The GOAT: "I would not have called Larry and Magic and say let’s play together"

[nycknicks105]

Originally Posted by Rexanglorum

Like others have said, MJ, Magic and Larry all had serious talent around them. Magic and had Kareem and Worth and Scott and Cooper and others. Bird was part of the best front line in history. MJ had less help but having Scottie Pippen, who is a close second behind Larry Bird as the best 3 of all time and is the best defensive player in the last 30 years, as well as Horace Grant who was very underrated meant that he had more support then LeBron had in Cleveland.

LeBron has never had a legit second guy on that team. There has been no Pippen, Gasol or even a Parker/Ginobili guy who can pick up the slack for the team's best player.

Plus, LeBron is not joining a team of guys who are as great as Magic and Bird. Dwayne Wade is very good but still no Magic, LeBron is not as good as MJ and Bosh is no where near the impact player that Larry Bird was. The talent level on this Heat team is high but the last few years have seen some super teams form like the Lakers and the Celtics. The "Miami Thrice" had to form in order to really be able to compete against the Lakers and Celtics and Magic right now and to be able to compete with that budding super team in OKC or some other team where talent decides to collaborate and concentrate.

One of the reasons why the Bulls did win six championships in the 90's, without a lot of depth or a dominant center was because the talent was widely diffused all around the league and all of the contenders all had serious flaws, there we no super teams in the 90s, no teams with three super stars in the prime of their careers. If the 1993 Suns had David Robinson, if the 1992 Knicks had Gary Payton and Clyde Drexler or the 1996 Super Sonics had Hakeem Olajuwon or the 1997 Jazz had Patrick Ewing, MJ would not have six rings and he would probably have demanding that the Bulls bring in additional talent in order to be able to compete for a championship.

Finally, the comparison is also off because Magic, Bird and MJ were by far the best three players in the league circa 1988. Lebron is the only guy who is the best at his position (and in the not so distant future Kevin Durant may be the best three). Kobe is a better guard then Wade and Bosh is definitely not the best at his position, Gasol is clearly better and so is Carlos Boozer and Tim Duncan (if he is somewhat healthy) and maybe even Amare.

I guess what players like Bird, Magic and MJ mean when they say "I wouldn't join those guys" is that they would want to be the #1 on a winning team. A lot of people had said it before and I will say it. There's a big difference between being great and greatness. Great is just possessing the talent to be great, but greatness is the effort that is placed to be utilized by someone great. Lebron falls under the former and it's a shame that we see it now after 7 years. Guys like Bird, Magic, Kobe and MJ have greatness because even with guys they had whom were all good players,  they beat other teams with good players. Look at Magic's Lakers when they lost to MJ's bulls in 91. He had Byron Scott, James Worthy etc. They had a "stacked" team as well (at the time). But talking about teams is pointless, because thats not the argument here. The argument is that LeBron left his team, his city, his legacy to go to another mans city, team and home. If he wins one, it'll always be recognized that he won with Wade and had to leave his team and join a "Super team" to win one. He just't isn't cut from the same cloth as the great players of the past.

He did take the easy way out by joining other GREAT players (no one is saying they're like MJ, Bird or Magic, but they're all we have now) and not building a team around him or going to another team with good pieces. If he wins the title next year, will it be much of a surprise? No, because people will say that he was supposed to win it. They say that he had a super team and they were "built" to win. That's what made all those championships that MJ won so great. It wasn't because he beat teams for almost an entire decade. No, it was because every year the Bulls were never the clear cut favorite to win. There was always that "other" team(s) that had a chance as well. You just never knew back then and thats what made those championships so amazing.

Even after Lebron win's titles, he will have the Kobe stigma soon after. He will get criticized for not winning them being THE guy on the team and not being the clear cut leader. Those rings will come with extra baggage and LeBron may not feel it after he wins them, but soon enough he will feel the weight of the baggage that those rings will hold. 

 

[shuges]

Originally Posted by koolbarbone

Originally Posted by SHUGES

And I'm loving how nobody has dared challenge the accusation that Barkley jumped to the Rockets to ring-chase with Dream and Drex...

Probably because a trade isn't the same thing as signing a contract as a free agent.

