This is really just ridiculous. I don't know how many people on this site watched the game last night, but LeBron did not lead his team last night. He took very few shots (1 I think) in the first quarter, just after saying he was going to come out strong in the game. He said he was going to attack the basket, be more aggressive. He did not do that in all. Then he had a ok 2nd and 3rd quarter. But then in the 4th, wow. Down the stretch he was worse then Dirk. He had 2 shots that he would hit in the first quarter, way off the mark. Then he steps up to the free throw line, and misses both shots. Then he does nothing on defense, so you can't say "Oh at least he shut down the other team's best player" Or something. It was Eric Snow making the stops, and Vince being a idiot. Then we foul LeBron again, he misses 1 out of 2. We get the ball back, and we blow it again. LeBron sucked down the stretch and did not lead his team at all. But the PTI guys and ATH and everyone is ready to kill Carter and say hes horrible. They say "LeBron really carried his team". I sometimes think they just go by the box score and they don't even watch the game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jkidd51524 @ May 15 2007, 05:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>just after saying he was going to come out strong in the game. He said he was going to attack the basket, be more aggressive. He did not do that in all.</div>How didn't he? Didn't he have 16 points at half time? 2 off from his total in game 3. LeBron did lead this team, but he wasn't great in the 4th quarter. I wouldn't worry about LeBron James if I were you, didn't Carter miss like 3 free throws? If he had made those this series might be tied right now.
The kid has only been able to legally drink for about 4 months now and he's never come out and said he's the best player in the league, so I'm not going to knock him for missing clutch shots. I'm sure he'll break through that and will be making plenty of them when he hits the ripe age of 24.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cavsrules @ May 15 2007, 05:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>How didn't he? Didn't he have 16 points at half time? 2 off from his total in game 3. LeBron did lead this team, but he wasn't great in the 4th quarter. I wouldn't worry about LeBron James if I were you, didn't Carter miss like 3 free throws? If he had made those this series might be tied right now.</div>Yeah thats great, he did it in the middle of the game. He did sh*t in the 4th, and thats when the stars take over. He didn't lead the team, or he wouldn't have disappeared in the 4th. He just carried them throughout the game. He shows no leadership what so ever. And yes Carter missed 3 free throws, but LeBron went 1-4 down the stretch at the line and missed two easy shots for him. Thats a leader, right?
If leader, you mean a guy that leads the team through the game, correct? I mean, I know the 4th quarter is the money quarter and this is when you want your star to takeover, but did James not have an amazing stat line? 30/9/7? Only so many players can DREAM about putting those numbers up. So what, he didn't shine in the 4th quarter but the main thing is his team finally had his back and thats why they won. Instead of calling out LeBron about how bad he played in the 4th quarter, blame you're team for not taking over.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cavsrules @ May 15 2007, 07:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If leader, you mean a guy that leads the team through the game, correct? I mean, I know the 4th quarter is the money quarter and this is when you want your star to takeover, but did James not have an amazing stat line? 30/9/7? Only so many players can DREAM about putting those numbers up. So what, he didn't shine in the 4th quarter but the main thing is his team finally had his back and thats why they won. Instead of calling out LeBron about how bad he played in the 4th quarter, blame you're team for not taking over.</div>Trust me, you don't know how pissed I am at Carter right now. But there is not point in posting it because everyone will agree . Stats don't mean sh*t, sorry. I know he carried you guys ( I guess you could say that) in the first 3 quarters, but still. He wasn't amazing in the game at all. I'm trying to say, people need to stop praising James. He isn't that superstar who is going to carry his team to a championship yet. People are acting like he is Jordan and putting on these crazy performances. He is let his team down last night when it mattered. If you give us the same chances, we wouldn't have collapsed like we did. He just got lucky that our stars played like sh*t. The reason I'm posting this is because people are praising him and acting like he was god, leading his team. He didn't. Carter didn't either. Carter is getting bashed , and James should be also. He did just as bad, stop hating on Carter.
