tOfficial "2014 LeBron James" Superthread

[scotsman1948]

Not the Mavs so much as Cuban's mouth.

yeah right.

 

[OregonDucks]

This guy is a real drama queen.

 

[Shanemansj13]

This guy is a real drama queen.

So he is a drama queen bc he is exploring his options and hasn't said anything.

What is Melo doing?

 

[OutlawImmortal]

you]re that afraid of the Mavs. well you should be

It's so much better when his team sucks and nobody listens to his babbling. That's all I meant, how can I be afraid of a team that nobody wants to play for? lol.

 

[trojanfan12]

It's so much better when his team sucks and nobody listens to his babbling. That's all I meant, how can I be afraid of a team that nobody wants to play for? lol.

I don't know if I agree. When the Mavs are relevant and inevitably lose, his reactions are priceless!!

 

[Malibu]

He goes where he goes. Miami need to stop waiting around for him and make other moves.

but yet you defended LeBitch when he had the decision and held the Cavs hostage plus other teams. Deal with it. If he comes back to Miami you will be kissing his ass with all the Heat fans and the bandwagon Heat fans.

 

[Shanemansj13]

but yet you defended LeBitch when he had the decision and held the Cavs hostage plus other teams. Deal with it. If he comes back to Miami you will be kissing his ass with all the Heat fans and the bandwagon Heat fans.

That's pretty much how it is.

When he left Cleveland I was disappointed but respected it.

But if he goes to LA, I might not like Lebron anymore and that is saying a lot.

 

[trojanfan12]

That's pretty much how it is.

When he left Cleveland I was disappointed but respected it.

But if he goes to LA, I might not like Lebron anymore and that is saying a lot.

Because you'll be a Kobe fan then.

 

[Kold]

Lebron is getting a pass...

So far...
I'm starting this thread mostly to stop another one from getting further hi-jacked, but partly because I really feel that Lebron is getting a pass in this whole free agency situation.
Lebron is holding Riley and other potential Miami heat fa's up and could further hurt Miami IF he wants that max contract. Sure he DESERVES it, but HE is the guy that popularized the whole taking less for the greater good of the team. Now he(REPORTEDLY) wants a max when he has gangs of endorsements, and tens of millions off the court? I really cant get pass that, but it is being reported by reputable people such as Woj. and in this case Windhorst is reputable as well. It doesn't make sense because he has always been about getting into the right situation...but the heat now have to go bargain shopping again due to him waiting it out. Even he does take less, a guy like Kyle Lowry is already gone. They could of had the money to get him but Lebron is sitting back waiting on Riley to wave his magic wand. I just don't get it, if he preferres Miami, then just end this thing and sign on so that other marquee guys can join. I mean the pg's and big men are going left and right. Riley isn't the one on the clock...LEBRON is

 

[LogicMan]

In principle I agree Kold but he is carefully deciding his peak years location . He can go for money or he can go for titles. Maybe he thinks he can get both. I don't think Miami is the place for either. Your guy Mitch is making the pitch I expected the Lakers had to do. Just imagine if Kobe had taken a reasonable deal, this would be done and you would have a big three in the forum

 

[tlance]

In principle I agree Kold but he is carefully deciding his peak years location . He can go for money or he can go for titles. Maybe he thinks he can get both. I don't think Miami is the place for either. Your guy Mitch is making the pitch I expected the Lakers had to do. Just imagine if Kobe had taken a reasonable deal, this would be done and you would have a big three in the forum

Lebron is not screwing Miami, he just realizes that their core is not what is was 4 years ago. He can't commit unless he feels like the team gives him the best shot for a ring.

While I agree in principal that Lebron's hesitation makes it more difficult for the Heat to find players, He has every right to seek out the best situation, and with or without a max deal it is difficult for Miami to be that. Remember, Dwayne Wade was arguably the best player in the league when LeBron signed in 2010. He is still serviceable, but nowhere close to that level now. If Wade's game fit with LeBron's better, I think the big 3 would have already re-upped.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

In principle I agree Kold but he is carefully deciding his peak years location . He can go for money or he can go for titles. Maybe he thinks he can get both. I don't think Miami is the place for either. Your guy Mitch is making the pitch I expected the Lakers had to do. Just imagine if Kobe had taken a reasonable deal, this would be done and you would have a big three in the forum

I suggested many times last year that Kobe/Lakers should have agreed to a mutual amnesty.
Fans would have accepted it coming off the injury and knowing he'd be coming back hopefully fresh and healthy.
Lakers very likely then could have gotten James/Anthony/? now along with Kobe, and then rewarded Kobe down the road by just paying luxury tax...which they easily can afford to pay.
Sometimes it's all about circumstance.
Riley got lucky in 2010 at the way James season ended.
Mitch probably could have walked into that same type of luck after the Knicks shit season, and James' mindset to ring chase.

 

[gordontrue]

It was reported (I think it was windhorst, or maybe woj) that his reasoning for wanting the max is largely to make a statement to the owners.

It's an NBA politics thing.

The players union and several of the players feel like the owners (already benefited by cap and max caps) are starting to expect too much salary sacrifice from their star players. "You take less money so I can avoid the luxury tax". "Our front office is struggling to build a talented roster, so you take less money to help them out".

LeBron feels responsibility as the top player in the game to be part of a stand against this attitude. (Maybe he feels some culpability for its prevalence in the first place).

All that said, I still think he'd take a payout if it really came down to a situation he really liked.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

I don't understand this guy.


He spends the last 4 years doing everything possible to repair his image from the silliness of his 2010 free agency.