So forcing a trade b/c your team sucks is different than just leaving a team that sucks to go sign with a different one? Ok, I get it now.

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

Barkley, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, KG & Ray Allen DID NOT DO THE SAME THING as LeBron anybody who thinks this has only watched basketball for the last 7 years. Thoseguys were far past their prime.

So waiting until you're old and washed up to try and get a ring with an all-star cast is better than going to an all-star cast when you're young and healthy. Ok, I get it now.

Originally Posted by DiRkNaStY41

DidPaul Pierce ever think about leaving Boston as many bad season as theyhad (Not including the couple playoff year with Antoine Walker)? Didn'tthink so, and you can say oh well Kobe demanded a trade. The fact isKobe wasn't traded and the Lakers front office weren't doing enough toput a championship caliber supporting cast around him so it wasjustified.

Ask any diehard Boston fan on here... Paul made noise right before they got KG and Ray Ray.

As for Kobe, see my first answer in this response.

Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

A lot of you dudes in here are basically just mad that LBJ didn't do what YOU think he should have done. Dudes telling another man how to live his life.

You guys don't see that you're cooking up all these reasons and excuses to basically hide the fact that you're mad he didn't do what YOU all wanted him to do?

Who the %%## are we to tell him what he SHOULD have done? I'm sure none of you want to make a decision (what car to buy, what college to go to, if to get married to a certain girl) and then have someone be mad at you for the next few weeks b/c you didn't do what they told you to do.

Originally Posted by Bigmike23

i see u still dont get it

*shrugs*
I guess not.
And I guess I can say the same for a lot of people in here as well....

 

[shuges]

Originally Posted by koolbarbone

Originally Posted by SHUGES

And I'm loving how nobody has dared challenge the accusation that Barkley jumped to the Rockets to ring-chase with Dream and Drex...

Probably because a trade isn't the same thing as signing a contract as a free agent.

So forcing a trade b/c your team sucks is different than just leaving a team that sucks to go sign with a different one? Ok, I get it now.

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

Barkley, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, KG & Ray Allen DID NOT DO THE SAME THING as LeBron anybody who thinks this has only watched basketball for the last 7 years. Thoseguys were far past their prime.

So waiting until you're old and washed up to try and get a ring with an all-star cast is better than going to an all-star cast when you're young and healthy. Ok, I get it now.

Originally Posted by DiRkNaStY41

DidPaul Pierce ever think about leaving Boston as many bad season as theyhad (Not including the couple playoff year with Antoine Walker)? Didn'tthink so, and you can say oh well Kobe demanded a trade. The fact isKobe wasn't traded and the Lakers front office weren't doing enough toput a championship caliber supporting cast around him so it wasjustified.

Ask any diehard Boston fan on here... Paul made noise right before they got KG and Ray Ray.

As for Kobe, see my first answer in this response.

Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

A lot of you dudes in here are basically just mad that LBJ didn't do what YOU think he should have done. Dudes telling another man how to live his life.

You guys don't see that you're cooking up all these reasons and excuses to basically hide the fact that you're mad he didn't do what YOU all wanted him to do?

Who the %%## are we to tell him what he SHOULD have done? I'm sure none of you want to make a decision (what car to buy, what college to go to, if to get married to a certain girl) and then have someone be mad at you for the next few weeks b/c you didn't do what they told you to do.

Originally Posted by Bigmike23

i see u still dont get it

*shrugs*
I guess not.
And I guess I can say the same for a lot of people in here as well....

 

[smedroc]

I'm loving the $+%@ storm that this move has created 

 

[smedroc]

I'm loving the $+%@ storm that this move has created 

 

[doublejs07]

Hmmmm....

[h3]Magic Johnson sought elite teammates too[/h3]
By Henry Abbott
Archive

Magic Johnson joins the cavalcade of those saying, essentially, hey LeBron James, real men don't play with superstars.

"We didn't think about it 'cause that's not what we were about," Johnson said at Baruch College in New York, according to Bloomberg News. "From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird."

This past weekend, Jordan said at a celebrity golf event that he never would have played with Johnson or Bird, his two main rivals during his playing days.

"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team,'" Jordan said after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. The interview aired on the NBC telecast of the event. "But that's ... things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."

