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The NBA thread
- Thread starter Platinum Knight
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we play Detroit tonight, this is a huge game
I've been patient with our big trade and giving all of the players time to develop and get in sync, but we are slowly running out of time
we've had a couple disappointing losses, including blowing a pretty decent 3rd quarter lead against the Magic the other night
with only a month(or so) to go until the playoffs...I can hardly wait, this will be a great post season
also for you "LeBron is overrated' people, how can SINGLE HANDEDLY bringing your team to the finals be overshadowed so easily? Jesus Christ, we were down 0-2 to the Pistons last year and won 4 straight. LeBron won the last two games by himself...did you not see those 4th quarter highlights of the one game or that ridiculous drive that slashed through 4 Piston defenders to win the game? This guy was fucking 22 years old at the time.
Look at MJ's numbers early in his career and look at LeBron's...see any similarities? You guys can shit on James all you want for being swept in his first finals appearance...but you forget that Jordan didn't win a Championship until he was 28 and in his 7th season. LeBron is in his 5th season and is only fucking 23 years old. AND Jordan had a team around him when he won his, including Pippen. We're still in the process of building a team that can work around this guy.
I realized I just compared the greatest basketball player of all time to a guy that's been in the league 5 years...but honestly, this guy has 15 seasons of DOMINANCE left
and like I said...Cleveland has the best sports teams...you know the Cavs are coming out of the East this year, the Tribe is going to spank Boston and NY next year, and then, you have the Cleveland Fucking Browns, who are practically a shoe-in for next year's superbowl.
Life is good in Ohio.
I've been patient with our big trade and giving all of the players time to develop and get in sync, but we are slowly running out of time
we've had a couple disappointing losses, including blowing a pretty decent 3rd quarter lead against the Magic the other night
with only a month(or so) to go until the playoffs...I can hardly wait, this will be a great post season
also for you "LeBron is overrated' people, how can SINGLE HANDEDLY bringing your team to the finals be overshadowed so easily? Jesus Christ, we were down 0-2 to the Pistons last year and won 4 straight. LeBron won the last two games by himself...did you not see those 4th quarter highlights of the one game or that ridiculous drive that slashed through 4 Piston defenders to win the game? This guy was fucking 22 years old at the time.
Look at MJ's numbers early in his career and look at LeBron's...see any similarities? You guys can shit on James all you want for being swept in his first finals appearance...but you forget that Jordan didn't win a Championship until he was 28 and in his 7th season. LeBron is in his 5th season and is only fucking 23 years old. AND Jordan had a team around him when he won his, including Pippen. We're still in the process of building a team that can work around this guy.
I realized I just compared the greatest basketball player of all time to a guy that's been in the league 5 years...but honestly, this guy has 15 seasons of DOMINANCE left
and like I said...Cleveland has the best sports teams...you know the Cavs are coming out of the East this year, the Tribe is going to spank Boston and NY next year, and then, you have the Cleveland Fucking Browns, who are practically a shoe-in for next year's superbowl.
Life is good in Ohio.
Lol, now you've fueled the Lebron overrated discussion. I'll be the man in the middle and say this: the reason people DO say this is because:
1) They expect him to win many championships.
2) With the INSANE amount of hype he has received before enterning the NBA, he hasn't done enough to live-up to it. Hell, my mom hasn't watched a NBA game in her life, and she knew who Lebron James was before being drafted!
3) Since the beginning, he has had comparisons to Michael Jordan, which would be the tallest order to live-up to in a NBA carreer.
I will say this: at his age, he's doing a fabulous job bringing the Cavs from worst to top of the Eastern Conference in 4 years. He's done what he's supposed to do, except satisfy the crazy needs of a few people that expected a championship at age 23 (or whatever his age is now). I am not calling him overrated yet. I would give him about 4 more years, so he can be an established veterian, break all the "youngest to...." records, and have 4 more chances for a playoff run.
I agree on all accounts, except that calling the Browns a "Shoe-in" feels like an exaggeration. Anderson hasn't proved to me that he can be great consistently enough, even with an improved team I think SB might be getting your hopes up too high, though I'm pretty confident that they'll make the playoffs.
That argument aside, everything else you said was about right.
He's only overhyped cause we expect him to do things no one else can, so what currently is doing, that isn't living up to expectations. An overhyped Lebron is still better than roughly 99.9% of the league though.
Excitement isn't skills, which is what I'm thinking why most people are calling him overhyped in terms of accomplishments
I wonder how long the Celts will be rocking their St. Patrick's jerseys. The gold trims are snazzy. They should just make that their alternate jersey rather than the awful one with black trims.
I'm not trying to be mean, but seriously, what the fuck are you talking about? Every bit of hype he has ever gotten is truly deserved. How can you say he hasn't "done enough"? He put up 25 points in his NBA debut...at 18 years old.
