2013 NBA Playoffs

[Lights Out]

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

Bull . LeBron has been blatantly disrespected by his opponents and skeptics damn near every day of every season of his career. He deserves to get some digs in at them after repeating.

And if you really think Jordan and Kobe never showboated, and Larry Bird always respected his opponents, you know very little about NBA history.

[Xist2inspire]

As much as I dislike the whole concept of "building super teams", I actually do want LeBron to end up with a good number of rings. He toiled for seven years in Cleveland and got nothing put around him--Big time free agents don't go to non-cosmopolitan cities where the weather sucks--and everyone acted like not winning a bunch of titles meant something was wrong. So I am glad for him, but I really, really, hope this superteam crap is not going to go on forever, or just contract my team now.

"Superteams" have always existed, though. Those teams are usually marked by great front offices who know how to build and sustain success. That's how it'll always be, that is, until other franchises catch on and start finding better ways to build and maintain their teams.

As for players.............as long as the stupid argument of "rings = individual greatness" continues (championships are a TEAM achievement, NOT a singular one), you'll see more of this. If I'm a player, and I know that my ultimate "legacy" will (wrongly) be judged by how many rings I get, then I'm gunning for them no matter what. Until our culture embraces and glorifies the Elgin Baylors and the Patrick Ewings of NBA history as much as we gush over the Jordans, things will never change.

[Drew22]

I acknowledge his talent and understand he'll win at least two more before his time is done, but I sure as hell don't like him as a person or respect the fanbase that idolizes him.

And I'm not directly replying to Bucfan because I don't feel like looking at that stupid face throughout the rest of this thread.

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

And add LightsOut to people not wanting to reply directly.

You are insane. He disrespects his opponents? And his skeptics? He has assembled one of the greatest careers in NBA history and people are still hating on him for it. He deserved those comments.

LeBron is one of the greatest talents most of us will ever see. People need to stop with all of this. Sure the Decision was dumb, but if that's the worst thing he's done, he's better than most.

Also, this is probably end for the Pop/Duncan/Manu/Parker dynasty. Probably one of the most underrated dynasties in the NBA?

[infrared41]

By the way - I was right

You had a 50/50 chance, son.

Of getting the point spread exactly right?

[FiddySicks]

If anything, with all he's accomplished, and all the ridiculous hate he gets, Lebron has earned the right to be arrogant.

And, just because I can.

[Alex Houston]

I acknowledge his talent and understand he'll win at least two more before his time is done, but I sure as hell don't like him as a person or respect the fanbase that idolizes him.

And I'm not directly replying to Bucfan because I don't feel like looking at that stupid face throughout the rest of this thread.

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

And add LightsOut to people not wanting to reply directly.

I'm must not have been watching the same presentation you were. First thing out of his mouth was giving respect to the Spurs then yes, he did stick it to his detractors. He gave them a taste of their own medicine. That's not snotty or egotistic, that's a grown man getting fed up with the hate and taking a moment he earned to shove his frustration in their faces.

I can't tell anyone how to feel but it seems like taking shots at LeBron, at this point is just not warranted.

Since James is a public figure, he will always have a target on his back. Unless he pulls off something akin to the Celtics run of the 60s and gets 7 or 8 rings, he'll always be thought of being right under MJ or Kobe, since those two are the gold standard many fans judge talent by these days.

As for the comments acknowledging the haters, he could still take the high road and not even bother mentioning those people who he addressed back in 2011 as "people who will still have to get up and go to work" or however he put it. It's like heckling an opposing team at a game. You don't have to actively call out the opposition when you're on the floor, you can stay the course and just root for your team, instead of trying to antagonize someone. It just makes you seem like a dick.

My main point is it would be more refreshing if a superstar of his caliber was more humble and wasn't so quick to take every endorsement deal or to drag out his decision on where to play with a special on ESPN. He's well aware of how much power and cache he has and the fact he displays little humility publicly, compared to someone like Duncan for instance, annoys me.

I'm pretty stupid since this just occurred to me, but this Finals matchup was really the battle of a team of divas and a team of the reserved. It's unfortunate it didn't end differently, but the Spurs shot themselves so much in the foot with those bad passes, they would've had to reorder several different prosthetics just to walk back on the plane.

