NBA Offseason Thread.

[jim]

He chose championships over legacy. That's his choice. Maybe he'll never regret it. Nobody respects him for it. Maybe he's OK with that, too.

In S. Beach? Yeah, he's not going to regret that.

What's your infatuation with Miami? I spent a summer there, you can keep it.

Weather, ocean, women, and weather.

[Socnorb11]

I'm guessing World Wide West is sitting somewhere smiling that he got pushed out of the LBJ circle. He can now go to the young players and say "see what happens when you push me out....you make image killing decisions".

It's been one day. If he goes on to win a few rings nobody is going to give a [expletive]. Look at Shaq. He bolts to LA wins some rings and nobody cares. His "legacy" isn't going to be that he couldn't get it done with Orlando so he cowardly signed with LA when he was a free agent. He's going to be a 4 time NBA Champion and one of the best big men to ever play the game.

I think Shaq's personality has helped him quite a bit........... but his legacy isn't really on par with Kobe, Magic, Bird, Duncan, Jordan, etc. At least in my mind it isn't. To me, he'll always be remembered as an unbelievable complimentary player who never really "carried" a team.

Why do you suppose there wasn't as much backlash for Shaq?

[Lolz]

Bosh just slipped up and said they've had it planned for "months". Per various Twitters.

[lukethedrifter]

He chose championships over legacy. That's his choice. Maybe he'll never regret it. Nobody respects him for it. Maybe he's OK with that, too.

In S. Beach? Yeah, he's not going to regret that.

What's your infatuation with Miami? I spent a summer there, you can keep it.

Weather, ocean, women, and weather.

jim is having a midlife crisis.

[MrSaigon]

Bosh just slipped up and said they've had it planned for "months". Per various Twitters.

Am I alone in wanting Bosh to slip up and tear apart his knee as well?

It is kind of funny that lots of people who would have loved him for going to Chicago hate him for going to Miami. I don't see a huge difference in that situation. Would you trade Rose for Wade?

I have always suspected LeBron of being an ass. Too bad Nike can't confiscate dignity dunking over him on video. Ripping out Cleveland's heart, throwing it on the ground and pissing all over it on national television; priceless.The owner there is a nujob, but I really believe that LeBron owed his old team an indication.

[Maclowery]

re: ICE defending James' decision:

As far as I can tell, other than big Cavs fans, no one is upset that LeBron left Cleveland for a better chance at rings. Some people would point out that he'd have a more complete team in Chi or a better worldwide brand in NYC (either team). I think the vast majority of people pissed off about this are mad about how he went about this.

If he'd just finished the season, told Cleveland he wanted to win rings, and tweeted or news conferenced or pretty much anything except that bull-[expletive] special, most people in the nation would've said "Eh, whatever" and forgotten it next year when the Heat win 65 games. Instead, he came off as the biggest douche in sports, and gets to read all this hilariously bitter backlash against him for months before the season starts.

I'm not all hyped up like most people are about him ruining the chance at being the best ever, blah blah blah. I didn't reach my 'potential' either, so I can't fault him for not having Jordan's absurd killer instinct. The dude is going to have a [expletive] blast in Miami for a few years. I don't hate him for it. I'll root against them when they play the Bulls, but I'll probably enjoy watching a lot of awesome highlight reels, which is most of my NBA content anyway.

Hey we got Korver! Yay! I like it. Still a lot of room left, I wonder if the Bulls aren't done yet.

[MrSaigon]

"Then I realized, three is magical, and now it represents more than just my number," Wade said. "It represents the three of us making sacrifices as well."

They make the baseball players of the WWII era look like Bernie Madoff.

It's going to be a long six years if television boners remind us of these tremendous 'sacrifices' every game. (Taxes more than cover that $15 mil anyway, as I understand it.)

[Tambourine Man]

I've narrowed my fandom down a bit. All teams with "birds" as a mascot are eliminated. I'm definitely favoring mammals.

[cardsfansince82]

Normally I would just sit back and laugh at all this but it's getting completely out of hand.

Yeah, he went about this in about as selfish a way as possible, but some of the stuff people are saying here and everywhere else is just absurd. Suddenly everyone has an opinion about the NBA and a strong one at that. Lebron is somehow going to go from the most popular player in the NBA to the most hated? And now people like Kobe? Am I taking crazy pills?

