Cleveland Cavs (2016 NBA Champions)

[OHSportsFan]

No thanks. Guy need not have anything to do with the Cavs or Cleveland ever again.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Sixth. I'm coming home? Not to northeast Ohio. Not anymore. Thanks for the title, now leave us alone.

Besides building schools in Northeast Ohio and continuing to be a supporter/role model for kids...

Bigger than basketball. He covered that fandom for me for 11 years. Now he wants other things.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Besides building schools in Northeast Ohio and continuing to be a supporter/role model for kids...

Bigger than basketball. He covered that fandom for me for 11 years. Now he wants other things.

Btw, I don’t fully agree with it. Those other things would always be waiting for him. Would have been nice for him to ride out 3-4 more years in Cleveland, but clearly he was worn out with the organization and this wasn’t a surprise.

Is what it is. Like I said, I don’t have the energy to despise him this time. He can work where he wants.

 

[Jake]

That pretty much sums it up for me.

I hope that LeBron really loves playing in Los Angeles, because this is really a dumb move for several reasons.

First, the Lakers will be a borderline playoff team even with LeBron. As currently constituted, they have no chance of getting past Golden State and Houston, or maybe even OKC and New Orleans.

Second, LeBron will eventually get old, and it might happen overnight. Remember Tiger Woods? He won the 2008 US Open at age 32, then blew out his back. In the ten years since, he has 14 tour wins and no majors. He's been pretty much a joke for a decade. LeBron is now 33 years old with 15 NBA seasons under his belt - that's 1,482 games and 54,347 minutes, including playoffs. LeBron keeps his body in great shape and he has largely avoided injury, but Father Time is still undefeated....

Third, he left over $50 million on the table by not taking the Supermax contract that Cleveland had to offer. I don't care how rich he is, $50 million is a lot of money to piss away.

Fourth, his legacy is screwed. Unless he somehow leads a ragtag Laker team to a championship, he will be lucky to be counted as a top-5 all-time Laker. He will almost certainly end up behind Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, and Jerry West, and maybe even Wilt (5 seasons, 1 title in LA) and Elgin Baylor. He'll always have his Cleveland title, but that will be countered by four finals losses (two sweeps, one near sweep) and the fact that Kyrie Irving hit the game winning shot in game seven of the 2016 series. And in Miami, he was always Robin to Dwyane Wade's Batman.

Fifth, Lavar Ball. 'Nuff said.

Sixth. I'm coming home? Not to northeast Ohio. Not anymore. Thanks for the title, now leave us alone.

If the Cavs had an owner with more brain power than Dan Gilbert, LeBron wouldn't have left once much less twice.

As for the Finals sweeps, they remind me of Elway's blowout SB losses in the 80s - he wasn't the reason they lost, he was the reason they were even there in the first place. It was amazing how suddenly Elway turned into a winner after he got old - and had a better team around him.

Michael Jordan wasn't beating the Spurs with the 2007 Cavs. He wasn't beating Golden State with Matthew Dellavedova - or the 2018 bunch - either.

 

[Magua]

I am not mad that he left. I certainly get it, but it is a bit disappointing. People will blast Dan Gilbert, and while he does deserve some blame, equal amount can be put on LeBron for never committing for more than 1 season in Cleveland this time around and even going back to the last few years of his first stint. No one is going to going to come to CLE and join LeBron when he isn't committed here for the long term because they don't want to be stuck here when he leaves. It's sad that he signed a longer deal with LA who is an awful team without him than he has in since I believe his rookie contract in Cleveland.

Anyways, now I can go back to despising the NBA and everything about the league and what it has become with its bff mentality and super teams and Stephen A Smith nonsense.

 

[Bucklion]

That pretty much sums it up for me.

I hope that LeBron really loves playing in Los Angeles, because this is really a dumb move for several reasons.

First, the Lakers will be a borderline playoff team even with LeBron. As currently constituted, they have no chance of getting past Golden State and Houston, or maybe even OKC and New Orleans.

Second, LeBron will eventually get old, and it might happen overnight. Remember Tiger Woods? He won the 2008 US Open at age 32, then blew out his back. In the ten years since, he has 14 tour wins and no majors. He's been pretty much a joke for a decade. LeBron is now 33 years old with 15 NBA seasons under his belt - that's 1,482 games and 54,347 minutes, including playoffs. LeBron keeps his body in great shape and he has largely avoided injury, but Father Time is still undefeated....

Third, he left over $50 million on the table by not taking the Supermax contract that Cleveland had to offer. I don't care how rich he is, $50 million is a lot of money to piss away.