[hbgoo1975]

I didn't see the game, but I had to check CNN on my phone for this. Now the Spurs (cough, cough), the Slurs have finally lost an NBA championship game.

Thank you Lebrony for proving to me that there is no such thing as a sure thing.

[Xist2inspire]

My main point is it would be more refreshing if a superstar of his caliber was more humble and wasn't so quick to take every endorsement deal or to drag out his decision on where to play with a special on ESPN. He's well aware of how much power and cache he has and the fact he displays little humility publicly, compared to someone like Duncan for instance, annoys me.

I'm pretty stupid since this just occurred to me, but this Finals matchup was really the battle of a team of divas and a team of the reserved.

You know what grinds my gears? Duncan was a forgotten man throughout his career. For year after year, that same "humility" and "reservation" you mentioned were overlooked, passed over in favor of flashier, louder, more "exciting" guys like Kobe, KG, Vince, AI, etc. You know what Duncan got called? "Boring."

Only now, once his career has begun to reach his conclusion, has the "boring" rep turned to "classy." All of a sudden, now that he's facing the hated Heat, he finally gets the respect that he deserved way back when Lebron's hairline was normal. If he'd faced the Pacers, it would've been "Same old boring Spurs, who cares? Gimme some action, some excitement." Duncan's career has proven that few fully appreciate humility in sports, and especially the NBA, until it's gone. We don't like humble stars. We want our stars to hate each other, to be jerks (but only a certain kind of jerk!), and to generally just put on a mask of sincerity.

I hate that Duncan, who to me has been a wonderful breath of fresh air his entire career, is basically still getting overlooked. Because of who he went up against in these Finals, people are just now saying, "Hey, that Duncan guy? Yeah, he was a rare breed." That's sad.

[Rockstar Matt]

I didn't see the game, but I had to check CNN on my phone for this. Now the Spurs (cough, cough), the Slurs have finally lost an NBA championship game.

Thank you Lebrony for proving to me that there is no such thing as a sure thing.

I mean this in the least offensive way possible, those bear drawings freak me the f*** out.

[Rockstar Matt]

I acknowledge his talent and understand he'll win at least two more before his time is done, but I sure as hell don't like him as a person or respect the fanbase that idolizes him.

And I'm not directly replying to Bucfan because I don't feel like looking at that stupid face throughout the rest of this thread.

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

And add LightsOut to people not wanting to reply directly.

Stop posting.

Your unbelievably stupid hatred of LeBron is extremely tiring. He is one the greatest players ever, who's consistently hated on by blokes like yourself. Dudes who don't understand squat about basketball.

And LightsOut has a better understanding of the NBA than you ever will.

On tonight's game, it was one of the better Game 7's I've seen. LeBron has cemented himself, in my opinion as one of the 3 greatest players of all-time. Only Magic and Jordan compare now.

And I hope that wasn't the last of Tim Duncan. The greatest PF ever and one of the top 10 players ever. He's one helluva competitor.

[StillS]

Stop posting.

Your unbelievably stupid hatred of LeBron is extremely tiring. He is one the greatest players ever, who's consistently hated on by blokes like yourself. Dudes who don't understand squat about basketball.

And LightsOut has a better understanding of the NBA than you ever will.

On tonight's game, it was one of the better Game 7's I've seen. LeBron has cemented himself, in my opinion as one of the 3 greatest players of all-time. Only Magic and Jordan compare now.

And I hope that wasn't the last of Tim Duncan. The greatest PF ever and one of the top 10 players ever. He's one helluva competitor.

You can't call out someone's else understanding of NBA and then name Lebron in Top 3 of all time. It's debatable if you rank him above Larry Bird (i don't , not yet atleast) but Kareem, Bill Russell, Duncan, Shaq and Wilt are still comfortably ahead of Lebron. And of those guys i listed Kareem and Bill Russell still have a very strong argument for the greatest player of all time!

I have seen this elsewhere too, it's like people can't help themselves but overreact right now.

[BlackBolt3]

Eh, I don't really care anymore. Congrats, I guess.

