Originally Posted by
Xtapolapacetl
Originally Posted by
Classy Freshman
Xtapolapacetl wrote:
Classy Freshman wrote:
Xtapolapacetl wrote:
Here is the list of elite players who switched teams in their relative primes in the 80s in alphabetical order:
Malone, Moses
That is all. I guess you can add Bernard King otherwise you have to go down to players like Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre to find some more and wait until the 92 Barkley trade where things really started to roll and Barkley, Drexler and Nique switching teams. And switching teams has only had a negative impact for one of these three's legacies (Nique) where he became a journeyman for the rest of his career, whereas for Barkley and Drexler it flat out had a positive effect on their legacies with Barkley winning the MVP and making the finals in 93 and Drexler winning a ring in 95. And unlike LeBron who is coming to a team that has 2 first round exits and the worst record in the NBA in the last 3 seasons, Drexler came to a team that won a championship just a year earlier. And have you ever heard someone say that this was a bad thing for Drexler's legacy? Before Moses Malone, I think Wilt, Oscar and Kareem are the only juggernauts who switched teams in their primes and man did that ruin their legacies. Bottom line: Dr. J (other than the fact he HAD to switch teams because of ABA's end), Kareem, Magic, Bird, Jordan, Isiah, Drexler, Nique, Olajuwon, Barkley, McHale, Worthy, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Ewing, Robinson: 16 out of 20 best players in the league between 1976 and 1992 and they never switched teams a single time in this period. Now try making a list of 15 best players in recent times and see how many of them switched teams, in fact here's a list of elite players in their primes who for whatever reason (in many cases because they wanted to) switched teams since 1996:
Shaq (multiple times)
Charles Barkley
Shawn Kemp
Chris Webber
Scottie Pippen
Grant Hill
Jason Kidd
Gary Payton
Tracy McGrady
Vince Carter
Kevin Garnett
Kobe wanted to but apparently he gets a pass so free that it started asking for 40 acres and a mule
Amare Stoudemire
Chris Bosh
LeBron James
Every player is judged by the time he played in, and unlike Magic, Bird, Isiah and Jordan's early days, LeBron James is a player of a time where elite players in their primes switching teams is nothing uncommon and is much closer to being a rule than being an exception, which it very much was in the Magic-Bird days. So in the end it won't "ruin his legacy" whatsoever no matter how desperate your hating %@$ wants to make it look. Suck it haters. If you want to be fair (which obviously you don't), then you shouldn't be salty about this particular LeBron/Bosh transfer, but be complaining about the entire notion of elite players switching teams in their primes which happens so often in modern basketball. But you won't do that? Why? Because U just MAAaaad about LeBron and are probably getting sleepless nights over him.
I reason people are disapointed with Lebron's decision is not merely because he switched teams, but because he joined a team with one of the top three players in the league a player who hasn't been out of the first round for two straight seasons and was a part of the worst team in the NBA 3 seasons ago, and another Olympian/All-Star player who has only been in the playoffs twice, never been out of the first round and been a part of a lottery team for the past 2 seasons. Don't you get it??? If he would have went to Chicago, New York (or anywhere else without 2 franchise players in their prime players who have 5 first round exits and 3 lotteries in their past 8 seasons combined) he wouldn't have gotten
nearly the amount of criticism he is getting now.
@ "if he had joined
any other team", this is priceless. You really think you're fooling anyone by saying that this is the only decision he could've made to get criticized? 30 teams he could've signed with = 30 ways of putting a negative spin on any decision he would've made
Cleveland: He's about the money, he doesn't care about winning
Chicago: He wants to be like Jordan/will never be as good as Jordan
New York: He's about the spotlight and media attention, he doesn't care about winning
New Jersey: He's wants to suck up to Jay-Z and be closer to the rap game more than win
Charlotte Bobcats: He wants to suck up to Jordan
Toronto: He hates America
Going to play in Europe: He hates the entire North American continent
Ends pro basketball career to go to college: He'll never pass his exams
Retires from basketball all-together: He doesn't care about basketball
Dies: You have to be alive in order to play basketball and he didn't stay alive to show that he cares about playing basketball
Miami: *insert reason from traditional LeBron haters who made posts in this thread who have made fun of LeBron year after year for "not being about winning" and only about himself, but now that he sacrificed both money, stats and MVPs (Cleveland) and exposure (New York) in order to increase his odds of winning flip-flop and say some other crap*
^you really are bugged out.
Are
you really talking about people putting a "negative spin" on things???
YOU???
You are saying forget about Dwayne Wade's 26.6, 4.8, 6.5 last year(33.2, 5.6, 6.8 in the playoffs), THREE SEASONS AGO he was on a team with 15 total wins. You know he only played 51 games and you know the games he did play he was nowhere near 100 percent healthy, but to you that seems to be more important then his 09-10 performance. HA.
You are saying forget about Chris Bosh's 24 and 10 last year, he played for a team that that missed the playoffs for the last two seasons and has never been out of the first round. Its
to me that you
KILL Kobe and the Lakers for aquiring a similar player in Pau Gasol. The difference is Chris Bosh had better numbers then Gasol. Gasol averaged 19.1 and 8.5 the season before joining the Lakers. Gasol and the Grizzlies also missed the playoffs the year before the Lakers aquired him, and were
SWEPT out of the playoffs in Gasol's other 3 playoff appeareances. So again you
KILL Kobe for getting Gasol(who statistically was not the player Bosh is), but its alright for Lebron to team with Bosh?...
AND WADE???
HA.
.
We can go by Wade's 09-10 season only if you want, no problems whatsoever. I'll only mention the epic fail in 08 as soon as someone mentions how Heat won in 06. Anyway, what about Wade's 09-10? The guy didn't get past first round. Apparently second rounder MVP of 09-10 LeBron is coming to piggyback a first rounder to a ring and to be his Robin/Pippen. Makes total sense.
Also, it's funny how you use to determine stats to decide who is better between Bosh and Gasol, yet when I mention how LeBron takes a complete dump on Kobe in terms of stats (even more than the difference between Bosh and Gasol) as a way to prove that LeBron is the better player, then stats don't matter at all. What a hypocritical Kobe #@!* socket.
And yeah, Bosh scored significantly more than Gasol, but Pau averaged more rebounds, assists and blocks.
And the difference between LeBron "getting" Bosh and Kobe getting Gasol is that LeBron didn't get Bosh, they both signed for a team as free agents, while Kobe getting Gasol is one of the most one-sided trades in history.
First of all I sonned you with my last statement and this current reply was weak, but I will take it apart anyway.
Why even mention 07-08 and the 15 wins when it comes to Wade? He only played 51 games and he was clearly not 100 percent? Oh yeah...negative spin. And by the end of the 09-10 season regardless of his teams performance, he was regarded as a top 3 player in the league. PERIOD.
As far as Bosh and Gasol, I was using the statistics as an example of the similarities of the type of player Kobe plays with and player Lebron will be playing with. I never said the statistics determined who was the better player. The point I was making was that you constantly attempt to discredit Kobe for playing with a player of Pau's caliber, but now it is somehow ok for Lebron to play with a player of the same caliber. You can't have it both ways.
And the difference between Pau joining the Lakers and Lebron joining Miami is that Pau coming to the Lakers was managements decision. Now Lebron on the other hand made "the decision" by himself to follow an All Star duo that had already been formed in Miami.
Keep replying and I will keep putting nails in you coffin.