Fourth, his legacy is screwed. Unless he somehow leads a ragtag Laker team to a championship, he will be lucky to be counted as a top-5 all-time Laker. He will almost certainly end up behind Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, and Jerry West, and maybe even Wilt (5 seasons, 1 title in LA) and Elgin Baylor. He'll always have his Cleveland title, but that will be countered by four finals losses (two sweeps, one near sweep) and the fact that Kyrie Irving hit the game winning shot in game seven of the 2016 series. And in Miami, he was always Robin to Dwyane Wade's Batman.

Fifth, Lavar Ball. 'Nuff said.

Sixth. I'm coming home? Not to northeast Ohio. Not anymore. Thanks for the title, now leave us alone.

I don’t think his legacy is “screwed” and he has the one Cleveland title to thank for it. If he had gone Buffalo Bills, the media would be feeding this as a bitch move way beyond Durant. But with the one win, the supporting cast narrative buys him the sympathy. If anything, I think his 2 losses in 4 years with the Heat, along with breaking up that potential dynasty because of Mike fucking Miller, will, and should, open him to criticism more.

 

[Bucklion]

PS, I think his ability to pass and his willingness to start the Superteam movement will make his overall legacy the most complicated in sports history, maybe alongside Tiger Woods

 

[tsteele316]

If the Cavs had an owner with more brain power than Dan Gilbert, LeBron wouldn't have left once much less twice.

As for the Finals sweeps, they remind me of Elway's blowout SB losses in the 80s - he wasn't the reason they lost, he was the reason they were even there in the first place. It was amazing how suddenly Elway turned into a winner after he got old - and had a better team around him.

Michael Jordan wasn't beating the Spurs with the 2007 Cavs. He wasn't beating Golden State with Matthew Dellavedova - or the 2018 bunch - either.

i mean, to be fair, in year one of the return they had a 2-1 lead and lost their #2 and #3 guys.
in year 3 and 4, kevin durant bitched up and had to create a super team that nobody in the nba is going to beat.

as for the first go in cleveland, a lot of things went wrong, and several mistakes were made, starting with ownership and gms before gilbert showed up, to gilbert making several mistakes of his own, the lebron's behavior and demands restricting roster moves.

 

[dozenmonkeyz]

That pretty much sums it up for me.

I hope that LeBron really loves playing in Los Angeles, because this is really a dumb move for several reasons.

First, the Lakers will be a borderline playoff team even with LeBron. As currently constituted, they have no chance of getting past Golden State and Houston, or maybe even OKC and New Orleans.

Second, LeBron will eventually get old, and it might happen overnight. Remember Tiger Woods? He won the 2008 US Open at age 32, then blew out his back. In the ten years since, he has 14 tour wins and no majors. He's been pretty much a joke for a decade. LeBron is now 33 years old with 15 NBA seasons under his belt - that's 1,482 games and 54,347 minutes, including playoffs. LeBron keeps his body in great shape and he has largely avoided injury, but Father Time is still undefeated....

Third, he left over $50 million on the table by not taking the Supermax contract that Cleveland had to offer. I don't care how rich he is, $50 million is a lot of money to piss away.

Fourth, his legacy is screwed. Unless he somehow leads a ragtag Laker team to a championship, he will be lucky to be counted as a top-5 all-time Laker. He will almost certainly end up behind Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, and Jerry West, and maybe even Wilt (5 seasons, 1 title in LA) and Elgin Baylor. He'll always have his Cleveland title, but that will be countered by four finals losses (two sweeps, one near sweep) and the fact that Kyrie Irving hit the game winning shot in game seven of the 2016 series. And in Miami, he was always Robin to Dwyane Wade's Batman.

Fifth, Lavar Ball. 'Nuff said.

Sixth. I'm coming home? Not to northeast Ohio. Not anymore. Thanks for the title, now leave us alone.

Come on, this is nonsense. He's top 1 or 2 of all time in the sport; being a favorite Laker won't mean shit to him. The Dwayne Wade comment is a joke as well. He was the undisputed difference maker through all 4 seasons there even if he didn't take all the game winning shots. And I hated that team with a passion.

He's an Akron legend and his role in NEO outside of basketball has had as positive affect as any athlete in the history of our region. It's one thing to be bitter about his sports decisions (and I've been and am currently plenty bitter) but to act as if he shouldn't be welcomed is ridiculous hyperbole.

I liked Crawford's tweet but feel that he meant it to say goodbye to the NBA drama as much as Lebron's drama. Without him here, no reason to pay attention to any of it.

