|
How Much Is LeBron James to Blame
for the Failures of His Supporting Cast?LeBron is having one of the great individual postseasons in NBA history, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be enough to win a title. The way he’s lifted a mediocre Cavs group to the Finals speaks to his greatness—and begs questions about the role that personnel preferences play in James’s story.![[image loading]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DpTfjhIFg3cCqRRH3fgAw12ofTY=/0x0:3000x2000/920x613/filters:focal(1260x760:1740x1240)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59959705/LebronsTeammates_Getty_Ringer.0.jpg)
After the Cavaliers beat the Celtics 87-79 in Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals... Doris Burke asked “[JVG and Mark Jacson] just said at the end of this ballgame that this is your greatest achievement, getting this group to the Finals. Would you concur?”... Reading between the lines, though, the question ABC’s crew asked James was actually one of the more insulting inquiries a player could be asked on live TV. “LeBron, we all agree that your team shouldn’t be expected to win the Finals, so let’s assume this is the greatest achievement you’ll pull off this season,” Burke was basically saying. “Is hauling this sack of garbage to the Finals more impressive than winning your three NBA championships?” After it became clear in 2010 that the Cavaliers couldn’t put an acceptable roster around him, LeBron seized power rather than allowing the franchise’s mismanagement to dictate his career. He palled up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to build the first true free-agency-driven superteam. He chose the place he wanted, and the stars with whom he wanted to play. The Heat bench was filled with guys who wanted to team up with LeBron and players LeBron considered personal friends. It worked. He made the Finals four straight times and won twice, turning Miami into the epicenter of the NBA. Then LeBron made another choice, deciding after a 2014 Finals loss to the Spurs that an aging Wade and Bosh represented a less stable bet going forward than a Cavaliers team with a young superstar in Kyrie Irving. Shortly thereafter, the Cavs began using LeBron’s whims as directives. Not long after James announced his return to Cleveland, he reached out to Kevin Love; by late August of that year, Love had been traded to the Cavs. Like the Heat, Cleveland made sure to put some of LeBron’s friends (James Jones and Mike Miller) at the end of its bench.
Now, it’s tough to identify a part of the Cavs’ basketball operation that isn’t dictated by James’s preferences. In 2015, he needled the organization into handing Tristan Thompson an onerous five-year, $82 million contract. That same year, it became clear LeBron liked assistant coach Tyronn Lue more than head coach David Blatt, with James famously ignoring a Blatt play call before hitting a game-winner in a playoff game against the Bulls. Unsurprisingly, Blatt was fired and Lue promoted to the top job in January 2016. James publicly meddled with another free-agency decision the following offseason, urging the Cavs to give Smith a four-year, $57 million contract. The products of the 2017 Irving trade, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder, didn’t get along with LeBron either; soon, both were shipped out of town as part of a series of trade-deadline deals that were spurred by James’s dissatisfaction with Cleveland’s roster. And finally, instead of the Cavs using the 15th and final spot on their 2018 playoff roster on a player who could provide bench minutes, LeBron pushed the team to give the spot to Kendrick Perkins, who played AAU ball with James in high school and has taken to whispering compliments into his ear. (Literally.) And that uncovers the odd dichotomy we’ve created for James. When he took the boldest steps any NBA player had ever taken to team up with players who could help him win, he uncovered a new line of criticism. Fans were furious with him for seeking an apparent shortcut to greatness. In Cleveland, James has done nearly exactly the opposite: In pulling the strings that control his home franchise, he’s (unintentionally) made his path to glory much more difficult than it should be. And oddly, this has brought him praise, as James’s incredible feats are all the more obvious when his teammates are so shoddy. With this Cavs team, there is no Finals ending that could reflect poorly on LeBron’s playing ability: Either he pulls off a comeback victory for the ages, or we know that his teammates let him down.
TR
Note: This is one of the heftiest articles I've read from TR. Whether you agree with it or not, it's worth reading in full.
|
I forgot about this in my list earlier, edited in
JVG is a genius and a legend
Let me repeat that, JVG is a genius and a legend. JVG haters get it all wrong and completely misunderstand the nature of live broadcast. We have a saying in media that great content is gold, but controversial content is priceless. I exaggerate about JVG being controversial (haters who say so miss the point entirely), but I think he is more like the our collective id that is being verbally expressed out in the open.
His commentating falls under three categories:
1. in-depth evaluation of plays and players
2. strict, bordering on the insanely ridiculous, critique of the rules and nba ecosystem in general;
3. stream-of-consciousness random meandering triggered by what he sees or hears
I will not discuss #1 because it is expected and we all know what it is, but let me discuss #2 and #3. Examples of #2 include having a decimal scoring system, dropping a cage around players in the middle of the floor during referee reviews, and heavily penalizing fouls on fast breaks. There are hundreds of others over the years but these are the best my brain can come up with at the moment. All of these have a nugget of validity on them - why should a shot made from 24 feet have the same point as one made from 45 feet? Why should players get the benefit of coaching and bench huddle when no timeout is called? And why should foul be advantageous. We all think of this, but we resolve the issue quickly on being more practical than meticulously precise. JVG knows this, and he is in on the fun with us, as should we be in on it with him.
