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LeBron James

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LOL...The McGrady stuff is funny. For those of you old enough to remember, that reminds me of the old cleveland.com days when the resident troll in chief (Now) would say that James' ceiling was MAYBE that of McGrady's or Dominique Wilkins'. Good times.
Lets spin this topic.

Back in 2003 what were your expectations for LeBron's rookie year?

I think at the time Amare had the best out of HS performance averaging 13 points. Did you expect the same or did you correctly guess he could walk into the league and average 20/5/5?
 
In 2003, it was an interesting spin. He was always in the local news (especially when he got that car gifted to him illegally). I remember John Lucas giving him a workout that year. Didn't really think about much (nor care) as a primary Cavalier fan.

But the moment we won the Draft Lottery, I realized he would forever be attached to us as a player as well. I was hoping he would be better than the average #1 Draft Choice (in the same vein as Shaq, Robinson, Olajuwon to name a few).

After watching some of the Summer League that year, I started thinking there was a lot of promise.

And then the season passed. That's all she wrote.

The Cleveland sports fans are always going to be grateful. He not only surpassed the expectations... he did so as a Northeast Ohio native. Without that important connection, he'd never feel adverse to coming back to our team 4 years after the "Decision". It paid off (without a doubt).

He's already going into unknown territory statistically (27.000 points, 7.000 rebounds, 7.000 assists) with the potential to break MORE records, but his success needs to catch up to the real all-time greats (at least 6 championships, the standard). Or he'll never be the GOAT. For that reason alone, I could see him going elsewhere.

If he does leave, I won't blame him, but I'll miss the success that came with it. If the Golden State Warriors weren't a team, I could've seen him retire here with a few more rings.

Again, this is uncharted territory for the league, the Cavs, and LeBron. Overcoming the Warriors this year could go a long way to changing history. He could very well coerce some talented peers of his into joining another super team. But it certainly won't be without a max contract. What Durant did is an exception. LeBron has high standing with the other players (a leader in the union) and would look bad taking a discount. Just don't be too surprised when that moment comes to pass...
 
I think I saw one of his high school championship games, but didn't follow him closely although I knew he was supposed to be the next big thing. Was actually at a Tribe game the night of the draft lottery in a loge. Had it on the TV, and as soon as we won the lottery, people were shouting down to the crowd as a whole. The word spread through the crowd,and soon the whole place was cheering for something that had nothing to do with the game on the field.

No idea how it was going to work out, but saw the opener against Sacramento, and knew he was going to be incredibly special.
 
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I really thought he was going to be a PG. I was shocked at how well he was able to score especially his 2nd and 3rd year in the league.

I thought he'd be a 23/8/10 guy in his prime.
 
All the stuff around Tracy McGrady reminded me that McGrady never won even a single first round round playoff series his whole career (OK, he was on a SA team ...

By contrast, Lebron has never LOST a first round playoff series. In fact, it's been six years since he even lost a single GAME in a first round series.

He will never ever get credit for it because of his record in the Finals,.

BUT TEH WEST! Nevermind that in TMac's 5 full prime seasons in the West in Houston, the East did decent enough, 2 Finals wins.

The preoccupation that Dubheads/Kobestans/etc have with Finals losses has extended to their idea that making it through the East isn't a meaningful accomplishment.
 
I really thought he was going to be a PG. I was shocked at how well he was able to score especially his 2nd and 3rd year in the league.

I thought he'd be a 23/8/10 guy in his prime.

i always figured he would end up a PG/SG. In fact i thought he was completely and totally out of position as a SF for his first couple of years.

I always imagined a 20-23ppg, 11 assists, 8 boards sort of guy. He was going to be great, but not top 3 great. I never imagined he would become the type of scorer he has.
 
Optimally, Lebron should have played as a PG surrounded by tall and versatile players for their position, so you made sure the opposing PG/SG had to guard Lebron. On defense, you would have Lebron guard the PG, but switched every PnR and had a Center that was a capable switch defender.

Lebron against PGs should be unfair and Lebron chose the position that favours him the least. It's like he didn't want the fans/media/whatever crown him as a truly great player only for his sheer physical dominance and less so for his skills. That's why he never perfected the post up game and would rather shoot jumpers over dominating smaller players.

Actually, I think Lebron was better suited as a PF in his first stint just because he was so quick and explosive back then and would dominate any PF from the perimeter. Nowadays, there are some PFs/C that sometimes are able to contain him if they give him space and dare him to shoot.

I really wish I could see Lebron play a similar game to Magic.. having a PG/SG guard Lebron james on the block surrounded by shooters should be an open 3pt shot attempt or a layup.
 
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BUT TEH WEST! Nevermind that in TMac's 5 full prime seasons in the West in Houston, the East did decent enough, 2 Finals wins.

The preoccupation that Dubheads/Kobestans/etc have with Finals losses has extended to their idea that making it through the East isn't a meaningful accomplishment.

Over Lebron's 14 years in the NBA the East has won the Finals six times, the West eight times. That's really not a big enough difference to argue that the East is somehow not meaningful.
 
He's already going into unknown territory statistically (27.000 points, 7.000 rebounds, 7.000 assists) with the potential to break MORE records, but his success needs to catch up to the real all-time greats (at least 6 championships, the standard). Or he'll never be the GOAT. For that reason alone, I could see him going elsewhere.

