2015-2016 NBA Thread

[BigSqwert]

Trolling hard today...

 

[whitesoxfan99]

Will take Dirk over Olajuwon all day every day. Especially since 25 years ago cuts a lot of Hakeems career out.

 

I really meant that cutoff as simply guys I have seen play in their primes and I would take Hakeem over Dirk all day every day.

[Steve9347]

Trolling hard today...

 

That's amazing.

[DrunkBomber]

I was in the camp of really disliking LeBron after the decision and tbh his flopping has always been pathetic to me (however after watching GS whine all series you realize even more how much apart of the game it is now) but I found myself really rooting for LeBron to win this year. You have to appreciate watching someone deliver on a promise to bring the first championship to their home city in 50+ years. Add on top of that they were underdogs and left for dead down 3-1 and had to win 3 consecutive games, including 2 in GS against a team who only lost 9 games all season. My one gripe about the finals were that every game besides game 7 was a blowout.

[T R U]

I was in the camp of really disliking LeBron after the decision and tbh his flopping has always been pathetic to me (however after watching GS whine all series you realize even more how much apart of the game it is now) but I found myself really rooting for LeBron to win this year. You have to appreciate watching someone deliver on a promise to bring the first championship to their home city in 50+ years. Add on top of that they were underdogs and left for dead down 3-1 and had to win 3 consecutive games, including 2 in GS against a team who only lost 9 games all season. My one gripe about the finals were that every game besides game 7 was a blowout.

 

My favorite was Curry's wife saying the Cavs possible come back from 3-1 was fixed by the NBA for money and ratings when Golden State had just done the same thing the round prior.

 

As far as the blowouts go, at least the most important game wasn't.

[caulfield12]

http://theundefeated.com/features/stop-hating-lebron-enough/

 

Stop Hating On Lebron, Enough!

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

I was in the camp of really disliking LeBron after the decision and tbh his flopping has always been pathetic to me (however after watching GS whine all series you realize even more how much apart of the game it is now) but I found myself really rooting for LeBron to win this year. You have to appreciate watching someone deliver on a promise to bring the first championship to their home city in 50+ years. Add on top of that they were underdogs and left for dead down 3-1 and had to win 3 consecutive games, including 2 in GS against a team who only lost 9 games all season. My one gripe about the finals were that every game besides game 7 was a blowout.

I guess for this series they were but it's hard for me to think of the Cavs as underdogs when their top 2 players were drafted first overall and enormously hyped starting in middle/high school and their third best player was taken fifth overall. Meanwhile, GS top three were questioned and relative unknowns throughout much of their amateur careers. Even though Thompson and Curry were drafted in the first round most evaluators placed huge question marks on them leading up to the draft and doubted their ability to be difference makers at the next level. Few felt Green would even make an NBA roster. Maybe GS let some of their success get to their heads (hard not to with that much success the past 2 years) but those guys have been "underdogs" for most of their playing careers unlike Lebron/Irving/Love.

[DrunkBomber]

I guess for this series they were but it's hard for me to think of the Cavs as underdogs when their top 2 players were drafted first overall and enormously hyped starting in middle/high school and their third best player was taken fifth overall. Meanwhile, GS top three were questioned and relative unknowns throughout much of their amateur careers. Even though Thompson and Curry were drafted in the first round most evaluators placed huge question marks on them leading up to the draft and doubted their ability to be difference makers at the next level. Few felt Green would even make an NBA roster. Maybe GS let some of their success get to their heads (hard not to with that much success the past 2 years) but those guys have been "underdogs" for most of their playing careers unlike Lebron/Irving/Love.

None of that has anything to do with it. The Warriors were favored to win the series. The only thing this post was missing was "and the warriors were forced to play without former first overall pick Andrew Bogut"

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

None of that has anything to do with it. The Warriors were favored to win the series. The only thing this post was missing was "and the warriors were forced to play without former first overall pick Andrew Bogut"

To me it does. I pull for guys that were under appreciated through the early parts of their careers.

Who doesn't? It's what makes MJ's story that much more appealing (cut from high school team).

