He needs to alienate himself from his teammates the way that Jordan did? Or perhaps he needs to punch out one of his teammates during a practice?
What more can he do? How about making it to the Finals with a roster whose 2nd best player was Mo Williams? Or how about he guard anybody on the court if needed? Oh, wait, he’s already done that.
Actually to be tougher would be a good start for Lebron, say what you will about Jordan being mean to his teammates but he made those players better. Also I don’t think Mo Williams was on that Cleveland team which made the finals.
Tougher??? Dude checks anybody on the floor. Need to guard Tony Parker? He can do it. How about battling in the blocks w Duncan? He can do it. Please name me one other player that can do that. Ever.
And you are correct - Mo Williams wasn’t on that Cavs team that went to the Finals. Do you know who was? A bunch of D-Leaguers.
These are my sentiments exactly.
Didn’t Lebron James basically quit in that 2007 Finals loss. I’ll give him credit for making it to the finals but when the going gets tough, Lebron kinda disappears. So basically he’s trying to recruit Carmelo Anthony because life got to hard for him.
SMH.
Maybe he folded under too much pressure 7 years ago, when he was 22, and he took a team with NO OTHER STARS, and a coach who has since had a less than stellar career, to the Finals. Seriously - look at that lineup. Ilgauskas is probably the 2nd best player on that team, while the 2nd leading scorer, Larry Hughes, was just under 15 ppg.
What is your source for making the assumption that LeBron has done anything regarding Carmelo? Do you have a cite?
Carmelo Anthony just addressed it by saying “nothing is a done deal until the contract is signed”. It still is just speculation but James, Wade and Bosh have all said they would take paycuts to sign him.
So a reporter asked pointed questions to these guys and you’re looking for internet approval for your theory that he will be less liked by people who don’t like him to begin with should the highly unlikely scenario play out. Got it.
If LeBron had a huge gambling habit, like really big, the kind where he might even welch on some of the people that he bet with, or have a $57,000 check of his in the hands of a convicted coke dealer, would he look worse to you then?
The reason Lebron has become vilified is because of his arrogance. I mean cmon, he calls himself king James. Also there are millions of kids who look up to him yet what he in a way is telling kids, is that you can win by taking the easy road.
I don’t care that Jordan lost money in a golf bet either and nor would I care if Lebron James lost 57,000 in a golf bet. I’m sure Lebron has friends who have done cocaine and I could care less. Everyone always brings up this whole squeaky image Lebron has but people hate him because of how he acts.
It’s kinda like if you have a nice church guy or a bad mobster, who are you going to like more? I know I’m going to like the tough mobster more. In sports a player with weakness is not respected by fans or other players and if this Carmelo thing does happen then he’s gonna lose a lot of repect.
Let me see if I’ve got your iron clad logic down. First call out player A for being a bad role model to kids based upon a belief of a narrative that appears to be mostly fabricated. Second, excuse player B’s transgressions with a hand wave. But what about the kids? Thirdly, tie everything together using the famous nice church guy bad mobster analogy - I can’t remember wether it was Red Smith or Talulah Bankhead that first used it. Whomever, it’s still a classic. Well played, sir!
I wonder why Lebron James sat down with 6 and a half minutes left to play.
Honestly I was watching Goodfellas and I always thought henry hill was pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that analogy.
OK, two quick things in the form of nested rhetorical questions:
- Did he average 22, 7 and 7 in the NBA Finals that year, and has any other 22 year old ever done that, and did he lead all friggin’ players in the league in playoff points, assists, steals, offensive win shares and defensive win shares that year, and was the going tough when he did those things;
and
- Has anything happened in the years since 2007 that is relevant to the question of what LeBron James does in the NBA playoffs when the going gets tough, and were they good things?
… I give up. What does this mean? Why did he sit down?
He had some good stats in that 2007 finals but mentally he shut down when push came to shove.
I don’t know why he sat with 6 and a half minutes left in the game. But usually being 18 points down with 6 minutes left to play, a team has a chance to still make a comeback. I was just curious why he sat. Did he give up or was it cramps?
He gave up. That’s why he’ll never win a championship.
Oh sure. Red Smith used it in explaining the inner battle between good and evil within the protruding belly of George Ruth, and Talulah Bankhead was referring to the fallout of a threesome that she had with Hattie McDaniel and Chico Marx.