Last I checked, every team that ever won a championship was loaded with talent. Cleveland wasn't going to be able to make that happen anytime soon. He doesn't owe them anything. He made that franchise. The question of what his legacy is/will be that socnorb has posed 40 times: what if he never won one in Cleveland because he never got the help he needed? What's his legacy then? Even if he did win one there no one would really draw any different conclusions. Kobe is starting to be mentioned in the same breath as the all time greats when everyone forgets that he had Shaq in his absolute prime and later Gasol and did jack [expletive] in between. Every one of the guys you threw out as examples had tons of talent around them and really only Jordan can claim to have made a franchise in his image. There will never be another Jordan and the sooner people figure that out, the better.

Wherever he chose to go, he was going to have a great team around him where he didn't have to always be the man. That's what it takes to win championships these days. It says nothing about him as a player. Kobe didn't carry the Lakers every night, nor did any of the "alpha dogs" on the last however many champions. All that matters is how many rings he wins. And no one can argue he doesn't want to win. When is the last time any NBA superstar in their prime left contract money on the table, let alone three of them? He also left money on the table in terms of marketing by not choosing NY or CHI. He's also sacrificing chances to set individual statistical records.

He decided Miami was the best place for him to try to win and everyone thinking they know better than him what's best for Lebron needs to step back and respect his decision. Those three guys know basketball better than any of us and if they think they can make it work then they're probably right. You can talk about playing styles and fit all you want but I guarantee you no one would put their money where their mouth is against that team right now.

Also, Dan Gilbert, maybe I could take anything you said seriously if you hadn't just done everything in your power to bring that same awful person you described back on your team.

Like I said, feel free to hate on him for all the events of the past few weeks culminating in last night's infomercial. I personally enjoyed the hell out of it from a comedy standpoint. But I have a feeling once he gets back to throwing down sick dunks and steamrolling the league most people will be back on board and the rest of the people spewing this vitriol will fade back into the woodwork because they don't care about the NBA anyway. The rest is sour grapes from people who either wanted him to come to their team or just realized they're playing for second place for the foreseeable future. Me? I'm just going to sit back and enjoy watching him play.

[redbirdjazzz]

Normally I would just sit back and laugh at all this but it's getting completely out of hand.

Yeah, he went about this in about as selfish a way as possible, but some of the stuff people are saying here and everywhere else is just absurd. Suddenly everyone has an opinion about the NBA and a strong one at that. Lebron is somehow going to go from the most popular player in the NBA to the most hated? And now people like Kobe? Am I taking crazy pills?

Last I checked, every team that ever won a championship was loaded with talent. Cleveland wasn't going to be able to make that happen anytime soon. He doesn't owe them anything. He made that franchise. The question of what his legacy is/will be that socnorb has posed 40 times: what if he never won one in Cleveland because he never got the help he needed? What's his legacy then? Even if he did win one there no one would really draw any different conclusions. Kobe is starting to be mentioned in the same breath as the all time greats when everyone forgets that he had Shaq in his absolute prime and later Gasol and did jack [expletive] in between. Every one of the guys you threw out as examples had tons of talent around them and really only Jordan can claim to have made a franchise in his image. There will never be another Jordan and the sooner people figure that out, the better.

Wherever he chose to go, he was going to have a great team around him where he didn't have to always be the man. That's what it takes to win championships these days. It says nothing about him as a player. Kobe didn't carry the Lakers every night, nor did any of the "alpha dogs" on the last however many champions. All that matters is how many rings he wins. And no one can argue he doesn't want to win. When is the last time any NBA superstar in their prime left contract money on the table, let alone three of them? He also left money on the table in terms of marketing by not choosing NY or CHI. He's also sacrificing chances to set individual statistical records.

He decided Miami was the best place for him to try to win and everyone thinking they know better than him what's best for Lebron needs to step back and respect his decision. Those three guys know basketball better than any of us and if they think they can make it work then they're probably right. You can talk about playing styles and fit all you want but I guarantee you no one would put their money where their mouth is against that team right now.

Also, Dan Gilbert, maybe I could take anything you said seriously if you hadn't just done everything in your power to bring that same awful person you described back on your team.

Like I said, feel free to hate on him for all the events of the past few weeks culminating in last night's infomercial. I personally enjoyed the hell out of it from a comedy standpoint. But I have a feeling once he gets back to throwing down sick dunks and steamrolling the league most people will be back on board and the rest of the people spewing this vitriol will fade back into the woodwork because they don't care about the NBA anyway. The rest is sour grapes from people who either wanted him to come to their team or just realized they're playing for second place for the foreseeable future. Me? I'm just going to sit back and enjoy watching him play.

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