Cleveland Lands Jones.

[AriesMar27]

but does that make him great? kg won the mvp and went to the wcf one year then couldnt make the playoffs the next with the same team.... duncan won the mvp then he was damn near swept by the lakers in the playoffs....

and no matter how "great" his numbers were what good did they do?

 

[AriesMar27]

Thre comes a point when you just have to recognize supreme talent when you see it.

well when he does something worth mentioning, i'll recognize and acknowledge it..... untill then..... he's just good....

 

[Bricklayer]

well when he does something worth mentioning, i'll recognize and acknowledge it..... untill then..... he's just good....

Aries, you really sound silly now. You do realize that LeBron is probably better at his age than ANY player in the history of basketball, right? If you've watched the game at all before this year, you realize just how unprecedented this is. Barring injury, the kid is a pretty much a GUARANTEED HOFer if he never improves a single bit from this day forward. NOBODY drops 27 7 and 7 on you. And to do it when you start the year as a teenager...that's just a joke.

Here's the scariest part -- the kid was still getting better AS THE YEAR WORE ON. Down the stretch of the playoff push he put together one of the monster Aprils I have ever seen ANYBODY lay down. April numbers: 12gms 32.3pts 9.8rebs 7.1ast. Those are legendary numbers. And from a kid no less.

Edit -- Just to put a finer point on the 27 7 and 7 numbers: Oscar did it six times. Havlicek did it twice. Bird did it once. MJ did it once. Magic, Drexler, Kobe, Maravich, McGrady, Barry, Hill, West etc. etc. etc. = never. I may be missing somebody, but that may very well be it. Here's your club: the Big O, MJ, Bird and Havlicek, and now LeBron. That's it. And he's 20.

 

[loopymitch]

No, that's okay. It gives us something to ridicule!



Where's The Freak? Aries is lucky she's not around to smack him with a trout.

Why would she hit him with a fish? I'm confused. A hammer I could understand but a fish?

 

[outsider62]

Lebron is a great talent and he puts great numbers. His team didn't make PO yet. East didn't have depth last year they have now. He plays alongside Z who is one of the best Cs in NBA right now and they had a number of role players. So, I don't consider LeBron great player yet.

 

[niwowsy]

i think damon is the kind of player they need

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Why would she hit him with a fish? I'm confused. A hammer I could understand but a fish?

It's a chat thing...

:: pimps chat ::

 

[ONEZERO]

U say u'll take kobe over lebron, but what was kobe doing at the age of lebron? They both came out of highschool. Yeah kobe didn't play much his first year, and I think that explains it all. Don't u think if lebron got drafted by the lakers in '96 he would've played over guys like eddie jones? He came into the league pretty mature. Kobe came in trying to hog the ball and showboat; particularly the reason he wasn't getting the playing time. Kobe has his 3 rings(IMO, only 1 was a for sure title), but what if lebron played with shaq? Heck, if he played in miami last year over wade, they might have destroyed the league.

*** The biggest problem with lebron is that he plays too much for stats. He's gotta figure out that he's the main guy and just take over games. He's too passive sometimes. When I watch him, I say who cares about that assist u idiot, just drive the ball in down their throats. Until he figures that out, they will never make it far in the playoffs. He's still a mega superstar regardless.

 

[Dave McNulla]

some of you people have your bar set a little bit high. lebron is great, kg is great. you don't have to win a championship to be great. to be the greatest, you have to be great and win championships, but not just to be great.

 

[Packt]

lebron isnt great.... he's good... but damn.... if damon had gone to the lakers would you have said the same thing? because kobe is infinitely better than lebron..... to bad he didnt go to houston, he couldnt but it would have been nice....

Even though there were rumblings of a rift, playing along side Kobe didn't patricianly hurt Chucky Atkins game. I would say Damon is a better spot up shooter, so yeah, Damon wouldn’t have been a bad pick-up to play alongside Kobe.

This isn't the Cavs of last year, they've made some good moves this off-season. The only thing that might hurt Damon is his touches could go down.

 

[VF21]

Here's the scariest part -- the kid was still getting better AS THE YEAR WORE ON. Down the stretch of the playoff push he put together one of the monster Aprils I have ever seen ANYBODY lay down. April numbers: 12gms 32.3pts 9.8rebs 7.1ast. Those are legendary numbers. And from a kid no less.

Edit -- Just to put a finer point on the 27 7 and 7 numbers: Oscar did it six times. Havlicek did it twice. Bird did it once. MJ did it once. Magic, Drexler, Kobe, Maravich, McGrady, Barry, Hill, West etc. etc. etc. = never. I may be missing somebody, but that may very well be it. Here's your club: the Big O, MJ, Bird and Havlicek, and now LeBron. That's it. And he's 20.

I wasn't sure LBJ was worth all the pre-NBA hype. I said so many times, actually. And I have eaten every single one of those words.

LBJ is the real deal. And he's already in pretty exclusive company.

well when he does something worth mentioning, i'll recognize and acknowledge it.....

So you're saying YOUR personal opinion is more valid than pretty much anyone who has anything to do (writers, broadcasters, analysts, etc) with basketball? A lot of people didn't want to accept that the world was round either. It didn't change the truth...

