OT NBA Finals: The Coronation of King James
Miami rolling late in the first half. LeBron should get his much deserved title and Finals MVP shortly
Seriously, no cut is random, that's the entire point. I have a feeling he just means a cut that's not a part of a play, but he ought to use a different term.
Is that the location of the cut is not premeditated. Often times, a double team will come on a player and the cutter is supposed to cut right behind the double in the vacated area.
The 'random' part means it can be at any time and not necessarily in response to a double and its purpose is to make it harder to defend the player with the ball if you are concerned with where your man is at. Since LeBron and Wade aren't necessarily complementary (both ball stoppers and offensive initiators), they need unpredictable off ball movement to deflect OKC's attention away from the ball and allow the player with the ball to work.
Read this guy's stuff: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/27410/how-did-miami-adjust-to-indianas-defense
The latter part of the article talks about the 'unplanned' improvisation that JVG is correctly referring to.
If that's your attitude, I highly doubt you coach anything beyond 7th grade.
Shameless bump to the top, but worth it.....
I hate LeBron, but it makes me slightly happy that the Stolen Sonics are cursed. They deserve to be. I feel bad for Durant.
They're in the NBA Finals. That's not a bad malediction to suffer.
Sacremento will be saying the same thing soon after the Kings move up to Seatle.
Join the club
Love,
Baltimore Colts
It's a bit diffrerent than the other relocated teams. The only one that is as bad is the Colts leaving Baltimore in the middle if the night.
Feel bad for Durant? In four years, this team turned from one of the worst at 23-59 to making The Finals. He loves it in OKC and has explicitly stated that many times, and he is playing for the second youngest team in the NBA with their three best players all under 24 years old. He has a better setup for future success than Lebron when he moved to Miami.
Also, I don't know how you could say a team is "cursed" when the majority of the team just lost their FIRST finals. Lebron didn't win until his third try. This statement is wrong on so many levels.
Whatever you say Stephen A
Thunder are extremely explosive and just keep coming. They won't fold. Only 10 point game at half. Also, Mike Miller won't shoot 4-4 on threes again
Little-known fact about Lee Corso: the reason he always waves a pencil on the air is that he's actually Director of Business Development for Dixon Ticonderoga (seriously).
Once my friend brought it up whilst we were drunk and I couldn't contain my laughter
Lebron James has killed five hook-suspended title banners in his career.
what that even means.....
The guy is a frontrunner. He hasn't earned anything. He took a shortcut and landed on a ring (assuming the Heat close this out).
He's the best player in the league. If Miami wins it, ask KD or Westbrook what they think. Let's not leave analysis to the lightweights, homers and folks forced to live in cleveland.
Lebron said that part of the reason he left Cleveland is that he didn't want to be " the guy". He didn't want to carry the load and have the largest share of the responsibility for his team's performance.
Explain to me how he is not a frontrunner and didn't take the easy way out?
the "only" guy. haters gonna hate.
The guy planned this thing over a year out, quit in the playoffs for the Cavs, and took the easy way to a ring.
You can try to deflect my argument, but his actions and attitude speak for themselves.
would you know what's easy and what's not with respect to pro basketball? You really ought to just appreciate watching his game. At the end of the day, he's going to get his ring(s) and what'll all the haters have, but more hate.
When the going gets tough, Ill just pull together other top talents and push responsibility off to them.
There's no need to hate on those who think Lebron took a shortcut and should have taken an alternate path. Next time, lets have a real argument instead you continuously deflecting with "haters gonna hate".
Why wouldn't you take the shortcut? You'd have to be fucking stupid not to.
Would you really choose to stay in Cleveland for the rest of your career if you had the option to live in a better city, work with some of your best friends, make as much if not more money, and give yourself the best chance to achieve the ultimate goal of your profession?
First, thank you for making a legit counter-argument. You make good points here.
Lebron is an unbelievable basketball talent, there is no denying that. And when you have as much talent as that, the ultimate goal of your profession is not to win a title, or multiple titles: it is to build a legacy that lasts long beyond your playing days. And a part of building that legacy mean doing things the right way: showing patience, loyalty, and respect for the game and the fanbase.
I'm of the opinion that Lebron would have won titles regardless of where he played. If he had stayed, gone to New York, or gone to Chicago, he would have attracted more talent around him to build towards a title. Or he could have tried to convince others to come to Cleveland and play, instead of deciding far in advance that he was giving up on the cavaliers.