[LittleHurt05]

To me it does. I pull for guys that were under appreciated through the early parts of their careers.

Who doesn't? It's what makes MJ's story that much more appealing (cut from high school team).

 

If you are gonna get all philosophical on us, I would argue that the kid who grew up inner city poor to a single teenage mother is way more of an underdog than the two guys whose Dads had long NBA careers.

[Dick Allen]

I don't know why anyone can hate LeBron. He seems like a good guy. He is an amazing player, obviously the best in the business. Of course anyone saying he has now exceeded Jordan is laughable, but LeBron is a likable guy.

 

There was the whole taking my talents to South Beach, but even he sort of apologized for that later.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Dick Allen

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

If you are gonna get all philosophical on us, I would argue that the kid who grew up inner city poor to a single teenage mother is way more of an underdog than the two guys whose Dads had long NBA careers.

Lebron was a celebrity by high school and a multi millionaire by 18 years old. Despite a tough start and it was definitely tough, I'd say he's done alright financially. The single mother thing I feel for but is it really that unusual for majority of the AA community currently playing in the NBA? Most of these guys grew up in broken homes with basketball being their only way out.

[chw42]

I don't know why anyone can hate LeBron. He seems like a good guy. He is an amazing player, obviously the best in the business. Of course anyone saying he has now exceeded Jordan is laughable, but LeBron is a likable guy.

 

There was the whole taking my talents to South Beach, but even he sort of apologized for that later.

 

I just don't feel like LeBron's being all that sincere when he acts like the good guy. Maybe it's because of all the nagging he does to the officials and all the flops on the court.

[iamshack]

I don't know why anyone can hate LeBron. He seems like a good guy. He is an amazing player, obviously the best in the business. Of course anyone saying he has now exceeded Jordan is laughable, but LeBron is a likable guy.

 

There was the whole taking my talents to South Beach, but even he sort of apologized for that later.

The other thing is, for how huge of a douche he could be, given his fame and access to the media, he's actually a pretty humble guy. Yes, he has his moments, but hard to really blame him for that.

 

In regards to this comparison to LeBron versus Michael, its not close. The type of pressure Michael wore on a daily basis was so much greater than LeBron, particularly in the playoffs, and particularly in his era and against those types of playoff defenses. Imagine trying to play the defense Mike did when he had to carry the scoring load so often.

[LittleHurt05]

Lebron was a celebrity by high school and a multi millionaire by 18 years old. Despite a tough start and it was definitely tough, I'd say he's done alright financially. The single mother thing I feel for but is it really that unusual for majority of the AA community currently playing in the NBA? Most of these guys grew up in broken homes with basketball being their only way out.

 

I wasn't comparing him to the rest of the NBA, I was referring to Curry and Klay. While they may have been unheralded, they also had quite the advantages given their parents. Now as the defending NBA champions coming off the greatest regular season ever, it's hard to see them as underdogs just because Curry went to small school Davidson.

 

And Jordan was never cut from his high school team. He didn't make the varsity as a sophomore and had to play JV that year. He then dominated and was recruited by Dean Smith, hardly the underdog story coming up.

 

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

I wasn't comparing him to the rest of the NBA, I was referring to Curry and Klay. While they may have been unheralded, they also had quite the advantages given their parents. Now as the defending NBA champions coming off the greatest regular season ever, it's hard to see them as underdogs just because Curry went to small school Davidson.

 

And Jordan was never cut from his high school team. He didn't make the varsity as a sophomore and had to play JV that year. He then dominated and was recruited by Dean Smith, hardly the underdog story coming up.

Ok, MJ was a sophomore that didn't make varsity. Lebron was already a full grown man by age 15 and household name by 16/17. MJ was nowhere near hyped coming out of high school in the way Lebron was. Lebron was on a completely different stratosphere.

 

Also, I'm not sure being the kid of a pro athlete is that big of an advantage. Yes they have access to facilities, coaches, players that other kids don't but most of those kids lose motivation to succeed at a higher level because of these comforts while kids growing up with no money and no way out other than basketball do. Look at MJ's kids. Heck I went to high school with bo Jackson's kid and he wasn't even a good player at the high school level.

