Author Topic: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James  (Read 46463 times)

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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #30 on: June 14, 2013, 09:03:17 AM »

Offline BballTim

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he's already considered one of the greats but i think at the end of it all, any legacy he hoped of building was tainted when he jumped ship to Miami. IMO, he'll always be half "multi-MVP winner" and half "had to team up with one of the top 5 SGs and one of the top 5-10 PFs of his generation to win anything".

So, just like every other single legendary title winner? Ok.

no, there's a difference. being traded is not the same as signing as colluding with your other fellow free agents to create a "superteam".  He didn't make his own path.
Neither did Magic Johnson but no one gives him crap.  Magic has said numerous times that if the Lakers didn't win the coin flip he would have gone back to school one more year.  He only came out because he wanted to go to the Lakers and play with Kareem. 

How about Moses Malone leaving Houston for Philadelphia after a MVP season to team up with Dr. J.  Where is the crap for him.

How about Kareem forcing a trade to LA.  No one says boo about that.

No one gives Shaq crap for leaving Orlando and going to Los Angeles. 

No one said anything when McGrady and Hill teamed up in Orlando (of course Hill getting hurt might have had something to do with it).

The reality is, people just treat James differently then every other super star that has ever played the game.  I'm not sure why that is, but it definitely is.

  The reality is plenty of people made plenty of comments when at least most of those things happened, "No one said anything" isn't at all accurate.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2013, 10:09:45 AM by BballTim »

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #31 on: June 14, 2013, 09:50:18 AM »

Offline NocturnalRebel

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Is this a plea for us to like LeBron? We can appreciate his talent and what he brings to tha court (minus being pampered for 48 minutes) but we don't have to like him. LeBron is a great player but this game is catered to his style of play. This league is soft now and LeBron will continue to capitalize on it. LeBron isn't stupid. Players can't go at his neck like they were allowed to do in tha 80s and 90s. He knows that.

LeBron has grown and improved over tha years but to me he'll never be looked at in tha same light as Jordan or Kobe. LeBron will go down as one of tha greatest but his legacy is a bit tarnished and he'll never get tha same credit as Jordan or Kobe. Not from me at least. I don't blame LeBron for being a free agent but tha top tier talent of his generation in Wade and Bosh will forever be tied to his success. 




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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #32 on: June 14, 2013, 10:02:26 AM »

Offline Moranis

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Is this a plea for us to like LeBron? We can appreciate his talent and what he brings to tha court (minus being pampered for 48 minutes) but we don't have to like him. LeBron is a great player but this game is catered to his style of play. This league is soft now and LeBron will continue to capitalize on it. LeBron isn't stupid. Players can't go at his neck like they were allowed to do in tha 80s and 90s. He knows that.

LeBron has grown and improved over tha years but to me he'll never be looked at in tha same light as Jordan or Kobe. LeBron will go down as one of tha greatest but his legacy is a bit tarnished and he'll never get tha same credit as Jordan or Kobe. Not from me at least. I don't blame LeBron for being a free agent but tha top tier talent of his generation in Wade and Bosh will forever be tied to his success.
Maybe James catered his style of play to fit the rules of the game.  You know, what great athletes and great players have done since the beginning of time.  If the rules were different, James would play differently.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #33 on: June 14, 2013, 10:13:39 AM »

Offline CelticConcourse

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One does not have to have a reason to dislike; one simply dislikes.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #34 on: June 14, 2013, 10:15:42 AM »

Offline wdleehi

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One can dislike a player (like Kobe) and still understand the talent level. 



One can dislike a player for the waste of talent (Blatche, Derrick Coleman)

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #35 on: June 14, 2013, 10:48:37 AM »

Offline Ogaju

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His game changes drastically if the refs are calling things evenly

This

I wish I could give you a hundred TPs for this.

TP

The guy is a foul machine, both on offense and defense, The fact that the sterREFS refuse to call him for fouls just makes me hate him more. He has game, but please he is just a one man wrecking crew. He does not have to play like that Vinnie Johnson had more muscle mass than LeBron and he still had a finesse and smoothness to his game. When the chips are down LeBron just puts his head down and runs over people and when the refs refuse to call the fouls there is no way you are going to stop that.

I hate watching him play because I know the other team has no chance when the refs refuse to call him for his charges and blocking fouls.