The Cavs won a conference championship at least 3 years ahead of schedule in '07, and were in no way, shape or form a match for the Spurs in the finals.
The Cavs had years to piece together a decent amount of talent around LeBron, and they did… what? Shaq at like 37 years old? Carlos Boozer? Larry Hughes? Delonte West? Are you KIDDING me with that? The fact that those guys won all those division titles was due to LeBron’s greatness, the Central’s ineptitude and basically no other reason.
How could a team with LeBron James on it do so terribly when it comes to attracting free-agent talent worth a dam? Arguably some of it is due to the cold weather and small market, but it’s mostly due to the terrible decision-making of the man in charge. The Cavs minus LeBron were such a bad team that-- well, you saw what happened.
Can you blame LeBron from walking away from that nonsense? You may fault the crappy way in which he did so-- and it WAS a slap in the face to his hometown, no question-- but that look of relief at the signing party was the look of a man who was thinking, “FINALLY, I get some decent bloody teammates!!”
(Incidentally, I say this as someone who has no love for LeBron: I’m a Pacers fan).
At what point did we all just assume the D-Wade and Bosh (Bosh of all people) were Lebron’s “biggest rivals”?
Fortunately or unfortunately (however you want to think of it) this isn’t the 70s anymore. Players are friends and just don’t hate each other anymore. They all played on the Olympics team and 'Bron-Bron went “this is fun! I like playing with people who are good and I’m actually enjoying myself, let’s keep doing this”.
Frankly the only person in the league I could see Lebron playing with that I would consider his “rival” would be Kobe I guess, but that’s not even really right because Kobe is 900 years old.
That would be everybody except Darko Milicic from 2003 first five pics. Darko’s retired; lasted longer than realized at 10 years. Barkley calls it a travesty if it happens.
On Grant Hill: The NBA was pushing him hard when they were searching for the stars who would carry them in the post Bird/Magic/Jordan era. Who knows what would have been if it wasn’t for that foot.
Pistons fan.
Duncan in '98-'99: 21.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.4 assists per game. That was about the same as he had in his first year and about the same as every season he had through, say, 2007.
No. He hasn’t even made an all-NBA team the past two seasons - not that I’d take those as straight player rankings, and he’s very good. But he’s not in the top five at all.
Yes.
As nice as the Spurs are, it’s not about ego. That’s shallow bullshit. It’s about depth and balance. The Heat have three Hall of Famers and several pieces of varying levels of usefulness, most of whom are in decline or at the end. The Spurs have three great players, and a bunch of other pieces who fit together very well. And some of those pieces are young and keep improving, which is very important. Kawhi Leonard is on top of that list, obviously.
But let’s not overreact here. The Spurs were an awesome team this year and they did indeed beat the snot out of a tired Heat team. The Heat have been to four Finals in a row and you have to expect them to still have James and Wade and Bosh next year. The East will probably still not be great next year. I hope the Bulls have a healthy Rose again, but after them, what is there? We don’t know how Indy will bounce back. The Nets could still be good, but they’re very old and I don’t see Deron Williams getting better. The Heat need to make some changes if they want to beat San Antonio or Oklahoma City, but let’s not pretend it turns out they stink.
Come on.
A lot of people say all kinds of dumb shit. People said that about the Heat when this team together, but the takeaway from the last two years wasn’t ‘meh, of course they won.’ It was ‘holy shit, LeBron is amazing.’
It means he realizes the Knicks are mediocre and best and they’re at least a year away from getting better, so he has a better chance of winning elsewhere.
When he played in Cleveland I never counted him as a favorite player, but since the whole Decision nonsense the vitriol has just been out of control. Nobody has to like the guy, but the constant search for excuses to dismiss his greatness got out of hand long ago. And ultimately this crap is all going to be forgotten. As soon as the Heat won a championship, it flew right out the window. Now people are saying pretty much the same stuff as if the last two years didn’t happen. I know people need to kill time, but let’s get real here.
He’s vilified because people get bored.
No, he didn’t. He dragged a crummy team to the Finals in a way even Jordan never did, and it’s to his credit. The other starters in that Finals were Ilguaskas, Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovic, and Boobie Gibson/Larry Hughes. It’s preposterous that that team won a conference championship.
They did not have a chance to make a comeback. Give me a break.