TrueHoop reader Mike, however, takes special exception to the idea that Johnson would stick with a mediocre roster over playing with superstars. He e-mails:

As much as I admire and respect these players, it becomes hard to take them seriously when none of them had situations comparable to LeBron, and all of the them got to play with other great, Top-50 All-Time players. The quest to play with other elite talent is basically universal amongst stars, be it Wilt going to join Hal Greer and later Jerry West and Elgin Baylor or all the way up to Kobe openly flirting with the Bulls and Clippers and threatening trade demands until the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol.

The fact that LeBron simply exercised his rights as a free agent to leave Cleveland to do what countless other players have done, rather than demand trades or refuse to play for the team that drafted him, should not be held against him.

I'm not even a fan of LeBron, but at this point I think he's getting dumped on pretty unfairly.

And in the case of Magic Johnson, Mike has done his homework. He found a Mike Downey L.A. Times article from 1991

Magic Johnson would have returned to Michigan State rather than play for the Chicago Bulls.

"I'd have stayed in school," he said here Tuesday, standing alone outside Gate 3 1/2 of Chicago Stadium, the house that could have been his. "A coin toss changed the course of my whole life." Chicago called heads in a 1979 coin flip with Los Angeles for the No. 1 pick in the NBA college draft. It came up tails.

Johnson signed with the Lakers after his sophomore year of college and proceeded to win five championships. The Bulls picked second, took UCLA's David Greenwood and have won no championships.

"I wouldn't have played here," Johnson said on the eve of Game 2 of the NBA finals between his team and the team that could have been his. "The only reason I came out was to play with Kareem and the Lakers."

Then Mike gets to comparing the Lakers who played with Johnson in his first seven years to the Cavaliers who played with James over the same period. Johnson's teammates, in aggregate, had:

• Two first team All-Rookie selections (Byron Scott, James Worthy)
• 11 All-Star appearances (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar seven times, Norm Nixon twice, Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes)
• Four All-NBA first team selections (Abdul-Jabbar)
• Two All-NBA second team selections (Abdul-Jabbar)
• Five All-Defensive first team selections (Michael Cooper three times, Abdul-Jabbar twice)
• Four All-Defensive second team selections (Cooper three times, Abdul-Jabbar once)
• One MVP Award (Abdul-Jabbar)
• In addition, Abdul-Jabbar, Worthy, Wilkes, Nixon, and Cooper all got votes for MVP at one point in time or the other during Magic's first seven years, and Cooper won defensive player of the year in Johnson's eighth year.

Mike does a similar analysis on James' Cavs' rosters:

• Zero first team All-Rookie Selections
• Two All-Star game appearances (Mo Williams, Zydrunas llgauskas)
• Zero All-NBA first team selection
• Zero All-NBA second team selections
• Zero All-Defensive first team selections
• One All-Defensive second team selection (Anderson Vareajo)
• Zero MVP Awards

Mike adds, in conclusion:

In order to have a situation even comparable to Magic's, LeBron would have needed to be drafted onto, say, Tim Duncan's team (to parallel Abdul-Jabbar), played the last six years with a prime Bruce Bowen (to parallel Michael Cooper), and had the Cavs draft Danny Granger in his third year (as a parallel to Worthy), and that's ignoring guys like Scott/Wilkes/McAdoo etc.

I mean, let's be real, if LeBron had been in a situation like that does anyone doubt that he would have stayed? That he would already have multiple titles and that we'd be talking about his place amongst the top 10-15 players of all-time instead of dumping on his competitive fire? Magic had it easy, which make his comments seem absolutely ridiculous.




Link

 

[doublejs07]

Hmmmm....

[h3]Magic Johnson sought elite teammates too[/h3]
By Henry Abbott
Archive

Magic Johnson joins the cavalcade of those saying, essentially, hey LeBron James, real men don't play with superstars.

"We didn't think about it 'cause that's not what we were about," Johnson said at Baruch College in New York, according to Bloomberg News. "From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird."

This past weekend, Jordan said at a celebrity golf event that he never would have played with Johnson or Bird, his two main rivals during his playing days.

"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team,'" Jordan said after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. The interview aired on the NBC telecast of the event. "But that's ... things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."

