Of course he was playing for a title. He would have been doing that without those things like he did before in Cleveland.

Jordans prime 21-34 when he retired as still the games best player. James prime 20-33 and counting.

I guess I dont see your.point.

He had a better shot in Cleveland.. James and that Miami team got their asses handed to them by the Spurs in record breaking fashion. The ship was sinking.

Why so emotional over this? I think your lebron hatred clouds your thinking a bit

Can you show me where I am factually incorrect in regards to your statement?

I also don’t think Jordan hit his prime what, his first year in the league?

The amount of vitriol and over emphasis of every James negative would be the first giveaway

He avg 28 a game his 1st year in the league. James avg 20 then hit his stride the.next year avg 27 or so. Both took off at about 20.

First give away regarding facts? I think.we are at the point where you are just spitballing at stuff and I am looking at things more precise. No vitriol intended.

I’m not spitballing about any facts, necessarily. It’s pretty obvious throughout the thread you don’t like lebron. Just curious why but doesn’t matter either way. Opinions vary

I don't like the guy personally, no just as I couldnt stand Kobe. I do appreciate their high level of play however. I am putting things in proper perspective and high lighting differences when talking the GOATS of the NBA.

I got:

Cavs over Raptors in 6
Sixers over Celtics in 5

Sixers over Cavs in 6

GSW over NO in 5
Rockets over Jazz in 4

GSW over Rockets in 7

GSW over Sixers in 5
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Honest question: What do you think was Sam Presti's motivation for giving away James Harden for such a paltry return? He knew the trade wouldn't help the Thunder in the short or long term, so why make it?

1978 Bullets, 44 wins. Dallas won 57, well within the realm of a very good to elite team.

Cavs over Raptors in 6
Sixers over Celtics in 6

Cavs over Sixers in 6

GSW over NO in 4
Rockets over Jazz in 5

GSW over Rockets in 6

GSW over Cavs in 5

East playoffs and Finals remains the same as what I had earlier for me.

They made a choice between Ibaka and Harden and made the wrong choice (a lot of people were high on Ibaka in those days for whatever reason).

I was really hoping at the time we could trade Demar for Harden. I am sure Presti would have done it.

I just don't think the Cavs get there this year. This is how I see it through my Homer glasses:

Raptors over Cavs in 7
Sixers over Celtics in 6

Sixers over Raptors in 7

GSW over NO in 5
Rockets over Jazz in 5

Rockets over GSW in 7

Rockets over Sixers in 7

For the NBA marketing wise, LeBron to the Philadelphia would be the best situation other than for some weird ass no way in hell reason that Anthony Davis and LeBron ended up on the same team. Embiid and Simmons playing with LeBron would raise their national profile up to more household status other than hard core sports fans. Especially Embiid. His personality with the exposure that would come with LeBron would sky rocket.

I wanna see AD in Boston somehow.

NBA just doesn't have another major TV draw right now outside of LeBron. It sucks because the talent level is pretty damn amazing right now. Just not marketing wise. NBA would take a hit just like when Jordan retired. Lot of that also occurred because Shaq and Kobe were unlikable. Especially Kobe's punk ass. Iverson came across as a thug. The other great team was the Spurs and they are the most boring ass franchise lead by a boring ass superstar in Duncan. It's a shame Shaq and Penny couldn't have been longer.

LeBron to the sixers will win rings but it's going to slow down the development of Simmons, Fultz, and embiid. He'll have them standing at the 3 point line waiting for a kick out and when they struggle KCC will come here talking about how LeBron has to carry his trash teammates :) .
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NBA is the only league that saw their ratings increase the past few years. If you really think LeBron is the only marketable player, then you haven't been paying attention.
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Yeah, I wouldn't want to see him go there either. They need to let the young talent develop.

Yeah.. that's silly. Curry and Harden are very well known and marketable. Is there a personality like Magic, Michael, or Barkley in the league now? No., but those guys are a rare blend of talent and likability.

That seems like a bit of revisionist history regarding Barkley. I loved him growing up, but a lot of people hated the guy, his personality, and his refusal to be a good role model.

If LeBron isn't in the Finals, the TV ratings will drop big time. It's essentially LeBron and Curry. The rest are meh in the scheme of things with casual fan to turn in.

He was viewed as an ass at first I agree. During his run with the Dream Team.he became likely the 2nd most popular player in the NBA.

Rodman was another guy. While sort of a 1 trick pony he was a personality people would tune in to see.

No he didn't because Shaq came in the league right after that and took the 2nd spot behind Jordan.

I dont know if their is an offical ranking but Shaq and Chuck were both very popular around that time. C Webb as well after the following he built up as a Wolverine.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron James: 7 years of A+ performances in must-win games.<a href="https://twitter.com/getnickwright?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@getnickwright</a> breaks down one of the most underrated streaks in The King&#39;s career <a href="https://t.co/fD8aY1EO4G">pic.twitter.com/fD8aY1EO4G</a></p>&mdash; First Things First (@FTFonFS1) <a href="https://twitter.com/FTFonFS1/status/990987589564977154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Yes what a hardship it must be for all these guys to play with LeBron. Who wants to take open jump shots and dunks all game?

Nick Wright went from talking about Matt Cassel and Fat Scott to giving Lebron hot takes every day on a nationally televised sports debate show

People who want to have some kind of rhythm in their game? People who aren't spot up shooters? People who like playing in some kind of system?

