2010 NBA Playoffs

[bobfrombob]

Everyone hated it, but everyone watched it.

Well I was actually watching Andrew Bird but clearly lots of people did watch.

[mpolak21]

This whole LeBron thing is representative of the larger media as well. They are in bed with the people they cover (as shown by the Washington Press Corps' embaressing show at the Biden Barbeque a few weeks back), and as such, are incapable of asking them any serious questions are calling them on their bullshit.

 

I'm happy that he came to my city and makes the team I'm rooting for incredibly fortunate to have his services (no matter what the curmudgeons say), but this whole process has been awful. It's the nadir of sports journalism. And I hope it never recovers. What a fucking joke.

 

 

Le Batard, Simmons, Wilbon, Brian Windhorst, and Adrian Wojnarowski have done some excellent pieces on it, but yeah for the most part it's been horrific.

 

--Mike

 

 

[bobbob1313]

I totally heart Dan LeBatard. His radio show is the absolute best.

[mpolak21]

I totally heart Dan LeBatard. His radio show is the absolute best.

 

I have his and Simmons' podcast on right now.

 

--Mike

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Oh and Gilbert's letter? email 101 teaches us that you never send a nasty gram without sleeping on it first. And then, only send if they recipient doesn't have a phone. TALK IT OUT!

It was a letter to season ticket holders, right? He can't call them all. Obviously he's a goober.

[Moss]

i like my guy best, kevin durant.

 

Now there is a guy that comes out looking like a saint. No hype or hoopla, just quietly signs a 5 year contract with a small market team. Makes LeBron look like a Douche.

[Edie]

It was a letter to season ticket holders, right? He can't call them all. Obviously he's a goober.

 

It was a letter to fans, but mostly it was a letter to LeBron.

 

Posting that letter in that state was pure folly. Even if factual, all that comes through is the emotion. And he will always look like the sore loser with emotion.

[MrRain422]

No way, Dan Gilbert's letter was the best part of this whole silliness. The Comic Sans font was the icing. If he didn't mean it as comedy, it sure came across that way.

[MrRain422]

Honestly, I really think the only thing LeBron did wrong was the incredibly douchy way he made his announcement on a national TV special. If not for that, he did things exactly the way that everyone pretends they want athletes to handle these things. He took less money to make a run at winning championships with his friends. Usually guys are criticized for taking the money over a chance to win. Sure, it's arguable whether Miami really gives LeBron the best chance to win, but that's what the decision was based on. Yeah, it was incredibly lame to hype up THE DECISION so much and to not even really throw in much of a thanks to the Cleveland fans for the last 7 years, but the decision itself to sign with Miami is pretty hard to criticize for any reason other than sentimentality for Cleveland.

[tugmoose]

First Gilbert makes LeWho? a sympathetic (slightly) figure, now Jesse does the same for Gilbert. How low will this go?

[mpolak21]

This is brilliant... language may be NSFW

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZr2qOXQJ4w

 

 

--Mike

[Guest Speed Racer]

This whole thing was disgusting. why not just sign a fucking contract and announce it via the team like most people do. Instead, an hour long wank-fest (which I did not watch).

 

I think many many more people woke up as heat-haters than heat fans. I hope to god they lose. Sorry BB.

 

You might not have watched it, but you're talking about it. A lot of people who don't give a rip about basketball are talking about it, and a lot of people watched.

 

Arguably, the ESPN wank-fest was by far the more rational of the two options. Why do something quietly, for free, when you can get lots more publicity for the same price? Whether fans walk away from this loving or hating Miami, I bet more people will watch Miami games next season than they did last season. It raised LeBron's profile, it raised the Heat's profile, all for a free hour of barely-work.

[Guest Speed Racer]

It was a letter to fans, but mostly it was a letter to LeBron.

 

Well, why don't political candidates just call their opposition to let them know why they're wrong? This is a publicity campaign, and this is one of the most effective tactics in the book. Effective for whom? Well, I guess that depends.