TrueHoop reader Mike, however, takes special exception to the idea that Johnson would stick with a mediocre roster over playing with superstars. He e-mails:

As much as I admire and respect these players, it becomes hard to take them seriously when none of them had situations comparable to LeBron, and all of the them got to play with other great, Top-50 All-Time players. The quest to play with other elite talent is basically universal amongst stars, be it Wilt going to join Hal Greer and later Jerry West and Elgin Baylor or all the way up to Kobe openly flirting with the Bulls and Clippers and threatening trade demands until the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol.

The fact that LeBron simply exercised his rights as a free agent to leave Cleveland to do what countless other players have done, rather than demand trades or refuse to play for the team that drafted him, should not be held against him.

I'm not even a fan of LeBron, but at this point I think he's getting dumped on pretty unfairly.

And in the case of Magic Johnson, Mike has done his homework. He found a Mike Downey L.A. Times article from 1991

Magic Johnson would have returned to Michigan State rather than play for the Chicago Bulls.

"I'd have stayed in school," he said here Tuesday, standing alone outside Gate 3 1/2 of Chicago Stadium, the house that could have been his. "A coin toss changed the course of my whole life." Chicago called heads in a 1979 coin flip with Los Angeles for the No. 1 pick in the NBA college draft. It came up tails.

Johnson signed with the Lakers after his sophomore year of college and proceeded to win five championships. The Bulls picked second, took UCLA's David Greenwood and have won no championships.

"I wouldn't have played here," Johnson said on the eve of Game 2 of the NBA finals between his team and the team that could have been his. "The only reason I came out was to play with Kareem and the Lakers."

Then Mike gets to comparing the Lakers who played with Johnson in his first seven years to the Cavaliers who played with James over the same period. Johnson's teammates, in aggregate, had:

• Two first team All-Rookie selections (Byron Scott, James Worthy)
• 11 All-Star appearances (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar seven times, Norm Nixon twice, Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes)
• Four All-NBA first team selections (Abdul-Jabbar)
• Two All-NBA second team selections (Abdul-Jabbar)
• Five All-Defensive first team selections (Michael Cooper three times, Abdul-Jabbar twice)
• Four All-Defensive second team selections (Cooper three times, Abdul-Jabbar once)
• One MVP Award (Abdul-Jabbar)
• In addition, Abdul-Jabbar, Worthy, Wilkes, Nixon, and Cooper all got votes for MVP at one point in time or the other during Magic's first seven years, and Cooper won defensive player of the year in Johnson's eighth year.

Mike does a similar analysis on James' Cavs' rosters:

• Zero first team All-Rookie Selections
• Two All-Star game appearances (Mo Williams, Zydrunas llgauskas)
• Zero All-NBA first team selection
• Zero All-NBA second team selections
• Zero All-Defensive first team selections
• One All-Defensive second team selection (Anderson Vareajo)
• Zero MVP Awards

Mike adds, in conclusion:

In order to have a situation even comparable to Magic's, LeBron would have needed to be drafted onto, say, Tim Duncan's team (to parallel Abdul-Jabbar), played the last six years with a prime Bruce Bowen (to parallel Michael Cooper), and had the Cavs draft Danny Granger in his third year (as a parallel to Worthy), and that's ignoring guys like Scott/Wilkes/McAdoo etc.

I mean, let's be real, if LeBron had been in a situation like that does anyone doubt that he would have stayed? That he would already have multiple titles and that we'd be talking about his place amongst the top 10-15 players of all-time instead of dumping on his competitive fire? Magic had it easy, which make his comments seem absolutely ridiculous.




Link

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by SHUGES


Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

Ummmm, they did EVERYTHING Bron told them to do.  Get him help, sign this guy, trade for that guy.  He wanted Shaq, they got him.  Wanted Twan, they got him.  He liked Mo and AV, they signed them to long term deals.  Who doesn't know that Bron was making all the moves for that team?  Everyone knew that. 

And it was HIS fault that guys like Ariza and Artest and countless others wouldn't sign there because they knew he wouldn't commit long term.  Again, the entire time he was out there he had his eyes on free agency.  Not a title, his free agency.  If you knew you could get a free agent to join your 60 win team that just added Shaq and you could get a Ariza/Artest type, why WOULDN"T you sign to help bring one of them in?  I mean, he cares only about winning right?  He had a chance to add a couple real nice peices right there last offseason right, why didn't he do it? 

