Lebron James is ruling the NBA this year!

[zerocool84]

I think mid to late 90s was the best basketball. I only started paying attention to it again about couple years ago. I think Kevin Durant>Lebron James IMO.

Pure scoring yes but LeBron does everything else better, better defense, better passing, drives to the bucket better, an all around better player. Durant though still has a lot more time to get better.

 

[purbeast0]

durants attitude is much better than lebrons too.

 

[diesbudt]

back in the day, when you played nba jam, you knew who the 2 people on each team would be because it was the team allstar and their wingman. now a days if they made nba jam, you'd have no clue who is going to be on each team because they are all teams full of scrubs or teams stacked to the bench.

very true...

 

[MetalMat]

I have a few problems with the NBA.

Too many teams get into the playoffs, way too many fouls and lets not forget about the flopping problem (which I am glad that they are trying to fix).

I still prefer the NBA and NHL both to the MLB

 

[randomrogue]

Honestly I think there are too many teams. I think the NBA would get much more interesting if they got rid of a few. Mentioning an allstar and a wingman isn't really how I remember it. Take the Bulls from the 90's or the Lakers/Celtics from the 1980's and they had a lot of all stars. They might not be single handily as good as a Jordan, James, Magic, Kobe, Bird, etc but when you have a team with multiple all stars and multiple all star assist players it is way more fun to watch.

I remember as a kid watching the Lakers play. Magic, Kareem, Green, Scott, Cooper, Rambis, Worthy. It was friggin' unbelievable. The Dream Team? I hope to see something like that again in my lifetime. It's just unreal when you get that kind of talent on the same team.

 

[Ban Bot]

I would be more interesting in Basketball, if the last 2-3min penalty every time the ball goes live portion was removed.

This. A million times this.

That and the rules allow too much isolation (hey, I am going to go to the right wing and my 4 teammates are going to stand on the left boundary, ok?) and far, far too much contact for my taste, and not just defensive contact. First off offensive players need to be called for offensive fouls (Blake is a horrible offender of such) and on the other side cry me a river: I am sorry guys like Shaq and Lebron are just freaks of nature, but should not get a look the other way from the refs while guys drape all over them.

Add in the flopping and NBA basketball has become unwatchable for me. I really enjoy the skill that goes into basketball but the NBA to me evolved to a game that really catered to the "super star" rules that has produced a game with a lot of difficult to enforce rules. The problem is I think the entire style of play and player personelle has evolved to match how games were/were not being called that it is impossible to unravel at this point.

 

[Miramonti]

It has to be said, but if Lebron keeps playing like this and the heat win a ring, his year will be clearly better than any Jordan had. Numbers don't lie, and he's taking over games, hitting one or two game winning shots, and playing with a shaq-type dominance as a SF. 56%+ shooting and 41%+ from 3 along with everything else he does is a near hallucination.

 

[actuarial]

With the super-team they assembled you would think they would have a drive to play well during the regular season -

The common misconception of Miami as a unique super-team only came about because the players were signed as free agents.

Look at the teams that won over the years:
Kobe Lakers
Big Three Celtics
Duncan Spurs
Shaq/Kobe Lakers
Jordan Bulls
Hakeem Rockets
Magic Lakers
Bird Celtics

Is Lebron today without question better than the best players on each of those teams (at the time)? I would say yes to the Kobe Lakers and Big 3 Celtics, otherwise it's an argument.

Is Wade today without question better than the second best player?

Is Bosh + company without question better than the supporting cast?

 

[dbk]

i only watch jeremy lin's games :awe:

i'm all about asians in mainstream media. love to watch them succeed 🙂

back on topic.. yes, lebron is the best by far.

That dunk last night by jLin was pretty siiiick by asian guy standards.. how did the Rockets lose though? going to see them in two weeks when they visit Verizon Center!

 

[Vdubchaos]

I don't see what the big deal is with Lebron. Although he might be one of the better players now days....I'm still not impressed.

Doesn't come close to Jordan and I don't think he ever will.

 

[zerocool84]

I don't see what the big deal is with Lebron. Although he might be one of the better players now days....I'm still not impressed.

Doesn't come close to Jordan and I don't think he ever will.

