2013 NBA Playoffs

[The_Admiral]

I imagine most people would have enough sense to realize that sort of thing is dumb to do from a PR standpoint. Especially since he is from the Cleveland area and still proclaims himself as the " King of Akron".

Sounds more like a lame small-town car dealer.

At Arnie Wernerman Ford, the King of Akron is making a royal decree! No money down! You'd have to be a court jester not to make this deal!

[Lights Out]

While those Cavs teams were no 90's Bulls by any stretch of the imagination they did manage to get the best record in the NBA in Lebron's final 2 years while constantly acting under the uncertainty of whether or not he will come back.

ONLY because of LeBron and how weak the East was.

The Cavs' first round picks of the LeBron era (besides LeBron) were Luke Jackson, Shannon Brown, JJ Hickson, and Christian Eyenga - 2 busts (Jackson and Eyenga), a career benchwarmer (Brown), and a middling journeyman (Hickson). The Cavs refused to trade Hickson for Amar'e Stoudemire when that was on the table and struck out on Michael Redd and Ray Allen. The best help the Cavs got for LeBron was Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and a washed-up, pitiful version of Shaq.

Sorry, but the mismanagement in Cleveland was stunning. They had the best player in the world and still managed to screw it up by failing to draft or acquire impact players.

Now they're starting to make a similar mistake with Kyrie: their relentless tanking is starting to piss him off, since he wants to start winning. The Cavs seem to be the new Orlando Magic in the way they burn bridges with their stars.

I imagine most people would have enough sense to realize that sort of thing is dumb to do from a PR standpoint.

Staying in Cleveland and inevitably retiring ringless (through no fault of his own, really) would have been the worst possible fate for LeBron's brand/image.

This I actually agree with. Especially now that "Wade's team" is now Lebron's team and Wade has admitted it.

Also, Spoelstra implemented a fantastic system on offense of the court that fosters the best ball movement in the league outside San Antonio and maximizes LeBron's talent, as opposed to the generic iso crap they were running in year one of the big three. Very underrated coach.

[Saint Zephyr III]

While those Cavs teams were no 90's Bulls by any stretch of the imagination they did manage to get the best record in the NBA in Lebron's final 2 years while constantly acting under the uncertainty of whether or not he will come back.

ONLY because of LeBron and how weak the East was.

The Cavs' first round picks of the LeBron era (besides LeBron) were Luke Jackson, Shannon Brown, JJ Hickson, and Christian Eyenga - 2 busts (Jackson and Eyenga), a career benchwarmer (Brown), and a middling journeyman (Hickson). The Cavs refused to trade Hickson for Amar'e Stoudemire when that was on the table and struck out on Michael Redd and Ray Allen. The best help the Cavs got for LeBron was Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and a washed-up, pitiful version of Shaq.

Sorry, but the mismanagement in Cleveland was stunning. They had the best player in the world and still managed to screw it up by failing to draft or acquire impact players.

Now they're starting to make a similar mistake with Kyrie: their relentless tanking is starting to piss him off, since he wants to start winning. The Cavs seem to be the new Orlando Magic in the way they burn bridges with their stars.

I imagine most people would have enough sense to realize that sort of thing is dumb to do from a PR standpoint.

Staying in Cleveland and inevitably retiring ringless (through no fault of his own, really) would have been the worst possible fate for LeBron's brand/image.

This I actually agree with. Especially now that "Wade's team" is now Lebron's team and Wade has admitted it.

Also, Spoelstra implemented a fantastic system on offense of the court that fosters the best ball movement in the league outside San Antonio and maximizes LeBron's talent, as opposed to the generic iso crap they were running in year one of the big three. Very underrated coach.

That's how I've always felt; the only reason the Cavaliers were any good was because of LeBron; if you go back and look at what Cleveland had for the 2010 season, their Hail Mary, due to years of cap management and poor draft choices, was somehow convincing another All-Star to go to Cleveland. This is no crack at the city, but in a summer where you have cities like Chicago, New York, and Miami gunning for your attention, Cleveland was much less of an option.

I never had a problem with WHY LeBron left, just HOW he left.

[Lights Out]

The Decision was kind of dumb, but LeBron was apparently guilted into doing it by his advisors and ESPN by adding the charity aspect to it.

[Nyk33]

[]

ONLY because of LeBron and how weak the East was.

The Cavs' first round picks of the LeBron era (besides LeBron) were Luke Jackson, Shannon Brown, JJ Hickson, and Christian Eyenga - 2 busts (Jackson and Eyenga), a career benchwarmer (Brown), and a middling journeyman (Hickson). The Cavs refused to trade Hickson for Amar'e Stoudemire when that was on the table and struck out on Michael Redd and Ray Allen. The best help the Cavs got for LeBron was Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and a washed-up, pitiful version of Shaq.

