Lebron does a nice interview

[celticsclay]

Since I don't want to be accused of only sharing bad Lebron stories, thought he actually did a pretty good job on this interview discussing a decent number of topics (although Windhorst really should not be translating his answers, that is weird).

I thought it was interesting to have his take on this:

Q: To your earlier point about KD, when you changed teams and went to Miami, it was a different time. In order to get a player of your caliber or Kevin's caliber, you had to pretty much clear the decks and start over. Now you have a situation where a team is able to be a championship team already and add a player of Kevin's caliber. Is that good or bad for the league, in your opinion? And for a guy who pours his heart and soul into this, is it fair?

LBJ: Oh, I mean, it's part of the rules. The difference between my situation is -- well, the best thing with Golden State's situation is a lot of their guys are drafted. They drafted a lot of their guys. Three of their best players were already drafted, so they were able to hold on to them because they own the Bird rights, if everybody knows the CBA. So they're able to keep Steph, Klay (Thompson) and Draymond and able to go out and sign someone else like they did this past summer by just getting rid of a couple pieces in Harrison Barnes and not re-signing (Leandro) Barbosa and (Andrew) Bogut and guys from last year's team. So that allowed them to go do that. My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted. But it was a different situation. Totally different. Totally different. But is it fair? I don't care. I mean, I think it's great. It's great for our league. Right now, look at our TV ratings, look at the money our league is pouring in. I mean, guys are loving the game, our fans love the game. I mean, who am I to say if it's fair or not?

[celticsclay]

whoops double post: link http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19581456/nba-lebron-james-said-meant-thursday-interview

[csfansince60s]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

[Moranis]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

Riley quite simply planned for that summer better then anyone else, but at the end of the day if James had convinced Bosh to join him in Cleveland, it would have been a disaster for Miami because they basically gave up on multiple seasons to clear the deck for something that didn't work out (see the New York Knicks who did the same thing). 

[csfansince60s]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

Riley quite simply planned for that summer better then anyone else, but at the end of the day if James had convinced Bosh to join him in Cleveland, it would have been a disaster for Miami because they basically gave up on multiple seasons to clear the deck for something that didn't work out (see the New York Knicks who did the same thing).

I completely agree, which strengthens the argument that this was all agreed upon way in advance, hence tampering and collusion.

[celticsclay]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

Riley quite simply planned for that summer better then anyone else, but at the end of the day if James had convinced Bosh to join him in Cleveland, it would have been a disaster for Miami because they basically gave up on multiple seasons to clear the deck for something that didn't work out (see the New York Knicks who did the same thing).

I completely agree, which strengthens the argument that this was all agreed upon way in advance, hence tampering and collusion.

Is it collusion if they are friends and say they want to play somewhere when their contracts end up and they will see what looks like the best opportunity? That seems pretty harmless to me.

[csfansince60s]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

Riley quite simply planned for that summer better then anyone else, but at the end of the day if James had convinced Bosh to join him in Cleveland, it would have been a disaster for Miami because they basically gave up on multiple seasons to clear the deck for something that didn't work out (see the New York Knicks who did the same thing).

I completely agree, which strengthens the argument that this was all agreed upon way in advance, hence tampering and collusion.

Is it collusion if they are friends and say they want to play somewhere when their contracts end up and they will see what looks like the best opportunity? That seems pretty harmless to me.

Not harmless or legal when it's done in concert with a team official (Riley) on an opposing team of two of the three little friends.

[Moranis]

LBJ:.......... My case, going to Miami, we had to clear a lot of space because they didn't have anybody as far as guys that they wanted to keep as far as Bird rights besides U.D. (Udonis Haslem) and D-Wade. They had the opportunity to go get two of us, and they did that in me and Bosh, and then we were able to finagle a way to get Mike Miller because some of us took pay cuts and got some other guys. We had Rio (Mario Chalmers) because he was drafted.......

Interesting sequence of pronoun choice. We, they, they, we and we.

Since the cap space clearing started almost 2 years before, there couldn't have been any collusion or tampering, right?

Riley quite simply planned for that summer better then anyone else, but at the end of the day if James had convinced Bosh to join him in Cleveland, it would have been a disaster for Miami because they basically gave up on multiple seasons to clear the deck for something that didn't work out (see the New York Knicks who did the same thing).

I completely agree, which strengthens the argument that this was all agreed upon way in advance, hence tampering and collusion.

Is it collusion if they are friends and say they want to play somewhere when their contracts end up and they will see what looks like the best opportunity? That seems pretty harmless to me.

Not harmless or legal when it's done in concert with a team official (Riley) on an opposing team of two of the three little friends.

but that didn't happen.  The Knicks, Bulls, and a few other teams besides the Heat cleared the room for 2 max contracts to try and lire James and someone elsel.  The Cavs had worked out a sign and trade with Toronto but James couldn't convince Bosh to go to Cleveland when Miami was an option for all 3 of them.  At the end of the day that is what got Miami the edge, they could keep Wade and add two near max contracts.  That was the difference and what made Riley's strategy so brilliant.