He is a bully and he should take on folks of his own size and brute on the NFL gridiron.

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #36 on: June 14, 2013, 10:54:38 AM »

Offline Ogaju

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he's already considered one of the greats but i think at the end of it all, any legacy he hoped of building was tainted when he jumped ship to Miami. IMO, he'll always be half "multi-MVP winner" and half "had to team up with one of the top 5 SGs and one of the top 5-10 PFs of his generation to win anything".

So, just like every other single legendary title winner? Ok.

most of them did not jump, they attracted other players to their teams (Jordan Pierce, Kobe) or moved to other teams with other players at the same time (SHAQ AND Kobe)

LeBron jumped to another star's team, that is not leadership.

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #37 on: June 14, 2013, 11:41:42 AM »

Offline LilRip

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he's already considered one of the greats but i think at the end of it all, any legacy he hoped of building was tainted when he jumped ship to Miami. IMO, he'll always be half "multi-MVP winner" and half "had to team up with one of the top 5 SGs and one of the top 5-10 PFs of his generation to win anything".

So, just like every other single legendary title winner? Ok.

no, there's a difference. being traded is not the same as signing as colluding with your other fellow free agents to create a "superteam".  He didn't make his own path.


Always an excuse to knock him?


It's OK when a GM takes advantage of situations and builds a team, but players should never, ever, make decisions based on giving them the best chance to win. 



The only mistake was how they announced and acted after the came together.

It's perfectly fine, and if that's how he wants to win, then fine. But still, that doesn't do anything for his "legacy". After all, isn't that what we're talking about here? It's the "i can't beat em, so i'll join em" attitude which isn't the stuff legends are made of. Each of those three Heat players came into the league, became allstars and franchise players, and then "jumped ship" in their primes.


sidenote: Shaq went to LA in '96. Yes people were envisioning Kobe to be great, but people seem to be forgetting he was coming off the bench early on in his career.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #38 on: June 14, 2013, 12:28:48 PM »

Offline Fan from VT

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he's already considered one of the greats but i think at the end of it all, any legacy he hoped of building was tainted when he jumped ship to Miami. IMO, he'll always be half "multi-MVP winner" and half "had to team up with one of the top 5 SGs and one of the top 5-10 PFs of his generation to win anything".

So, just like every other single legendary title winner? Ok.

no, there's a difference. being traded is not the same as signing as colluding with your other fellow free agents to create a "superteam".  He didn't make his own path.


Always an excuse to knock him?


It's OK when a GM takes advantage of situations and builds a team, but players should never, ever, make decisions based on giving them the best chance to win. 



The only mistake was how they announced and acted after the came together.

It's perfectly fine, and if that's how he wants to win, then fine. But still, that doesn't do anything for his "legacy". After all, isn't that what we're talking about here? It's the "i can't beat em, so i'll join em" attitude which isn't the stuff legends are made of. Each of those three Heat players came into the league, became allstars and franchise players, and then "jumped ship" in their primes.


sidenote: Shaq went to LA in '96. Yes people were envisioning Kobe to be great, but people seem to be forgetting he was coming off the bench early on in his career.

It's just an inconsistent and illogical argument with exceptions designed to get the answer you want.

KG requested a trade and would only sign an extension after  he knew Ray was on board.

PP requested to be traded if they didn't improve

Bird had the other Big Three plus DJ

Magic joined Kareem and got Worthy

Jordan had Pippen and another all-star big (grant or rodman)

Duncan got Robinson then Parker then Ginobili

Russell had multiple HoFers to help him out.

Shaq went to LA then to Miami with Wade.

Kobe's always had one or more of the top 4 bigs in the whole league (titles only with healthy prime shaq or healthy bynum/prime gasol).

Sometimes it's with your original team if your original GM is lucky/good. Sometimes it's another team (KG, LBJ).


Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #39 on: June 14, 2013, 01:34:49 PM »

Offline staticcc

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I think you can appreciate LeBron and still dislike him. Is LeBron the best player in the NBA today? Yes. Do I think LeBron is ridiculously lame as a person and find his behavior on the court very off-putting? Yes.

Acknowledging his talent and disliking him are not mutually exclusive things. I just find him unlikeable because I think he is not a chill dude at all.