Their fans don't deserve it though.

That just sounds like a sore loser. What if your team won and aomeone said that you don't deserve the championship? Outside of the bandwagoners, there are those who are loyal.

Woah, I'm actually okay with the Heat team as a unit. They are just a good team. I didn't have an interest in any team for the finals, but I kinda wanted to see Tim Duncan win another ring.[/wakebias] But after seeing the aftermath of Game 6, with the early leaving fans, I knew that some Heat fans will leave the team, even in an elimination game. So my verdict is that the team deserves the trophy, LeBron did deserve MVP, but some of the fans don't deserve it. If your we're there from the Alonzo days, and stuck it through the post 1st championship slump, then your okay by me.

[Lee Noire]

I acknowledge his talent and understand he'll win at least two more before his time is done, but I sure as hell don't like him as a person or respect the fanbase that idolizes him.

And I'm not directly replying to Bucfan because I don't feel like looking at that stupid face throughout the rest of this thread.

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

And add LightsOut to people not wanting to reply directly.

I'm must not have been watching the same presentation you were. First thing out of his mouth was giving respect to the Spurs then yes, he did stick it to his detractors. He gave them a taste of their own medicine. That's not snotty or egotistic, that's a grown man getting fed up with the hate and taking a moment he earned to shove his frustration in their faces.

I can't tell anyone how to feel but it seems like taking shots at LeBron, at this point is just not warranted.

Since James is a public figure, he will always have a target on his back. Unless he pulls off something akin to the Celtics run of the 60s and gets 7 or 8 rings, he'll always be thought of being right under MJ or Kobe, since those two are the gold standard many fans judge talent by these days.

As for the comments acknowledging the haters, he could still take the high road and not even bother mentioning those people who he addressed back in 2011 as "people who will still have to get up and go to work" or however he put it. It's like heckling an opposing team at a game. You don't have to actively call out the opposition when you're on the floor, you can stay the course and just root for your team, instead of trying to antagonize someone. It just makes you seem like a dick.

My main point is it would be more refreshing if a superstar of his caliber was more humble and wasn't so quick to take every endorsement deal or to drag out his decision on where to play with a special on ESPN. He's well aware of how much power and cache he has and the fact he displays little humility publicly, compared to someone like Duncan for instance, annoys me.

I'm pretty stupid since this just occurred to me, but this Finals matchup was really the battle of a team of divas and a team of the reserved. It's unfortunate it didn't end differently, but the Spurs shot themselves so much in the foot with those bad passes, they would've had to reorder several different prosthetics just to walk back on the plane.

What frustrates me about sports the most are fans that hold athletes to a higher standard than they would hold themselves to. Aside from the decision I have yet to see LeBron do something to suggest he isn't humble or grateful for his success. He said as much last night in front of the world. I can't fault him not taking the high road because again I'm not so sure in his position I wouldn't have done the same thing. Same with the endorsements.

Being an inner city kid that didn't have much growing up I too would take the perks that come with being the face of a product. If I were an endorser I could do much worse than LeBron. No arrests, no real bad press, charitable, popular. He is actually a role model(personally I would never idolize an entertainer or athlete, but point stands). Taking an endorsement doesn't make him less humble, it makes him a smart businessman. Lets not forget the man is a father and his kids are set for life because of his deals. LeBron is a smart guy and has a great sense of history when it comes to the game. He hasn't and never will disrespect his actual opponent(not his detractors that you compared them to)and speaking from a financial standpoint he should continue to further his brand. I would, does that make me worthy of hate and criticism?

[Lights Out]

By the way, the first thing that LeBron did after getting the Finals MVP was congratulating the Spurs and calling them a first-class organization. Yeah, he really "disrespected his opponent" last night.

[AJpackers]

The way that LeBron conducts himself, especially last night makes the people that constantly hate on him and complain about "the decision" look foolish.

[crashcarson15]

At the risk of Clevejacking (!) this thread, I'll throw in my two cents to the whole LeBron debate.