Sorry, but the mismanagement in Cleveland was stunning. They had the best player in the world and still managed to screw it up by failing to draft or acquire impact players.

Now they're starting to make a similar mistake with Kyrie: their relentless tanking is starting to piss him off, since he wants to start winning. The Cavs seem to be the new Orlando Magic in the way they burn bridges with their stars.

Yeah the Amare thing was pretty bad

I have already said that the Cavs were no way near the '90's Bulls but the poster I was responding to made the Cavs seem like some sort of team in 7th or 8th which was not the case at all. Also you need to have a decent record against Western Conference teams in order to get the best record in the league which they did.

As for Cleveland's tanking practices, it is starting to become ridiculous and I hope Kyrie leaves to snap them out of it.

I imagine most people would have enough sense to realize that sort of thing is dumb to do from a PR standpoint.

Staying in Cleveland and inevitably retiring ringless (through no fault of his own, really) would have been the worst possible fate for LeBron's brand/image.

I was talking about the decision and everything he said afterwards.

"continuing my greatness elsewhere"

"Not 2..not 3...not...4"

etc

This kind of talk has the tendency to piss people off.

[HedleyLamarr]

The Decision was kind of dumb, but LeBron was apparently guilted into doing it by his advisors and ESPN by adding the charity aspect to it.

Considering LeBron's list of demands for every trip/game he's played in Atlanta, there's no way in hell LeBron was "guilted" into doing anything that focuses on him and promotes him.

[OnWis97]

On 5/13/2013 at 3:33 PM, Nyk33 said:

 

On 5/13/2013 at 10:14 AM, Lights Out said:

ONLY because of LeBron and how weak the East was.

The Cavs' first round picks of the LeBron era (besides LeBron) were Luke Jackson, Shannon Brown, JJ Hickson, and Christian Eyenga - 2 busts (Jackson and Eyenga), a career benchwarmer (Brown), and a middling journeyman (Hickson). The Cavs refused to trade Hickson for Amar'e Stoudemire when that was on the table and struck out on Michael Redd and Ray Allen. The best help the Cavs got for LeBron was Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, and a washed-up, pitiful version of Shaq.

Sorry, but the mismanagement in Cleveland was stunning. They had the best player in the world and still managed to screw it up by failing to draft or acquire impact players.

Now they're starting to make a similar mistake with Kyrie: their relentless tanking is starting to piss him off, since he wants to start winning. The Cavs seem to be the new Orlando Magic in the way they burn bridges with their stars.

Yeah the Amare thing was pretty bad

I have already said that the Cavs were no way near the '90's Bulls but the poster I was responding to made the Cavs seem like some sort of team in 7th or 8th which was not the case at all. Also you need to have a decent record against Western Conference teams in order to get the best record in the league which they did.

As for Cleveland's tanking practices, it is starting to become ridiculous and I hope Kyrie leaves to snap them out of it.

Quote

Quote

I imagine most people would have enough sense to realize that sort of thing is dumb to do from a PR standpoint.

Staying in Cleveland and inevitably retiring ringless (through no fault of his own, really) would have been the worst possible fate for LeBron's brand/image.

I was talking about the decision and everything he said afterwards.

"continuing my greatness elsewhere"

"Not 2..not 3...not...4"

etc

This kind of talk has the tendency to piss people off.

 

It was off-putting, but why the long memories? Why does Kobe get away with saying "I will only play for a big market team" but LeBron still is hated for going to greener pastures after putting in seven years with a small market team? LeBron is a guy that may not have "gotten it" regarding the self-promotion, but he's nowhere near as big a prick as Kobe, who is universally loved.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

Does anyone like Kobe? I never got the sense anyone liked him at all, certainly not after the Shaq divorce.

[Rockstar Matt]

I do.

But I also recognize that Kobe is an as and that most non-Laker fans will not like him. Respect him as basketball player, but not as a person.

[Lights Out]

Does anyone like Kobe? I never got the sense anyone liked him at all, certainly not after the Shaq divorce.

Sadly, he has a large and delusional fanbase, and lots of them are convinced he's better than Jordan and the best player in the league right now. I wish I was making that up.

[IceCap]

I have never heard a single person, fan or commentator, claim that Kobe Bryant was or is better then Michael Jordan. That would be a very stupid thing to say.

[Nyk33]

Does anyone like Kobe? I never got the sense anyone liked him at all, certainly not after the Shaq divorce.