Wait, wait, wait... How many post are their about LeBron being some kinda God? I don't understand were you're coming up with players being bash, because I haven't heard anyone say jack sh*t about James or Carter. To answer you're question why James isn't being bashed... Well, for one his team WON THE GAME and he also had a hand with 30 of their 87 points. Also throw in the 9 rebounds and the 7 assist. Tell me when the bashing should start.. But I see what you're saying about LeBron, he just hasn't been that kinda player to take over games in the final seconds of games or last quarter. But I don't know why anyone should bash LeBron after his team won, and he did the major of the work...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mobruler @ May 15 2007, 05:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The kid has only been able to legally drink for about 4 months now and he's never come out and said he's the best player in the league, so I'm not going to knock him for missing clutch shots. I'm sure he'll break through that and will be making plenty of them when he hits the ripe age of 24.</div> Exactly....people expect him to play like Kobe/Jordan when he's only 22 years old. It takes time to get to that point. People just don't get it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cavsrules @ May 15 2007, 08:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wait, wait, wait... How many post are their about LeBron being some kinda God? I don't understand were you're coming up with players being bash, because I haven't heard anyone say jack sh*t about James or Carter. To answer you're question why James isn't being bashed... Well, for one his team WON THE GAME and he also had a hand with 30 of their 87 points. Also throw in the 9 rebounds and the 7 assist. Tell me when the bashing should start.. But I see what you're saying about LeBron, he just hasn't been that kinda player to take over games in the final seconds of games or last quarter. But I don't know why anyone should bash LeBron after his team won, and he did the major of the work...</div>Not posts, people on ESPN and stuff.They are all bashing Carter and saying the Nets should be blown up. And they are all saying that LeBron is awesome and he is really becoming a great leader. I just don't see it.
<span style="font-family:Arial">The kid is only 22 years old, you can't expect him to become a great leader so soon. Very few players become a great leader early in their careers, Magic Johnson being the most notable one. The way he's leading the Cavaliers right now at his young age is impressive enough. This may sound like I am praising Lebron James, but I think he's overrated as a leader. He's a good leader and all, but his supporting cast doesn't get enough credit.</span>
Give the guy a break. Hes not Jordan (yet), and hes still very young. Even Jordan wasnt able to completely dominate every single game.
LeBron IS only 22...but he has been in the league for 4 years, is the leader of his team, and at some point has to realize you can't dissapear in the 4th quarter of big games. He can't be constantly outplayed by other stars and clank free throw after free throw in the 4th.But as I said, he is only 22, so it does give him some wiggle room for the fact that he is still developing.
I don't even think Jordan was able to get out of the first round in his first 4 years. Don't listen to ESPN, JKidd. Honestly, I know more than them. I think my 9 year old Cus knows more than them.
Once you look past how good LeBron is for his age, there are some egregious flaws in his game that limit his valuability.His shot selection has increasingly gotten far worse, and is a big reason why he can be deceptively streaky. His fourth quarter free throw shooting is terrible (see the playoffs). His defense is pathetic - almost a joke.LeBron is surely a great player, but 4 years in and he has somewhat stalled. He needs to become a better defender, a better player late in games, and a better shot selector if he wants to increase his reputation that much more.
I don't know what the gripes about Lebron in the clutch. He's the league's third best clutch scorer in the regular season and is shooting a neat 60% from the field in the clutch in the playoffs, and has far more assists in the clutch than Kidd in this playoffs (talk about weak in the clutch, Kidd has only one assist in this playoffs with 5 or less minutes to go with the game within 5, and is shooting 20% from the field in that situation. He's shot under 30% from the field in the clutch 4 out of the last 5 seasons. Perhaps the least clutch superstar in the league).And his bad defense is exaggerated; his team does the same on defense with him in or out of the game.As for his shot selection, Lebron has shot over 47% from the field for the last three seasons. Kobe's never shot 47% from the field. Tracy McGrady never has. Allen Iverson never has. And all of those guys are equal or better shooters than Lebron, which means Lebron has far better shot selection than the group of guys who have won the last 7 scoring titles. Why don't you harp on those guys before you criticize a guy who is in the top 15 in fg% for players his height or smaller?I'm not a Lebron fan, in fact I think he's overhyped, but it's ridiculous some of the things people find to say about him.
