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Originally Posted by SmootSmack
I happen to know that you must know a lot about basketball, but we'll just keep that between us.
That said though don't you think you're giving too much credit to a couple of the guys here. Wallace hasn't done anything for several years now and Joe Smith has hardly ever been worthy of #1 pick status. I don't think those guys got worse once they got to the Cavs. They've been on the decline for a while.
I think that LeBron is a dominating player by himself, but I agree that I don't see his play elevating those around him. Not yet, at least. There are few players that really have that ability. You'd agree with that right? Off the top of my head, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, and even Kobe come to mind. What about you?
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First of all, yeah Magic, getting it done. All right, so this is a lil bit of a rant and LeBron is very talented, but it's frustrating because he is overhyped in terms of making his team better and he lives a lot off of the refs treating him favorably.
I definitely am giving the Cavs guys too much credit, but they aren't slouches either. A lot of those guys are in the decline of their career, but I still think they can play at a very high level. I think Wallace has still got it on D, but he's never had much offense. Those veteran guys know how to play and they make the team better, especially in the play-offs. I would put Cleveland's bench up against most teams if not just about every team. I think the reason why the Cavs guys don't get a lot of credit is because they are not scorers and LeBron's style doesn't allow them to be anyways. Varejao is a great defender/rebounder, Wallace also, but the average fan doesn't know how important that is. A team with all scorers would not do that well. That's why the US Olympic team wasn't winning, they had to re-focus on defense. LeBron definitely does help his team on the defensive end with his intensity, but I think he needs to learn a lil more about the game to help his team and his teammates on offense. People might think, oh he scores 30 ppg, he can't get any better on offense, but it's how you play. Just like I don't think Iverson has helped any of the teams he has been to even though he scores a ton.
I'll agree with you that those players you listed all help their team (I think Nash is a huge liabilty on D however, but I think he contribuites more to an offense than anybody). Also, all those guys I consider to be smart players. I think a big part of being a smart player is knowing how to play to make your team better. I don't put LeBron in that category, but that may come in time. I think LeBron needs a different coach instead of somebody that just pats him on the back.
As far as tonight, first I'll say ... finally, it took them til 30 seconds left in OT, but finally they didn't give LeBron every call. LeBron wasn't playing that good, under 50% from the field again, had 8 TO's, and was only scoring because he was getting a lot of calls as usual until the very end. They should call it like that all game. Every call at the end of the game was 100% right and LeBron was still complaining.