Your definition of superstar has to do with something other than playing basketball, then. Good players are good players. Teams that win championships have more of them; teams that don’t have fewer.
You know, there are a couple of players in the Finals now who fit that description but I’ll be damned if I can think of who they are!
That’s pretty much my point, Lebron can’t possibly think he can play as a team like the Spurs do with all these egotistical type players. Hence if he somehow does play with Carmelo Anthony which is looking like a strong possibility and loses then he will end up looking like the biggest idiot of NBA history. He already looks like an idiot for claiming 7 championships before he even set foot in a Heat uniform but this will tarnish his image so bad that I’d be surprised if he’s mentioned as a top 5 player when he retires.
What I don’t understand is how he thinks this will end up being a good thing, even if he wins a ring with Carmelo, most people will dismiss it as being a dream team ring.
Carmelo opted out of his contract today, I have no idea what that really means but there are reports that Carmelo really wants to play with the Heat.
Tim Duncan is widely regarded as the best power forward in league history. And Grant Hill? Really? You’re really putting his career in the same universe as Duncan’s?
Also, this entire thread is ridiculous - if you really think that Lebron has spent a nanosecond in the past month thinking up scenarios to get Melo to Miami, you’re delusional.
It’s been all over the news about Anthony joining the Heat with Lebron taking a pay cut to get him there.
Grant Hill was the face of the NBA for a few years after Jordan retired. I do agree that Duncan could be regarded as the best power forward of alltime but you missed my point about how he was regarded. He was always kinda underrated. He’s never been a flashy type of player in the same sense as the others I mentioned above.
Yes it’s been in the news. Pure speculation by the media. I can’t for the life of me understand why so many people feel the need to bash this guy, who by all accounts is a model teammate, husband, and father; and his game is sublime, a thing of beauty.
Grant Hill was at no time, let alone a few years, “the face of the NBA”. How many MVPs did Grant Hill win? How many championships? If you’d like to make an argument for Kobe or for AI or Shaq, you have a case.
Duncan has been underrated by whom? Perhaps by people that follow the sport now and again, but certainly not by any knowledgable hoops fan.
It’s one thing to be great, another thing to know you’re great, and still another thing to be a douchebag about it. Had he not done that one thing he’d have fans the world over. But he did, and it pissed people off. You are what you show yourself to be. Everything you do after that is inconsequential, because people already have a firmly-affixed idea of who you are and nothing will ever change that.
Quick, what’s the first thing you think of when I mention Ben Roethlisberger? How about Ray Lewis? Allen Iverson? You know what you’re thinking, and it’s not about how good they are.
Meh. Tempest in a teapot as far as I’m concerned. It was most certainly done in very poor taste, but it ranks wayyyy down the list of transgressions committed by athletes. Roethlisberger has received much less criticism and scorn in the court of public opinion, comparitavely speaking.
Great, as far as you’re concerned. Other people hold different opinions.
This is true. I happen to think that they are irrational for the level of vitriol shown, which dwarfs compared to what others have faced, those who have been bad citizens and bad teammates.
In thinking a bit more about other athletes, the perfect example is Kobe Bryant. Pretty awful teammate, unlikely to ever leave money on the table for the good of the team, ran Shaq out of town…and of course his well publicized sexual assault.
But LeBron is somehow more worthy of public scorn. I don’t get it.
I think people are still suffering from nostalgia for the 80’s. I read a quote by Magic that said he would never think about joining Bird and Jordan, that he wanted to beat those guys. Well, that’s all fine and dandy when you have Worthy and Kareem on your team. But in today’s NBA, with the way the CBA is structured and how teams are built, the “3 stars unite” plan is really one of the best ones for competing for titles. People can point to the 2004 Pistons, 2010 Mavericks or 2014 Spurs all they want, but teams such as these are becoming more the exception than the rule these days. Garnett/Pierce/Allen, Kobe/Gasol/Bynum, Kobe/Shaq, Lebron/Wade/Bosh, that’s how you win in the NBA these days.
Fans demand ultra-competitiveness from players at all times, even when it comes to free agency decisions. Which is weird because we also laud players for leaving money on the table to give their team a better chance of winning (which is precisely what Lebron did when he signed with the Heat).
Didn’t Jordan say this
Yeah. I don’t get it. Wanting good players on your team is an awful thing to want? And taking a pay cut to make it happen makes him look bad? I thought people admired someone who put winning ahead of money or ego.
Still waiting for the OP’s unhumorous option for James.
You’re not making sense, you know.
He can’t possibly think he’ll win with Melo, because that isn’t how you win, but if he does win, it won’t mean anything to you. And if he doesn’t, then he’ll be the biggest idiot in NBA history. Stays and wins: not impressed. Leaves and wins: worse. Stays and loses: is a loser. Leaves and loses: worse. Stays and people come to play with him and win: no big deal. Stays and people come to play with him and don’t win: biggest idiot ever. Shit, I guess there’s no way out and he’ll have to content himself with being the best of all time on the actual field of play.
Why didn’t you just title the thread “I don’t like LeBron” and you could have like thirty people come in agree with you and none of you would make very compelling points but nobody would be confused?
Speaking purely of perception and without regard to what is fair or reasonable, I think it’s actually Carmelo who would take a hit to his reputation if he joined the Heat. Fairly or not, Carmelo still hasn’t gained the reputation of a truly top-tier player who can be the centerpiece of a team. If he decides to sign a less-than-max contract to play (at best) third banana to two obvious Hall of Famers for the last part of his prime, the narrative for Anthony will forever be that he decided to ride the coat-tails of a much superior player to score a cheap ring or two that he couldn’t have gotten as the number one option.
Again, I think that’s kind of a silly way to view it… but that’s unquestionably how it will be viewed by the overwhelming majority of people who follow the NBA (at least in my opinion).
It does make him look bad in my opinion. I think it’s strange that most here actually think Lebron James would be viewed as a standup guy for doing something like this. Maybe it’s a generation gap because I agree with Michael Jordan when he said he would have never dreamed of playing with Magic or Bird because he wanted to beat those guys.
I don’t hate Lebron james, I think he needs to do something more to establish a better legacy, Joining these super teams does make him lose credibility to writers and a lot of fans. Another thing…I’m pretty new here and i get that this whole hating Lebron James thing is probably pretty old to people but if you don’t want to talk about it then don’t respond to my posts…You kinda remind me of a LeBron james fanboy where you go with the popular crowd because you think it’s cool.
Really? I would say that defending LeBron James has never been the popular position! I don’t think I get much cred for that, here or anywhere. That’s one of the symptoms of the anti-LeBron disease: even while it’s super cool to hate him, it’s also acceptable to act like he’s been handed everything and is undeservedly beloved without any achievements to back it up - Chosen One, and all that. Actually, I’d say about 99% of the amount that I’m a “fan” of his is based on how unfair I think most of the criticism is as opposed to any real allegiance. I’m not a Heat fan or a LeBron fan, the way I interpret those. I just think it sucks that he’s going to spend his entire career without ever being fairly evaluated in terms of how incredibly good and unique he is on the court.
And I do genuinely apologize if you think I’m attacking you personally, either because you’re new or just in general. It’s true that I don’t think your criticism makes any sense whatsoever, and I stand by that, but it’s not that I think people shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinions about it. I just want them to make sense.
ok fine i apologize too, the thing is, that Lebron James could actually make himself look better but if he actually teams up with Carmelo Anthony then he will always be remembered for playing on superstar teams. Careerwise he’s right there with Jordan but to ever be be seriously ranked as the best player of all time, he needs to become more of a leader in the way Jordan was.