2011-12 NBA Season

[CS85]

I loved the way LeBron won a title by staying loyal to his franchise and with the combination of free agent signings and draft picks over the years, the Cavs were able to put together a great team around him. Er wait a second...

This is what I saying a bit ago (maybe in the NBA fan culture thread?). Why should anyone want a player to suffer? Why must a player lose in a bad market in order to make a championship win acceptable?

There are things I just don't understand about sports fandom.

Again, my anti-LeBron stance isn't about the person, it's about major NBA stars nullifying free agency/league parity by forming supergroups. Couple that with the most arrogant and pompous preseason celebrations in sports history/most obnoxious overexposure by ESPN and it's a recipe for an unlikeable team.

I think it's absolutely backwards that "you're not a basketball fan if you don't want to see great talent win titles." I hate that fanship is held ransom based on whom you choose not to support. If rooting against the Heat and LeBron makes me not a basketball fan, then I guess I'm not a basketball fan. If missing out on watching 24 hour coverage of ESPN endlessly burying their faces in LeBron's crotch is what I stand to miss out on by negating my fan-status, I think I'm better off.

[cameroncrazie07]

O/U 1.5 years before the talk begins about Lebron having "only one"?

A la Peyton Manning.

[patsox]

Congratulations to LeBron and the Heat. Something finally clicked and he finally did what we all knew he had in him somewhere in his wildly talented body. The Miami Heat, your 2012 NBA Champs. Congrats LeBron. Now let's go get that second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...that you guaranteed.

[nash61]

Will this quiet Lebron's haters? Doubt it. It will take "Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight."

[infrared41]

I loved the way LeBron won a title by staying loyal to his franchise and with the combination of free agent signings and draft picks over the years, the Cavs were able to put together a great team around him. Er wait a second...

This is what I saying a bit ago (maybe in the NBA fan culture thread?). Why should anyone want a player to suffer? Why must a player lose in a bad market in order to make a championship win acceptable?

There are things I just don't understand about sports fandom.

I get that it's probably a better "story" if Lebron had toiled away in Cleveland for X number of years and finally got a title. What I don't get is why the best player in the game playing seven years for a poorly run franchise then exercising his right as a free agent to go elsewhere is the worst thing ever. The guy gave the Cavs seven seasons. The Cavs had seven shots at building a team around him. They failed to do so, and frankly, they showed no evidence that they were ever going to. How anyone can blame the guy for going to a team he thought gave him a better chance to win is beyond me.

There's no doubt that Lebron could have better handled his exit from Cleveland, but other than that, I don't see the problem. Does anyone here really believe that Jordan would have stuck around had the Bulls management did what the Cavs did to build a team? Do we really believe Magic would have stayed in LA if they kept surrounding him with players like Mitch Kupchak and Mychal Thompson instead of players like Kareem and James Worthy?

[WSU151]

Congrats to the Heat. Congrats to LeBron - seriously, this season/playoffs was remarkable considering the amount of hate he got last year. Most would have wilted. He stepped up and accomplished his main goal. There are plenty of kudos for him. Being a huge critic of LeBron because I questioned his true greatness, I willingly eat crow after this performance.

Congrats to the role players, the Joel Anthonys, the Juwan Howards, the James Joneses...the guys that took the back seat to the Big 3 but were important nonetheless.

Congrats to DWade. It's been a tough road since '06, and the 07-08 season was just awful. Glad to see he's a champion again. My favorite player ever since the Heat were damn near dead in 2003-04 and they pulled off a remarkable stretch to make the playoffs and beat the Hornets in the first round.

[patsox]

Will this quiet Lebron's haters? Doubt it. It will take "Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight."

Yeah, I hope that's the case anyway. It should be.

[pmoehrin]

O/U 1.5 years before the talk begins about Lebron having "only one"?

A la Peyton Manning.

There's always going to be people like that no matter what.

In my book LeBron is one of the 20 greatest players ever to play whether the Heat beat the Thunder or not. Give him another two or three years like the one he had this year and that top 20 assertion will turn into a top 10 assertion.

[ninersdd]

Does Spoelstra go down as the worst coach to win an NBA title now?

[WSU151]

Does Spoelstra go down as the worst coach to win an NBA title now?

Possibly, but we have to see what else happens here in the next 20 years. Phil Jackson wasn't a legend when he won his first title.

[evanmaldonado]

Does Spoelstra go down as the worst coach to win an NBA title now?

He's managed a lot of massive egos and a pretty weak (all things considered) bench to two straight NBA Finals appearances, and a title. I just don't understand the hate he gets either.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I loved the way LeBron won a title by staying loyal to his franchise and with the combination of free agent signings and draft picks over the years, the Cavs were able to put together a great team around him. Er wait a second...

This is what I saying a bit ago (maybe in the NBA fan culture thread?). Why should anyone want a player to suffer? Why must a player lose in a bad market in order to make a championship win acceptable?

There are things I just don't understand about sports fandom.

