NBA Season 14-15: General Thread

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally Posted by bunkmoreland

I will definitely give you that you can make a better case for him picking Cleveland over Dallas in terms of long term than in terms of just this season.

The very real deficiencies of a starting lineup featuring J. Nelson/Rondo/Harris, Ellis, aging Dirk, and Tyson could have looked a lot different when you think about LeBron starting at small forward.
Of course we can never know with certainty. We are dealing woth hypotheticals.
But I think an upgrade from Parsons to LBJ for the Mavs would given the Mavs a great shot to get to the Finals. Or an upgrade from Richard Jefferson to LeBron, when dealing with the playoffs.
Looking at what LeBron is doing with a bunch of scrubs holding their own against Golden State, you don't think he could have done as well with Harris, Ellis, Dirk and Tyson around him?
Also significant is that I don't think an East team without LeBron has a chance in the finals.

I just don't understand your argument at all. Yeah, an upgrade of Parsons to Lebron would give the Mavs a chance to make the finals. An upgrade of ANYONE to LBJ gives that team a chance to make the finals. What does that mean to Lebron? It seems like you're looking at it from the prospective team's perspective, not from Lebron's.

There's a reason that Dallas was NEVER in the conversation for getting Lebron. Nobody at any point EVER speculated that there was even the slightest chance that Lebron would come to Dallas. We're an old as dirt, second tier playoff team with not a single young promising player that has a shred of upside. Not to mention that we have basically no chance of improving through the draft. As far as playoff teams go, I don't think there's one with worse prospects for Lebron. Seriously, I have no idea where you're getting this idea from that the Mavs would be a good opportunity for Lebron. You're seriously telling me that playing with Ellis, Tyson Chandler, a near-retirement Dirk and a bunch of scrubs is a better opportunity for Lebron than playing with Irving, Love, Waiters and a bunch of scrubs? Especially when considering that Cleveland had significantly more roster flexibility to improve (and indeed, ended up using that flexibility to bring in Mozgov, Smith and Shumpert?) Even looking at this one season in a vacuum, not considering the rest of Lebron's career, that still makes no sense to me. The Mavs would have been a TERRIBLE choice for Lebron. Seriously. Terrible.

The long term:
Yes, Cleveland has more youth and had a first round pick. But look what they did with it. But overall I don't think their team has a history of very good management.
I think you could have made a case for Dallas as a better option for winning long term with LeBron than Cleveland.

More youth and "a first round pick????" It wasn't just ANY pick, it was the no. 1 pick. "But look at what they did with it." ... Wat???? Uh, what they did with it was use it to acquire a legitimate star in Kevin Love- someone who, when healthy, is pretty much the perfect compliment to Lebron. Even if they hadn't traded for Love, they had a VERY promising player in Andrew Wiggins. I'll give you that the Cavs franchise as a whole has a history of bad management, but David Griffin has only been their GM since 2010, and his track record so far looks pretty sparkling.

I seriously don't know what PLANET you're coming from with this argument. Not only that Cleveland was anything but an outright miraculous opportunity for him (seriously, what better could any player possibly ask for?) but that DALLAS of all places represented a better LONG TERM opportunity? In Cleveland there's a team with multiple young stars and the opportunity to get significantly better over the next several years. In Dallas there's only one 36-year old future HOF'er near the end of his career, an already past his prime Tyson Chandler, a one-dimensional headache of a player in Ellis whose style of play is about the worst possible fit for Lebron imaginable, and pretty much nothing else to work with. Coming to Dallas would have pretty much been career suicide for Lebron.