He took a team that was absolutely terrible and with him being the SOLE building block in the course of 4 years, turned them into a team that could compete with any team in the league, bringing them to the finals.
He's consistently averaged 25/5/5 over his entire career.
Most guys that come into the NBA have at least a year or two in college to get stronger, bigger, and refine their technique before going to the NBA. LeBron went straight out of High School and immediately became a strong force in the league.
Who else deserved more hype? Let's look at a list of players drafted out of high school that I can think of(which isn't many). We have Kwame Brown, who was selected as the #1 pick in his class. OK, yeah. He was hyped pretty big too. Next, I think of Kobe and Kevin Garnett. Those two are tied with LeBron for being the best three players in the league. Think of what Kobe and Kg were doing when they we're 23 years old. Their numbers weren't ANYTHING compared to LeBron's. He's got the mobility and athleticism of Kobe, and the length of KG. Oh yeah, and he's also bigger than any other perimeter player in the entire league, and easily holds his own against any bigger player on the inside. Did I mention that he is only 23 years old and is only going to get stronger, smarter, and more efficient?
This guy, in his 5th year, is putting up the kind of numbers Kobe was in his prime. He has so much room for potential and to be honest, it's fucking scary. When this guy refines his outside shot he is going to be compared to MJ and Magic.
As for my Browns comment, that was the Cleveland optimism catching in...take some of the things I say lightly.
Also
Believeland
Well technically Kobe's number at 23 years old are 28.5 5.9 5.0, but Lebron's are still better, although they are SOMETHING...
Also Rockets finally........WON. 12-0? =D
Also Rockets finally........WON. 12-0? =D
Believeland... hahaha, I like it.
LJ has had more hype to live up to than almost any athlete in history (talkin' pre-career here). He's met his ridiculous expectations, and that in and of itself is an accomplishment. The future for Cleveland isn't so bright when we consider the possibility that he could leave his beloved hometown in a couple of years ='( god I hope that never happens.
LJ has had more hype to live up to than almost any athlete in history (talkin' pre-career here). He's met his ridiculous expectations, and that in and of itself is an accomplishment. The future for Cleveland isn't so bright when we consider the possibility that he could leave his beloved hometown in a couple of years ='( god I hope that never happens.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is LeBron is physically superior to Kobe, and Kobe averaged 8 points in his first season. LeBron averaged 20. The numbers they have now are equal, except Kobe is 8 years older. I mean, I guess I don't know how old Kobe is, only that he was drafted in 95-96
I don't think we need to worry about LeBron leaving Cleveland, he loves Ohio, and why would you give up being the superstar for a team? He goes somewhere else and he has to be incorporated to play with them. In Cleveland, everything is centered around him. He's been in the league 5 fucking years and they are already asking for his approval on trades? Haha
So much is done around that man in Cleveland
I don't think we need to worry about LeBron leaving Cleveland, he loves Ohio, and why would you give up being the superstar for a team? He goes somewhere else and he has to be incorporated to play with them. In Cleveland, everything is centered around him. He's been in the league 5 fucking years and they are already asking for his approval on trades? Haha
So much is done around that man in Cleveland
Unlike Kobe though, LeBron was thrust into the spotlight even before he entered the league. Kobe was a bench player in his early years and he had Shaq to defer to in his younger years which may have led to less gaudy stats. Whereas Cleveland made him the leader from the get-go which helped him pad his stats up.
Oh and for comparison's sake. Kobe's per 36 minute totals as a rookie:
17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.6 steals.
LeBron's per 36 minute totals as a rookie:
19.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 steals.
As you can see, there isn't a really big discrepancy in their rookie per-minute totals. Kobe was only getting 15.5 minutes a game as a rook and hence had poorer looking per game stats.
Oh and for comparison's sake. Kobe's per 36 minute totals as a rookie:
17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.6 steals.
LeBron's per 36 minute totals as a rookie:
19.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 steals.
As you can see, there isn't a really big discrepancy in their rookie per-minute totals. Kobe was only getting 15.5 minutes a game as a rook and hence had poorer looking per game stats.
SpaceFlare, that's a very good point that I overlooked
Cavs play the pistons again, this time at the palace, sometime this week. This is a huge test to see if they can go far in the playoffs
Although I guess we will face Boston in round 2 anyway
Cavs play the pistons again, this time at the palace, sometime this week. This is a huge test to see if they can go far in the playoffs
Although I guess we will face Boston in round 2 anyway
The Sixers have been pretty damn good lately. I wonder how they got walking overpaid contract, Samuel Dalembert, to play motivated.
What's scary is the Sixers are this good and they have cap space to improve the team this offseason.
What's scary is the Sixers are this good and they have cap space to improve the team this offseason.
Yes, they are. They currently hold the seventh seed in the west with a 44-26 record. They're a game above the eighth seed warriors and a game and a half over the ninth place nuggets.
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