[Toronto16Participant]

Yes I know, another Lebron topic. But I was having this conversation with someone and I think it makes sense.

With Lebron leaving the Cavs to go to the Heat, hopefully now the NBA can get away from this ridiculous notion of trying to find the next MJ. Lebron never asked ESPN to televise his high school games, nor did he ask to be put on the cover of Sports Illustrated. What he wants to do is build Lebron the BRAND. Lebron knew the only way he could build his brand is by winning titles.What Jordan did, why he was so popular, was he did what no player had done before, he was marketable,and play in a big city, and his team put the talent around him to win. He was also a great motivator. Not everyone possesses that and you can’t force it on a guy.

Now I know you are worried about the small market teams, but now every GM in the NBA can’t be making foolish moves anymore. You have to take the OKC, Portland model of building your team throught the draft, and getting pieces here and there. If you are winning, players will be loyal and stick with the sqaud. Players are tired of GM’s having one star player, and not spending the money to build a good team around him because you can just milk him to sell tickets. Let’s use New Orleans for example, now with Paul demanding a trade, you can bet they will do everything in their power to surround him with the talent to convince him to stay in 2 years.

On the flip side, you won’t see these guys getting huge salaries and taking nights off anymore, because there is a chance you can get destroyed by a super team, and nobody wants to be embarrassed. Young players coming into the league will be hungry to make a name for themselves and won’t just let these bigger market teams with superstars roll over them and control the league,

Just like how MJ put Chicago on the map, Lebron can turn Miami into a basketball city. It is exactly like LA, warm weather, beautiful woman and celebrities.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

lol..people will always try to find the next big thing…

freshman harrison barnes havent played a college game yet..and people are still comparing him to jordan

and jordan was known as a great player after his rookie year..but nobody mentioned him as the best ever until he won his 1st ring..

[cavsforlifeParticipant]

how does this make sense?
the cavs tried for many years to surround lebron with the type of talent he needed and wanted, and it turned out doing nothing for the cavs or to make lebron stay with us. We didnt wait until the year before he left to try and make moves, we continually made trades and tried to sign people for him to play with. thats why i think that part of your argument is flawed.

[Toronto16Participant]

How about the trade for Amare Stoudemire that they should have done but didn’t? What about last season when they had Wally Scerbiak’s expiring contract and stood pat because they didn’t want to take on anymore long term salary? Most of the moves they did were this season, panic moves because Lebron was in a contract year.

[Jlv2010]

Lebron didn’t change the NBA for the better. Dwayne Wade did.

[BDNETSParticipant]

Lebron Actually Tarnished his brand. He is no longer a “King”, a warrior, a Role Model or The Chosen one. Now he is a coward, a quitter, a sidekick and cry baby who is very obviously full of himself. So brand Lebron took a hit. Can’t wait to see how the Nike people try to recover from this. We just “Witnessed” a fragile ego.

Cleveland did what they could. And honestly great players make others better. For all the flash of Lebron’s Game he didn’t make any player better. Every player they bought in to play alongside him got worse. Maybe that’s not Cleveland’s fault. Larry Hughes put up 22ppg 6rpg 5apg 3steals a game in his last season with Washington playing alongside Jamison and Arenas. He totally vanished in Cleveland. So the whole Cleveland did nothing argument is a bad one. Jamison is a CAREER 20 and 8 guy with 3point range. They thought he would fit better than Amare. I did as well. But as other players beside James his game got small. Look for him to average 23ppg this year by the way…lol.

The League will be smaller now and that may be a good thing. Maybe 30 teams is too much. NBA Teams will start to fold. Maybe 20 teams is a more realistic number. Loyalty in the NBA is a thing of the past. Owners will now know Ponying up Max contracts for guys won’t mean a thing. The bank will soon close with the new CBA. There just aren’t enough stars to go around. And now every star wants 2 more on their Team? Looks like we will see some great teams and some atrocious ones.

Players looking for those easy millions won’t have that anymore and will likely blame Wade James and the heat. Someone will take a few shots at knees and ribs. We should see how tough these guys really are. Physical play Detroit Pistons Bad Boy style will return. For teams who aren’t able to compete will merely resort to beating them up. All this buddy buddy friend stuff should end with some busted lips and damaged knees. New rivalries will be born.

