Like, I don't have the time now to go through all this, but all NBA stars get calls. Durant, Duncan, etc etc.
Not the way LeBron does. If the games I've watched are anything to go off, there is not a single player in the NBA who gets as many obviously bad calls go their way as Lebron does.
I'm not talking about those 50/50 calls (was it a charge or a block, etc) - I'm talking about times where he's completely alone on the fast break and takes 5 steps without a travel call. I'm talking about the times where he mugs guys right in front of the official, and no foul is called. I'm talking about the times when Lebron knocks the ball out of bounds when there is no opposing player within 2m of the ball, and they give Cleveland possession.
Stars always get more calls then guys who aren't stars (and that's BS) but Lebron gets more than any.
I don't want to hang with LeBron. I don't think he is a particularly cool dude or anything. But the absurd discounting of his basketball ability that people with vitriolic hatred do is just absurd. He really is that good at basketball. There are fair criticisims of his game to be made. They usually don't involve many of the terms earlier used.
Who here discounted his basketball ability? I always acknowledge that he's an outstanding basketball player - just take a look at his stats, you can't argue with that.
That's not to say I don't think he's a little overrated (I do) but I still acknowledge that he's arguably the greatest SF to ever play the game - and that when all is said and done his will be one of the greatest players of all time, period.
My response was to the people who were trying to argue that the dislike / hatred towards LeBron isn't justified, because I believe it is (in many ways) completely understandable.
I don't care how good Lebron is, how talented he is, how skilled he is. If the guy acts like an arrogant spoiled brat, then I'm not going to like him nor respect him. I will respect his individual achievements on the basketball court, but I'll never respect him as a person.
I also have trouble respecting his team achievements, because the only way he's ever achieved anything team-wise is by running away (by choice) to teams that either already have mulitple superstars in place, or have made the promise of acquiring multiple superstars.
People will say Paul Pierce never won until Ray and KG came to Boston, and that's true. But the key factor here is the fact that Ray and KG were brought to him, by the team, via trades. Pierce never left Boston to join those guys in their existing teams - he stuck by his team. Same is true of Kobe. Kobe never left the Lakers to join Shaq in Orlando - the Lakers brought Shaq to LA. People can say all they want about Kobe requesting trades, or Kobe talking about joining other teams, but the fact remains he never did - every time free agency came around, he stayed in LA. This was even true when he signed his current contract, despite the fact that he knew his team was going through a rebuild. Same with Jordan - Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc (etc) all came to Chicago. Jordan never left to join those guys, he stuck by the Bulls. The only time he eventually changed teams was to Washington, and he didn't go there to chase a title - he went there because he had a vested interest in the team.
Now there are guys you COULD paint with the Lebron brush. Carmello Anthony for example - he forced his way to New York because he felt like he'd get a title by joining Amare. Dwight Howard forced his way out of Orlando to get to a team with an existing superstar. The difference is that as much as those guys tried to take the easy way out, at least they never got up and started making bold, arrogant predictions about all the titles they would win...Carmello never held his own TV session to tell everyone "I'm taking my talents to NYC". They joined what looked like winning situations, but they handled it with SOME degree of modesty at least.
LeBron is probably the only superstar I can think of in the past 20 years who left his existing team (after they had already made numerous deep playoff runs) in free agency to join a team with two other superstars, then tell the world about it in his own TV session, and then hold a pre-season celebration making bold claims about how much success they would have. That level of egotistical arrogance is more than I can stomach.
Is he a great player? Of course he is. You don't put up 27/7/7 almost every season of your career unless you are one hell of a basketball talent. But his personality (at least his public one) is pure
Edited. Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.bag.
And the recent straight-shooting Kobe is just as manufactured as people are claiming James is, if to a different end. He has ingeniously made people forget or reframed forcing Shaq out, demanding a trade, or threaten going to The Clippers or Bulls, etc etc. Kobe's successfully made himself into **** number one in an acceptable way but if you think it isn't manufactured and an image move you are just being suckered. The ultimate competitor stuff, while he is crazy competitive, is also a total image thing. I have no problem with it but it isn't somehow any more or less authentic than what people are ripping LeBron for (you can tell because people rip Westbrook endlessly and he is the more "authentic" version of what Kobe puts forth publicly. But without the smoothed veneer that makes Kobe's palatable).
I never said Kobe is a nice guy. But as much as people may find Kobe difficult to play with (or difficult to like) i don't think there is anyone I know who would describe him as anything less than the ultimate competitor. Kobe plays his heart out every night. He might not always play in the most fundamentally sound way, but he leave it all on the floor every single night, and if guys are struggling he'll never be afraid to take control. He'll play through all but the most serious injuries. When he plays a game, all you need to do is watch the expression on his face for a moment and can see he putting everything he has into it.
I watch Lebron and sometimes I see that....othertimes I just see a guy on cruise control. He just doesn't look to me like he has the personality of a leader. I feel like he's kinda become somewhat of a leader, but moreso by default because he's had to, not because that's a natural instinct of his.
Of course you're free to disagree with me (we can only decide such things based on what we subjectively see, after all) but that's what I see.
As a player, in terms of his skill set and actual ability, I will put Lebron up there with anybody. In terms of his attitude and competitive spirit however, I would't put him on the same level as guys like Jordan, Bird, Russell, Kobe, Wade, Pierce and KG...even through he's probably a better (and more talented) basketball player then half of those guys.
Topic: Cavs fan here. It's payback time, Boston. We've been waiting 5 years for this... (Read 80656 times)