Oh, he wanted to a be a free agent all along, that's why.  This fool with his "loyalty" tattoo played everybody around him from jump.  And I suspect that the day will come when Wade and Bosh also find out about his "loyalty" as well, just like the Cavs org did. 

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by SHUGES


Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

Ummmm, they did EVERYTHING Bron told them to do.  Get him help, sign this guy, trade for that guy.  He wanted Shaq, they got him.  Wanted Twan, they got him.  He liked Mo and AV, they signed them to long term deals.  Who doesn't know that Bron was making all the moves for that team?  Everyone knew that. 

And it was HIS fault that guys like Ariza and Artest and countless others wouldn't sign there because they knew he wouldn't commit long term.  Again, the entire time he was out there he had his eyes on free agency.  Not a title, his free agency.  If you knew you could get a free agent to join your 60 win team that just added Shaq and you could get a Ariza/Artest type, why WOULDN"T you sign to help bring one of them in?  I mean, he cares only about winning right?  He had a chance to add a couple real nice peices right there last offseason right, why didn't he do it? 

Oh, he wanted to a be a free agent all along, that's why.  This fool with his "loyalty" tattoo played everybody around him from jump.  And I suspect that the day will come when Wade and Bosh also find out about his "loyalty" as well, just like the Cavs org did. 

 

[ph3n0m3n0n]

just curious, what do you think 'loyalty' means?

I wanna see them 4 peat and Lebron get all 4 MVPs and 4 finals MVPs just to see what some people have to say. The basis of some of the detractors arguments here and around the city are funny to me.

 

[ph3n0m3n0n]

just curious, what do you think 'loyalty' means?

I wanna see them 4 peat and Lebron get all 4 MVPs and 4 finals MVPs just to see what some people have to say. The basis of some of the detractors arguments here and around the city are funny to me.

 

[shuges]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Originally Posted by SHUGES


Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

Ummmm, they did not do EVERYTHING Bron told them to do.  Get him help, sign this guy, trade for that guy.  He wanted Shaq the season BEFORE, they got him the off-season AFTER, when Shaq was even more of a shell of his former self.  Wanted Twan Amare, they didn't goet him.

First of all, nobody KNOWS what LBJ did or didn't do behind the scenes in terms of roster moves. It's all speculation. My edits are going off of what the reports supposedly said.

Secondly, what superstar has ZERO input on management moves? "We're thinking of hiring this coach" or "Word is so and so is available. Do you think you guys would mesh?". Everything from Kobe openly campaigning to bringing back D Fish & PJ to JKidd privately saying (reportedly) that he doesn't want to play for Byron Scott. EVERY superstar gets coddled to an extent. If you think otherwise, then I don't know what to tell you.

And that's a GREAT find DoubleJs.

Magic is just like Barkley with that contradictory hate in his blood. His opinion on this topic is now null and void (like Chuck's) to me as well.

 

[shuges]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Originally Posted by SHUGES


Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

Ummmm, they did not do EVERYTHING Bron told them to do.  Get him help, sign this guy, trade for that guy.  He wanted Shaq the season BEFORE, they got him the off-season AFTER, when Shaq was even more of a shell of his former self.  Wanted Twan Amare, they didn't goet him.

First of all, nobody KNOWS what LBJ did or didn't do behind the scenes in terms of roster moves. It's all speculation. My edits are going off of what the reports supposedly said.

Secondly, what superstar has ZERO input on management moves? "We're thinking of hiring this coach" or "Word is so and so is available. Do you think you guys would mesh?". Everything from Kobe openly campaigning to bringing back D Fish & PJ to JKidd privately saying (reportedly) that he doesn't want to play for Byron Scott. EVERY superstar gets coddled to an extent. If you think otherwise, then I don't know what to tell you.

And that's a GREAT find DoubleJs.

Magic is just like Barkley with that contradictory hate in his blood. His opinion on this topic is now null and void (like Chuck's) to me as well.