As for money and better city, I can't argue with you on those.
I wanted to see Lebron win a title for Cleveland because I wanted to see the the next NBA legend, who built a team around him from nothing and in the end achieved the glory. I'm disappointed I didn't get to see this.
I agree that it's cool to watch a player spend his whole career on one team. If I were a player, I wouldn't want to change teams often, if at all. But to be fair, LeBron did give the Cavs seven good years. He re-signed with them the first time he was a free agent. He didn't bail until after he'd come up short repeatedly there. I do think he'd have eventually won it all in Cleveland, but it might have been awhile longer. The Cleveland front office didn't do the best job surrounding him with talent. Michael Jordan got to play with Pippen. Magic had Kareem and Worthy. Bird had McHale and Parrish. LeBron had . . . Mo Williams?
Again, a very fair point.
When Lebron was in Cleveland, he ran the front office. Once Dan Gilbert became owner, he decided that the best way to keep Lebron happy in Cleveland was to give him whatever he wanted, when he wanted it. He spoiled him, and learned his lesson.
As for the names you presented, Pippen, McHale, and Worthy were all high draft picks acquire soon after Jordan, Magic, and Bird came on board. Kareem had been with the Lakers already. Only Parish was a legit trade, adn that was soon after Bird joined the league. The cavs had terrible luck drafting up until they took Kyrie, and got screwed over by Carlos Boozer after he renegged on a handshake deal and jumped to Utah.
It could have been done if he wanted it that way.
True. Those other stars definitely were fortunate to play with star teammates. But regardless, if you're LeBron and after seven years you haven't had the chance to play with another star player, maybe you wonder if it'll ever happen. For some guys, like Charles Barkley or Allen Iverson, it never happened and they didn't win a title. If you've got the chance to walk into a situation where you might win a title right off the bat, it's got to be tempting.
I thought "the Decision" was really tacky and I don't like to see Miami build a championship team just by signing a bunch of guys in one offseason, but I can't get too worked up about LeBron at this point. At least he had to wait until his second year in Miami to get the ring.
What pisses me off about the way he left is the goddam tire fire he left in his wake. Over and over he demanded trades that compromised the long range viability of the team for temporary roster upgrades. Cleveland overpaid (in $ and draft picks) for guys like Mo Williams, Shaq, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison, the corpse of Ben Wallace, all b/c LeBron demanded to win now.
You want to go, go. Don't fuck the team over on your way out.
I still laugh at all the people who get pissed off over The Decision. Keep in mind Lebron donated all the proceeds to the Boys & Girls Club of America. Did it piss off some people? Sure it did. Wouldn't you piss off some people in order to donate MILLIONS of dollars to a charity that helps kids?
The main thing thats being ignored here is yea Miami is abetter city but, Cleveland was his home city. Who wouldn't want to play for your home team and win a title especially a title starved city like Cleveland.
when your home city is in Ohio
lolno
is skinny
His home city is Akron.
He also wasn't a Cavs fan growing up.
Who is to say what Lebron's "ultimate goal" should be? Lebron isn't obligated to adhere to some fans' notion of greatness just because, well, they think he should. He should use his talent in whatever manner he sees fit. This will sound corny, but heck, it's his life. Why should he sacrifice his happiness just to satisfy those who think he should behave in a certain way?
Your goal in his situation might be X. Lebron's goal might be Y. And that's ok.
It's perfectly fine to be disappointed by his decision, but I always felt that the vitriol was ridiculously overboard.
People would have torn apart Lebron no matter where he went. Is it really that different that he went to Miami instead of Chicago? Would it have cheapened his title if he won it with Derrick Rose instead of Dwyane Wade?
I don't follow basketball that much but I will give you a hockey reference. Ray Bourque left Boston to win a Cup with the Avalanche. Do you think his career is tarnished by having to leave Boston to win it? I bet if he had the chance to go back in time and leave sooner for a shot to win multiple Cups he would do so in a heartbeat. Congrats to Lebron. This surely won't be his last title.
Ok, so you think that the decision and all of the fallout will be forgotten when we look back on Lebron in 20 years?
I disagree. It was more memorable than anything he did on the court and will be remembered for a long time.