<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The gargantuan billboard covering a building adjacent to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena illustrates a graceful LeBron James preparing to exhibit his power as he rises for an awe-inspiring dunk. The image is tantalizing. James is raring back, ready to shake the rim with his monumental impact. This could be a microcosm for his affect on the NBA. James does not turn 21 until Dec. 30, yet the basketball world is watching as he emerges as the sport's most prominent star since Michael Jordan. And he is perhaps the game's most versatile player since Magic Johnson, a hulking 245-pound wunderkind who can dribble, shoot, post and soar in the air. Add to that a workmanlike style determined to bring the Cleveland Cavaliers back to prosperity, and you have the reason why LeBron James' 110-foot high and 212-foot wide likeness captivates drivers as they cruise through downtown. A 20-year-old has taken over Cleveland, and quickly he is mesmerizing basketball fans across the world with his breathtaking abilities. James and the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Sonics tonight at KeyArena in Seattle fans' lone chance to see James this season. The improving Cavaliers are 9-5 after an overtime win against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. James leads the team in points (28.4), assists (4.5) and steals (1.64). He not only represents the Cavaliers franchise, but the modern-day NBA, a league that wants to shed the hip-hop tag and rap-music label on its players, replacing it with a well-dressed, positive image that can lift the league to new heights. Sonics guard Ray Allen believes James has the potential to lead the league back to its heyday, but it will take considerable effort on and off the court. "It's threefold," Allen said. "His play has to speak for itself. He has to be able to show people that he's worthy of buying tickets to go see him play. His team has to win. And how he deals with the off-the-court responsibilities is important. How he carries himself, that's going to take him over the top. "That will take the league to the next level, by him having a very classy persona." </div> Source
His assists are down this year, for whatever reason. Maybe because he's not handling the ball as much with Hughes around. BTW, I think he's the best player in the league, astonishing at 20 yrs old. Also, Hughes is the kind of nasty perimeter defender we're really missing. I'm always impressed with the way he plays Ray. Which now that I'm on the subject, with us jumping the pick and roll now, I'm getting the feeling that we're going back to the George Karl days of 'trap-rotate-no personal responsibility' defense. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do but it remains to be seen if our guys are quick enough of mind and body to make all those rotations. One things for sure, it can't be much worse than where we are now.
The Sonics need to execute their "containment" strategy again. Hughes, Snow and James all like to penetrate and stopping them has to be the key. I will take 20/10 from Z and 10/11 from Gooden if it means that neither Hughes nor James break 20.
James is going to get his 25+ because we don't have a physical enough defender on our team to get over the screen when James calls for the pick and roll--and we don't have a good enough transitional defense scheme to slow him down after we miss or turn the ball over. The reason why LeBron seems to have his best games against us is because we traditionally shoot jump shots and when jump shooting teams miss there are normally long rebounds that lead to transition buckets for the other team. I think that LeBron has stolen the title from Jason Kidd as the best offensive transition player in the game. (AK47 is the best transitional defensive player in the game). By the way the only reason why I am not on the "King James" Hate Team is because he is only 20. Here are the guards/wings that I think are better than LeBron: Kobe (who I think is the best player in the league, stealing the title previously held by Duncan) McGrady Pierce Here are the other players that I think are better than LeBron: Duncan Stoudamire Iverson (and soon to be Dwight Howard) Here are the wing players that I'd rather have on my team than LeBron: Ginobli (when healthy...which is becoming a rarity) 'Melo (b/c on that Cavs roster I honestly think he'd be putting up similar scoring numbers and would surpass his numbers on the boards--and I think that he is better in the half court/clutch than LeBron Artest (cuz I don't see LeBron punking people like he does) And here are the other players I like more than LeBron in no particular order (and I know I've left some of my favorites off just out of forgetfulness): Flip Fortson Big Game James Tinsley Maurice Williams Marquis Daniels AK 47 Barbosa Arroyo Cassell Mike James (otherwise known as Meaningless Game James now that he is in Toronto...his 6th team in three years) Telfair Al Jefferson Zaza Pachulia Primo Brezec DeShawn Stevenson Ronald Dupree Sasha Pavlovic (On Utah anyway) Robert Whaley Marcus Brown and J.R. Holden (CSKA finest) ...and once upon a time Gary Payton To LeBron's credit he has improved dramatically since his rookie year and I honestly believe that he is one of the top ten players in the game. I'm not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame yet, considering that he hasn't even gone to the playoffs yet (but that will definitely happen this year...and the East is better than the west) As you all can see I'm bored as hell right now. The Sonics need a back to back win tonight.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">(and soon to be Dwight Howard)</div> Why Dwight Howard?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Casual:</div><div class="quote_post">I have no words for Shiek wanting Ginobili and Carmelo over LeBron, so I won't say anything.</div> One won a Euroleague Championship as the star, an Olympic gold medal as the star, and 2 NBA championships as the wing man--all of which LeBron may never win. And need I remind you of last year's Western Conference semifinals. The other one won a National Championship as a freshman star and has made two consecutive playoffs as the star of a team that had the same record as the Cavs before LeBron was drafted two seasons ago. If that will keep you speechless than I will continue to commend the efforts of those two.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">One won a Euroleague Championship as the star, an Olympic gold medal as the star, and 2 NBA championships as the wing man--all of which LeBron may never win. And need I remind you of last year's Western Conference semifinals. The other one won a National Championship as a freshman star and has made two consecutive playoffs as the star of a team that had the same record as the Cavs before LeBron was drafted two seasons ago. If that will keep you speechless than I will continue to commend the efforts of those two.</div> Does laughter count as speech?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">One won a Euroleague Championship as the star, an Olympic gold medal as the star, and 2 NBA championships as the wing man--all of which LeBron may never win. And need I remind you of last year's Western Conference semifinals. The other one won a National Championship as a freshman star and has made two consecutive playoffs as the star of a team that had the same record as the Cavs before LeBron was drafted two seasons ago. If that will keep you speechless than I will continue to commend the efforts of those two.</div> I don't think any of those arguments hold any water. Ginobli is awesome when healthy, you can't really argue it - his Euroleague and Olympic accomplishments are impressive, but his NBA rings are a direct result of Tim Duncan. I think your kidding yourself if you think he could carry a team to even a playoff series win as the star. But even with all this, are you telling me you'd take Rasheed Wallace over KG because of the titles? Same principles apply. Denver has made the playoffs a couple of times, also went out and signed Dre Miller and Kenyon Martin to add to a suddenly healthy Marcus Camby. CLE this year finally went out to get Lebron some solid compliments that can help take him over the top.
