2013-2014 NBA Season

[Jocephus]

miami won like 3 years after lebron joined the league eh? the heat also had primo wade, shaq, zo, payton, walker etc

lebron was/is definitely the alpha and no matter what team hes on he will be until his knees start to go (or some health issue)

[BW23]

I'm not a LBJ fan at all, but he was definitely the alpha in Miami. It might have been Wade's team simply because he had been there longest, but he was no longer the best player nor the one everything centered around. And for good reason.

I really hope the Heat are foolish enough to give Wade the max contract. He's cooked.

[cardsfansince82]

The team he went to wasn't any better than the Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, Thunder already were, and that's who he had to beat to get a ring. Any team he joined (Bulls, Heat, whoever) was going to be on that level because he's that damn good. The last team to win an NBA title without 3 all star caliber players is probably the 98 Bulls, so only sixteen years ago. Everyone is telling him he's a piece of [expletive] until he wins a ring. What was he supposed to do? Stay in Cleveland and never win a ring and then have the same people call him overrated?

Um...what? I've heard quite a few discussions about NBA championship teams with minimal star players and that's the first time I've ever heard any of MJ's Bulls teams mentioned in that light.

Jordan and Pippen were studs. You could maybe argue that Kukoc or Rodman qualify but those guys were just role players by that point. But if you insist, that means you have to go back even farther to find a team without three main guys.

Lebron was never the "alpha" in Miami, in my opinion. They had already shown that they could win a championship without him, before he ever went there. It wouldn't be that much different than Carmelo Anthony joining them next year. "Frontrunner" is a pretty good description.

You can't have ever watched the current Miami team play and make this statement. Also, you apparently think once a franchise wins a title no one new can ever come in and be the best player? Ok.

[BW23]

Just for clarification, for the Spurs team to be assembled as it was, the main guys (Parker, Manu and Duncan) took less money to try and be a super team.

Is it okay if you do that and just stay where you are?

Is it okay to take less to hopefully win a championship if you go somewhere else?

Or is it only bad if you have a nationally televised event to announce you're going elsewhere?

[Jocephus]

haha the nationally televised event to announce where you are going doesn't help

[BW23]

haha the nationally televised event to announce where you are going doesn't help

That was the part that bothered me most. And while it bothered me that he left his team and went elsewhere to try to win, unlike a Jordan, as noted in this thread, he didn't have the help Jordan did nor was that help going to come any time soon.

[Socnorb11]

You can't have ever watched the current Miami team play and make this statement. Also, you apparently think once a franchise wins a title no one new can ever come in and be the best player? Ok.

No. I think that once a team wins a championship with "Player A", then that team is "Player A"'s team until "Player A" no longer plays for them.

Wade invited Lebron to the party, not the other way around.

[Socnorb11]

The team he went to wasn't any better than the Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, Thunder already were, and that's who he had to beat to get a ring. Any team he joined (Bulls, Heat, whoever) was going to be on that level because he's that damn good. The last team to win an NBA title without 3 all star caliber players is probably the 98 Bulls, so only sixteen years ago. Everyone is telling him he's a piece of [expletive] until he wins a ring. What was he supposed to do? Stay in Cleveland and never win a ring and then have the same people call him overrated?

Um...what? I've heard quite a few discussions about NBA championship teams with minimal star players and that's the first time I've ever heard any of MJ's Bulls teams mentioned in that light.

Jordan and Pippen were studs. You could maybe argue that Kukoc or Rodman qualify but those guys were just role players by that point. But if you insist, that means you have to go back even farther to find a team without three main guys.

The Spurs don't really have 3 all-stars.

I'm not sure that the Oklahoma City team or the Dallas team that won championships had 3 all-stars, either. The last few Lakers teams that won championships didn't have 3 all-stars, either. In fact, I think you have to go back a ways to find a team that DID have 3.



Edit: The Oklahoma City team actually did have 3 all-star caliber players (Harden, Westbrook and Durant).

[MrSaigon]

How many games did the Pippen Bulls win? I honestly don't know how it would serve the argument, but it seems notable.

Neither Duncan nor Ginobli were really max guys when they took less on their contracts. They're also both at the end of their career. In fact, I'm not sure currently these Spurs fit 82's argument as only Parker made the ASG, and no one else was a significant snub--though Duncan could have gone as a legend. Further, SA had zero players in the top 20 in PER (Duncan 21, Ginobli 29, Parker 45).

[MrSaigon]

Or is it only bad if you have a nationally televised event to announce you're going elsewhere?

And wear Jordan's number over a CHOSEN ONE tattoo.