LeBron James

[cavsfever]

Also, I think Luke Walton is a much better coach than Ty Lue. His rotations are certainly better. Lue never would've went off on the refs in the postgame like Walton did a few days ago. Walton doesn't have LeBron playing whole quarters. He's been taking him out with about 4 minutes to go in the first quarter each game. LeBron is much better and fresh when he isn't playing whole quarters. He also had Lebron on the bench in the fourth quarter. They were down with six minutes left in the game and he had Bron on the bench resting up. Didn't bring him back until there were about 4 minutes left. Lue would've been riding LeBron at that point because he didn't know what else to do. It obviously remains to be seen how that holds up throughout the year, but it's been promising so far.

It drove me insane that Lue did this. It was so obvious when Lebron gets gassed and starts trying to conserve energy. But we could never make our team work without Lebron on the floor and Lue just rode him relentlessly to make up for all the self-created problems with our roster and coaching.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

We got the best ring in sports history, period. I'll take it

It's certainly up for debate. If you include all sports then the Red Sox (yeah, I know) coming back from down 0-3 to vanquish their hated rivals in the Yankees en route to winning their first WS in 86 years MIGHT be the best, objectively speaking.

In the NBA it's irrefutably between the Mavs and Cavs. Both have really compelling arguments; Dirk solidified his legacy as a HOF talent by leading a somewhat overlooked cast of veterans past a talented Blazers squad, defending champion Lakers and would-be dynasty Thunder before slaying the 3-headed Heatles Hyrdra. Prodigal son LeBron sealed his legacy as a top-3 GOAT candidate by delivering on a promise to win for the homeland, shattering a suffocating regional curse, via a 3-1 comeback against the record-setting defending champions, on the road.

Either of those are about as sweet as it gets, but it surely makes for a fun debate (it's also funny that LeBron is at both ends of the narratives.)

 

[Pioneer10]

After Rondo’s suspension, Lakers are running about a 120 ORTG playing LeBron ball and that’s with nobody really being able to shoot well and LeBron himself struggling from three. Doesn’t really matter the teammates—he’ll make it work.

They’ll have to find a way to reintegrate Ingram in the lineup. He was one of the NBA’s best defenders in his first two games. He contested nearly 40 shots, switched on to everyone, and players didn’t score against him. I think he has good potential as an offense initiator as he can draw fouls at a high rate.

Rondo has played well, but he needs to be on the bench and the ball in Ball’s and Ingram’s hands when it’s not in LeBron’s. Ball and Ingram can make for a very, very good defensive duo.

Good point: Ball (or at least before his improved jumper) was a much defender then offensive contributor. Anways they have more potential then I thought as Kuzma/Lebron combo at the forward is a load offensively so if the can defend they can win games

 

[JayDD1972]

What really would have topped them all is if we somehow would have beaten GS with coward. Now THAT would have been the greatest ring in sports history.

 

[cavsfever]

What really would have topped them all is if we somehow would have beaten GS with coward. Now THAT would have been the greatest ring in sports history.

Our FO took NO bold move to improve our team after Durant, they seemed almost satisfied with one and done. Crazy-making. We were not as far away as people think. Really one more good player would have at least made those series competitive and given us some kind of puncher's chance. Even last year. Say JR doesn't make his bonehead play in Game 1 last year and we steal Game 1, and say also we had Kemba Walker and DeAndre Jordan on that team instead of a dog's breakfast of crap throwaway players plus the Almighty Sacred Brooklyn Pick...we could have taken it to six at least. Or say we had traded Kyrie for someone actually good (Chris Paul was on the table at one point, Khris Middleton + more, etc.). So many lost opportunities. We had a shot at capital-H HISTORY and the organization had a total failure of imagination, intelligence, and guts.

 

[JayDD1972]

Our FO took NO bold move to improve our team after Durant, they seemed almost satisfied with one and done. Crazy-making. We were not as far away as people think. Really one more good player would have at least made those series competitive and given us some kind of puncher's chance. Even last year. Say JR doesn't make his bonehead play in Game 1 last year and we steal Game 1, and say also we had Kemba Walker and DeAndre Jordan on that team instead of a dog's breakfast of crap throwaway players plus the Almighty Sacred Brooklyn Pick...we could have taken it to six at least. Or say we had traded Kyrie for someone actually good (Chris Paul was on the table at one point, Khris Middleton + more, etc.). So many lost opportunities. We had a shot at capital-H HISTORY and the organization had a total failure of imagination, intelligence, and guts.

Yes, the Kyrie trade pretty much sealed our fate, then and now. I forgot about the Chris Paul deal. Being him and Lebron are best friends, who knows, it may have made him stay, at least til Paul is a free agent. So many things we did badly. Horribly really. Fans of other teams have to be laughing at these moves we have made or not made. Its a real shame,,what could have been.

 

[JayDD1972]

Can you guys imagine if somehow Lebron would dethrone GS this year? The media would call that the greatest title in the history of sports. I guess that wouldnt be for the title, he would still have to get through Toronto or Boston. Im biased i guess, ill stick with our Championship.

 

[godfather]

Don't get me wrong. The Lakers messed up taking Ball. But, see this is why I wasn't ready to call him garbage either. Every other part of his game is there.

