Kip Smithers Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 2 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said: I just can’t see him joining someone else’s team again. He’s obsessed with his image and brand. He’ll be made fun of like KD was. He’s not going to want to go through that again. Agree. I actually think he stays in Cleveland and have always felt this. I believe him when he says his family will be the biggest factor in this. He ain’t leaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beekay414 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 1 minute ago, TENINCH said: A packed fan lecturing me on fan boys....lmfao Kiss the rings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seminoles1 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Staying in Cleveland kind of gives him a buffer from criticism for not winning as well. However, someone here made the point that it will not sit well with LeBron if Curry and Durant end up with more titles than him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seminoles1 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 43 minutes ago, matt79511 said: I agree with this take. I don't think Lebron does, though. I think he goes to LA with George and trades Lonzo/Ingram/Kuzma for Leonard. That's too much for Kawhi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TENINCH Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 6 minutes ago, bkobow05 said: Kiss the rings You mean Jordan's 6 rings from the Championships he never lost while also taking a few years off to play baseball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seminoles1 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 4 minutes ago, TENINCH said: You mean Jordan's 6 rings from the Championships he never lost while also taking a few years off to play baseball? Jordan never played a team 1/3 as talented as Golden State while he was winning titles. When he did...he got swept in the 1st round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyDez Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 2 minutes ago, seminoles1 said: Jordan never played a team 1/3 as talented as Golden State while he was winning titles. When he did...he got swept in the 1st round. The Suns, Magic, Sonics and Jazz weren’t 1/3 as talented as GS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beekay414 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 8 minutes ago, TENINCH said: You mean Jordan's 6 rings from the Championships he never lost while also taking a few years off to play baseball? You mean Scottie's 6 rings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seminoles1 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Just now, DirtyDez said: The Suns, Magic, Sonics and Jazz weren’t 1/3 as talented as GS? The Warriors are much more talented than all of those teams. The Magic might have pulled within the same stratosphere...but Horace Grant didn't play against the Bulls in 1996 because he was hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubs10 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 I like how the fans of every team "in the running" for Lebron next year are trying to argue that actually their team is the best option for Lebron. Well, every team except Cleveland Fans. At least they can admit they are going back to being a dumpster fire the exact second Lebron leaves, whenever that may be. (And I guess to be fair CWood didn't try to say the Lakers would be his best choice to win, but more so tried to present the value of teaming up with PG and Lonzo in LA giving off the impression, in my mind at least, that he believes its in the running for his best option) I picked Philly because that's where I hope he goes, they seem to have the least working against them from a practicality standpoint. I think Bostons team is more talented than Philly's right now, sans Lebron, but not by much. I'm still ride or die with Markelle Fultz finding his confidence again and bouncing back to the star I thought he was coming out of college and I've seen nothing from Lebron that tells me he can't turn a young 2nd round playoff team into East Champs consistently. There would be some great eastern conference finals games between the two teams but until I see it with my own eyes, Lebron is the king of the East if he has any talent around him. The flavor of the month is Ben Simmons is overrated because he refuses to shoot after the Boston series, but even if he doesn't become serviceable shooting the ball in the next 3-4 years, he will mature and find ways to make defenses pay when they guard him that way. Embiid's health is obviously a question mark, but I just get the feeling its not as big as its made out to be. The amount of games he has missed over the start of his career is significantly padded by the fact that up until this season, the Sixers had no interest in winning games and no reason not to play it one hundred percent safe with the young building blocks. Embiid's body has transformed since hes been in the NBA, the dude is massive, and he doesn't look like somebody who is breaking down physically. Its still probably the biggest risk because I don't think they could beat a fully healthy Boston team without Embiid, but for Lebron you only have to bank on him holding up over the next 3-4 years or so which is still Embiid's physical prime. I think the fit issue is overblown. Playmaking and shooting eases fit issues and Lebron and Simmons, really the only two players that don't "fit" together, happen to be generational playmakers with exceptional size, vision, and BBIQ. If I'm Brett Brown, Ben is bringing the ball up the court regularly, and Lebron will handle a fair majority of half court play making duties. Ideally you get Bron to buy into more of a motion/ball movement offense than your average Lebron offense, and Ben will play as more of an interior player in the half court, cutting off the ball (hes a big athletic guy with great vision so hes a great target), passing over the defense to shooters on the perimeter, and setting screens to cause confusion. You will have no problem finding guys to play for cheap and space the floor for Simmons - Lebron - Embiid. Simmons obviously needs to develop a shot he is confident in, but his lack of a jump shot doesn't hurt him as much when he doesn't have the ball in his hands all the time, and defenses have to worry about stopping Lebron from getting to the rim and stopping Simmons from cutting backdoor. Ben even has the size to guard any 4 in the league so if you can't find a shooter at power forward, you shift Ben down defensively and play two wing