Good article about James-
I’d like to add that even though James dogged it and I think that says a lot about his character, I fully expect him to come out with guns blazing Thursday night. If he doesn’t he can never be spoken of amongst the greats again.
yeah he can all this talk is going to look real stupid at the end of his career.
[quote]drewh wrote:
yeah he can all this talk is going to look real stupid at the end of his career.[/quote]
Not if he dogs it two games in a row.
Poor poor LeBron. Too bad neither the Celtics nor Cavs will beat the Magic anyways.
Alright, the Lebron “who can do no wrong” fan boy attitude is starting to get weird on this thread. U guys seem to be so unwilling to acknowledge the obvious tells me how concerning this “no show” of a game Lechoke had and what it potentially does to the weak argument of him being a part of the all time greats discussion.
[quote]drewh wrote:
yeah he can all this talk is going to look real stupid at the end of his career.[/quote]
seriosuly drewh, u need to put down the subscription of “I Love Lebron Like a Teenage Girl” magazine and stop the desperate defense attempts with this guy. Can u even admit that he had an atrocious game where he wilted in the background or r u going to just continue to vehemently defend him no matter what he does?
??? Yeah he had a bad game and.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Good article about James-
this article says it all. It encapsulates all of my criticisms regarding James better than anything I could have written and anything else I’ve read.
[quote]drewh wrote:
??? Yeah he had a bad game and.[/quote]
Ok, that’s a good first step ;). Now read the whiteflash article and tell me there’s not more at stake than him just “having a bad” game which does not do justice to what actually happened last night.
Ive always disliked LeBron for his attitude, etc. But after being his performance, I feel bad for him. He was so bad and uninvolved that I feel like maybe there is something wrong with him? Some sort of extreme anxiety issues? Some crazy personal stuff going on now?
For example, to me, Ron Artest seems to be a big innocent kid (Im trying to keep this in nice terms). In his interview last year after some rough playoffs game (the one where he talked about someone getting stabbed with a table leg), he just seemed to be so “simple”. I saw a quote where Phil Jackson described him as a “naive innocent lamb” and that just verified my thoughts even more.
Anyway, hopefully LeBron has some real friends/family to help him through the scrutiny, especially if he performs poorly the next game too. And hopefully I’m just reading too much into this and LeBron is enjoying his attention, money and hos and just fine :P.
Nothing to me, maybe to you guys and journalists looking for a story.
[quote]drewh wrote:
Nothing to me, maybe to you guys and journalists looking for a story. [/quote]
says the man wih fingers in his ears saying lalalala with his mouth as loud as he can to block out all noise. U can go back to ur Lebron magazine subscription now. 
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
I’m not saying he needed to be cussing at reportes and smacking microphone stands, but that would’ve at least shown SOME emotion. He looked disinterested during the game, and he looked disinterested after the game. At seems the all of the James lovers here won’t admit to the fact that he dogged it last night, and maybe, just maybe, he’s more hype than anything.[/quote]
(You can pretend I quoted rand here too) I haven’t defended LeBron’s performance in the sense that I endorse players having awful games(I believe I called it “the worst shooting night of his life”) in big moments. What I am defending is this idea that he is lacking in this killer instinct and competitive nature and whatnot, people living in the moment of just last night.
This is the same dude that sodomized the pistons, the same dude that leads the league in game winning shots since he was drafted(look it up on 82games.com, to be fair Kobe has more buzzer beaters but their formula is different), the guy that went 38/8/8 against Orlando last year in a series where his supporting cast became absolutely invisible after romping through their 1st two series.
The guy that 4 days before last night embarrassed Boston on their home court just the same.
People can deride his GAME last night, I can’t defend 3/14 shooting, or only 2 free throws in the second half, but if you think it’s because he doesn’t have competitive fire you are honestly out of your mind. And I STILL stand by what I said about the press conference thing, and Golic(a former pro) backed me up on this, “We don’t know what is happening inside that locker room, it’s not fair to judge his attitude at a podium he is forced to sit at or get fined.”
Not everyone goes up there Tim Tebow style and rants(although I bet the rant he gave his team afterwards had a lot less tears and more anger).
Red, my commenting on his lack of killer instinct is not based off of last night. You can actually look at the early pages of this very thread and see where I commented on it. I’m not the only one either. Several scouts and GM’s have said similar things since the day he was drafted, and keep saying it as the years go by.
It seems every LeBron lover here will not accept that simple fact, and defends his every move as if it were a personal attack on their character. Stop allowing biased emotion dictate your thought process. The truth is pretty much right in front of ya’ll, and you won’t be able to see it with jet black blinders on.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Red, my commenting on his lack of killer instinct is not based off of last night. You can actually look at the early pages of this very thread and see where I commented on it. I’m not the only one either. Several scouts and GM’s have said similar things since the day he was drafted, and keep saying it as the years go by.