 

As I said in my initial post, hard for me to consider the cavs underdogs when their two top players went first overall, were heavily hyped while still in high school, perennial all stars and Love was a big time player as a freshman at UCLA and the fifth overall pick as well as a perrenial all star pre-Cleveland.

[Quin]

I don't know why anyone can hate LeBron. He seems like a good guy. He is an amazing player, obviously the best in the business. Of course anyone saying he has now exceeded Jordan is laughable, but LeBron is a likable guy.

 

There was the whole taking my talents to South Beach, but even he sort of apologized for that later.

 

This is why I like the term "sports hate"

 

Sports hate the hell out of him, but I respect him and like him off the court.

[Steve9347]

Also, I'm not sure being the kid of a pro athlete is that big of an advantage. Yes they have access to facilities, coaches, players that other kids don't but most of those kids lose motivation to succeed at a higher level because of these comforts while kids growing up with no money and no way out other than basketball do. Look at MJ's kids. Heck I went to high school with bo Jackson's kid and he wasn't even a good player at the high school level.

Is that it? They only have access to professional coaching, facilities, and players? Yeah, that's nothing.

[caulfield12]

Drake LaRoche=the next Curry/Thompson

 

Or Nobel Prize Winner for Science/Math due to home schooling philosophy. You choose the likelier eventuality.

[T R U]

As I said in my initial post, hard for me to consider the cavs underdogs when their two top players went first overall, were heavily hyped while still in high school, perennial all stars and Love was a big time player as a freshman at UCLA and the fifth overall pick as well as a perrenial all star pre-Cleveland.

 

This logic makes no sense. Golden State just set the wins record, hadn't lost 3 games in a row since November of 2013, and were practically unbeatable at home. The Cavs were absolutely underdogs.

 

[bmags]

I'm sure statistically the likelihood of becoming a pro athlete if your father or mother was a pro athlete is significantly higher. Look at the MLB draft every year and how many pedigree picks there are.

[OmarComing25]

I hated on LeBron plenty after The Decision but looking back on it I don't understand why I did. Hell the Cavs don't win a title this year if The Decision doesn't happen anyway, so really it was the best thing that could have happened for Cleveland. The guy has been in the spotlight since he was a teenager, 99% of people would be insufferable egotistical douchebags in that scenario, and while LeBron is arrogant (and really you need to be arrogant to be the best), I agree with iamshack that's he actually pretty humble considering the circumstances. Yeah he flops and whines to the refs, but I'm struggling right now to think of a star in the NBA that doesn't do exactly the same thing. They all do it. Really happy for him and for Cleveland for finally getting that title.

[Chisoxfn]

I hated on LeBron plenty after The Decision but looking back on it I don't understand why I did. Hell the Cavs don't win a title this year if The Decision doesn't happen anyway, so really it was the best thing that could have happened for Cleveland. The guy has been in the spotlight since he was a teenager, 99% of people would be insufferable egotistical douchebags in that scenario, and while LeBron is arrogant (and really you need to be arrogant to be the best), I agree with iamshack that's he actually pretty humble considering the circumstances. Yeah he flops and whines to the refs, but I'm struggling right now to think of a star in the NBA that doesn't do exactly the same thing. They all do it. Really happy for him and for Cleveland for finally getting that title.

I still think he deserved heat for the decision but he's an incredible player and he's fun to watch and generally a pretty good and likeable dude. I was very excited he won and really the only thing that I'm bummed out is that he did the whole Miami thing as I'd like to see more of LBJ trying to be the guy as I think it is funner to watch since he had all the physical tools to be the greatest ever. Personally, I think he'll finish the second greatest ever, but who knows.

[Jenksismyhero]

This is why I like the term "sports hate"

 

Sports hate the hell out of him, but I respect him and like him off the court.

 

Exactly.

[Quin]

My dad was trying to tell me LeBron easily ranks under Kareem, Wilt, Magic, Bird...Then he pulled out Russell, West and Baylor...Then Kobe and played the "I saw them play!" card.

 

I also done a s*** ton of NBA history research. I still say only MJ and aKareem have concrete spots above him.