Shooting is fixable. He'll never be a great shooter. But if he can at least become a Jason Kidd type of shooter, he's going to be a good player. I'm not sure he'll ever be an all-star caliber player.

He's easy to not like because his dad is an asshole. I think he'll end up being a pretty good player though.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

What really would have topped them all is if we somehow would have beaten GS with coward. Now THAT would have been the greatest ring in sports history.

The tragedy is that the '17 Cavs will quietly go down as arguably the best team to never win a title. The regular season was a mess and Griffin dropped the ball with his moves, but it was the third year of the "Big 3" and their cohesiveness was at its peak. TT and JR regressed but you still had Frye and now Korver assisting in the Cavs' ridiculous 3-pt numbers (people forget that it was that Cavs core, not the Warriors or Rockets, that set 3-pt league records in the regular season, postseason, and Finals )

They posted the highest playoff ORTG in league history and set multiple league records against the Celtics in Game 2 and Warriors Game 4. In any other year that Cavs team was probably the champion...but naturally they had to run into the Warriors w/Durant.

I'm not sure what stings more, that one or the absolute certainly that we would have broken the Warriors in half with our full squad intact in '15. Back-to-back titles would have made me feel so much better about the way things turned out, as sweet as the 1 is.

 

[JayDD1972]

The tragedy is that the '17 Cavs will quietly go down as arguably the best team to never win a title. The regular season was a mess and Griffin dropped the ball with his moves, but it was the third year of the "Big 3" and their cohesiveness was at its peak. TT and JR regressed but you still had Frye and now Korver assisting in the Cavs' ridiculous 3-pt numbers (people forget that it was that Cavs core, not the Warriors or Rockets, that set 3-pt league records in the regular season, postseason, and Finals )

They posted the highest playoff ORTG in league history and set multiple league records against the Celtics in Game 2 and Warriors Game 4. In any other year that Cavs team was probably the champion...but naturally they had to run into the Warriors w/Durant.

I'm not sure what stings more, that one or the absolute certainly that we would have broken the Warriors in half with our full squad intact in '15. Back-to-back titles would have made me feel so much better about the way things turned out, as sweet as the 1 is.

For me its the 2015 series.That one really stings with me. No doubt we win that series. All because of Kelly Olynyk. I still wish bad bad things when i see him. Do we lose any of the Warriors series if Durant doesnt go there? Probably last year, thats about it.

 

[JayDD1972]

Don't get me wrong. The Lakers messed up taking Ball. But, see this is why I wasn't ready to call him garbage either. Every other part of his game is there.

Shooting is fixable. He'll never be a great shooter. But if he can at least become a Jason Kidd type of shooter, he's going to be a good player. I'm not sure he'll ever be an all-star caliber player.

He's easy to not like because his dad is an asshole. I think he'll end up being a pretty good player though.

As much as i hate to agree with that, ive always thought that about him. Now hes playing with Lebron, has Rondo there to split time. Not near as much pressure on him.

 

[blank964]

The worse we are this year and the years going forward the stronger Lebron's argument as the GOAT has to become. Outside of him, our roster is basically the same as it was in June and he almost carried them to a win in the Finals against superior competition.

I truly don't think there was any personnel move we could have made to compete with the Warriors after 2016. You just can't compete against dumb luck and it sucks that I can't get overly excited about the season because everyone knows how it's going to end. With all that said we still got a chip and there's a lot of franchises who compete every year and will never get a chip. At least at our peak we got a chip against an all-time team.

 

[JayDD1972]

Lebron is off tonight. I wonder if he is secretly up in the Dodger press box sporting Dodger blue? My guess is yes.

 

[ACisKING]

The tragedy is that the '17 Cavs will quietly go down as arguably the best team to never win a title. The regular season was a mess and Griffin dropped the ball with his moves, but it was the third year of the "Big 3" and their cohesiveness was at its peak. TT and JR regressed but you still had Frye and now Korver assisting in the Cavs' ridiculous 3-pt numbers (people forget that it was that Cavs core, not the Warriors or Rockets, that set 3-pt league records in the regular season, postseason, and Finals )

They posted the highest playoff ORTG in league history and set multiple league records against the Celtics in Game 2 and Warriors Game 4. In any other year that Cavs team was probably the champion...but naturally they had to run into the Warriors w/Durant.

I'm not sure what stings more, that one or the absolute certainly that we would have broken the Warriors in half with our full squad intact in '15. Back-to-back titles would have made me feel so much better about the way things turned out, as sweet as the 1 is.

'15 and '17 were two incredibly unlucky years for the Cavs. At least '16 was the best championship won by any NBA team this century including the '04 Pistons and '11 Mavs, at least in my opinion. Coming back from 3-1 down to beat a 73 win team in a Finals that even neutral fans could never forget.

 

[JayDD1972]

'15 and '17 were two incredibly unlucky years for the Cavs. At least '16 was the best championship won by any NBA team this century including the '04 Pistons and '11 Mavs, at least in my opinion. Coming back from 3-1 down to beat a 73 win team in a Finals that even neutral fans could never forget.

And i would say game 6 of the 2016 series was the pinnacle of that series. It was electric, epic.