 

[jsindaa]

Originally Posted by spsfinest212

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

LeBron has had it easy his whole life. Everything handed to him. He doesn't work hard on his game most of it is natural ability.
What champion caliber player has long choreographed dance routines during player announcements? They worked on those routines

duringpractice! What champion caliber player, when facing a elimination game,stand at half court and shoot underhanded shots the whole 

time?LeBron doesn't want to work hard or take it seriously, he wants it easyfor him. That's why he liked the Dream Team so much.

Shut up. I'm a couple pages late but he had NOTHING easy as a child. If your mom being strung out 80% of your childhood while you move from hood to hood is easy then what the f is hard? I don't say much about his personal life out of respect for his wishes....but you're mad disrespectful g. Get that hate out of your blood.

 

[jsindaa]

Originally Posted by spsfinest212

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

LeBron has had it easy his whole life. Everything handed to him. He doesn't work hard on his game most of it is natural ability.
What champion caliber player has long choreographed dance routines during player announcements? They worked on those routines

duringpractice! What champion caliber player, when facing a elimination game,stand at half court and shoot underhanded shots the whole 

time?LeBron doesn't want to work hard or take it seriously, he wants it easyfor him. That's why he liked the Dream Team so much.

Shut up. I'm a couple pages late but he had NOTHING easy as a child. If your mom being strung out 80% of your childhood while you move from hood to hood is easy then what the f is hard? I don't say much about his personal life out of respect for his wishes....but you're mad disrespectful g. Get that hate out of your blood.

 

[dland24]

I really dont see how Magic choosing to enter the draft to play with Kareem is even in the same neighborhood of LeBron leaving a team that has the best record in the East 2 years running. You are talking about a college kid, who if he goes in the draft, is the #1 overall pick and gets to play with a player who was likely one of his basketball heroes. Thats the same thing as a 25 year old superstar abandoning a 61 win team?

OK.

 

[dland24]

I really dont see how Magic choosing to enter the draft to play with Kareem is even in the same neighborhood of LeBron leaving a team that has the best record in the East 2 years running. You are talking about a college kid, who if he goes in the draft, is the #1 overall pick and gets to play with a player who was likely one of his basketball heroes. Thats the same thing as a 25 year old superstar abandoning a 61 win team?

OK.

 

[vanillafreak13]

Did Lebron have a right to leave Cleveland? Yes of course.

You can argue all you want, but this hurts his legacy.

Had he left for anywhere but Miami he would have been called a ring chaser yes. Would it be to this degree? No.

The reason for that is he would have shouldered the load for a Championship team anywhere else he went. Chicago, whom everybody called the "right choice" for contention has one star. That star, Derrick Rose is not on the level of a Dwayne Wade. That's what makes it different.

 

[vanillafreak13]

Did Lebron have a right to leave Cleveland? Yes of course.

You can argue all you want, but this hurts his legacy.

Had he left for anywhere but Miami he would have been called a ring chaser yes. Would it be to this degree? No.

The reason for that is he would have shouldered the load for a Championship team anywhere else he went. Chicago, whom everybody called the "right choice" for contention has one star. That star, Derrick Rose is not on the level of a Dwayne Wade. That's what makes it different.

 

[dirknasty41]

Originally Posted by DiRkNaStY41

DidPaul Pierce ever think about leaving Boston as many bad season as theyhad (Not including the couple playoff year with Antoine Walker)? Didn'tthink so, and you can say oh well Kobe demanded a trade. The fact isKobe wasn't traded and the Lakers front office weren't doing enough toput a championship caliber supporting cast around him so it wasjustified.

Ask any diehard Boston fan on here... Paul made noise right before they got KG and Ray Ray.

As for Kobe, see my first answer in this response.

Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

A lot of you dudes in here are basically just mad that LBJ didn't do what YOU think he should have done. Dudes telling another man how to live his life.

You guys don't see that you're cooking up all these reasons and excuses to basically hide the fact that you're mad he didn't do what YOU all wanted him to do?

Who the %%## are we to tell him what he SHOULD have done? I'm sure none of you want to make a decision (what car to buy, what college to go to, if to get married to a certain girl) and then have someone be mad at you for the next few weeks b/c you didn't do what they told you to do.