Now let's move to #3, the one thing that seems to summon the inner demons of viewers. Examples of this include Rihanna,
"cousins", Ewing bench press, defending Khloe K, ice cream sandwich, and friend-stalking Manu. Those who watch enough NBA know almost all of the above. Haters hate it when JVG does this, but he only does this when it during inconsequential times - during blowouts, 5 minutes in the third quarter, and downtimes. I have never heard JVG go random during the last minute of close and exciting games. He would even self-correct and stop his meandering to highlight a good play if it happens anytime during a game. People who hate on this do not understand the media platform of television and pretend they are listening to the radio or reading an LR of the game, and do not appreciate the chemistry of Jackson, Breen, and JVG. First, we know basketball, we all know about NBA and the rules more or less, we see what's happening before our very eyes. We don't need a 40-minute minute-by-minute account of the game. JVG provides a mental break to the game and has a great feel to know when to go off tangent and when to come back in. Second, Breen is there to call the play-by-play, and Jackson is there to keep JVG in check while providing the silly but audience-friendly one-liners.
JVG knows what he is doing, and what he is doing is great, and he is great at it. Haters can shut up.
(I tried to resist but I can't, so here goes. Reggie Miller's commentating on the other hand, fall on four categories: boring calls of plays no one cares about, raving on shooters while emphasizing that he is the best shooter ever, dumb shit like saying it was a foul when everyone and their dogs and their dog's poops saw it was not a foul, and cringe shit like "Stephster", "no pun intended", and "excuse me, that's Queen B to you" and many more shit I won't add here or else I'll get sick. I respect that he is doing his job, I respect also that he thinks what he says is valuable. But let me be clear, he is bad at it and he is not made for live tv. Put him on The Jump or on any of those panel shows where he can debate with others, do anything to take him out of live broadcast please!)
|
|
|
|
|
Bamba, a 6-11 center with a 7-10 wingspan,
WTF!!!
|
@TwinkleToes- I'm saying this in the nicest way possible, but I'm not a big fan of you putting 3/4 of the article in the post. For one, it's already created a problem where someone made a reasonable objection to the thesis of the (abridged) article and was then told to go find the answer in the article. What's the point of having most of the article here only to be told to go read the whole thing? Maybe be a little more narrow in your point and only quote the relevant way.
|
Jerubal. read all the other similar posts I made. I don't quote like that all the time, In general I lift two or three paragraphs the most, and there is a reason why I quoted this article generously. Like I said in the runner in the top post on this page, this is article is one of the most substantive on this topic, which is why in addition to quoting from it here, I encouraged reading it in full. Anyone more discerning would have noticed this nuance right away.
Anyway, your comment is noted. And since this is non-NBA discussion, and you and I can be civil about this, do you mind doing this via PM so we can focus on NBA stuff here. Thanks.
Here's Lebron doing a Kobe, he knows his team is in dire need of hype and energy!
Congrats on finally getting the footwork right! lol
https://streamable.com/pr1c7
|
Van Gundy and Jackson mysteriously silent about the homecooking today.
Its just like the retarded NFL announcers who didn't understand the catch rule thus confusing all the fans. These two have an agenda and its warping the average perception of these games.
|
Imma go wait-and-see on the reflol shit going on now, but it's getting fishy.
And KD is a killer!
|
KD has been due for a game like this.
|
KD is always like this, but he is always under the radar.
@cLutZ, is this the wink wink you were talking about? lol this refs
Curry doing 2016 game 7 again, damn
|
Nah its his 6 offensive fouls per quarter.
|
Ouch, that KD shot was brutal.
|
Refs helping the Cavs but they still losing. KD is ridiculous tonight.
|
Must be nice having the GOAT shooter miss everything and it doesnt matter.
On June 07 2018 12:08 Twinkle Toes wrote:
KD is always like this, but he is always under the radar.
Are you deluded? He was off in g1 and he was lucky the dubs carried him past houston. This is literally his best game of the playoffs but somehow he's always like this?
|
On June 07 2018 12:28 Scarecrow wrote:Must be nice having the GOAT shooter miss everything and it doesnt matter. Show nested quote +On June 07 2018 12:08 Twinkle Toes wrote:
KD is always like this, but he is always under the radar. Are you deluded? He was off in g1 and he was lucky the dubs carried him past houston. This is literally his best game of the playoffs but somehow he's always like this?
Lol why so riled up? Your tone is so disproportionate to the level of discussion we are having here lol, unless you're aiming for some controversy. Relax it man. I was speaking in general terms. He is averaging 31 pts in the playoffs, Lol at that Houston comment. He was 37, 38, 25, 27, 29, 23, 34. Then he had 26 and 26 in games 1 and 2 at 8/22 and 10/14. He was bad at efficiency but not in scoring and output, and he was quick to recognize this himself. This is my point in the previous page, KD is consistently great but gets no credit. He has a few bad games here and there but they are a rare outlier compared to his average games. So yes, Durant has always been great this playoffs, but does not get the credit because he has such a terrible reputation. You saying that he was carried by the dubs and played bad in game 1 is lolsomely ignorant and proves my point. People are quick to point out his bad performances but ignore his good ones.
As an aside, I wonder how fans react to Curry this game.
|
I view it as more up and down. Durant was good in games 1 and 2 against Houston, bad in games 3-6, then good in game 7. He had another bad game in game 1 but came alive in games 2 and 3. He will always get his points but he's there for his efficiency. And nice that he relearned how to pass.
I would say that Durant is the front runner for finals MVP again. Curry had a really bad shooting night.
|
|
|
On June 07 2018 12:19 cLutZ wrote:
Nah its his 6 offensive fouls per quarter.
Ahh that too...
If this is what we get for game 3, I can't wait how they'll call game 4.
|
On June 07 2018 12:58 JimmiC wrote:
Thing about KD is he doesnt just drop 40, he does it at 65% and stuffs the rest of the sheet. He was the best player on the court tonight no doubt.
Exactly
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