Over the past three years, I'd definitely say that LeBron's matured. He most definitely mishandled "The Decision" and truth be told, I don't think he's that horrible of a person. Does that mean I'm going to root for him to have success? Absolutely not but I'm not going to come into this thread and rip on him left and right because of it. I think I saw it on Twitter last night but it's absolutely true—I don't hate LeBron as much as I hate the fact that I'm never going to be able to truly appreciate his greatness. Just the way it is, I suppose.

I'll never blame him either for leaving Cleveland—after all, when your FO wouldn't give up JJ Hickson in a deal for Amare', what would you have entrusted them to do? Acquire Amare' at the deadline in 2010 and I think you've got a decent shot of keeping LeBron in Cleveland. Unfortunately you didn't do that and he bolted. Can't blame him for that but it doesn't mean we like it.

His team was chased to the brink of elimination (down 5 with :21 left in Game 6) and managed to still come back and win the title. He put his team on his back in Game 7 last night and deserves every bit of praise he's getting. He's one of the greatest basketball players of all-time and now that he's developed his jump shot, he'll be pretty close to unstoppable. Major props to him and the Heat—they've been pushed to the brink over the past 14 games and managed to do exactly what they needed to—win 8 of them.

ALSO: Someone mentioned something about superteams and front offices on the last page. The major difference between, say what the Heat have and what the Spurs do is that the Heat's superteam is more about three guys getting together and saying they wanted to play together and Miami happens to be a nice city during the winter and stuff. That's different than drafting and developing players, making intelligent trades, and the key free agent signing every once in awhile.

[Alex Houston]

I acknowledge his talent and understand he'll win at least two more before his time is done, but I sure as hell don't like him as a person or respect the fanbase that idolizes him.

And I'm not directly replying to Bucfan because I don't feel like looking at that stupid face throughout the rest of this thread.

Ditto here. For all the marvelous talent LeBron has, it's snotty, obnoxious showboating like tonight's title presentation which make people despise him. Funny, I never heard Magic, Larry, Jordan, Kobe, Duncan or any other NBA legend blatantly disrespecting his opponents and skeptics, all while posing for the cameras in all his ego-ness. It's kind of fitting how James fits in with such a vile and non-deserving fanbase.

And add LightsOut to people not wanting to reply directly.

I'm must not have been watching the same presentation you were. First thing out of his mouth was giving respect to the Spurs then yes, he did stick it to his detractors. He gave them a taste of their own medicine. That's not snotty or egotistic, that's a grown man getting fed up with the hate and taking a moment he earned to shove his frustration in their faces.

I can't tell anyone how to feel but it seems like taking shots at LeBron, at this point is just not warranted.

Since James is a public figure, he will always have a target on his back. Unless he pulls off something akin to the Celtics run of the 60s and gets 7 or 8 rings, he'll always be thought of being right under MJ or Kobe, since those two are the gold standard many fans judge talent by these days.

As for the comments acknowledging the haters, he could still take the high road and not even bother mentioning those people who he addressed back in 2011 as "people who will still have to get up and go to work" or however he put it. It's like heckling an opposing team at a game. You don't have to actively call out the opposition when you're on the floor, you can stay the course and just root for your team, instead of trying to antagonize someone. It just makes you seem like a dick.

My main point is it would be more refreshing if a superstar of his caliber was more humble and wasn't so quick to take every endorsement deal or to drag out his decision on where to play with a special on ESPN. He's well aware of how much power and cache he has and the fact he displays little humility publicly, compared to someone like Duncan for instance, annoys me.

I'm pretty stupid since this just occurred to me, but this Finals matchup was really the battle of a team of divas and a team of the reserved. It's unfortunate it didn't end differently, but the Spurs shot themselves so much in the foot with those bad passes, they would've had to reorder several different prosthetics just to walk back on the plane.

What frustrates me about sports the most are fans that hold athletes to a higher standard than they would hold themselves to. Aside from the decision I have yet to see LeBron do something to suggest he isn't humble or grateful for his success. He said as much last night in front of the world. I can't fault him not taking the high road because again I'm not so sure in his position I wouldn't have done the same thing. Same with the endorsements.