 

[colobuck79]

Cavs are 500 to 1 now. Not even close to being high enough. Call me when it gets to 1,000,000.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The shitty thing is, even if they happen to land the #1 pick in 19........the 19 draft class currently looks "meh". Not looking like any franchise type players as of now. Maybe not another Anthony Bennett situation, but certainly not anyone who looks like a sure fire star at this moment.

I get the suspicion theyll do the crap where they are bad, but not bad enough, though. End up with like the 6th/7th pick. NBA you have to be really bad to get good, especially in a place like Cleveland where you arent going to allure big time FAs. There's a cluster of teams that look to be "bad" heading into 18/19 but not really anyone who stands out as a clear cut worst. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

 

[LitlBuck]

The shitty thing is, even if they happen to land the #1 pick in 19........the 19 draft class currently looks "meh".

 

[Bucklion]

The shitty thing is, even if they happen to land the #1 pick in 19........the 19 draft class currently looks "meh". Not looking like any franchise type players as of now. Maybe not another Anthony Bennett situation, but certainly not anyone who looks like a sure fire star at this moment.

I get the suspicion theyll do the crap where they are bad, but not bad enough, though. End up with like the 6th/7th pick. NBA you have to be really bad to get good, especially in a place like Cleveland where you arent going to allure big time FAs. There's a cluster of teams that look to be "bad" heading into 18/19 but not really anyone who stands out as a clear cut worst. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

None of it is going to matter anyway. Look at Milwaukee, they have lucked into a stud that basically will sell a few tickets but do them no good. Ain’t no premier FA going to Milwaukee. So unless they draft 3 superstars that can all play together before one is priced out of their market or wants to leave, it doesn’t matter, because they will never contend.

I will not watch the NBA anymore, and it isn’t because LeBron left. I’ve watched bad teams before, I don’t mind watching another bad one now. But it’s because no matter how well you draft, or manage your cap space, you have zero chance of mattering unless you are the Super Team destination. Zero. So at this point, until that changes (and it likely won’t), I’ve got plenty of extra nights free.

 

[buckeyemania11]

None of it is going to matter anyway. Look at Milwaukee, they have lucked into a stud that basically will sell a few tickets but do them no good. Ain’t no premier FA going to Milwaukee. So unless they draft 3 superstars that can all play together before one is priced out of their market or wants to leave, it doesn’t matter, because they will never contend.

I will not watch the NBA anymore, and it isn’t because LeBron left. I’ve watched bad teams before, I don’t mind watching another bad one now. But it’s because no matter how well you draft, or manage your cap space, you have zero chance of mattering unless you are the Super Team destination. Zero. So at this point, until that changes (and it likely won’t), I’ve got plenty of extra nights free.

The NBA is screwed at this point. I don't know how they fix this mess, they might be past the point of no return. You're right though the league is 100% unwatchable, 99% of the teams are basically playing for nothing. There's 2 maybe 3 teams that have a legit chance and even then you know there is only 1 that is highly likely to win it all anyway. It's by far the least competitive pro league, not even close. When GSW dissolve, another team is probably just going to step into the spot in a similar situation, unless there is some drastic changes made by the league itself. I've always followed the Cavs but i've never been the most diehard NBA fan, it's really easy to lose all interest when it's a cluster where you already know the outcome before the season even starts.

 

[buckeyesin07]

None of it is going to matter anyway. Look at Milwaukee, they have lucked into a stud that basically will sell a few tickets but do them no good. Ain’t no premier FA going to Milwaukee. So unless they draft 3 superstars that can all play together before one is priced out of their market or wants to leave, it doesn’t matter, because they will never contend.

I will not watch the NBA anymore, and it isn’t because LeBron left. I’ve watched bad teams before, I don’t mind watching another bad one now. But it’s because no matter how well you draft, or manage your cap space, you have zero chance of mattering unless you are the Super Team destination. Zero. So at this point, until that changes (and it likely won’t), I’ve got plenty of extra nights free.

This is spot on. The NBA is broken.

 

[Bucklion]

The NBA is screwed at this point. I don't know how they fix this mess, they might be past the point of no return. You're right though the league is 100% unwatchable, 99% of the teams are basically playing for nothing. There's 2 maybe 3 teams that have a legit chance and even then you know there is only 1 that is highly likely to win it all anyway. It's by far the least competitive pro league, not even close. When GSW dissolve, another team is probably just going to step into the spot in a similar situation, unless there is some drastic changes made by the league itself. I've always followed the Cavs but i've never been the most diehard NBA fan, it's really easy to lose all interest when it's a cluster where you already know the outcome before the season even starts.

The NBA is like Ligue 1 in France, except that at least PSG has to pony up the money. People are flocking to play for GS now for way below market value.