Lebron to lakers

[JCC]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

I've never said he's not a great player. Top 2 talent to ever play the game.

My beef with him is with his ego and how he has completely held the Cavs hostage, screwing them hard in the process.

So before LeBron arrived, the Cavs had been to 2 Conference Finals in their ENTIRE history, losing both.

LeBron gets you to 5 NBA Finals, including your team's ONLY title, and he 'screwed the team?' Its ok to dislike the guy, I suppose I can even understand wanting to turn the page and move on, but man, stop hating and give the guy his due for what he did for your team.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by JCC

So before LeBron arrived, the Cavs had been to 2 Conference Finals in their ENTIRE history, losing both.

LeBron gets you to 5 NBA Finals, including your team's ONLY title, and he 'screwed the team?' Its ok to dislike the guy, I suppose I can even understand wanting to turn the page and move on, but man, stop hating and give the guy his due for what he did for your team.

He got me to one title in his first stint here, which we lost. Then he embarrassed Northeast Ohio and the Cavs fan base with The Decision, left for Miami, and gave them two title while the Cavs were the butt of NBA jokes and had a historically bad team. Not only did he dig himself a hole, but he set the bar with at least two titles in my eyes, since that's what he gave Miami. I enjoyed the first title, but he failed to deliver another. In fact, he failed to commit to Cleveland, and we regressed. The best Cleveland got was a 2 year deal with a player option for a 3rd, then signed a 1-and-1 deal this past time. It's hard enough to attract BIG time players to play in Cleveland, and it's even worse when nobody wants to play with LeBron AND he won't commit to Cleveland. He gave the Lakers 3 years with a 4th year player option.

He was in the red when he came back. Winning 1 title maybe got him to break even in my eyes, but failing to deliver another title while also dragging us through a bunch of his crap in the process and regressing overall was garbage. Not to mention the state he left this team in - again. The only positive is at least we have Love to either build around or deal, but we're still stuck with horrific salaries that he pushed for his guys to get.

Sorry I don't grovel at the "King's" feet.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

He got me to one title in his first stint here, which we lost. Then he embarrassed Northeast Ohio and the Cavs fan base with The Decision, left for Miami, and gave them two title while the Cavs were the butt of NBA jokes and had a historically bad team. Not only did he dig himself a hole, but he set the bar with at least two titles in my eyes, since that's what he gave Miami. I enjoyed the first title, but he failed to deliver another. In fact, he failed to commit to Cleveland, and we regressed. The best Cleveland got was a 2 year deal with a player option for a 3rd, then signed a 1-and-1 deal this past time. It's hard enough to attract BIG time players to play in Cleveland, and it's even worse when nobody wants to play with LeBron AND he won't commit to Cleveland. He gave the Lakers 3 years with a 4th year player option.

He was in the red when he came back. Winning 1 title maybe got him to break even in my eyes, but failing to deliver another title while also dragging us through a bunch of his crap in the process and regressing overall was garbage. Not to mention the state he left this team in - again. The only positive is at least we have Love to either build around or deal, but we're still stuck with horrific salaries that he pushed for his guys to get.

Sorry I don't grovel at the "King's" feet.

You want to build around a guy that will be 30 years old in a couple months and a vastly inferior talent to Lebron?

As far as the point about Lebron's ego, who are the players in his caliber who were ego free? You think Jordan and Chamberlain didn't have egos just as big, if not larger than Lebron's?

[Peter_Spaeth]

By all accounts Jordan was a nightmare for all involved to deal with. Kyle probably would have been glad to see him go too.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

You want to build around a guy that will be 30 years old in a couple months and a vastly inferior talent to Lebron?

As far as the point about Lebron's ego, who are the players in his caliber who were ego free? You think Jordan and Chamberlain didn't have egos just as big, if not larger than Lebron's?

I want to explore what the possibilities are as to what we can add around Love before we make the decision to trade him. Ultimately, the East is still wide open on the back end, and when you have an All Star, you don't immediately dump them if you have a shot at a playoff spot.

Heck no I don't think Jordan/Chamberlain were ego free. Last I checked, though, Jordan's ego wasn't detrimental to the development of the Bulls roster and franchise while he was there. Jordan also never lost a Finals, and was Finals MVP all 6 times. Chamberlain is too far of a stretch in eras to compare.

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

By all accounts Jordan was a nightmare for all involved to deal with. Kyle probably would have been glad to see him go too.

Jordan delivered 6 titles, not losing a single Finals he was in. A lot easier to deal with all the crap when you're winning like he did.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Jordan had an all-time great by his side, Scottie Pippen, not to mention Dennis Rodman for several of those years. Who did LeBron have? LeBron was also up against one of the very few greatest teams ever.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Jordan had an all-time great by his side, Scottie Pippen, not to mention Dennis Rodman for several of those years. Who did LeBron have? LeBron was also up against one of the very few greatest teams ever.

I love when people bring this up. LeBron's first time in Cleveland, he had nobody. He then left to join DWade and Bosh (Ray Allen, too), arguably comparable, if not better than Pippen/Rodman. Split the four finals appearances, 2-2. He then comes back to Cleveland, and has Kyrie Irving & Kevin Love, again arguably as good if not better than Pippen/Rodman. He ran Kyrie out of town, and destroyed Love's game. The rest of the supporting cast he could never stabilize, not to mention the bloated contracts he pushed for "his" guys, handicapping the GM from making any other key moves.

Please, spare me the "up against one of the very few greatest teams ever" excuse, especially if you're going to say that LeBron is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time.

[Peter_Spaeth]

With due respect, Love/Irving are not even close to Pippen/Rodman. Pippen is a consensus top 40 all time player, I have never seen anyone accuse Love of that. And Rodman was the best rebounder in basketball.

And yes, it's a team game, and they keep score, as Russell used to say. Nobody -- not even Wilt with his 50 ppg -- is going to beat a great team without great running mates.