IF U WERE LEBRON WHAT WOULD U DO

yep. not saying you might not be right. shitty thing is we'll prob never know the real deal.

yup :-|

i'm not joking about the elbow thing -- like i said, bron has played in 70+ playoff games, i don't think he woke up after game 4 and was a 30% shooter who couldn't make anything outside 4 feet pretty much -- i think his elbow was severely hampering his shot + his whole offensive game in general -- those 2 threes were serendipity i think -- he was being v v coy about his elbow in the press game conference

― contl;drizer (J0rdan S.), Saturday, May 15, 2010 10:44 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I dunno, dude shot very well for the first three games of the series, even though he was said to be hurting since the end of the CHI series. also I don't know if a banged up elbow infects you w/ a mike brown type "what the hell is going on?" type attitude. and ime if your elbow is funky then in general you compensate by driving & being aggressive more, not by taking a bunch of outside jumpers that you know are gonna be affected by your elbow.

to me one of lebron's biggest flaws is that he just relies on his youth, athleticism, speed, and power to get by in the league, which works 99% of the time during the regular season. but during the playoffs, when everybody's locked in, you need at least one or two go-to moves, which to me lebron just doesn't have. kobe otoh has a whole bag of 'em

I agree though that outside of armchair psychoanalysis the injured elbow is the only explanation that's plausible, but that doesn't make it the most likely one imo

yeah i mean, obv we're all reading something into his elbow since we have very little concrete but like, i think there was something demonstratively different about lebron's play in games 5 & 6 and i don't think it's because he gave up or copped some attitude or something for the final 2 games of these playoffs. i'm much willing to believe that he had been battling an injury and it kind of hit a breaking point. again, he played hard in game 6 -- it was definitely a "hollow" triple double, but it was a triple double nonetheless, and nearly all his turnovers were him trying to force plays either for himself or for a teammate

as for the driving thing, i think hollinger articulated it in his post, but the celts could sag off lebron and clog the middle cuz there was seriously 0% threat of him making jump shots, except for the two 3s he hit in the fourth, which were really a mirage of sorts. the whole structured of the cavs offensive possessions/celts defensive possessions changed

to me one of lebron's biggest flaws is that he just relies on his youth, athleticism, speed, and power to get by in the league, which works 99% of the time during the regular season. but during the playoffs, when everybody's locked in, you need at least one or two go-to moves, which to me lebron just doesn't have. kobe otoh has a whole bag of 'em

― retarded candle burning at both ends (dyao), Friday, May 14, 2010 11:02 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is true! this is definitely true -- pretty much the only thing that 09 & 10 kobe has over 09 & 10 lebron is that dagger jump shot -- sometimes it betrays kobe too, but his post-up/fadeaway game is almost unimpeachable -- now, when lebron's jump shot is on, his game is otherworldly -- if he's playing like he did in game 3 against the celts or game 4 against the bulls he's the best forward/guard the nba has had since jordan's prime -- when it's off tho, he can usually assert himself with rbding/defense/passing & also driving/getting to the line, but yeah, he doesn't have that automatic midrange yet, and def doesn't have that back-down fadeaway that kobles has

he's a small forward version of shaq. no finesse, solely relies on overpowering (there's a speed element but that's tied into his power too. f=ma). he hasn't ever had to learn moves, have good footwork, know defender's tendencies, all that forebrain old man game shit.

this is true -- i think this is something that great players learn once they can't rely on their speed & power anymore

TM SIMMONS but if lebron gets any sort of post up game he will be practically unstoppable

i mean maybe i was imagining it cause i really get a basketball boner when it happens, but celts seemed to learn "ok when lebron drives right and we bring kg over for the double, he kicks it to the corner, and if we have the 2 guard anticpate that, we get a steal. ok when lebron is in the pick n roll, if we hold off on the double until he gets below the foul line, he'll try to dump it off to the big man, and if our 4 expects that, we get a steal" etc etc

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/4606827411_e885616a71_o.jpg

celts had 17 stls 1st 3 games, 29 stls last 3 games

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama and a Chicago former Bulls season-ticket holder, told ESPN that the Preisdent thinks James would look "great" in a Bulls uniform.

"He doesn't want to tamper," Axelrod said. "But as a Chicago fan, the president thinks LeBron would look great in a Bulls uniform."

obama be colludin'

Breaking news David Stern fines Obama White House $25k.

to me one of lebron's biggest flaws is that he just relies on his youth, athleticism, speed, and power to get by in the league, which works 99% of the time during the regular season. but during the playoffs, when everybody's locked in, you need at least one or two go-to moves, which to me lebron just doesn't have. kobe otoh has a whole bag of 'em

this makes lbj sound like mike tyson, while he was still in his prime but after he fired his original trainers. he had otherworldly power, athleticism and speed, but no (longer any) finesse.