[Moss]

You might not have watched it, but you're talking about it. A lot of people who don't give a rip about basketball are talking about it, and a lot of people watched.

 

Arguably, the ESPN wank-fest was by far the more rational of the two options. Why do something quietly, for free, when you can get lots more publicity for the same price? Whether fans walk away from this loving or hating Miami, I bet more people will watch Miami games next season than they did last season. It raised LeBron's profile, it raised the Heat's profile, all for a free hour of barely-work.

 

 

I'm not sure all publicity is good publicity in the NBA. LeBron is so popular and marketable at least in part because he is so likeable. Unlike Kobe fans who all tend to be Laker fans, LeBron had fans across the spectrum. I think this hurts him a bit. Sure, he will sell tons of jerseys and shoes in Miami but I think people across the country will be a little less likely to buy. But this won't hurt him in the long run, people have short memories.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I think once the pain (shock? betrayal?) wears down, people will see it for what it is: a kid wanting to leave his hometown for a fun career opportunity. The guy's never left home; for some people, that's fine, for other's it's stifling. He didn't actually do anything wrong; in fact, what he did was very normal. I think people really will come around to him.

[bjorn_skurj]

God, I hope not. The hubris these three are displaying make the Yankees look like Mohandas K. Gandhi.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Eh, as a person if not an athlete. There are a lot of other things about Kobe Bryant that make him worthy of scorn that have nothing to do with the Lakers.

[cryptique]

The ESPN broadcast was ridiculous, but aside from that, I don't see much justification for anyone being upset with LeBron James. He was an unrestricted free agent. He decided to sign with another team. He did not owe his former team anything. He decided to go play with a couple of other marquee players to try to win a championship. He even took less money to do so. Didn't we just see this a few years ago in Boston? What's so different about it this time?

 

Yes, the way he packaged the decision (aided and abetted by ESPN) was kinda douche-y. But so what? The broadcast of the NBA draft, and all the wankery leading up to it from so-called "experts," is ten times worse. This is what the NBA is now: manufactured entertainment, with a little basketball thrown in.

 

Dan Gilbert is a spoiled child, and he's making an ass of himself. So are many of the fans in Cleveland. So are many in the cities that James "spurned" by choosing Miami. Wah wah. All this over a basketball player.

 

Gilbert promised to win a championship in Cleveland before James does in Miami. With whom? Anderson Varejao and Delonte West? The Heat are now the favorites, or among the top two or three, to win in 2011, and will likely continue to be among the top favorites for years to come. Gilbert's Cavs are now officially in rebuilding mode.

 

Overall, I'm stunned at how huge a story this is to people. It's just a free-agent signing in a professional basketball league. A multimillionaire changed teams. Happens all the time. Nothing to see here, move along.

[bobbob1313]

This is brilliant... language may be NSFW

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZr2qOXQJ4w

 

 

--Mike

 

changing his game already to fit in miami: espn has learned the chalk thing LeBron does before games will now be done with actual cocaine

 

Le Batard's twitter

 

[u2roolz]

The ESPN broadcast was ridiculous, but aside from that, I don't see much justification for anyone being upset with LeBron James. He was an unrestricted free agent. He decided to sign with another team. He did not owe his former team anything. He decided to go play with a couple of other marquee players to try to win a championship. He even took less money to do so. Didn't we just see this a few years ago in Boston? What's so different about it this time?

 

I think you just answered your own question without reading or thinking too much into/about it. (and that's ok) Let me explain by discussing a 2 hour phone conversation I had with my best friend who is a huge Celtics fan and on top of that a fan of the NBA. I ,on the other hand, am a huge Red Sox fan and MLB fan, so I don't exactly see eye to eye with his perspective on the NBA.