shooters. A front court of Lebron - Simmons - Embiid defensively gives you almost all the advantages of a small ball lineup, except its better ya know because that front court isn't actually small by any sense of the word. In Philly, with a motion, ball movement offense, Lebron can focus more on scoring and less on playmaking and controlling the offense. Hes more comfortable shooting off a dribble than catch and shoot obviously, but just like Simmons, Lebron is pretty hard to stop from getting to the rim when the entire defense isn't focused on him so being able to attack off the catch more often, as opposed to isolations, could really ease the stress on his body even more as he gets older. After this year's playoffs where he had to carry his team in every category (outside of defense) just to be competitive in each round only to watch Kevin Durant win another finals MVP focusing on scoring and playing defense, I think now more than ever Lebron would be willing to focus more on scoring and defense and give up some of his control of the ball on offense to be on a better team. And if Lebron does that I think these guys are way too talented not be successful regardless of the perceived fit. It even gives Lebron the opportunity to "mentor" Ben Simmons and take credit for his success down the line. I can't agree with the argument that Lebron should go to the west for his legacy so that he either wins the finals or loses before he gets there. Not only because I think its idiotic that losing in the conference finals is better than losing in the finals, but Lebron just has to punt on the finals win percentage metric at this point. He needs to make the finals a ridiculous amount of times win or lose, so that people will say he always got his team to the finals no matter where he was or who his team mates were and try to use that to make up some of the ground for his less than ideal Win/Loss record. Going into the season my choice was the Spurs and I still think that would be my favorite option if it didn't involve going to the West. If anyone can figure out how to beat these Warriors with Kevin Durant in a seven game series, I would put my money on a trio of Pop, Kawhi, and Lebron. Pop and Lebron are two of the best basketball minds ever and Kawhi is the best player in the league to slow down Kevin Durant. I think Lebron needs to come to grips that the way he has elected to operate in Cleveland, having all the power, is putting too much on his plate when it comes to winning championships. Lebron obviously has huge respect for Pop and I think he is the one coach Lebron could actually trust enough to be willing to fall in line to an extent. From a basketball standpoint, I think Lebron is a talented enough scorer in this league to function primarily in that role putting up elite numbers in a motion offense and it will help him continue to produce at an elite level as he continues to get older. Like I said before, I think this year may have shown Lebron the importance of an elite coach/gm and how allowing them to do their jobs as they see fit can put him in a better position to focus more on basketball and achieve his goals on the court. I think Lebron would have the capability of winning a scoring title on a Popovich team with Kawhi and Aldridge as his 2nd and third options with Kawhi guarding the toughest match-up every night. Dejounte Murray isn't a good fit with Lebron but I never doubt the Spurs when it comes to developing players and again shooters would line up to play with Lebron and Kawhi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grubs10 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 3 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said: I just can’t see him joining someone else’s team again. He’s obsessed with his image and brand. He’ll be made fun of like KD was. He’s not going to want to go through that again. I think Lebron has proven to the world and more importantly to himself that what he has done in his career and the level that he is playing at right now, that any team he joins outside of the warriors, he would be considered the clear top player on the team. The Rockets for example may still be James Harden's team even if Lebron went there, similarly to how Golden State is still Curry's team even though most would agree Durant is their best player. That hasn't stopped Durant from adding back to back finals MVPs to his resume, and I think Lebron is more concerned at this point about attaining those types of tangible results by being the best player on a championship team than having his "own team." He won one in Cleveland of all places against a team in the middle of a Dynastic run so I think he is covered as far as winning a championship with "his team". I expect him to prioritize the best chance of winning over insecurities about whether or not he is the face of the franchise. This is probably the last time he will have a chance to chose where he is going to play while being the best player in the league. Whether or not he wins another ring most likely comes down to this decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWood21 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 1 hour ago, seminoles1 said: That's too much for Kawhi. I actually think it’d be something like Deng, Ingram, and Kuzma for Kawhi. I think that leaves enough space to resign Julius Randle. Ball/PG13/Kawhi/LBJ/Randle night but win it all but that’s a really tough matchup for Golden State. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyDez Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 7 minutes ago, CWood21 said: I actually think it’d be something like Deng, Ingram, and Kuzma for Kawhi. I think that leaves enough space to resign Julius Randle. Ball/PG13/Kawhi/LBJ/Randle night but win it all but that’s a really tough matchup for Golden State. They need to keep one of Kuzma/Ingram and trade Ball instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l3lind golfer Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 trade ingram and Kuzma to keep a bum like lonzo Ball? ball is terrible. also, lebron james, Kawhi leonard and Paul George. is this real life or nba 2k18? Also they gonna trade an elite player in Kawhi leonard for a couple of mediocre role players? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11sanchez11 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 3 minutes ago, l3lind golfer said: couple of mediocre role players not a believer in Kuzma or Ingram? I think both are gonna be really good, especially Ingram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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