Do Lebron/Wade/Bosh/Etc get to find out the draft lottery results before making their decisions? NJ with 1st pick much more attractive than with 4th pick etc

(voted other because would go to TWolves - don't want to win championships, just want to make darko happy)

why would lebron go to the nets, rather than pairing with proven stars in their prime?

yeah nets have no playoff experience, lopez put up great numbers but is an untested commodity. meanwhile noah and rose are certified TRU WARIERS in the playoffs imo.

Yeah, it only makes sense if you assume he's inclined to go to the nets in the first place.

I heard beyonce's gonna suit up

lol avery johnson yelling @ b 2 cover her d assignment "GET HIM BODIED!"

loool ^.^

looool bison

why would lebron go to the nets, rather than pairing with proven stars in their prime?

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, May 15, 2010 11:37 AM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark

if he wanted to be in nyc but didn't want the stink of the knicks on him, he could sign with the nets because they're moving to brooklyn in two years -- also jay-z is part owner, also they might hire john calipari, also they might get john wall

also they are owned by a crazy russian billionaire

if he wanted to be in nyc but didn't want the stink of the knicks on him, he could sign with the nets because they're moving to brooklyn in two years -- also jay-z is part owner, also they might hire john calipari, also they might get john wall

maybe the nets will give lebron a magic unicorn, too. that would entice him.

if anyone gives me a magic unicorn in this hypothetical situation all bets are off

One thing that we were talking abt recently ws how the Knicks payroll in the Zeke golden years was literally 2.5x the salary cap - obviously that bought them a grand total of 25 wins but if you you did the same with *actual good players* it gives NY/NJ an advantage I don't think most other teams could compete with, even those who *are* happy to pay tax?

Obviously I have no idea how they legally managed to have a payroll 2.5x the size of the cap, I guess Stern thinks money paid to Eddy Curry doesn't count.

i genuinely miss the zeke knicks, every league needs a class A clown (used to be the rangers in the nhl's pre-salary cap years)

again, my not-unrealistic dream scenario: wade re-signs under "bird rule," bosh forces a sign-and-trade to miami (and can then re-sign with miami under "bird rule"), lebron signs a max contract with miami.

no magic ponies or unicorns needed. no michael beasleys, either.

Wall, Courtney Lee, Lebron, Bosh, Brook Lopez is a pretty good team, imo.

not sure y ppl think nets will get no 1 pick! they have a 25% chance right?

True, but they have as good a chance as anyone.

my statistical brane says a non-nets team has 3 teams better odds of getting john wall w/o specifying which team that is

even if nets get the top pick, james shouldn't go there. it makes no sense given the other options.

I think the Nets are a much better option than the Knicks or Clippers, but a worse option than the Cavs or Bulls.

OR MIAMI.

tbh i think if the move to brooklyn was happening next year instead of the year after the nets would make a ton of sense as the riskiest but highest-reward team for lebron. i mean how zeitgeist-y is this scenario:

- move to brooklyn

- best player in the world coming in

- no 1 draft pick

- crazy russian billionaire doing whatever lebron asks

- steal huge amounts of the new york fanbase from the knicks

and yeah lee and lopez would be great complementary pieces. i just don't think he would spend the first year of his new contract in limbo in new jersey.

i wonder if out of all the potential teams, lopez is the player that would make most sense for him to go play with

obv he's not better than wade or d rose, but they're both backcourt guys -- actually the answer is blake griffin but obv he's not going to clips -- couldn't even imagine those two together

i've been thinking about that a lot--ppl all being like "lebron and bosh" or "lebron and boozer" but lopez seems like a much better fit than those guys

meh. the scenario for a juggernaut built to win many championships is available (but only in miami, and i suppose to a lesser extent chicago, tho i don't see how they get all three).

it's not really feasible in miami for various reasons

i.e. you're assuming that there's a team just willing to take all of the heat's crap off their hands for next to nothing

i feel bad for non-magical unicorns

well, yeah, via a sign-and-trade that includes beasley. why, aside from that, is the scenario infeasible?

YES I ALSO FEEL BADLY FOR NON-MAGICAL UNICORNS.

ALL UNICORNS SHOULD BE MAGICAL. IT IS UNFAIR AND WRONG FOR ONE TO BE OTHERWISE.

- both lebron and wade would want to play the rest of their primes with each other, which seems nice in theory but means that both guys are severely limiting the career numbers that they could put up, and both likely feel that they could win a championship w/o the other -- i.e. getting their cake and eating it too

- someone would need to take the heat's mid-round pick, also next for nothing, because if the heat draft someone in the first round, they have to pay him regardless

- someone would need to take james jones and his awful contract off their hands, also for next to nothing