You obviously only read what you wanted to read. I didn't say Bron wasn't justified for leaving Cleveland ever in my post

 

[dirknasty41]

Originally Posted by DiRkNaStY41

DidPaul Pierce ever think about leaving Boston as many bad season as theyhad (Not including the couple playoff year with Antoine Walker)? Didn'tthink so, and you can say oh well Kobe demanded a trade. The fact isKobe wasn't traded and the Lakers front office weren't doing enough toput a championship caliber supporting cast around him so it wasjustified.

Ask any diehard Boston fan on here... Paul made noise right before they got KG and Ray Ray.

As for Kobe, see my first answer in this response.

Also, you say Kobe was justified in demanding a trade b/c LA's front office didn't do enough to put a championship team around him. Yet LBJ isn't justified for leaving Cle for the same reasons? Riiiiiight.

A lot of you dudes in here are basically just mad that LBJ didn't do what YOU think he should have done. Dudes telling another man how to live his life.

You guys don't see that you're cooking up all these reasons and excuses to basically hide the fact that you're mad he didn't do what YOU all wanted him to do?

Who the %%## are we to tell him what he SHOULD have done? I'm sure none of you want to make a decision (what car to buy, what college to go to, if to get married to a certain girl) and then have someone be mad at you for the next few weeks b/c you didn't do what they told you to do.

You obviously only read what you wanted to read. I didn't say Bron wasn't justified for leaving Cleveland ever in my post

 

[deuce king]

Originally Posted by mYToAsterspeak

I think most of the people who defend Bron or think it was a good decision, don't value greatness. The journey to become great is different from just being great. A man that strives to become great, who sacrifices to become great, who wills himself to greatness and values the steps it takes to become great is held in higher regard than the man who is just great. It's just like some guy who inherited a large fortune. Sure he will be celebrated and patted on the back for inheriting that fortune and being rich, but the opposite man who puts in the hours, the sacrifice, the fortitude, and will, will be held in higher regard than that other man.

LeBron stood on the doorstep of greatness, knocked on the door, the door swung open. LeBron looked inside and seen what the path to greatness would require, homie turned around and said, nah I just rather be great, greatNESS is too much work. It's that simple

  

 

[deuce king]

Originally Posted by mYToAsterspeak

I think most of the people who defend Bron or think it was a good decision, don't value greatness. The journey to become great is different from just being great. A man that strives to become great, who sacrifices to become great, who wills himself to greatness and values the steps it takes to become great is held in higher regard than the man who is just great. It's just like some guy who inherited a large fortune. Sure he will be celebrated and patted on the back for inheriting that fortune and being rich, but the opposite man who puts in the hours, the sacrifice, the fortitude, and will, will be held in higher regard than that other man.

LeBron stood on the doorstep of greatness, knocked on the door, the door swung open. LeBron looked inside and seen what the path to greatness would require, homie turned around and said, nah I just rather be great, greatNESS is too much work. It's that simple

  

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by dland24

I really dont see how Magic choosing to enter the draft to play with Kareem is even in the same neighborhood of LeBron leaving a team that has the best record in the East 2 years running. You are talking about a college kid, who if he goes in the draft, is the #1 overall pick and gets to play with a player who was likely one of his basketball heroes. Thats the same thing as a 25 year old superstar abandoning a 61 win team?

OK.

If Chicago had landed the pick, Magic Johnson would have been back at MSU for his Jr. year.  Magic went on record saying he wouldn't have teamed up with Bird/Jordan in the wake of what went down with Lebron, but his ONLY reason for coming out of MSU was to play with Kareem.  There are parallels. 

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by dland24

I really dont see how Magic choosing to enter the draft to play with Kareem is even in the same neighborhood of LeBron leaving a team that has the best record in the East 2 years running. You are talking about a college kid, who if he goes in the draft, is the #1 overall pick and gets to play with a player who was likely one of his basketball heroes. Thats the same thing as a 25 year old superstar abandoning a 61 win team?

OK.

If Chicago had landed the pick, Magic Johnson would have been back at MSU for his Jr. year.  Magic went on record saying he wouldn't have teamed up with Bird/Jordan in the wake of what went down with Lebron, but his ONLY reason for coming out of MSU was to play with Kareem.  There are parallels.