Again, my anti-LeBron stance isn't about the person, it's about major NBA stars nullifying free agency/league parity by forming supergroups. Couple that with the most arrogant and pompous preseason celebrations in sports history/most obnoxious overexposure by ESPN and it's a recipe for an unlikeable team.

I think it's absolutely backwards that "you're not a basketball fan if you don't want to see great talent win titles." I hate that fanship is held ransom based on whom you choose not to support. If rooting against the Heat and LeBron makes me not a basketball fan, then I guess I'm not a basketball fan. If missing out on watching 24 hour coverage of ESPN endlessly burying their faces in LeBron's crotch is what I stand to miss out on by negating my fan-status, I think I'm better off.

I never called you not a basketball fan. I just said your particular type of fandom is weird to me. And it is.

Why shouldn't elite players have some self-determination over their careers? Why shouldn't the players be able to decide how and where their careers progress? And it's not that players only want to play in big markets -- Indiana and San Antonio have had a lot of success while New York has been the pits since 1972. Players want to win, and they're likely to go anywhere they feel they have the chance to do so.

And to be clear, what Miami did was most certainly not unique. Jordan/Pippen/Rodman was a supergroup. Shaq/Kobe/Malone/Payton was a supergroup. Garnett/Pierce/Allen was a supergroup. The Lakers and the Celtics of the 80s were supergroups. This concept is nothing new at all in the NBA. That you're reacting again the coverage of the team is one thing -- I find my life is more fulfilling when I don't watch SportsCenter, and you no one is forcing you to do so. But to pretend that LeBron/Wade/Bosh have fundamentally change NBA basketball for the worse is silly.

Cleveland had the chance to be like San Antonio -- draft, coach and sign well -- but they blew it. The LeBron saw that it was never going to happen there for him is, to me, a credit to his legacy. Winners want to win and he couldn't win in Cleveland.

[Billy B]

Congrats to LeBron and the rest of the Heat. I was pulling for the Heat, but only because I grew this postseason to hate the Thunder. All the critics of the Heat this postseason were much more annoying to me than the team itself. Even after they win, people are pulling out things like the shortened season to take away from what they accomplished. The Heat certainly come out with a championship a year or two before I thought they would get one.

I'm really looking forward to next season. It looks like it's finally turned from the Celtics/Lakers/Spurs dominance to the Heat/Thunder/Bulls. Needless to say, I'm really excited for the Bulls chances next season as long as Derrick Rose can make a full recovery. Oh, and it's kind of funny how that's now Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry (yes, he was actually on the Heat) getting rings in two straight seasons.

[SFGiants58]

Congratulations Miami and congratulations to Lebron for silencing most of his critics (there'll be a few stragglers for Lebron hate).

[BRM_PTX]

Congrats to LeBron and the rest of the Heat. I was pulling for the Heat, but only because I grew this postseason to hate the Thunder. All the critics of the Heat this postseason were much more annoying to me than the team itself. Even after they win, people are pulling out things like the shortened season to take away from what they accomplished. The Heat certainly come out with a championship a year or two before I thought they would get one.

I'm really looking forward to next season. It looks like it's finally turned from the Celtics/Lakers/Spurs dominance to the Heat/Thunder/Bulls. Needless to say, I'm really excited for the Bulls chances next season as long as Derrick Rose can make a full recovery. Oh, and it's kind of funny how that's now Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry (yes, he was actually on the Heat) getting rings in two straight seasons.

Tyson Chandler? What?

[Billy B]

Tyson Chandler? What?

Won it with Dallas last year.

[Lights Out]

Congrats LeBron. Now let's go get that second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...that you guaranteed.

Except he didn't guarantee it at all, he just said that to hype the fans up at that rally. He followed that up by saying something to the effect of, "we believe we can win multiple championships if we do things the right way". Is that so unreasonable?

I loved the way LeBron won a title by staying loyal to his franchise and with the combination of free agent signings and draft picks over the years, the Cavs were able to put together a great team around him. Er wait a second...

How is it LeBron's fault that the best the Cavs' front office could come up with for a supporting cast was Mo Williams and a crusty old version of Shaq? They're completely to blame there... anyone who seriously looks down on LeBron for not wasting his prime in Cleveland just doesn't get it.

Damn people, let the man have one day of peace.... he's more than earned it.

[Rockstar Matt]

Tyson Chandler? What?

Won it with Dallas last year.

He's a Knick.

But to an earlier post you made, it's more of the ending of the Spurs/Lakers dominance not necessarily Celtics dominance. Celtics have only been good since 2007/2008. Lakers/Spurs have been dominant since 1998/1999. Now the Thunder/Heat/Bulls are taking up that mantle.

Congrats to the Heat, the 2012 NBA Champions. LeBron is a fantastic player and I'm glad he finally won

[dfwabel]

O/U 1.5 years before the talk begins about Lebron having "only one"?

A la Peyton Manning.

Remember this season was from a lockout and only 66 games. That is what critics will say immediately. The narrative for him will change consistently.

[rainmaker17]

I think it sucks.