Looking at Shiek's list, it got me thinking how I'd like to have Elton Brand on our team. Unfortunately now that the Clips have something good going, it'll be impossible to pry him away. And it's sad we used to have Maggette but traded him for an aging Ho Grant (although our situation was a 'one more piece' kind of thing at the time IIRC). Maggette's a monster now that he has semi-consistent jumper. And where the hell did Mo Williams come from - those shots he made against the Wiz last night were unbelievable.
I was going to ask if Shiek was Charley Rosen, but I then realised there's no way Rosen likes that many players.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post"> The other one won a National Championship as a freshman star and has made two consecutive playoffs as the star of a team that had the same record as the Cavs before LeBron was drafted two seasons ago.</div> Given LeBron averaged 20/5/5 as a rookie, I think it's fair to say he would have dominated the college game if he had played a season. Hardly a fair argument. Have a look at Denver's aquisitions and Cleveland's aquisitions since both have been drafted too. Denver added some big names along with Carmelo, while this is the first season LeBron has really had an improved cast.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Given LeBron averaged 20/5/5 as a rookie, I think it's fair to say he would have dominated the college game if he had played a season. Hardly a fair argument. Have a look at Denver's acquisitions and Cleveland's acquisitions since both have been drafted too. Denver added some big names along with Carmelo, while this is the first season LeBron has really had an improved cast.</div> You missed the point. Yeah LeBron would have dominated college but we he have won a National Championship with the supporting cast that Melo had. Outside of a young Hakeem Warrick and an overachiever in McNamara that team was filled with a very moderately talented roster. But yet Carmelo's intangibles gave them an opportunity to give Coach Boeheim his first NCAA championship. And yes, Denver did do a better job surrounding Carmelo with talent than Cleveland did, which would make it more difficult to put up the same numbers that LeBron is currently putting up. Carmelo had better numbers across the board than LeBron his rookie year while he was competing for a playoff birth. If he was on a team like the Raptors he would definitely be amongst the league's leading scorer and possibly even average a double double. LeBron's early success in this league was a direct result of him given free reign to do what he wanted from Paul Silas. He didn't have to share shots with anyone and he didn't have play in meaningful games. There are a ton of Carmelo haters in the world but I believe when it is all said in done that Melo will establish himself as one of the greatest small forwards to ever play the game. As long as he is able to get away from George Karl's restrictiveness he will showcase an array of talent, athleticism, and heart that only the great athletes have.
And you miss my point. Given LeBron has been a winner everywhere he has played and has made people better everywhere he has played, surely it's not farfetched to assume he could have achieved the same as Carmelo if he had played a season in college. I don't think it is fair to use that as an argument in Melo's favour given LeBron never had/took the chance to play college ball.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">You missed the point. Yeah LeBron would have dominated college but we he have won a National Championship with the supporting cast that Melo had. Outside of a young Hakeem Warrick and an overachiever in McNamara that team was filled with a very moderately talented roster. But yet Carmelo's intangibles gave them an opportunity to give Coach Boeheim his first NCAA championship. Carmelo had better numbers across the board than LeBron his rookie year while he was competing for a playoff birth. If he was on a team like the Raptors he would definitely be amongst the league's leading scorer and possibly even average a double double. LeBron's early success in this league was a direct result of him given free reign to do what he wanted from Paul Silas. He didn't have to share shots with anyone and he didn't have play in meaningful games.</div> The argument can easily be flipped though and ask "would Carmelo have averaged the same #'s as Lebron did as a rookie if he would have come straight from high school?" - my personal hunch is no, but we'll never know and you can't fault him for going to school for a year and playing phenomenal bball and than use it against him in an argument. I don't think its fair either to say that Lebron didn't have to share shots or play in meaningful games. When they were rookies, Lebron averaged 1 more shot per game than Melo - granted James had the ball in his hands alot more, but thats more a result of him being able to effectively distribute, not because the team was so bad. Plus I would argue that Lebron had WAY more pressure on him during his rookie season to perfrom than Carmelo did. There was always a circus following that guy every game - and every vet didn't want to get beat by the kid, so while it wasn't playoff pressure, he didn't have a playoff caliber lineup behind him to rely on either night in and out. Rashard for instance has never taken as many shots per game in a season as Melo did as a rookie - and I don't think it would be fair to say he would be league leader if placed on a bottom dweller. Melo I think has a greater ability to create his own shot, but their scoring efficiencies are similiar. I'm not attempting to take anything away from Carmelo here. He's a tremendous talent, has made the playoffs both years in the league and has the talent to turn into a dominant player before its all said and done, but I think Lebron is already there.
