"You don't need to win a championship to be a great team" - LeBron James

[JohnnyMax]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/01/lebron-james-championship-not-a-requirement-of-a-great-team/

I usually support LeBron when he messes up, but I can't defend this, it's just a bad mindset to have.

[DeRozan m8]

2/6 is really getting to him

[DMC]

Just modern day misuse of terminology. Great means something different to the older crowd.

"I played great", "I feel great", "the food was great".

Instead of

"I played well", "I feel well", "the food was good".

Marketing hype reshaping vernacular.

[Reck]

As usual, title is misleading as fuck.

He said that there were many great stacked teams in the course of the NBA history that didn't win a championships that had great players in it.

That's just truth.

I dont know how this is a bad mindset to have. It's a positive to not let losses screw with your mind. It takes fortitude to lose and then come back to winning form.

In the case of Lebron, dude already has 2 rings so he has nothing else to prove.

[ambchang]

Those Trail Blazers were borderline great, with both past and future success to support their consistency. They just ran into Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Nothing Portland could do about that.

No, they ran into a .156 FT/FGA to .317 FT/FGA deficit in Game 7 when they were the more aggressive team with a higher FT/FTG team in most of the series.

They ran into a team that suddenly shot WAY more FT/FGA in an elimination game than they did throughout the entire season (.222 FT/FGA).

They ran into a 37-16 FT deficit. Including crazy number of FTs in the 4th quarter when they overcame a 17 point deficit.

They ran into Sabonis and Pippen BOTH fouling out on very questionable calls.

It was the Lakers-Kings Game 6 before the Lakers-Kings Game 6, which was the the Lakers-Celtics Game 7 before the Lakers-Celtics Game 7.

You don't really get these marquee teams out shooting their opponents by 20 FTAs in elimination games, especially when the eventually winning team was once in a deficit, very often. It happened exactly three times in the last 20 years. The funny thing is, the Lakers were involved in all three, and they won all three games.

They started to become aggressive you say.

What? The other team just wasn't aggressive? They just some how marshmellowed their way to the WCF or the Finals? The Lakers just wasn't feeling aggressive, fell behind by double digits, and just decided to get aggressive while the other team just felt like not being aggressive and let the Lakers out-aggressive them in the 4th after holding on seemingly insurmountable leads? How did the other team get the lead in the first place? By not being aggressive?

[spursistan]

I see the rationalization course already in .. the chances of him getting stuck at 2 rings are actually pretty good..people underestimate decline ; he is 30 but probably with mileage of 34/35 yo,..you can never rule out a fall-off-cliff scenario for guy like that who relied on supreme athleticism..I feel like 2016 and 2017 will be his best shot at getting there with current weak East and before someone else, say AD, takes over the league..

[Buddy Mignon]

I see the rationalization course already in .. the chances of him getting stuck at 2 rings are actually pretty good..people underestimate decline ; he is 30 but probably with mileage of 34/35 yo,..you can never rule out a fall-off-cliff scenario for guy like that who relied on supreme athleticism..I feel like 2016 and 2017 will be his best shot at getting there with current weak East and before someone else, say AD, takes over the league..

The West is too strong for Lebron to win. If he was smart he would have went to the Clippers and won a few more rings. Now he's in the Finals by default of the East being so weak but he'll have a monster of a team waiting on him. I predict he'll retire like 2-9 when its all said and done.

[ambchang]

isnt he missing 2 mvp from his cabinet, the year gangbanger rose won and curry last year...let alone the year the pos durant won also...thats 3

did voters got tired voting for lebron? why werent they tired voting for dk? fck that shit

They did. That's how Barkley and Malone won their MVPs.

[ambchang]

yeh it wasnt like those 2 players had a shit year or poor stats, t hey backed it up with at least top2 team record...

im surprised the sonics who had 1-2 times top record in the league, none of its players did well in mvp voting those years they had best record in the league

Payton and kemp really split those votes. And those teams were stacked. Schrempt, McMillan, Perkins and of course George Karl. They were really viewed as a gimmick team overall, especially after that Nuggets series. They proved everyone wrong with the 96 run though b

[Killakobe81]

The West is too strong for Lebron to win. If he was smart he would have went to the Clippers and won a few more rings. Now he's in the Finals by default of the East being so weak but he'll have a monster of a team waiting on him. I predict he'll retire like 2-9 when its all said and done.

no he gets at least one more and the Bird vs. Lebron debates get interesting. I am willing to give James the edge even at 2 but I can see why many people disagree. Bird was a bad man and he leads him 3-2 with James having 6 appearances IIRC correctly Bird won: 84,86, and 1981(?) Lost in 85 and 87. 3 of 5 looks a lot better than what James will likely end up with if he doesnt rang again soon ...

[SuperCam]

you fucking western conference cum guzzlers need to wake up. King James + scrubs gave the Warriors a better showing than any bitch ass west team, which while they have more teams above average, really only put out about one, maybe two teams a season on LeBron's level these days. hell even with those scrubs as his only backup last finals if he's facing clippers or rockets or grizz instead he still wipes the floor with them

[Buddy Mignon]

no he gets at least one more and the Bird vs. Lebron debates get interesting. I am willing to give James the edge even at 2 but I can see why many people disagree. Bird was a bad man and he leads him 3-2 with James having 6 appearances IIRC correctly Bird won: 84,86, and 1981(?) Lost in 85 and 87. 3 of 5 looks a lot better than what James will likely end up with if he doesnt rang again soon ...

Irving has a shattered knee cap. He's done!!! The Rockets, Clippers, Spurs, and Warriors should be better. Love is not a good fit with Lebron because Lebron is so ball dominant. The Warriors played down to their competition in the Finals. Lebron going back to the Cavs cemented his legacy. Cavs will never win a title.

[Killakobe81]

how do u have him top2 let alone top5 when his 2-3 in finals, he played against pensioners and still loss to them...lebron whatever he does, i cant put him above duncan, let alone top5

Not top 2 ... never said that. My "2" was number of titles for James versus the "3" titles for bird. Lebron is not that high on my GOAt list but neither is duncan. I have duncan just above Kobe and both above Lebron pending him winning a few more titles.

My GOAT list starts with Mj followed by Magic and Kareem

[Spurtacular]

Lebron's right. Moving on.

[Buddy Mignon]

Lebron's right. Moving on.


No he's not. I've never seen a great team that didn't win a title. They typically get beat by better teams. You can be the 60's Laker... the 90's Bills, or the current Cav's... all of those teams may have had a great player or two... but those teams were far from great.

[TheGreatYacht]

That's the same shit handicaps bring up when you tell em

5/6 > 5/7