. who does this guy think he is? he hasnt won anything yet. We have no Idea what kind of player Bosh will be on a good team. Wade is injury prone .. not to mention that based on how damn cocky these guys are, every team is going to be gunning for them like nothing we have ever seen. It will be interesting. I hope these guys rot over there in Miami and never win a thing.
Im not saying I belive in this big 3 (Bron, Wade, Bosh) but if they are as dominant as they think they will be .. there are only a handful of teams that could compete with that trio, and we have the potential to be one of them. You have the Lakers, the Thunder, the bulls .. aside from those teams, who else is loaded enough to compete with a potential powerhouse like the heat? not many teams.
We have the star ( Evans ) we probly have the big ( Cousins ) and then we have other super young talent all around them. Not to mention the load of capspace we have just waiting to be used. It finally feels good to be a Kings fan. I couldnt be more happy with the position we are in right now.
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On another note. Who actually wants this team to win? They are all so arrogant .. Lebron tonight saying "Not one title, not two, not three " ect .. who does this guy think he is? he hasnt won anything yet. We have no Idea what kind of player Bosh will be on a good team. Wade is injury prone .. not to mention that based on how damn cocky these guys are, every team is going to be gunning for them like nothing we have ever seen. It will be interesting. I hope these guys rot over there in Miami and never win a thing.
While James is considered by most to be the best player in the NBA, they always follow up the statement with a "but". Very few consider him the best player in the final 2 minutes of the game. And that brings us to Kobe and Wade (the players that would round out most fans top 3 lists). Both players have proven themselves to be clutch players during their careers, and would be considered better than James in the final 2 minutes of the game. So if your Wade and considered the 3rd best player in the NBA but better than the #1 player at the end of games (when it matters most), I think you still consider yourself "the Man" and the most others will agree.
I think Reggie Miller said it best when he compared James to ARod and Wade to Jeter. No ones doubts that ARod is a better player than Jeter, but the Yankees will always be Jeter's team and he will always get more credit than ARod for the Yankee's sucess.
I think Reggie Miller said it best when he compared James to ARod and Wade to Jeter. No ones doubts that ARod is a better player than Jeter, but the Yankees will always be Jeter's team and he will always get more credit than ARod for the Yankee's sucess.
The problem here is that the "patchwork" that Cleveland was almost all at the request of James. Now management probably should have ignored some of what James wanted and took a better approach, but I think they feared that if they didn't do what he wanted, then he would just bolt the first chance he got. As it turned out, he left anyway.
the thing is, I have this feeling he may have bolted even if they DID win a championship. But spun the story so that now he had accomplished his goal, brought Cleveland its first title in 50 years, and wiht mission accomplished he could move on to new goals and challenges feeling he had done right by his hometown. I'm not entirely sure there was a way to keep him in the end.
they get left empty handed anyway. it should have been lets build a solid foundation instead of patchwork. it's funny because a few years ago i was so frustrated with our team. SAR, salmons, mikki moore... that is similar to what the cavs did. the future was not bright for the kings and now the cavs. if i were the cavs, i'd blow it up and get a high lotto pick to rebuild with. it's gonna be a few years unless they pull a stud like lebron again.
Yeah but our problem is that we're in the Cleveland of California and Tyreke and Cousins aren't even hometown kids.
Like Brick said, one of the biggest frustrations in the thing is the feeling that he was gone no matter what. Not winning was a convenient excuse, winning could have been just as good an excuse. The fact is, he was a hometown kid who didn't have any allegiance to his hometown.
We all hope Tyreke and Cousins are better. They seem to be better, they seem happy to be here. Let's all be honest, LeBron was never happy to be in Cleveland and despite the feel good talk of his home town team getting to draft him nobody really thought he wanted to be there ever. Way before the Yankees cap.
Like Brick said, one of the biggest frustrations in the thing is the feeling that he was gone no matter what. Not winning was a convenient excuse, winning could have been just as good an excuse. The fact is, he was a hometown kid who didn't have any allegiance to his hometown.