He'll have a season where he steps to another level, but he is sortve stalled. I mean, its a nice place to be stalled....but hes going to have a season that will make you say "wow". You saw this with Kobe Bryant a couple seasons back...LeBron will be there.I dont think LeBron is overhyped, but people expect him to do one thing, when he does things a bit different than people realize.
intriguingly enough, after I checked the numbers, it appears lebron is second in the league in points in the clutch...... to Amare. Who would have guessed that?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kobebryant_24OWNEDME @ May 17 2007, 08:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know what the gripes about Lebron in the clutch. He's the league's third best clutch scorer in the regular season and is shooting a neat 60% from the field in the clutch in the playoffs, and has far more assists in the clutch than Kidd in this playoffs (talk about weak in the clutch, Kidd has only one assist in this playoffs with 5 or less minutes to go with the game within 5, and is shooting 20% from the field in that situation. He's shot under 30% from the field in the clutch 4 out of the last 5 seasons. Perhaps the least clutch superstar in the league).</div>He is passive in the clutch. He is unwilling to take over in the clutc, but rather just blend in. Since you seem to like 82games.com, he takes only 2FGA in the last 5min of games that are within 5pts or less. He shoots a dismal FT % with 66%, and it gets increasingly worse as the clock winds down. Up until about 3/4 of the way through last year, he was 2-20 all time in game winning shots. That number imrpoved slightly, but he didn't do much at all vs Detroit in clutch. In the past 2 years, he has been thoroughly outplayed by Kobe, Wade, Carmelo and Dirk in the clutch. He missed clutch FT's against all 3 and totally dissapeared vs Kobe and Wade. He went 9-9 vs the Pistons about a month and a half ago, yet in last 30 seconds went 0-2. There was a stat I saw, up until that game, that with game tied in clutch, he was 0-11 from the line. He clanked a few FT's and missed a few game tying shots vs Dirk and the Mavs.The only shining moments for him in the clutch was in the Washington series. He made some nice shots (although one was a blatant 4-step travel), but that was only one series. He hasn't done much in his career to warrant him as being even close to a clutch player. This is somewhat fine as he is still developing (although his development, for the most part, has stalled for the past year or 2), but it gets annoying when you constantly hear people putting him over the likes of Kobe.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>And his bad defense is exaggerated; his team does the same on defense with him in or out of the game.</div>LeBron plays about 40MPG...that stat is pointless.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>As for his shot selection, Lebron has shot over 47% from the field for the last three seasons. Kobe's never shot 47% from the field. Tracy McGrady never has. Allen Iverson never has. And all of those guys are equal or better shooters than Lebron, which means Lebron has far better shot selection than the group of guys who have won the last 7 scoring titles. Why don't you harp on those guys before you criticize a guy who is in the top 15 in fg% for players his height or smaller?</div>Kobe, T-Mac and AI don't have the driving ability or sheer strength of LeBron. They are also more explosive and streak scorers, which means they will have stretches where they go 1-6, and then explode for 40pts on 14-21 shooting. If you want to compare, look at how Dwyane Wade handles his scoring ability. He always plays to his strengths (driving/stepping back for a midrange jumper). LeBron, on the other hand, shoots only 35% from outside the basket area yet takes a crapload of tough fadeaway jumpers. His shot selection, specifically this year, has gotten increasingly more pro-jumpshot. If he had Kobe or T-Mac's jumpshot ability, then that would be fine....but he doesn't.
Ohhh, Nitro fighting back with stats! I like LeBron, but he dropped from 2 to 4 on my list this year. Once he makes the effort to shoot free throws like a swingman should and can also make them in the clutch I may bump him up a bit. I still think he'll be the best in the league soon, but not now.