How can you say he is a lame person? Do you know anything about his personal life? I hate when people do this. They do the same with KG; because he's a punk on the court, people automatically think he's the same off it. Don't act like we know players' personal lives by just looking at how they approach basketball games.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #40 on: June 14, 2013, 01:35:09 PM »

Offline celtsfan619

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I don't see anything special about his game. He has a streaky jump shot, he only get points because he can barrel his way down the lane and lay it up. When a good defender can stop him from doing that its really easy to break him mentally and then his jump shot is gone and he won't drop 30. That is why I personally don't think he is as great as everyone says. There is nothing special about him other than the fact that he is huge and coordinated. In my opinion any other person his size and is coordinated could do everything LeBron can. The same cannot be said about Jordan, Kobe, Jerry West, Bill Russel, Kareem, Hakeem and all the greats who have played.

On top of that he doesn't have the clutch gene. Aside from his three from the top of the key while he was in cleveland, I've never seen him hit a buzzer beater to win a game. In my opinion, it is inexcusable for any player who is considered a great to not have the clutch gene. It is different for centers because they don't take buzzer beaters. Jordan, Bird, Kobe, Pierce, KG, Jerry West, all had the ability to win games when it depended on them. I cannot say the same about LeBron. That is why he is not a legend.

Continuing on the topic of clutchness, I've never seen him make a clutch defensive play when the game depended on it. He plays good defense for 3 period making all these "amazing" blocks but when it comes to the fourth quarter, he bits on a pump fake from a 5'11 Frenchman and can't recover to block or contest the shot and they lose the game because of it. On the other hand you have players like Larry Legend making not only clutch shots, but clutch defensive plays like the famous play where he stole the inbound pass from Isaiah and passed it to DJ for the lay in to win the game. LeBron whines about not geting the DPY award when he can't be relied on to guard the other team's best player in the fourth quarter. Again he isn't on the same level as the greats.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2013, 09:58:58 AM by celtsfan619 »

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #41 on: June 14, 2013, 01:36:37 PM »

Offline Teally

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     I agree that the favoritism the refs show Lebron is ridiculous.  Crooked, even.  And most certainly a joke.  The best player in the game does not need that kind of help.  Thus, tarnished legacy/asterisk.     
   Seems we'll never know what kind of player LBJ could be on a more level playing-field.  And that's a bit sad because it would be so fun to watch how great LBJ could be in that situation.
    The NBA is out of control & in the end it may only be hurting the players (at least those not on the Heat.)  And the fans, of course. With that said, the officiating in these playoffs has been showing at least a little less favoritism toward Lebron and the Heat.  Which is nice.
     

Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #42 on: June 14, 2013, 01:38:20 PM »

Offline staticcc

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he's 1-3 in the NBA finals for his career. choker.

This is a statistical anomaly. At least he got to the Finals. Even if he lost, he got there. Let's say a player wins 6 times but gets there 8 times. He is 6 of 8, but people will say Jordan is better because he never lost in the Finals. Thing is, why didn't he get to the Finals ? It means he lost to the ECF or earlier. At least the other player got to the finals and didn't get bounced out before reaching that stage.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #43 on: June 14, 2013, 01:39:11 PM »

Offline staticcc

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     I agree that the favoritism the refs show Lebron is ridiculous.  Crooked, even.  And most certainly a joke.  The best player in the game does not need that kind of help.  Thus, tarnished legacy/asterisk.     
   Seems we'll never know what kind of player LBJ could be on a more level playing-field.  And that's a bit sad because it would be so fun to watch how great LBJ could be in that situation.
    The NBA is out of control & in the end it may only be hurting the players (at least those not on the Heat.)  And the fans, of course. With that said, the officiating in these playoffs has been showing at least a little less favoritism toward Lebron and the Heat.  Which is nice.
   

You probably didn't watch the 90s. There was Jordan favoritism as well.
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Re: An honest letter to everyone about LeBron James
« Reply #44 on: June 14, 2013, 01:40:03 PM »

Offline staticcc

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LeBron is the most pampered player of all time.

Stop and consider the officiating tonight.  Two seconds into the game they gave the Heat the ball.

They took away Parker's basket by calling the greatest flop of all time - Bosh looked like he was diving into a swimming pool.


On and on and on...

Maybe people hate LeBron because he gets favortism.

If he is so great, he should be able to win while the other team gets favored.

But I have yet to see a game where the Heat are not be favored by the officials.


Jordan was a ref favorite but no one remembers that now.
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