Things are Starting to get Interesting in the NBA

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

He has quite a few Participation Trophies on his shelf, that's true. Only 3 O'Brien's in 8 tries.

How many did Larry Bird win? Julius Erving? Wilt? Oscar? West? That is one of the most absurd statements I have ever read. He is a generational player, one of the very few best of all time. Nobody can seriously dispute this. The only question is how high do you rank him. Among non-centers I would still rank Jordan ahead of him, and Magic slightly but not by much, but that's it.

You clearly have some issue with his personality but don't confuse that with his enormous basketball talent, drive and intelligence.

[KMayUSA6060]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

How many did Larry Bird win? Julius Erving? Wilt? Oscar? West? That is one of the most absurd statements I have ever read. He is a generational player, one of the very few best of all time. Nobody can seriously dispute this. The only question is how high do you rank him. Among non-centers I would still rank Jordan ahead of him, and Magic slightly but not by much, but that's it.

You clearly have some issue with his personality but don't confuse that with his enormous basketball talent, drive and intelligence.

I do not like him personally, you're right, but I'm also judging his basketball abilities and IQ. I think he is overrated. I think he's more of a con man than a basketball player. He has manipulated the NBA to hide his weaknesses. Not to mention his game has always infuriated me, especially in his first stint with the Cavs. He overmatches EVERYONE, yet settles for 3s half the time. He ignores fundamentals such as defense and free throws. He helps guys like Draymond off the floor when he should just let them rot there until they get themselves up; whatever happened to a rivalry? Oh yeah - LeBron killed it. He is incredibly thin skinned and doesn't like when people don't like him.

LeBron is an absolute phony on and off the court. He is single handily ruining the NBA.

[Peter_Spaeth]

As someone posted earlier, WTF.

As far as helping Draymond up, should Willie Mays not have dragged John Roseboro away from Marichal and helped him off the field? That was a great rivalry, but there is also a thing called sportsmanship even in that context. Did you somehow miss LeBron being in Durant's face in game 5? LeBron is as intense a competitor as I have seen, I have no idea at all what you are watching.

[cardsfan73]

Man did he turn down your autograph request or what? LOL

I don't watch as much basketball as I used too (I was a big fan towards the end of Bird/Johnson era and the hay day of Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Olajuwon, Drexler etc...

That being said Lebron is one of the best damn players I have ever seen. Biggest negative I have to say about him was the "The Decision". But that was just a dumb marketing/Pr thing that didn't work the way he and his handlers thought it would. But that being said it did raise a ton of money for charity, so it's not all bad!

I would love to see where the Cavs would have been if he had never played for the team. How many NBA Finals did they reach before James? How many after he left? I think that number would be 0! I believe the Heat only had one Finals appearance w/o James.

Let's not forget about how he carried the 2006-2007 Cavs to the NBA Finals. That might be the worst team to ever make it to the finals. I watched a lot of their games that year as a local guy Larry Hughes was on the team and what James did was amazing!

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by cardsfan73

Man did he turn down your autograph request or what? LOL

I don't watch as much basketball as I used too (I was a big fan towards the end of Bird/Johnson era and the hay day of Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Olajuwon, Drexler etc...

That being said Lebron is one of the best damn players I have ever seen. Biggest negative I have to say about him was the "The Decision". But that was just a dumb marketing/Pr thing that didn't work the way he and his handlers thought it would. But that being said it did raise a ton of money for charity, so it's not all bad!

I would love to see where the Cavs would have been if he had never played for the team. How many NBA Finals did they reach before James? How many after he left? I think that number would be 0! I believe the Heat only had one Finals appearance w/o James.

Let's not forget about how he carried the 2006-2007 Cavs to the NBA Finals. That might be the worst team to ever make it to the finals. I watched a lot of their games that year as a local guy Larry Hughes was on the team and what James did was amazing!

In recent memory that Iverson led Sixer team was worse than that 2006-2007 Cavs team.

as far as the Heat only having one Finals appearance w/o James....they would have had ZERO finals appearances without Wade....

That being said, I hate Lebron..but i would of said nobody could of lived up to the hype he had coming out of high school and heck he exceeded it. He made a lot of money for young ballers that some people thought could be the next lebron and failed... The game is changing.....tons of 3s.... its a different game today, even Jordan would of had problems if his opponents made 25 threes in a game against him.... its amazing Lebron still is impacting the game like he does with all these changes..

[Peter_Spaeth]

I've read that they are considering a 4 point line. LOL. Personally, I would move the 3 line back to restore some balance.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I've read that they are considering a 4 point line. LOL. Personally, I would move the 3 line back to restore some balance.

I may be from bygone era, but I remember the NBA before the 24 second shot clock, the "set shot" was king and traveling resulted in a turnover. The 3 point line was somewhere in Newfoundland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-FBs0Ng5Gs