It seems every LeBron lover here will not accept that simple fact, and defends his every move as if it were a personal attack on their character. Stop allowing biased emotion dictate your thought process. The truth is pretty much right in front of ya’ll, and you won’t be able to see it with jet black blinders on.[/quote]
I actually remember you saying as such in the annual NBA threads for the past few years as said, and I know guys like Skip Bayless who follows the NBA about as closely as any journalist I know say it as well, but I guess I just don’t see it. I’m not saying he has ‘killer instinct’ on par with Jordan’s(does anyone?) but to say flat out that he doesn’t have it at all?
I mean the dude owns the 4th quarter constantly, has hit numerous big shots(yes in the playoffs too), and with the exception of 2 games I can think of(game 1 vs Spurs finals, last night), ALWAYS has come up with the performance even if it(obviously) didn’t always mean W’s.
Is there maybe a confusion here that I am presenting these arguments as a way to dethrone Kobe or Jordan? That’s not my intention, which is why I have abstained from slinging mud about some of Kobe’s downfalls, because I am jut trying to defend this notion that LeBron is “hype.”
I can guarantee 100% that if Kobe had to go through this same shit(if Shaq didn’t leave Orlando) I’d have been defending him just as boisterously until he won his ring last year as I am James now.
But whatever, until he gets a ring the discussion will always be the same, I’m sure Marino knows the feeling well.
Simmons does good work, he kind of plays the fence on here but he does echo some points WF and Rand are making. Tomorrow night will be huge.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
When has anyone here called Bryant the GOAT? Also, several players have said Bryant is better than Jordan, including Mark Jackson on national tv.
[/quote]
thats because mark jackson doesn’t know what the fuck hes talking about and was probably caught up in the moment of the game/context when he said it. I don’t think anyone has publicly said Kobe is better then MJ although some people like Phil Jackson have said in certain aspects Kobe has an advantage.
Take that with a grain of salt because hes Kobe’s coach. When you say Kobe is the greatest scorer in modern basketball you are probably right. Then again what does that really say about a player’s game? Ball hog…
another tag line thats associated with Kobe[/quote]
You’ve proven time and again that you have NO IDEA of what you try and speak on. Phil Jackson was also Jordan’s coach, so should I still take it with a grain of salt? Mark Jackson played against both in their primes, so should I take what he said with a grain of salt? Quit making excuses and come to grips with what’s what.[/quote]
If you want to bring conflict to this thread fine, I’ll respond. Yes, I do know what the fuck i’m talking about otherwise I wouldnt be talking about it. You’ve proven time and again that you easily get rattled and ‘grumpy.’
Phil was MJs coach, ofcourse I know that. But when he praises his player so much like in the case of Kobe you know that hes just trying to get across a message of support thats going to entail confidence. Not too long ago Phil and Kobe weren’t on the best of terms, some reports say they really didn’t like each other at one point in time amongth that entire Shaq-a-drama. So yes, take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve heard Mark jackson talk very profoundly of Kobe. If he says hes better than MJ then w/e its just his opinion. One person. Whats what? come to grip that Kobe’s the best scorer in NBA history? Yeah I said he very likely might be. However the only reason you’re putting him in that category of most prolific in scoring is because of the stuff he pulled off when he was losing. Again no disrespect but theres no way you’re scoring 81 points if you have a Gasol/Shaq/Pippen/whoever thats good on your team.
Everything I’m hearing/reading out of the local Cleveland press sounds like the team is actually in some bad shape. In typical Cleveland sports fan fashion I am going to assume we will lose this game in some spectacular fashion. The players are saying the team isn’t divided(Shaq’s sound byte is actually really funny) but every report has talk about playing time complaints, and complaints about the rotation, and that just isn’t good heading into an elimination game against a veteran team if it’s at all true.
Red, I understand your contention that Lebron has dominated games an 4th quarters and I saw the games you are talking about. Some of them were unreal. I don’t think he lacks ANY killer instinct but I see a man who relies on his unbelievable physical skills that allows him to have these great performances. What he still seems to lack (that Jordan and Kobe have in spades) is the killer instinct to a level of a single minded maniacal-like focus to get the job done in the most critical moments all the way to the championship.
He has the personnel this year. Well, u say, they’re not playing well. I think Lebron set this situation up where he’s so coy about his plans this summer and his antics on and off the court that he hasn’t become the championship leader yet to lead his team to the big enchilada.
Can he still become this an attain this level we keep speaking about? Possibly. It obviously needs to start from game 6 forward if he’s going to change my perception and a lit of other perceptions that he deserves to bet talked about wih the alltime greats. Righ now he’s simply not. I describe him as on of the best athletes on the planet right now. That’s it.
He actually reminds me a lo like shaq. Unfortunately that man did rest on his physical gfts and still ened up with championships bit my biggest beef with shaq is that he did not work at it and hone his craft cuz if he did he could have accomplished so much more than he already did.
That’s why I respect Bryant so much. No one works harder than this guy year in and year out in the league. He’s always adding something new to his game every year.