2018 NBA Playoffs

[Harpospoke]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

Joining the West and going up against b2b champ Lakers and 8 teams with 50 wins would have been much easier than just staying in the East with a MVP candidate in Wade and fellow top talent like Bosh and facing 2-3 teams of 50 wins? And rejoining the Cavs after his time with the Heat... again, what team in the East is competing against him? At that point what was their competition? A Broken Drose and the Pacers? They had a team with 38 wins make the playoffs in the East that last year with the Heat. Meanwhile the Mavs barely made the 8th seed with 49 wins. Yes, he absolutely has had an easy time in the East. Yes he took the easy way. Yes he is still an all time great and could be considered the best ever but it's not a given by any means.

In the last 9 years, starting from the year Lebron went to the Heat. The East has not once had the advantage in h2h with the West. The West has beaten the East 507 more times in h2h matchups alone. For an average of 56 games a year in favor of the west. And the high point was in '13-14 when the West won a whopping 118 more games against the East than they won against the West. The very next year Lebron stayed in the East and went back to the Cavs. Why in the world would he leave when the East quite clearly was at a huge disadvantage to the West? If anyone is wondering- 8 out of 13 years in Jordan's era since the lottery started in 85'-86 The East was stronger than the West. And since Lebron has been in the league the East has had the advantage a grand total of 1 time, a measly +12 on the year in '08-'09. The only reason i brought this up is because the easiest way has not been to join the West, Lebron absolutely has had a red carpet to the finals in the East and he did make it easiest on himself when he has had the 2 chances to do so and was the first one to start this shit superstar era we are in.

Well you just made my case.

If a player wanted an easy ring...why in the world would you go to an East team? That would be like KD joining the Raptors or Wizards so he could get to the Finals and lose. Not sure how anyone thinks that makes sense. As we've seen, fans then just laugh at you for losing in the Finals and make up a fake "Finals record" stat. No...KD went and joined the team that proved it didn't even need him to win a ring and was crushing the "tough West". Obviously KD made the right choice. There was no team building involved like with the Heat in 2011. They already had the chemistry built in.

If you wanted an easy ring, of course you would join one of the strong teams in the West. Lebron to the Spurs in 2011 would have cruised to several rings until Duncan got old. The team was already built and they have a great coach. That's the KD route. Or maybe the Lakers even though in hindsight Phil was done at that point and Kobe was fading. But Lebron wouldn't have known that in 2010.

Another way it hasn't been easy for Lebron. He's never had the great coach and he never got the young version of Pippen. Wade was already past his peak (2009) by the time Lebron got him and Kyrie doesn't have the Pippen mindset...instead he has delusions of grandeur and thinks he is the super star. MJ already had Phil, Pippen, and Grant when he was complaining about the Bulls....just imagine how much MJ would have complained if the Bulls had not even brought in those guys by 91 and he went out in the 1st round again? That's where Lebron was in 2010. So their two situations were not remotely the same.

And I don't need to go into how great he is off the court and dealing with the massive expectations he has had on him from an early age. We all know he's a great person off the court and a great role model for people. But purely on basketball merits I think people have a right to be upset at what the NBA has become since "the decision". He's still a top 5 player of all time and on the mount rushmore of nba greats. And he's still writing his story so he could move up for those who don't see him as #1 right now. Like I said at the onset, he is playing better now than I have ever seen.

Well that gets into that fake "ranking" thing that doesn't really exist. Lebron of course can't never be "#1" any more than any other player can. We can't even determine that one in an individual sport like golf or tennis. Trying it in a team sport where every success is based on the team is out of the question.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by Harpospoke

Well you just made my case.

If a player wanted an easy ring...why in the world would you go to an East team? That would be like KD joining the Raptors or Wizards so he could get to the Finals and lose. Not sure how anyone thinks that makes sense.

No... The raptors and Wizards don't have a mvp candidate. It would be like if the Pelicans were in the East and he joined anthony davis and then brought Porzingis with them. Wade was a MVP candidate, top 5 in votes and a former champion(he sends thank you cards to the refs to this day) and Bosh was a 24/11 guy. Nobody on the Wizards or Raptors gives you either of those things. So no your example does not work.

If you wanted an easy ring, of course you would join one of the strong teams in the West. Lebron to the Spurs in 2011 would have cruised to several rings until Duncan got old. The team was already built and they have a great coach. That's the KD route. Or maybe the Lakers even though in hindsight Phil was done at that point and Kobe was fading. But Lebron wouldn't have known that in 2010.

Right... joining a team with 32-33yr olds was a good long term plan. People were saying the Spurs were done back then. Two of their big 3 were 32-33. The other had just missed 30 games that year. And even if you truly believe it would have somehow been easier to join the West(no)... that just means in ur mind it would have been easier. So lets pat lebron on the back for not choosing the easiest possible path but still an easy one. I'm saying and pretty much everyone I've ever talked to says- Lebron chose the easy way. That it, not the easiest way possible but the easy way. The easiest way possible would have been 1 year with lakers or celtics and then continue 1 year rentals to get rings with whoever the best team was. And you know what? With what Lebron started and what KD has now done... I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next generational talent does exactly that thanks to these 2.

Agree to disagree.