Quote:
Originally Posted by tap2390
I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He is such a smart player... he knows he’s lost a little bit of juice on that first step but he uses pump fakes and his body really well to maintain separation. There's never any question that he is the best player on the court at all times. He doesn't have duds (besides the '11 Finals  ) like we just saw from Demar Derozan. |
Nah, 2011 wasn't a "dud" for Lebron...the Mavs were that good. They did it to everybody. The West is the tough conference, right? The Mavs got to the Finals from the West and swept the 2 time defending champs on the way there. Beating the Heat in their first year together was pretty impressive...but hardly as impressive as what the Mavs did to the Lakers.
It's not likely that all these players picked that one year to have a "dud":
Kobe
Lebron
Wade
KD
Westbrook
Gasol
Aldridge
Bosh
Harden
The common denominator was the Mavs. They had the coaching, they played great team defense, they had two Hall of Famers playing at the top of their game, Chandler was the defensive anchor that won him Defensive Player of the Year the next season, and the role players made big plays in big moments.
It's never been fair the 2011 Mavs that they are painted as an inferior team in service to the anti-Lebron crowd.
But yeah...Lebron is just making his critics look silly right now. How can they ever hold on to their "he's a choker" thing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart
#2 This should be implanted into his hall of fame statue. He literally ruined the league by creating the buddy-buddy league that now creates a huge disparity between the elite and not so elite teams.
We all give so much crap to guys like Durant and others who have done the same thing, but Lebron started it all. He is to blame, 100%.
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The fans actually started it.
Fans of a certain player started "counting rings" post 90s and attributing them to a single player. It became a part of a player's legacy even though it's a team stat.
The players heard that over the years. (especially in the age of social media) So....they didn't want to end up like Barkley and Malone and accused of being losers because their teams weren't good enough. Barkley himself now admits he would have gone somewhere like Houston sooner if he'd know it would be held against him that he didn't get a ring.
Lebron gave the Cavs 7 years. That sounds like plenty to me. At that point, it starts to become obvious that organization can't get it done. So...Lebron did it himself. Pretty impressive really.
Now fans are playing it both ways. "He didn't win enough rings!" on one hand and... "He's chasing rings!" on the other hand.
Fans need to pick a side on that.
And look how it effects the players. Here is how they talk now. Go to 1:15 and see Shaq mocking Barkley over "rings". It's the most illogical thing in the world but it's the mantra now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnPIdSVfxqs