The real King has spoken... M.J.

[casmith07]

Go Kobe.

Us Kobe supporters welcome you with open arms.

 

[Vintage]

Longley, Wennington, and Cartwright combined > Present Day Shaq. Shaq is completely done. Well done with a light crisp on the outside.

Antawn Jamison is good but you can't plug and play and expect instant championship. Jamison spent years in Washington building chemistry.

Bill Wennington's "career" year was in 1993-1994, when Jordan retired. He averaged 7.1/4.6 per game. Luc Longley's "career" year was in 1997-1998, when he averaged 11.4/5.9 per game. By the time the Bulls were winning rings, Cartwright was averaging less than 10ppg and 6 rpg, and then went into decline after that. Shaq's 12/6.7 a game last year was more productive than Longley, Cartwright, or Wennington's seasons when the Bulls were winning.

 

[baj1dallas]

Come on now...We all know MJ is talking abouting Top 5 players hooking up to play with each other.

Rodman hardly qualified as such.

Neither does Bosh and Wade is debatable. Rodman was hands down the best rebounder and defender in the league.

 

[Joe Realist]

I'm still baffled that people are still defending LeBrick. It's pretty pathetic actually. What he did was egotistical, backstabbing and cowardly. He jerked every team around knowing that he was going to sign in Miami no matter what.

This **** was all planned and he gave false hope to everyone. The way he had "the decision" show was just disgusting. He put himself higher than basketball.

He also straight lied to the Cavs. He promised to bring a championship at all costs and would not stop until he got that goal. Blame the organaztion all you want for not bringing in the players, but a promise is a promise. Especially since it's where you were born and raised.

Now he has put himself in a lose lose situation. He had the opportunity to be a top 5 player in NBA History, but now he's nothing more than a Scottie Pippen. If he wins, it will be " Well he better, he's got 2 other top 10 players on his team" and if he loses..well that even further damages his rep. He won't even be the best player on his team if they win. There was never any doubt about that when Jordan won.

I hope he never wins and this blows up in his face.

Go Kobe.

great post!

 

[BehindEnemyLinez]

While I think all the hoopla surrounding LBJ this offseason was ridiculous, I don't knock him for going to the South Beach All-Stars. Winning is the most important thing that people remember and if they win a few rings his "legacy" will be that of a winner...no matter who he's playing with. Basketball, even though we celebrate induvidual players, is a team sport and personal accomplishments and goals should never become more important than the ultimate team goal...winning titles! Besides, the man put winning above money, personal accolades, and his supposed legacy so it was hardly selfish of him to go to Miami (the selfish part was having an hour-long special that rubbed his leaving in CLE's and all of their supporters' faces)!

 

[joseephuss]

Who wants to live in Cleveland? Chicago is a great city. You can get free agents to go to Chicago. You can't get them to go to Cleveland. You could not get them to go there even when LeBron was on the team. The Cavs are certainly not going to get them now.

It is not even that MJ was surrounded by top end talent. Outside of Pippen, there were a bunch of role players around Jordan, but they were good role players. Better than the role players surrounding LeBron. The Bulls made the playoffs the year after Jordan retired the first time. Can you see the Cavs making the playoffs? I can't. I can see them being one of the worse teams in the league. They will look like the Bulls team did the year after Jordan retired the second time. That Bulls team lost Jordan, Pippen and the good role players from the title winning teams and were left with a bunch of scrubs. We now have the Cleveland Scubaliers.

I don't question LeBron's decision. His method of announcing it was unnecessary, but he has every right to go and play where he wants. The Cavs weren't going to do what was necessary to win.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The Bulls had 55 and 47 win seasons without Jordan when was suspended for gamb ...err ... playing baseball. Forget Pippen, Kukoc is better than anyone LeBron played with in Cleveland. Horace Grant as well. I promise you the Cavs will come nowhere near 55 wins next year without LeBron, maybe 20 if they're lucky.

 

[burmafrd]

Its true the Cavs squandered chances to build a team to complement Lebron like the Bulls did with MJ. Also you cannot compare coaches either. So frankly I also do not blame Lebron from leaving.

 

[CATCH17]

I'm still baffled that people are still defending LeBrick. It's pretty pathetic actually. What he did was egotistical, backstabbing and cowardly. He jerked every team around knowing that he was going to sign in Miami no matter what.

This **** was all planned and he gave false hope to everyone. The way he had "the decision" show was just disgusting. He put himself higher than basketball.

He also straight lied to the Cavs. He promised to bring a championship at all costs and would not stop until he got that goal. Blame the organaztion all you want for not bringing in the players, but a promise is a promise. Especially since it's where you were born and raised.