We all hope Tyreke and Cousins are better. They seem to be better, they seem happy to be here. Let's all be honest, LeBron was never happy to be in Cleveland and despite the feel good talk of his home town team getting to draft him nobody really thought he wanted to be there ever. Way before the Yankees cap.
Nice podcast on the economic value of Lebron James, comparing his value vs Jordan.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/07/09/128413796/the-friday-podcast-lebronomics
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/07/09/128413796/the-friday-podcast-lebronomics
Oh my goodness when will people stop comparing the Cleveland situation to what happened in SAC???? Patchwork IS necessary when you're the freaking number 1 seed in the playoffs. Our problem was patchwork simply led to mediocrity; we were just scraping the playoffs and then not even making the playoffs. That's when patchwork is stupid and a rebuild is necessary. So you would have had Cleveland trade away all they have and just leave LeBron and then rebuild and expect him to be contented with a target of winning a championship in 2015? There's no refuting that they didn't get someone totally complimentary to LeBron, someone who could really make a 1-2 punch with him. But to say that they didn't do anything to try and help him to win, to say that they surround him with a cast of players that was good enough to at least reach the conference finals is just absurd. The way I see it, what LeBron did in leaving Cleveland is about the same as if Kobe had left the Lakers after their loss to the Celtics. With the addition of Jamison, the Cavs went on to win a load of games, and were the favourites as Easter Conf. Champs. They just got beaten by the Celtics. Lakers got Gasol, improved a lot, got to the finals, but got beaten by the Celtics. But what was the difference there? (As much as a Kings fan wouldn't want to admit it) Gasol said ok I'm gonna work my *** off getting stronger, Kobe said they had to become tougher, and they all worked hard and pulled it off for the next 2 years. LeBron didn't even give the team a second chance to try and win after acquiring his supposed #2 in Jamison, so how can you tell if the team couldn't have won a championship if Lebron had stayed?
As much as I dislike his decision, LBJ was not wrong in leaving the Cavs. It's ok to want a new situation, a change of team mates that may better suit you. It's another thing to say that (as in said by fans) his team mates weren't good enough when they didn't even get a second season with Jamison in the mix with Lebron. For example look at Amare. He gets a new situation and team in going to New York, but it's not because Phoenix wasn't good enough. He becomes THE MAN in New York, gets more money and puts it on his shoulders to turn the team into a contender.
As much as I dislike his decision, LBJ was not wrong in leaving the Cavs. It's ok to want a new situation, a change of team mates that may better suit you. It's another thing to say that (as in said by fans) his team mates weren't good enough when they didn't even get a second season with Jamison in the mix with Lebron. For example look at Amare. He gets a new situation and team in going to New York, but it's not because Phoenix wasn't good enough. He becomes THE MAN in New York, gets more money and puts it on his shoulders to turn the team into a contender.
The Thunder is a good example as to why the way the Cavs built around LeBron was a bad idea, BUT if you look back to the 05 offseason where the Cavs signed Larry Hughes to a huge deal, they could've gotten Ray Allen instead and that would've been the ideal player to pair LeBron with. That probably would have changed their fate a bit.
haha i wonder if dan gilbert is still mad at lebron...
"Fathead, company owned by Dan Gilbert, cuts LeBron James pics to $17.41, Benedict Arnold's birthyear"
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...s_lebron_james_pics_to_1741_benedict_arn.html
to tell you the truth this makes me believe more that james made the right decision. just last week i bet gilbert was telling lebron how great he was and how much he would love lebron to stay in cleveland. then after james decides to leave, all of a sudden james is a quitter, a coward, and a traitor? that just shows how two faced this owner is. i would never want to work for someone like this. all the other owners accepted it. they were disappointment, said they will move on, but didnt go this far. maybe lebron saw the true dan gilbert?
i still feel sorry for the cavs fans though, they lost a great player in lebron but are stuck with an owner like gilbert. on the plus side they werent left empty handed like alot of people say.
"Cleveland gets two first rounders starting in 2013 and continuing through 2017, and the Heat’s 2012 second-round pick from New Orleans and a future second-round pick Miami acquired from Oklahoma City.
