****2018-2019 Official NBA Regular season thread****

[dirk digler]

Didn't see anybody starting this thread so I guess I will.

Anti climatic season starts tonight and my prediction is GS vs Boston in the NBA Finals.




First 2 Games tonight on TNT with Philly vs Boston and OKC vs GS. Westbrook is out tonight so that game will be a blowout most likely.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

At least Durant had the decency to not have his decision to be a bitch played out over a 75 minute self aggrandizing television special.

Not sure what a regrettable TV special has to do with LeBron's entirely legitimate decision to leave Cleveland and play with some actual good players for the first time in his career or how that makes the move to Miami equivalent to Durant going to play with an NBA champion 73 win team with 3 all-stars that he choked out to only a month before that.

Red herring fallacy at work now too.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Not sure what a regrettable TV special has to do with LeBron's entirely legitimate decision to leave Cleveland and play with some actual good players for the first time in his career or how that makes the move to Miami equivalent to Durant going to play with an NBA champion 73 win team with 3 all-stars that he choked out to only a month before that.

Red herring fallacy at work now too.

When have I ever said they're equivalent? Durant did it better. That's the whole point. LeBron couldn't even do that right. Now he's probably going to go down in history as winning 3 championships. Maybe Leonard and Davis will save the day, but then that would strain the "legitimacy" of any championships won because superteams are bad, mmkay

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

When have I ever said they're equivalent? Durant did it better. That's the whole point.

If his goal was to rack up counterfeit championships on the backs of a 73 win team at the expense of his own legacy, Durant certainly did.

LeBron couldn't even do that right. Now he's probably going to go down in history as winning 3 championships.

Judging by his move to the Lakers of all organizations, he's not too worried about it. With his numbers, LeBron's GOAT status is secure and he knows it.

[Sassy Squatch]

Poor LeBron sure took being the heel hard. I guess he just couldn't come to terms with how much of a bitch move he had made. Had to scurry back to Cleveland to right his wrong the second it became convenient.

http://www.espn.com/nba/truehoop/mia...e-villain-role

MIAMI -- LeBron James' talents made it to Miami last season, but his personality did not.

For two weeks after the Finals ended this past summer, James said he stayed mostly in a room by himself and talked to almost no one. There were plenty of things to confront during that extended personal therapy session, both technical and spiritual.

It's going to take some time to determine whether James has been able to address those issues. But there's one aspect he feels he has control over and he intends to make it a priority when his unmerciful offseason finally comes to an end this week.

James is determined to be finished playing the villain.

Of course, he doesn't get to make that choice for others and there are constant reminders of that. He got roundly booed attending a high school basketball game in Cleveland last Friday night, for example. But as for the acceptance of it, James says that is over.

Plenty of players make preseason promises -- it's an annual rite in every sport. James has a pledge he's going to try to keep to himself.

"I got to this point by playing this game a certain way, (I'm) getting back to loving the game and having fun with the game," James said in an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols.

"I play the game fun, joyful, and I let my game do all of the talking and I got away from that. That's what I lost last year. Going through my first seven years in the NBA I was always the "liked one" and to be on the other side -- they call it the dark side or the villain or whatever they call it -- it was definitely challenging for myself. It was a situation I had never been in before, and it took awhile ... it took a long time to adjust to it."

The truth is James never fully adjusted to it. He's just now starting to come to terms with it. From the start of training camp onward last fall, James clearly had lost some of the outward joy that was such a staple of his daily life. It wasn't just that James ceased so much of the on-court horseplay -- the dancing, the posing, the histrionics during introductions -- that was his standard when he was a Cleveland Cavalier. It was that it seemed like James would go days without even smiling.

The first six weeks or so he was in Miami, James was a shell of his normal self. The booing was part of it. The jabs his peers were taking at him were a part of it. The expectations were a part of it. Living in a different place for the first time in his life was part of it, too.

[KC_Connection]

Bill Laimbeer wants to hand Michael Jordan one more "L" ... 'cause the NBA legend says LeBron James is the greatest of all time "every day of the week!!!"

Bill knows what it's like to beat MJ -- the "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons defeated the Chicago Bulls on their way to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 ... and he had his fair share of tense moments with Jordan.

But, Laimbeer ain't saying this because he's still got a grudge against MJ ... telling Fox Sports Radio's "The Odd Couple" his reasoning behind his choice.

"[LeBron] came into the league involving his teammates from the start, at 18 years old," Laimbeer says.

"He understood how to play team basketball, both offensively and defensively, from day one. Jordan had to learn that."

"No one has single-handedly done what LeBron's done," he added ... noting LBJ has taken some awful teams to the NBA Finals (we're looking at you, 2007 Cavs).

As for how LBJ would fare in Laimbeer's era ... the dude is not backing down, saying straight-up, "If he was in our generation, he would've been by far the greatest that you've saw in your entire, whole world."

MJ ain't gonna like this.

https://www.tmz.com/2019/04/24/bill-...t-of-all-time/

Even Bill Laimbeer knows what's up.