Now he has put himself in a lose lose situation. He had the opportunity to be a top 5 player in NBA History, but now he's nothing more than a Scottie Pippen. If he wins, it will be " Well he better, he's got 2 other top 10 players on his team" and if he loses..well that even further damages his rep. He won't even be the best player on his team if they win. There was never any doubt about that when Jordan won.

I hope he never wins and this blows up in his face.

Go Kobe.

Lol Heatmosphere is now a Lebron hater.

Don't hide your true love Dan Slate Gilbert

 

[QT]

Kobe is the closes thing to Jordan. Lebron cannot shoot as well as Kobe and doesn't have Kobe's killer instincts.

 

[Cythim]

Cleveland should have known LeBron wasn't going to stick around. I knew it, ESPN knew it, Chicago, Miami and New York knew it. Cleveland fooled themselves into thinking anyone would want to play there and ruined their team because of it. They should be thankful LeBron wasted 7 seasons in that town and shut up about it.



I hate seeing LeBron join Miami but I think he just ran out of options. Chicago was out because of the Jordan factor and NY/NJ really wasn't that appealing. I will be cheering against Miami this season but I cannot hate the man for his decision.

 

[Apluz]

He may not care now, but he will look back on this and realize how much he damaged his legacy.

If wins a couple titles he will look back at it as the smartest decision he ever made. Remember this was not a money decision he did it cause he wants to win.

Jordan was starting to pout about not winning after his 3rd season the team quickly built a quality cast around him after that and they were winning by his 5th.

James has been in Cleveland for 7 seasons as the lone quality player on the squad. I wouldn't waste any more time there if I were him either.

That said he did not have to make such a spectacle about leaving but the move was a no brainier. IMO I see no real difference between what he did and guys like Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett did when they teamed up with Paul Pierce.

 

[Doomsday]

MJ might of been a great player but he is also kind of a dumb ***. Its easy to say that after the fact.

 

[joseephuss]

MJ might of been a great player but he is also kind of a dumb ***. Its easy to say that after the fact.

In what way? The gambling? He made himself into an icon that extended far beyond the court. He did a lot of things to show he was very smart. He also has done some dumb things.

Maybe you are thinking of Isaiah Thomas. Speaking of which, how the hell does he keep getting jobs. What is wrong with the owner in New York that he would want to bring Thomas back as GM? The guy has been a disaster since his playing days. He must have some kind of leverage on people.

 

[Stautner]

He said he would've never called Magic or Larry to join forces. He wanted to beat those guys and vice versa. Thank you King Jordan for expressing what everyone outside of Miami feels.

It was a little different situation in different eras with different personalities. Magic and Bird were considered the saviors of the NBA. The guys who saved a failing sport. Early in his career Jordan desperately wanted to show he was as good or better and he couldn't do that while playing with those guys. By the time he had proven it, he didn't need them to win championships.

He may not care now, but he will look back on this and realize how much he damaged his legacy.

It's possible, but things that seem big at first tend to blow over. Kareem left Milwaukee, and that was easily forgotten when the Lakers became an elite NBA team.

I'm outside of Miami, and I don't feel that way.

I see nothing wrong with what Lebron did.

I don't like what Lebron did because I prefer to see teams build around a nucleus over the long term. I think it's better for the league because the team develops an identity, and the fans become more loyal to a team.

But at the sime time, I can't say what Lebron did was wrong. Who among us wouldn't leave our current job if we could join a business venture with people we know well and enjoy being with, and that was guaranteed to be lucrative at the same time.

 

[casmith07]

Quoted for emphasis.

Let it sink in.

http://img370.*************/img370/9382/varejao0516ui0.jpg

 

[Rampage]

That's all well and good, except for the fact that MJ had one of the 50 greatest players of all time on his team in Pippen.

Sure, he wanted to beat Magic and Larry, but LeBron still has to contend with Kobe, Carmello, Duncan, Pierce-Garnett-Rondo-Allen, Howard and up and coming Durant. It's not as though a Miami title next year is a given...

Pippen was traded to the Bulls right off the bat. it's not like Jordan left his team to play with Pippen.

 

[burmafrd]

The Bulls owner and GM started working to build a team around MJ within a couple of years. Cleveland did nothing of the sort. They had 7 years to build around Lebron and did not do it. Why waste any more time there if you want to win championships?

 

[StylisticS]

I'm outside of Miami, and I don't feel that way.

I see nothing wrong with what Lebron did.

I think many people's beef is not with Lebron signing with Bosh and Wade in Miami. Just the way he handled the situation and how he did it. That's the bigger beef most people have.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

Pippen was traded to the Bulls right off the bat. it's not like Jordan left his team to play with Pippen.

Peplaw knows nothing.