LeDecision... Who's watching?

[rkstevens]

Why wouldn't you put yourself in the best position to win? When taking a job, would you want to start at the bottom and work your way up, or walk into the job paying six figures to start?

That's not really a correct analogy. Anywhere Lebron chose to go, he'd be the starter, not a bench player who'd have to work his way up. The money doesn't really apply either since he's making less than he could. A better analogy would be if you'd choose to join a top corporation like Microsoft or bank like Goldman Sachs knowing you'd be working for one of the best companies in the US but possibly getting lost in the shuffle and doing a low-end job. Or would you rather join a unknown start up in Silicon Valley where you'd have a chance to do something big and maybe end up as a V.P. or partner. Plenty choose to take on the bigger challenge for the chance at a bigger reward just as many choose to work for a top company.

No. You can't. The Lakers are deeper and have better players at every position starting except PG.

I'll just agree to disagree here. I think a lineup of Rose, Boozer, Noah, Deng and Gibson would be competitive with Fisher, Gasol, Bynum, Artest and Odom. The biggest difference would be that Kobe is better than anyone else you could add to Chicago's roster.

Please. The Knicks have a horrendous roster outside of Amare now, and their coach is a proven loser when it counts most and doesn't coach defense at all, which is a big part of LeBron's continued attempts to improve his game. The Knicks would've still struggled to beat the Heat or the Celtics or even the Magic. Don't forget Dwight Howard is still in the Eastern Conference.

I won't disagree about D'Antoni, but I think had the Knicks kept Lee and added Stoudemire and James the would have had a good team. Even after trading Lee, they picked up some nice young players in Randolph and Azubuike and I don't think Gallinari is horrible. I never said they would win the East as I still think the Magic and Celtics are the teams to beat, but they wouldn't have been horrible. They would have to add players the same way Miami will have to -- find guys who will take the vet minimum and start using the MLE next season. Just as in Miami, you'd have to bank on James and Stoudemire drawing in players who'll take less than they could elsewhere. D'Antoni might also be a draw for low-level players as his system would let them pump up their numbers for the next time they hit free agency.

Lamar Odom was very instrumental in the win. Trevor Ariza also played a good part. But you're kind of contradicting yourself by claiming that they had only two stars. The Knicks would only have two if they had got LeBron, and neither LeBron nor Amare is on the same plane as Kobe or Gasol.

Odom had a very good playoffs in 2009, but Ariza didn't really show up until halfway through the Western Conference Finals and then ended up playing big on both ends in the Finals. Fisher made his customary big shots, but the Lakers won in 2009 on the backs of Kobe and Gasol with some big contributions from the other guys (mostly Odom).

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant both benefitted from being on teams that have ownership and front office personnel that value winning and are able to do what it takes to get the pieces necessary to compete. Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers went out and signed a 36-year-old completely done Shaquille O'Neal, traded for an aging Antawn Jamison, and signed bums like Delonte West and Anderson Varejao. The only person that can blame the Cavaliers for this is themselves.

That's your opinion, but the last two years, all I heard was how the Cavs had the best record and were the best team in the NBA. It's funny how opinions change when they lose in the playoffs. O'Neal was done but it's not like they gave up anything for him and in a league where centers don't grow on trees, he was serviceable. I remember that Varejao had one of the top +/- in the league. Jamison was a former All-Star averaging 20/9 and it's not like they gave up anything for him since they got Ilgauskas back. Their biggest mistake may have been not trading for Stoudemire instead of Jamison, but everyone said they needed a stretch-4 to beat the Magic... they just didn't account for the Celtics playing their best ball of the season in the playoffs.