[Sassy Squatch]

Bill Laimbeer is what you've got now?

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Bill Laimbeer is what you've got now?

Who would know better than the guy who helped own MJ repeatedly in the playoffs?

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Who would know better than the guy who helped own MJ repeatedly in the playoffs?

https://youtu.be/q0_n3F0W8V8

[tk13]

There is a shocker. There's a better chance of the Suns winning the NBA championship next season than Isiah Thomas or Bill Laimbeer ever saying anything positive about Michael Jordan. There's a level of hatred there that just doesn't exist in pro sports anymore.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by tk13

There is a shocker. There's a better chance of the Suns winning the NBA championship next season than Isiah Thomas or Bill Laimbeer ever saying anything positive about Michael Jordan. There's a level of hatred there that just doesn't exist in pro sports anymore.

It wasn't bitterness, though. Laimbeer totally means it and is unbiased about it.

[KC_Connection]

Bulls legend Scottie Pippen has weighed in on the “GOAT debate,” and his thoughts might surprise you.

During an appearance on First Take, Pippen said that James is “probably ahead” of his longtime teammate Michael Jordan — at least from the statistical standpoint.

“The numbers don’t lie. He’s right there,” Pippen said. “He probably will never catch him in terms of MVP, but in terms of statistics, LeBron is right there. And when you look across the board—not just scoring—check his assists, check his rebounds … he’s probably ahead of Jordan.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2017/12...michael-jordan

Scottie too? The guy who was responsible for MJ finally getting over the Pistons hump? Damn, such a betrayal.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Bulls legend Scottie Pippen has weighed in on the “GOAT debate,” and his thoughts might surprise you.

During an appearance on First Take, Pippen said that James is “probably ahead” of his longtime teammate Michael Jordan — at least from the statistical standpoint.

“The numbers don’t lie. He’s right there,” Pippen said. “He probably will never catch him in terms of MVP, but in terms of statistics, LeBron is right there. And when you look across the board—not just scoring—check his assists, check his rebounds … he’s probably ahead of Jordan.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2017/12...michael-jordan

Scottie too? The guy who was responsible for MJ finally getting over the Pistons hump? Damn, such a betrayal.

Not so fast.


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Scottie Pippen Says LeBron James Lacks ‘Clutch Gene’
BY MARCEL MUTONI FEBRUARY 15, 2019 6,294
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LeBron James doesn’t have the so-called “clutch gene,” according to Hall of Famer and TV talking head Scottie Pippen.

Pippen says James lacks the requisite end-of-game killer instinct Kobe Bryant and former teammate Michael Jordan were celebrated for.



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Scottie Pippen had some things to say about LeBron James' lack of a "clutch gene" compared to Michael Jordan: "When I look at LeBron, he's not what Michael was as a player." https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...an/2871236002/ …

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2:45 PM - Feb 14, 2019
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Scottie Pippen blasts LeBron James for lack of effort, says he doesn't have MJ's 'clutch gene'
Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen criticized Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James on Thursday, saying James had "little to no effort" in a recent game.

usatoday.com
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Scottie seemed particularly offended by LeBron’s body language in the Lakers’ 117-113 loss in Atlanta this week.

Per USA Today:

“When I look at LeBron, he’s not what Michael was as a player,” Pippen said during an NBA All-Star segment on ESPN’s First Take. “He’s not even what Kobe Bryant was as a player. So, when you talk about trying to compare Michael’s instinct, his ability to take over games, his ability to want to have the last shot, LeBron doesn’t have that gene. That’s not in him. Kobe has that gene. I see a little bit of it in Paul George. Kawhi (Leonard), (Russell) Westbrook. … Not too many players go on the basketball court with that.”

Pippen won six championships playing alongside Jordan. He’s offered both praise and skepticism of James in the past, even saying that James is “probably ahead of Jordan” in 2017. His comments on the Jordan vs. James debate have fluctuated over the years.

“I can sit here and say today, I watched LeBron the other night,” Pippen said. “The game was on the line. And he made little or no effort to go after the ball.”

[tk13]

In reality I don't know why anyone cares about what anyone says. There's way too much bias from all these players listed here. The Laimbeer thing was funny though because you'd probably have to waterboard the guy and he still wouldn't say anything complimentary of Michael Jordan. Isiah Thomas wouldn't be far behind. Those guys legitimately hate each other.

That said, Pippen has changed his mind on this topic about 18 times. He has said LeBron is better than Jordan, Jordan is better than LeBron, that you actually can't compare the two, that Kobe is better than LeBron... and also that Wilt Chamberlain is better than all of them.

[KC_Connection]

Yeah, LeBron will never live down that regular season loss to the Hawks. Scottie has him there.



We can always trust Nick Wright to have it right in this debate, though. LeBron has been the GOAT since the 2016 Finals series ended with the 3-1 comeback and nothing is going to change that from this point forward.

[Sassy Squatch]

He also embarrassingly shit himself in the playoffs against the Celtics in 2010 and the Mavericks in 2011.