I think Lebron has moved past this GOAT stuff more than the fans have. He understands you can't run your life based on some fantasy barroom argument that could never be settled. He's said several times that he thinks there's a tier of the greatest players, but you could never definitively say who is best out of all of them -- he points out that people don't talk that way about football players. Yeah, he still uses the Jordan comparison to motivate himself, but he also clearly realizes it's ridiculous at some level. He's got too much else going on in his life to flog himself about that, he's probably already thinking about his plan for post-basketball world domination (billionaire Lebron, movie star Lebron, President Lebron, etc.).

I think his chance for 6 championships is gone because of the Warriors. If Kyrie/KLove hadn't gotten injured and Durant hadn't been such a coward, we could easily be looking at a Cleveland three-peat right now. But given the talent gap that opened up with Durant going to the Warriors I think Lebron will need some luck to win even one more championship, wherever he goes. I hate that, but just being honest about the way it looks right now.
 
I literally thought he would go down as the greatest. His physical tool-set was like nothing we've ever seen before. Combined with his court vision, I also envisioned him as a PG. Looking-back though, for all his success, by my expectations I would say he has underachieved to this point.

What I've come to realize is his greatest flaw is his sheer ability to do any and everything on the court. He has too many gifts so to speak. He should've picked who he wanted to be, either be Magic and give you 22 and 12 ast a night or be like a true small forward, lead the league in scoring and grab 10 rebounds. The problem is he only wants to be like Magic from the free throw line up. In the sense that he likes being a play-maker in the pick n roll, but he never learned how to be a true play-maker on the block. Magic turned many a teammate into a terrific scorer by posting up, drawing a double team and distributing the ball for wide-open looks. Bron has never refined that aspect of his game. Mainly due to never having had a great coach who he respects enough to alter his game. Also because of his ability to take defenders off the dribble. Then the problem with him leading the league in scoring is the fact he doesn't always have that killer/scorers mentality. But because he's "good" at everything and not great, nor dominate at one thing, it's difficult to build a winning team around him. His versatility often cancels out or restricts the strengths of other players. If his game were more refined, he would've had more titles.
 
I literally thought he would go down as the greatest. His physical tool-set was like nothing we've ever seen before. Combined with his court vision, I also envisioned him as a PG. Looking-back though, for all his success, by my expectations I would say he has underachieved to this point.

What I've come to realize is his greatest flaw is his sheer ability to do any and everything on the court. He has too many gifts so to speak. He should've picked who he wanted to be, either be Magic and give you 22 and 12 ast a night or be like a true small forward, lead the league in scoring and grab 10 rebounds. The problem is he only wants to be like Magic from the free throw line up. In the sense that he likes being a play-maker in the pick n roll, but he never learned how to be a true play-maker on the block. Magic turned many a teammate into a terrific scorer by posting up, drawing a double team and distributing the ball for wide-open looks. Bron has never refined that aspect of his game. Mainly due to never having had a great coach who he respects enough to alter his game. Also because of his ability to take defenders off the dribble. Then the problem with him leading the league in scoring is the fact he doesn't always have that killer/scorers mentality. But because he's "good" at everything and not great, nor dominate at one thing, it's difficult to build a winning team around him. His versatility often cancels out or restricts the strengths of other players. If his game were more refined, he would've had more titles.

I find this comment pretty surreal, especially the bolded part. Lebron coming to a team seems to almost guarantee a trip to the Finals, so I don't see how one could possibly argue that "it's difficult to build a winning team around him". Are we back to "you're not a winning team unless you get a ring"?

Also, Lebron has some very refined point forward / play making skills on the block and at the elbows, that he has regularly rolled out in the playoffs when needed. He doesn't seem to like to play that way during the RS though.

I do agree that he has at times been too imitative of Michael Jordan in terms of his desire to play on the perimeter.
 
I literally thought he would go down as the greatest. His physical tool-set was like nothing we've ever seen before. Combined with his court vision, I also envisioned him as a PG. Looking-back though, for all his success, by my expectations I would say he has underachieved to this point.

What I've come to realize is his greatest flaw is his sheer ability to do any and everything on the court. He has too many gifts so to speak. He should've picked who he wanted to be, either be Magic and give you 22 and 12 ast a night or be like a true small forward, lead the league in scoring and grab 10 rebounds. The problem is he only wants to be like Magic from the free throw line up. In the sense that he likes being a play-maker in the pick n roll, but he never learned how to be a true play-maker on the block. Magic turned many a teammate into a terrific scorer by posting up, drawing a double team and distributing the ball for wide-open looks. Bron has never refined that aspect of his game. Mainly due to never having had a great coach who he respects enough to alter his game. Also because of his ability to take defenders off the dribble. Then the problem with him leading the league in scoring is the fact he doesn't always have that killer/scorers mentality. But because he's "good" at everything and not great, nor dominate at one thing, it's difficult to build a winning team around him. His versatility often cancels out or restricts the strengths of other players. If his game were more refined, he would've had more titles.
Disagree on a few things. Firstly he's an excellent post playmaker. Just look at the finals series against OKC in 2012. Post ups have been among his preferred scoring tools against elite defenses. I think you're mixing regular season LBJ with Finals LBJ.

His versatility also isn't a drawback although I can see where you're coming from with this comment. The thing you have to consider is that no coach in their right mind is going to give the ball to Kevin Love, Kyrie or broken down Dwyane wade to create when LeBron is on the floor. His workload is the consequence of being the best scorer, playmaker, game manager on every team he's ever been on.
 
LeBron's gotta up his defensive intensity. Cause no matter what these numbers are considered to be dropped on him and should take that personal.
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