Being an inner city kid that didn't have much growing up I too would take the perks that come with being the face of a product. If I were an endorser I could do much worse than LeBron. No arrests, no real bad press, charitable, popular. He is actually a role model(personally I would never idolize an entertainer or athlete, but point stands). Taking an endorsement doesn't make him less humble, it makes him a smart businessman. Lets not forget the man is a father and his kids are set for life because of his deals. LeBron is a smart guy and has a great sense of history when it comes to the game. He hasn't and never will disrespect his actual opponent(not his detractors that you compared them to)and speaking from a financial standpoint he should continue to further his brand. I would, does that make me worthy of hate and criticism?

The main thing is I try not to follow his stock words about his competition, because too many players take a page out of George St. Pierre's book and act humble and say all the right things, but fans know when the intent is disingenuous.

As for the disrespectful thing, I don't know how you can turn away a blind eye to some stuff he did. He tossed his warm up clothes intentionally away from a ball boy during a playoff match versus the Bulls, when the kid was standing right next to him. He does a pretty blantant bump against Spolstra during a different game and basically tells fans, in a nice way after the '11 loss, that they're losers because he's an athlete who has tons of money and he'll have a better life than them. On top of that, he mocks Nowitzki who was battling a virus during the series by doing a mock cough with Wade. It's little intangibles, like these, that prove character, not what you reharse when a bunch of microphones and cameras are looking you in the face.

You can support anyone and anything you want, but if you defend a polarizing figure in probably the second most popular sports in the country, you have to expect criticism back.

[Lights Out]

The main thing is I try not to follow his stock words about his competition, because too many players take a page out of George St. Pierre's book and act humble and say all the right things, but fans know when the intent is disingenuous.

I completely disagree that it was disingenuous. LeBron, Popovich, and Duncan all have plenty of respect for each other.

[alxy8s]

The main thing is I try not to follow his stock words about his competition, because too many players take a page out of George St. Pierre's book and act humble and say all the right things, but fans know when the intent is disingenuous.

I completely disagree that it was disingenuous. LeBron, Popovich, and Duncan all have plenty of respect for each other.

LeBron didn't have to say anything about the Spurs at all, but chose to have his first comments be laudatory ones about the Spurs organization. He didn't say one thing about the Thunder in the 2 post-game interviews last year.

It's fine to not like LeBron, but at some point, it just comes off as searching desperately for things not to like.

[OnWis97]

At the risk of Clevejacking (!) this thread, I'll throw in my two cents to the whole LeBron debate.

Over the past three years, I'd definitely say that LeBron's matured. He most definitely mishandled "The Decision" and truth be told, I don't think he's that horrible of a person. Does that mean I'm going to root for him to have success? Absolutely not but I'm not going to come into this thread and rip on him left and right because of it. I think I saw it on Twitter last night but it's absolutely true—I don't hate LeBron as much as I hate the fact that I'm never going to be able to truly appreciate his greatness. Just the way it is, I suppose.

I'll never blame him either for leaving Cleveland—after all, when your FO wouldn't give up JJ Hickson in a deal for Amare', what would you have entrusted them to do? Acquire Amare' at the deadline in 2010 and I think you've got a decent shot of keeping LeBron in Cleveland. Unfortunately you didn't do that and he bolted. Can't blame him for that but it doesn't mean we like it.

His team was chased to the brink of elimination (down 5 with :21 left in Game 6) and managed to still come back and win the title. He put his team on his back in Game 7 last night and deserves every bit of praise he's getting. He's one of the greatest basketball players of all-time and now that he's developed his jump shot, he'll be pretty close to unstoppable. Major props to him and the Heat—they've been pushed to the brink over the past 14 games and managed to do exactly what they needed to—win 8 of them.

ALSO: Someone mentioned something about superteams and front offices on the last page. The major difference between, say what the Heat have and what the Spurs do is that the Heat's superteam is more about three guys getting together and saying they wanted to play together and Miami happens to be a nice city during the winter and stuff. That's different than drafting and developing players, making intelligent trades, and the key free agent signing every once in awhile.

This. That message was in reply to me. And while there is no question that basketball is more susceptible to superteams than other sports, I think what I really don't like is the players saying "let's get together in (cosmopolitan city)" and win some rings. That is what could lead us to 6 teams and 24 scrimmage partners.