The NBA makes its money off of loyal fans. How can you expect Fans to stay loyal when players are not? It’s bad for business. David Stern isn’t happy right now.

[billykParticipant]

Lebron James decides as a NBA FREE AGENT that he wants to switch teams (his right, although The Decision is extremely poor taste) and he is a “coward, a quitter, a sidekick and cry baby.” Sounds like a bitter fan to me… Any GM in the league would love to have this so called “coward, a quitter, a sidekick and cry baby.”

Cleveland surround Lebron James with horrible players… Mo Williams (no need to explain), Larry Hughes (got his fat contract and gave up) what did Larry Hughes do after Cleveland??? Nothing.., Jamison is a joke, he is a good regular season player, but NOBODY is winnig a championship with Jamison as their starting power foward, SHAQ (waaayyy past his prime)… Cleveland FAILED as an organzation to build a competent team around Lebron.. Cleveland will probaly be the WORST team in the league this year…

There is a common misconception that this is a SUPER TEAM… IMO usually you need to play with another HALL OF FAMER player to win a NBA championship (Pistons and Spurs where exceptions, but they where top to bottom complete teams)… Bosh is a third option on a championship team, nobody is winning a championship with Bosh as the second fiddle… To BEAT the 2 time defending champions LA Lakers, you had better have a damn good team…

Lebron James going to MIA is a very basketball decision for 2 reasons:
1. He has a chance to be on a team that has LEGIT chance in winning a championship in the next 5 years.
2. The Heat will kill during the regular season and Lebron will add some years to his career because he wont have to carry the load… James is a big man and less minutes means longer career. BTW, in about three years Wade will be 31 and Lebron will be 28 and I see Wade being regulated to the 2nd option..

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

@billyk

I bet you’re one of those LeBron fans who said Cleveland was the favorite to win it the last two seasons, but after they got knocked out both times… You had a ton of excuses about how his team wasn’t good and should’ve never been considered the favorites lol.

[billykParticipant]

No, actually I love watching basketball.. I am a fan of the game as a whole, my favorite current players include Steph Curry, D Wade, D WIll and KG… I NEVER thought Cleveland had a chance to win a NBA championship.. Im a student of the game and I understand that you NEED another Hall of Fame type player to win a championship, NBA history proves that..Cleveland was always garbage, Lebron pretty much carried the TEAM on his back.. The reason Cleveland won so much as a testament to what Lebron brings to the table… Im not even a Lebron James fan (I respect his game)… I just think that people are getting a lilttle overzealous with this whole Lebron situation… He made a sound business decsion as a free agent (The Decision was bad taste)…

[billykParticipant]

Plug any star (Granger, Melo, Durant, Kobe, Wade) in the Cavs line up and ask yourself are the CAVS a TITLE CONTENDER… Lebron made the CAVS a contenders… I dont blame him for not wanting to waste his prime years in Cleveland..

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

He’s the next Jordan when it comes to business.. just not the next Jordan on the court.

[cavsforlifeParticipant]

they didnt want to trade amare because we would have had to give up jj…. even though they didnt play hickson in the playoffs i agree if they werent going to play hickson they should have traded him, but the jamison move was done for nothing so we took that deal instead. i mean it made sense at the time but lebron really does not make other people better. it seems like it but i agree he is not the next jordan on the court, but he is the next jordan in business.

[Tyreke JohnsonParticipant]

They also wanted Jamison because he brought versatility, he could defend Rashard Lewis who proved a big mismatch for Cleveland the prior season in the Eastern Conference Finals and he was a stretch four who could help out offensively, he did not pan out well in the playoffs and KG demolished him in the post, an older KG to top it and he proved that he was not a worthy addition to help Lebron, though I do not approve of Lebron leaving Cleveland his supporting cast was pitiful, but Lebron’s disloyalty was far more pitiful.

[cavsforlifeParticipant]

you really think the jamison trade was a bad deal? we gave up z who we signed back in 30 days and a first round pick. whereas if we wanted amare we would have had to give them hickson first rounder and most likely another player or pick. The deal for jamison did not end up working out for the cavs, but at the time it was done it was basically an all-star player for free. Lebron didnt play his hardest in the playoffs and being at his last home game in cleveland i witnessed the most pitiful sports performance he will ever give to the basketball community. It sucks he had to go out that way, just goes to show he cares more about money and his brand then loyalty and sticking with something where you start.

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