 

[Kings113]

Thre comes a point when you just have to recognize supreme talent when you see it.

Indeed.

 

[Kings113]

Lebron is a great talent and he puts great numbers. His team didn't make PO yet. East didn't have depth last year they have now. He plays alongside Z who is one of the best Cs in NBA right now and they had a number of role players. So, I don't consider LeBron great player yet.

They also had inconsistency and injuries all the second half of the season, excluding LeBron/Zee.

 

[outsider62]

They also had inconsistency and injuries all the second half of the season, excluding LeBron/Zee.

Yes, they had troubles, but they are still in the east. On top of that I haven't see LeBron made his teammates better. As I said, he is great talent and I expect him to be great one day, maybe even this year, but he is not great player in my book just yet.

 

[Bricklayer]

Yes, they had troubles, but they are still in the east. On top of that I haven't see LeBron made his teammates better. As I said, he is great talent and I expect him to be great one day, maybe even this year, but he is not great player in my book just yet.

Your great player book must be awfully small. Shorter than this post even.

As an aside, the Cavs had a winning record last year, and their roster was simply pathetic beyond LeBron. Ira Newble, Robert Traylor and Luscious Harris oh my!

 

[outsider62]

Your great player book must be awfully small. Shorter than this post even.

As an aside, the Cavs had a winning record last year, and their roster was simply pathetic beyond LeBron. Ira Newble, Robert Traylor and Luscious Harris oh my!

They were poor man's Lakers Kings battled against. They had LeBron, Z and bunch of role players. Yes Shaque is much better then Z, but posters here say LeBron is already better then Kobe and while Lakers won a few titles, Cavs didn't make PO in two attempts with LeBron.

Besides, if I remember well, your required attribute for great player is to make his teammates (look) better. Who has LeBron made look better?

... and yes, my great player book is short as it should be.

 

[VF21]

If you're going to talk about Cleveland's performance, you CANNOT in good conscience not talk about the sale of the franchise AND the release of their coach when considering whether or not LeBron James made his teammates better. A player can only do so much; especially if everything around him is in continual flux.

 

[Bricklayer]

They were poor man's Lakers Kings battled against.

To channel my inner valley girl that comparison makes me go "like, oh my gawd!"

They were pathetic. You take LeBron off that team and they may not win 20 games. Not only sad players, but not even any winners. Closest thing was Snow, and he looked out of shape and old all season. Z has little impact and has lost year after year. Everybody else was a castoff. So you take a 20 win team and add LeBron and its a 42 win team? Sounds like classic superstar stuff to me. About a +20gms in the win column, and guaranteed to keep you up around .500 no matter how bad the team around him.

LeBron's team won 42 games, and largely because of him. You figure Kobe's team won 34, A.I.s won 43, KGs won 44, Paul Pierce's won 45, JKidd (and Vince's) won 42...just exactly how short is your great player list anyway? There must be like two players on it.

If your list is too short to include LeBron, well, its just too damn short.

 

[ONEZERO]

"Oh my gawd brick, that 'oh my gawd' phrase had me rolling all over the place laughing."

 

[AriesMar27]

the cavs wouldnt have won 42 games had they been in the western conf. swith the cavs and lakers, the lakers would have won more than 42 games last season.... and the cavs would most likely have a worse record than the lakers..... even with lebron averaging a triple double......

 

[Nikos]

They were pathetic. You take LeBron off that team and they may not win 20 games. Not only sad players, but not even any winners. Closest thing was Snow, and he looked out of shape and old all season. Z has little impact and has lost year after year.

Ironically Iggy's best season was his rookie year in 1997-98. He and Shawn Kemp were the leaders of a team that went 49-33 and had the BEST defense in the league. Iggy had 14ppg-9rpg-1.6bpg in 29mpg. Very efficient on offense and effective on defense.

I honestly do not think he and Drew Gooden are that bad. Gooden isn't really a good defender, but he is good on the boards and competent on offense. Iggy is actually a very good offensive player and a reasonable defense presense.

I think the Cavs problems were
A) lack of shooting
B) lack of a decent perimeter player for Lebron
C) no depth or quality benchie at any position

Cavs had some good stretches of basketball. Without Iggy and Gooden, the Cavs might win 27-30 games depending on their replacements.

Of course Bron is their best player, and one of the best players in the league. But I doubt the Cavs would compete for a playoff spot in the East without Iggy and Gooden -- actually they wouldn't win 30 games if their replacements were poor to mediocre.

 

[outsider62]

Add AV and Tractor and you see good and deep frontcort. Their problem was lack of quality shooters for sure and bad coaching on top of that.

Kobe, Kid and Carter missed big part of season and no team mentioned had frontcort quality and dept Cavs had. And just for the record: I don't like AI game, he is another great talent, but not great player.

 

[acisking]

whether ai's game is liked or not...he will prob be remembered as one of the greatest small players to ever play (probably alongside the likes of nate archibald and john stockton)

as for the topic at hand..its ridiculous to believe that Lebron is not already one the best players in the nba