 

Basically, my friend's argument over this was that it would be like what if Bird decided to join Magic Johnson in Los Angeles during their prime. It would be a joke and there would be no direct competition there that would be interesting to watch as fans. Bird won a championship "on his own" he kept saying, although he did say that McHale & Parrish were great men to be put around Bird (the "Original Big Three" before Pierce, Garnett, & Allen in Boston in 2007). Anyways, his rationale was that Pierce, Garnett, & Allen all tried "to win championships on their own during their prime" and failed to do so. In his eyes it makes sense because they gave it multiple chances to win a championship on their own. He felt that LeBron was simply "giving up" by joining with 2 fantastic players with the thought lingering somewhere in his head "I can't win this on my own in Cleveland" and furthermore "giving up" because he's only in his mid 20s. So by thinking like this he's concerned with the future and who can you say is "The Man" or how can you say that LeBron is "The Man" like Kobe who apparently won championships on his own in Los Angeles.

 

I don't necessarily agree with this philosophy at all because by this logic you're creating the monster (egomaniac) by putting too much emphasis on one player like he's some Messiah. And the other 4 guys on the court aren't even disciples they're just there. My best friend felt that surrounding LeBron with younger players and letting them grow around him and then he can say "that he won a championship on his own and could say that he's The Man".

 

Short Form Version: It's ok for Pierce, Garnett, & Allen to join forces because they are all in their mid 30s and this was "their last chance to win".

It's not ok for LeBron to join Wade & Bosh because these 3 guys are all in their prime and could easily at some point win a championship on their own. It is a copout for him "to give up" so soon in his career.

It doesn't make sense to my best friend for them to win right now because it would be like an All Star Team winning the NBA Championship whenever they do it. Apparently, it's alright in the MLB to make a "Super Power" like the Yankees or Red Sox or whatever because it's more of a team sport.

 

Bottom Line: He feels that LeBron is shortcoming his own "legacy" by going down as "one of the best players ever" by doing this so soon in his short career. If he ever wins a championship he can't go parading around as "The Man" like Michael Jordan who also had some help from Scottie Pippin, I might add, because he did so with Bosh & Wade.

 

I don't think that my friend realizes, well I think that he does, but he won't admit that by thinking like this you are fully responsible for personally inflating the ego of these players with your own or a collective bicycle pump.

[Guest Speed Racer]

By your friend's argument, the Bulls would not have been fun to watch in the 90s. I might have been a kid, but judging by the fireworks and gunshots after every big game, I'm pretty sure a fair amount of people may have been interested in the team...

[bobbob1313]

I like that everyone conveniently forgets that when Kobe was "The man" on his team, they stunk and he demanded a trade on like three different occasions. After forcing Shaq out of town so he could be the man.

[MattZ]

I like that everyone conveniently forgets that when Kobe was "The man" on his team, they stunk and he demanded a trade on like three different occasions. After forcing Shaq out of town so he could be the man.

 

Apples and oranges. Yes, they stunk. But one player never makes a team. He insisted that they build a team around him that could compete for titles with him as the centerpiece. And they did. And he stuck around as a result. And fwiw, he still is "The man" on this Lakers team (like he was after Shaq was forced out).

 

I am no Kobe lover, but that's a guy who burned to win a title with himself as the centerpiece. He is selfish and hungry and concerned with only one thing -- his own legacy and being the best ever.

 

Not passing judgment on him as a person (or even him as a player). But no one is conveniently forgetting anything about Kobe.

 

ETA: Coolest comment on this whole Lebron fiasco that I saw (maybe from Simmons' mailbag?) was someone suggesting that while all this ESPN nonsense was going on, and Lebron was building his brand, Kobe was probably at the gym. Getting stronger. Getting better. Probably a bit histrionic, but the larger point remains.

[Guest Speed Racer]

but the larger point remains.

 

Eh, I think the larger point in this instance is the histrionics.

[tugmoose]

LeWho? simply realized that he was not the next MJ. So maybe he can be the next Pippen. Nothing wrong with that, carry around D-Wade's bags, be his little b*tch. You have to appreciate someone who knows his/her limitations.