You must not watch much basketball

 

[dbk]

Lebron is finally playing to his strengths.. which is his strength (pun intended) and athleticism. He's cut down on his 3s and focused on taking it to the hole. Nobody can outmuscle him. Did you see Metta World just get abused over and over? Hilarious! He still needs to improve on his FTs..though.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

People still watch NBA?

Ratings on the NBA have been down for years. Use to be in the 15-19 in the 90's and now the finals pull in the 9-10 ratings today. Hell in 2007 they could not even get above a 6 in the finals. I think CSI/Law&Order reruns can pull that. 🙂

The regular season games are much worse. Theres a reason you don't see as many on TV anymore.

It's mostly due to the fact that it's now a "reality TV Show" instead of a sports game. The amount of "WE WANT TALL PEOPLE BECAUSE THIS GAME CLEARLY FAVORS THAT OVER TALENT" is damn obvious as well.

Much less talent, much more retardation.

 

[randomrogue]

How about some favorite Lebron clips? I admit I haven't been keeping up to speed on the NBA lately so I'd love to see some.

 

[zerocool84]

It's mostly due to the fact that it's now a "reality TV Show" instead of a sports game. The amount of "WE WANT TALL PEOPLE BECAUSE THIS GAME CLEARLY FAVORS THAT OVER TALENT" is damn obvious as well.

Much less talent, much more retardation.

Huh? Why would they want short people? The amount of short players able to play at an NBA level is rare so of course there won't be a lot of short players.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Huh? Why would they want short people? The amount of short players able to play at an NBA level is rare so of course there won't be a lot of short players.

While this is true, you still have teams making some occasionally ridiculous decisions to go with size over talent, ie Hasheem Thabeet getting drafted ahead of James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Steph Curry, Jrue Holliday, Ty Lawson, and a number of other talented point guards. Why was Thabeet drafted so high? Because someone saw that he was 7'3" and didn't give a damn that he'd only been playing basketball for a few years. Now he's coming off the bench as a third string big for OKC and putting up some pedestrian numbers while some of those "little guys" are going to the All Star game. It's obvious that Ty Lawson is much better than Thabeet, but there's still GMs out there who would choose Thabeet over Lawson because "you can't teach size."

But yeah, generally it's better to be taller in basketball.

 

[zerocool84]

While this is true, you still have teams making some occasionally ridiculous decisions to go with size over talent, ie Hasheem Thabeet getting drafted ahead of James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Steph Curry, Jrue Holliday, Ty Lawson, and a number of other talented point guards. Why was Thabeet drafted so high? Because someone saw that he was 7'3" and didn't give a damn that he'd only been playing basketball for a few years. Now he's coming off the bench as a third string big for OKC and putting up some pedestrian numbers while some of those "little guys" are going to the All Star game. It's obvious that Ty Lawson is much better than Thabeet, but there's still GMs out there who would choose Thabeet over Lawson because "you can't teach size."

But yeah, generally it's better to be taller in basketball.

They needed height. Why draft small players when you need an inside threat? Just like Greg Oden, the Blazers drafted him over Durant because they needed that position. There are many good smaller players in the NBA but not as many good or great big men and a great big man is pretty much unstoppable.

 

[Corporate Thug]

I have a few problems with the NBA.

Too many teams get into the playoffs, way too many fouls and lets not forget about the flopping problem (which I am glad that they are trying to fix).

I still prefer the NBA and NHL both to the MLB

Flopping is a problem in football and soccer too...nature of the contact sports games.

 

[Red Storm]

While this is true, you still have teams making some occasionally ridiculous decisions to go with size over talent, ie Hasheem Thabeet getting drafted ahead of James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Steph Curry, Jrue Holliday, Ty Lawson, and a number of other talented point guards. Why was Thabeet drafted so high? Because someone saw that he was 7'3" and didn't give a damn that he'd only been playing basketball for a few years. Now he's coming off the bench as a third string big for OKC and putting up some pedestrian numbers while some of those "little guys" are going to the All Star game. It's obvious that Ty Lawson is much better than Thabeet, but there's still GMs out there who would choose Thabeet over Lawson because "you can't teach size."

But yeah, generally it's better to be taller in basketball.