The Cavs also have the right to swap first-round picks with the Heat in 2012. Cleveland also picked up a trade exception that could be worth up to $16 million."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-heat-cavalierstrade
"Fathead, company owned by Dan Gilbert, cuts LeBron James pics to $17.41, Benedict Arnold's birthyear"
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...s_lebron_james_pics_to_1741_benedict_arn.html
to tell you the truth this makes me believe more that james made the right decision. just last week i bet gilbert was telling lebron how great he was and how much he would love lebron to stay in cleveland. then after james decides to leave, all of a sudden james is a quitter, a coward, and a traitor? that just shows how two faced this owner is. i would never want to work for someone like this. all the other owners accepted it. they were disappointment, said they will move on, but didnt go this far. maybe lebron saw the true dan gilbert?
i still feel sorry for the cavs fans though, they lost a great player in lebron but are stuck with an owner like gilbert. on the plus side they werent left empty handed like alot of people say.
"Cleveland gets two first rounders starting in 2013 and continuing through 2017, and the Heat’s 2012 second-round pick from New Orleans and a future second-round pick Miami acquired from Oklahoma City.
The Cavs also have the right to swap first-round picks with the Heat in 2012. Cleveland also picked up a trade exception that could be worth up to $16 million."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-heat-cavalierstrade
Cleveland did the right thing and got some extra pieces out of this, good on them.
I like what Gilbert said, but I don't like that he said it. I think if he really means what he says, then the Cavs are going to blow their rebuild. A general attitude like that never works, it normally leads to blowing cap space on veteran guys and early playoff exits while only being compensated with mid first round picks.
I like what Gilbert said, but I don't like that he said it. I think if he really means what he says, then the Cavs are going to blow their rebuild. A general attitude like that never works, it normally leads to blowing cap space on veteran guys and early playoff exits while only being compensated with mid first round picks.
Yeah, at the time it wasn't as bad as it looks now. I don't remember who else was available, but even then it seemed like they might be better served sitting on their hands for another year and sacrificing some short-term wins to wait out a better long term deal/get higher picks in the hope of finding a young stud to pair with Lebron. That move really signalled clearly that the Cavs had no intent to build up a solid team around Lebron but to only be adding pieces in the hopes of hitting a home run. Especially considering how young Lebron was at the time, the Cavs were in far too much of a hurry to become a contender. They were always looking a season or two ahead when, with a player like Lebron, they should have taken advantage of the luxury to be looking a decade ahead to try to build a long-term dynasty.
People forget how that played out: Hughes was not the main taget, nor I believe even the backup. They wanted Redd, who at the time was still considered a player, and was younger. He obviously would have been a better fit with his shooting. But Redd bailed on being a wingman and wanted to stay "the man" in Milwaulkee. And I'm pretty sure that while they were after Redd, Allen resigned with Seattle. So that left Hughes, who was coming off of one of the most aberrant career/contract years in recent memory.
The compounding mistake was dumping big money on Big Z as well, largely it seemed because Danny Ferry was an old friend of his.
The compounding mistake was dumping big money on Big Z as well, largely it seemed because Danny Ferry was an old friend of his.
I'm sorry but I lost a lot of respect for LeBron after his latest fiasco (IMHO). He should have stayed in Cleveland. Period. Perhaps my opinion will change in a few years, but what he did on National T.V. was done in very poor taste. I never rooted for Cleveland in the past, but I assure you that I will be rooting for them more this year, except when they play the Kings. I will NOT be rooting for Miami, and I really like Dwyane Wade. I just really feel for the Cleveland fans.
It's funny how attached we can get to players. I remember when Chris Webber was deciding whether he would stay or go a few years back. I remember the relief that I felt when he announced that he was going to stay. I couldn't have imagined what it would have felt like if he had done to us what LeBron did to Cleveland the other night. It's obvious that loyalty is such a foreign concept nowadays. I understand that it's a business, but it can still hurt when a player chooses to leave.