Only people that love him, besides Laker fans, are the fanboys that fell in love with him during the Shaq years and never looked back. I have met a few "Laker" fans in the east coast that are fans of the team because of him.

Otherwise most have a general dislike for the guy while respecting the his game and the fact that his career is almost over has gotten people to be softer on him.

[Nyk33]

This series has been a dissapointment (I knew there was a possibility the Knicks might lose the series but not this badly). If it wasn't for that 4th quarter in Game 2 this might have been a sweep.

Congrats to the Pacers fan on your, most likely, victory in this series and good luck against Miami.

[pmoehrin]

I remember saying in the prediction thread that I did not think New York had much of chance in series.

If you can guard Carmelo one on one and hold him to under 30 points, which Paul George has been able to do every game with the exception of game two, you'll beat the Knicks 9 times out of 10 and if you've watched the series, you'll notice Indiana has played very little zone. For a team like the Knicks who take pride in their offensive ability that has to be a huge insult, because there's no game planning from Frank Vogel there. Its just Indiana saying were flat out better defensively then the Knicks are offensively.

What's going to make this even tougher is this is probably the best chance this Knick team was ever going to get at making a serious run at the FInals. There's nobody on the team with any upside. Everyone on the roster is as good as they are going to get right now and if that isn't good enough to get the job done this year, its never going to be good enough.

The way I see it they can spend the next two years being a solid 45-50 win team that's a first round and out team, or they can start cleaning house now and possibly put themselves in a better situation to make a run at some of the big time free agents that will be out there in 2014. Its tough call to make given how bad this team has been in recent years but I just don't see how this team is going to ever seriously contend for a title as is, nor do I see them developing into one anytime soon.

[Nyk33]

I remember saying in the prediction thread that I did not think New York had much of chance in series.

If you can guard Carmelo one on one and hold him to under 30 points, which Paul George has been able to do every game with the exception of game two, you'll beat the Knicks 9 times out of 10 and if you've watched the series, you'll notice Indiana has played very little zone. For a team like the Knicks who take pride in their offensive ability that has to be a huge insult, because there's no game planning from Frank Vogel there. Its just Indiana saying were flat out better defensively then the Knicks are offensively.

What's going to make this even tougher is this is probably the best chance this Knick team was ever going to get at making a serious run at the FInals. There's nobody on the team with any upside. Everyone on the roster is as good as they are going to get right now and if that isn't good enough to get the job done this year, its never going to be good enough.

The way I see it they can spend the next two years being a solid 45-50 win team that's a first round and out team, or they can start cleaning house now and possibly put themselves in a better situation to make a run at some of the big time free agents that will be out there in 2014. Its tough call to make given how bad this team has been in recent years but I just don't see how this team is going to ever seriously contend for a title as is, nor do I see them developing into one anytime soon.

Besides Shumpert, Copeland, and JR (mentally) I would have to agree with you on no one on this Knicks team has any room to improve. They are already at their peaks are over the hill. This Knicks team are a win-now team that can't perfrom in the 2nd round... not good.

[Rockstar Matt]

I have never heard a single person, fan or commentator, claim that Kobe Bryant was or is better then Michael Jordan. That would be a very stupid thing to say.

Sadly, there are Laker fans that think that. Lights Out is right in that part, but he's wrong in that most of us do. Most of us don't even think Kobe is the greatest Laker let alone better than the greatest ever. To me, there is only one player who has a legitimate argument to be the greatest player ever and that's Magic.

[Lights Out]

Sadly, there are Laker fans that think that. Lights Out is right in that part, but he's wrong in that most of us do.

I didn't say "most," I said "lots," and that includes all the people who aren't really Laker fans, just Kobe fans.

[Rockstar Matt]

True, true. My bad. By Kobe only fans, do you mean China fans?

Anyways, you're right. I don't understand those fans.

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

There are plenty of ways Kobe's like Jordan -- both are dominant SGs, both are skilled on offense and defense, both are real :censored:s to their teammates, and both have been cheated out of MVP awards for no good reason.

I also don't think there's anyone more competitive than either of the two in their respective eras.

[rams80]

There are plenty of ways Kobe's like Jordan -- both are dominant SGs, both are skilled on offense and defense, both are real :censored:s to their teammates, and both have been cheated out of MVP awards for no good reason.

I also don't think there's anyone more competitive than either of the two in their respective eras.

Yeah, it's ironic; the NBA spent so long looking for its "next Jordan", when the player who in retrospect has likely the best claim to the title of Jordan's "spiritual successor" (on the court anyway) had been playing before Jordan's second retirement. The key differences-Jordan had a much better PR team and Jordan takes a bit more sadistic glee in victory.