You can't teach height. Guard sized players are a dime a dozen, true bigs are going extinct. Also teams draft what they need. There's a reason why Portland didn't pick Jordan in the draft, they were a winning team that needed to fill weaknesses, the biggest of which was at center (to go against Kareem). Plus they already had a budding superstar in Clyde.

 

[XLNC]

They needed height. Why draft small players when you need an inside threat? Just like Greg Oden, the Blazers drafted him over Durant because they needed that position. There are many good smaller players in the NBA but not as many good or great big men and a great big man is pretty much unstoppable.

This is a chance that many teams take, and it frequently backfires. The most famous example is Darko Milicic in the 2003 draft. He was picked ahead of Carmelo, Bosh, and Wade by the Pistons because they needed a big man. The chance of landing a Shaq, a Dwight or even an Andrew Bynum is worth it to them.

If I were a GM, I'd play it safe by drafting the most talented player in the draft, and trading for a proven center if it didn't work out.

 

[XLNC]

I have a few problems with the NBA.

Too many teams get into the playoffs, way too many fouls and lets not forget about the flopping problem (which I am glad that they are trying to fix).

I still prefer the NBA and NHL both to the MLB

Flopping is pretty much a non-issue this year. I'll withhold full judgement till playoffs, but even in marquee games on national TV, flopping hasn't been an issue so far.

I don't agree with the "too many teams in the playoffs" comment. For most bottom feeding teams, success is measured by the ability to get into the playoffs. Some of those lesser teams never get on national TV except for early playoff runs. Instead, I'd go back to a best of 5 series for the first and maybe even the second round. It's damn near impossible to beat a higher seeded team in a best of 7, and it makes for a lot of uninspiring games. None of this will happen though, since money talks, and more games = more money.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

You can't teach height. Guard sized players are a dime a dozen, true bigs are going extinct. Also teams draft what they need. There's a reason why Portland didn't pick Jordan in the draft, they were a winning team that needed to fill weaknesses, the biggest of which was at center (to go against Kareem). Plus they already had a budding superstar in Clyde.

There's a difference between a Sam Bowie (a very accomplished college player) or a Greg Oden (ditto) and a Hasheem Thabeet. Taking a quality big over a Jordan or Durant can make sense if that's what a team needs, and both of those were considered top prospects who had their careers ruined by injury. Hasheem Thabeet was a big body with essentially no talent beyond standing in the lane and putting his arms up. That doesn't make for an effective NBA player. Not to mention, Memphis already had three 7-footers when they drafted Thabeet, including Marc Gasol. The decision to go after an untalented big over someone like a Tyreke Evans or a Steph Curry didn't make a huge amount of sense at the time; hindsight just makes it worse.

 

[purbeast0]

You must not watch much basketball

he clearly doesn't.

 

[Red Storm]

There's a difference between a Sam Bowie (a very accomplished college player) or a Greg Oden (ditto) and a Hasheem Thabeet. Taking a quality big over a Jordan or Durant can make sense if that's what a team needs, and both of those were considered top prospects who had their careers ruined by injury. Hasheem Thabeet was a big body with essentially no talent beyond standing in the lane and putting his arms up. That doesn't make for an effective NBA player. Not to mention, Memphis already had three 7-footers when they drafted Thabeet, including Marc Gasol. The decision to go after an untalented big over someone like a Tyreke Evans or a Steph Curry didn't make a huge amount of sense at the time; hindsight just makes it worse.

True. At the end of the day all you can really say is that a lot of times GMs make really stupid decisions. Like Atlanta deciding not to draft Chris Paul or Deron Williams.

 

[Poulsonator]

Yeah, it's nice to romanticize the past, but it just doesn't hold up to facts. Between 1980 and 2000, 6 different teams won the NBA championship: Lakers (6), Bulls (6), Celtics (3), Rockets (2) and Spurs (1). Since 2001, 6 teams have also won the Championship: Lakers (4), Spurs (3), Heat (2), Celtics (1) and Mavericks (1). The idea that there is somehow less parity now than in the glory days of the league doesn't really add up. The last time there was any parity in terms of championship winners was the 1970s, and no one romanticizes that era of the NBA like they do the 80s-90s or the 60s (when the Celtics won everything always).

Your math is a bit off, and you forgot the 1989, 1990, 2004 Detroit Pistons and the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers.

Your overall point stands, however.