I know it's hard for you to fathom that a system can make players better but there's a reason a player like Javale McGee can be a good role player on the Warriors. If McGee was on the Cavs, we already know you'd be talking about how trash he is and how lebron can't win with him as a teammate. Don't even try to deny it.
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Penny was pretty popular too back in the day.

Someone ask Nick about Jason Terry outscoring Lebron (dismal 17 ppg) in the 11 Finals despite playing 11 fewer minutes per game since KCC won't touch the topic.

It's amazing how well coached Boston is.
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Yes they do, they are called the Golden State Warriors. That is why they were almost always playing on Saturday night prime time.

Stevens should be coach of the year for the way he has coached this year with all the injuries they had. I am pretty confidant in saying that if the Celtics were completely healthy they would be in the Finals this year.

They wouldn't because of LeBron but Stevens is easily the best coach in the NBA these days.

I'll take a barrage of the most efficient shots in basketball over "rhythm" and LeBron provides that to anybody who is beside him. "Rhythm" is how you end up with players like DeRozan taking low percentage contested jumpers all game.

So you think every player can be a spot up shooters?
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agree to disagree and it is to bad we won't ever find out that would have been a hell of a series. I think Irving gets his revenge. :)

Sorry it so long to respond to this but to answer your question KD and Harden are just better players and definitely better team basketball players. Westbrook is a ball hog and doesn't get his teammates the ball and get them into any kind of rhythm. If you don't think Lebron does this Westbrook sure in the hell doesn't. That is why I brought up Oladipo, it is not a surprise alot of players that played with Westbrook play alot better elsewhere.

OKC's offense consists of Westbrook driving or shooting the ball and if he passes it to someone else he stands 3-4 ft back from the 3 pt line with his thumb up his ass. Rinse-repeat

That's part of the problem on offense.

Everyone else standing around. Not much motion.

The same was true last year when the ball was not only in Lebron's hands, but Kyrie's too.

For the ones who can shoot, it's pretty beneficial for all of their shots to be open.

Terry Rozier is having a great playoffs.

What problem on offense? LMAO

Even this year the Cavs were one of the top 5 offensive teams in basketball exactly because of the highly efficient shots that LeBron creates for the scrubs that surround him. Creating space and good shots for others is an enormous positive no matter how hard you try to deflect and convince yourself that it isn't so.

Because if there was more motion and more involvement from his teammates Lebron would end up getting easier and more open looks. He wouldn't have to grind it out and go 1-on-1 every single time.

Was easy to forget before tonight that Philly hasn't proven a damn thing against anybody good. They may not get through this one.

So all players are lying when they talk about getting in rhythm and having a system that promotes their strengths and hides their weaknesses? Guess you know better than NBA players.
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OKC usually has had more than enough talent to not have a shoot first point guard. If Westbrook wants to keep on playing that style he should have to play on a shit team where that behavior is understandable

Here you go KCC. Moving without the ball. Getting easy shots. Another reason why Jordan was so superior:

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Oladipo lost weight and trained harder than ever this last off season. Sabonis made the jump from being a rookie. Kanter was basically the same player he was with okc. So is Durant except now he doesn't take as many shots.

Who are all these players who played better away from Westbrook?

I think OKCs main problem is that they've hired 2 extremely weak coaches that can't game plan and can't handle player egos. They need someone that can design a system around Westbrooks style but also be able to run plays. Donovan can't do that.
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They have tried to implement an offense but it never pans out and everybody's guess is because Westbrook doesn't want to run any type of offense except for him to hog the ball. Why do you think Durant left and Westbrook acts a jilted lover? What is the excuse going to be when PG bolts?

Zach Lowe has a good read about all of this so check it out. As Zach points out

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...ty-thunder-nba

The little Penny thing was brillant.

You can't guard me. The secret service can't guard me

A healthy Boston team couldnt beat a Cavs team that was a blown call away from losing to the Pacers?

LeBron took 2 games off a 72 win team by himself with a bunch of scrubs around him. Yeah, I think he could take the Celtics too.

That was the year before they won 72 games.

The Grizzlies also won two games, and Harden took 1 game off them by himself too.

But go ahead and make it sound like it was bigger than it was :rolleyes:

Oh sorry 67 wins and comprised of exactly the same pieces of the team that won 73 (which btw LeBron actually beat with no help from anyone but Kyrie).

I don’t see what’s so special about winning two when Harden won one by himself. If Harden could win one, James should be able to win one or two.

Also, that’s a huge “but” when you’re talking about a guy that played phenomenal in that series and hit the big shot to win it all.

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Man.. so great watching clips of the NBAs Golden Age.

Raptors need to pull out this first game or this series is over

That should have been a flagrant 2 on Love and an ejection + fT's + ball

Exactly what did Jae Crowder did against OKC a few nights ago and he got ejected

Valanciunas is horrible

About 5 bunnies that he clanked over the final few minutes

Ohh Raptors.

Going into OT, Lebron had a good look though

Toronto with 29 chances to win it there at the end. Gonna regret that in about 5 minutes if they don't win.

Feels like a Lebron take over is imminent in OT

Or try to shit the game away

Series over for the Raptors.

lmao raptors lose again.

Won’t get a KCC appearance tonight. Lebron was awful down the stretch. Bailed out by his teammates and the Raptors.

He was probably at the game cheering on Lebron with a Raptors jersey on. :)

Curry's back and hit an immediate 3.

Raptors are the chiefs of basketball. You could tell neither the fans nor the players believed they would win even though they had the lead all game.
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Haha! I just came to this thread to see if anyone said this. Well done.

if you let Tristan Thompson get a double double on you in 2018 then your team is horrible.