Now he is just seemingly doing the exact same thing over again.


He might as well line up another TV show at this point....go full 2010 all over again.

 

[Otis B. Driftwood]

Get whatever you can get Lebron...

 

[RobToxin]

My stance on things has changed a lot in the last 15 years. I have gone from a strong pro-cap stance to a strong anti-cap stance. I think we have seen too many times where teams wanting to win are handicapped by a salary structure that favors owners wanting to pocket all the profits.

I also agree that LeBron as the best individual talent today and deserves to be paid the most of any player. In a fair world, he would be able to command what he deserves and it not hinder his quest for titles.

But.....

we don't live in a fair world.

And, in my opinion, because of the salary rules in the NBA, LeBron will have to choose. Max salary. Win another championship. I don't think salary cap structures will allow him to have both.

 

[trojanfan12]

It was reported (I think it was windhorst, or maybe woj) that his reasoning for wanting the max is largely to make a statement to the owners.

It's an NBA politics thing.

The players union and several of the players feel like the owners (already benefited by cap and max caps) are starting to expect too much salary sacrifice from their star players. "You take less money so I can avoid the luxury tax". "Our front office is struggling to build a talented roster, so you take less money to help them out".

LeBron feels responsibility as the top player in the game to be part of a stand against this attitude. (Maybe he feels some culpability for its prevalence in the first place).

All that said, I still think he'd take a payout if it really came down to a situation he really liked.

There could be some truth to that. One thing we know about the owners (and players for that matter), is that when given an inch, they will take a mile every time.

Personally, I'm not sure that there should be a salary cap anyway. Before anyone says "that's because you're a Lakers fan and they print money", hear me out.

I saw it reported that if players were paid according to their true market value, guys like Lebron, Kobe, KD, etc. would make $40-60 million per year. Now, because Lebron, D-Wade and Bosh all took a little less to be able to form a "superteam", owners are expecting them to take even less now.

People criticized Kobe for accepting the contract that the Lakers offered him, yet it was probably less than half of what his true market value is. He plays for a team that made a $100 million profit in a season where they won 27 games and that's after paying salaries and luxury taxes. Anyone think maybe his being on the team had a little something to do with that?

So, we now have a situation with Lebron, where his true market value is in the $60 million per year range, who took about 1/3 of his true market value for the past 4 years and is now being expected to take even less. This makes sense?

As for the idea that teams like the Lakers would then simply "outspend" everyone I have 2 comments:

1.) So what? You get what you can pay for and if you want something better, you work for it and try to improve your situation. Too many teams are getting by because of the NBA's "welfare program". If a team can't compete because of the city they are in..............move or fold. If the problem is that the owner doesn't have or won't spend the money, then make him sell. If there is no "welfare system", owners like Dan Gilbert and Donald Sterling would be forced to sell or become competitive.

2.) Spending the most money doesn't guarantee a thing. The Yankees typically have the highest payroll in MLB, yet they haven't won a World Series since 2009 and before that, 2000. The Dodgers typically have one of the higher payrolls in MLB and haven't won the World Series since 1988. In the NBA, we have seen the Heat lose in the finals to teams with lower payrolls twice and the 2005 Lakers lost to a Pistons team with a lower payroll. The Nets had the highest payroll in the league and it got them a 2nd round exit.

While getting rid of the salary cap may be a bit extreme (and extremely unlikely), my overall point is, if something isn't done re: the way salaries are handled in the NBA, we are going to be going through this stuff every single season.

 

[Kold]

In principle I agree Kold but he is carefully deciding his peak years location . He can go for money or he can go for titles. Maybe he thinks he can get both. I don't think Miami is the place for either. Your guy Mitch is making the pitch I expected the Lakers had to do. Just imagine if Kobe had taken a reasonable deal, this would be done and you would have a big three in the forum

I blame the FO...but I do believe Kobe shoulders atleast some blame as well. He asked if they could still field a title contender with that contract and they said yes. However, Kobe atleast has to know that 23 mil. is still a big grip in this cba. I do remember him saying something like the owners screwing the players over in the cba, so I guess in his mind, he looked at it as "the owners are trying to take even more out of my pocket".....but however he viewed it, it still hurt the team. As for the Lakers, don't get me started on the bad decisions from last year to this year. Had they got atleast ONE of those decisions right, we'd be amongst the frontrunners to land Lebron. Through all of the bad decisions, had they just brought Phil Jackson in for ANY kind of form in the front office, it probably could of solved everything. Phil wanted all control, which is probably too much given that they wanted to keep it in the family(I mean Phil is practically in the family anyways), but they could of atleast came to terms on something....but moving forward, I'd like to see the Lakers build their team in the shape of the Spurs since it's looking like we won't get any big names. If we can get Ariza, Pau, and a bargain PG like Isiah Thomas(even though I question his defense), I'd be satisfied. That would be a tall task however

 

[starbigd]

The CBA as we know it is doomed. There WILL be a lockout when it's up this next time.....players are getting paid less or having to take less to field quality teams while the owners still profit. That's not going to fly in the next round of negotiations.

They're going to HAVE to either increase the cap significantly or do away with it altogether.

 

[RobToxin]

Kobe calls multiple title expectations for LeBron ?ridiculous? « NBA.com | All Ball Blog with Lang Whitaker

“how many [championships] you get, which sounds absolutely ridiculous. You’re really lucky and fortunate to win one, but now it’s become so jaded, it’s like, ‘OK you only won one, you only won two, you should win five or six,’ which is absolutely ridiculous.”

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