LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

It was more of a joke than anything. I realize Lebron will do the same to pretty much anyone he plays.

 

Sorry the Cavs are indeed weak. This is why they are the 4 seed in the East. Worst team Lebron has had . . . maybe since his earliest days in Cleveland. If they are so good why is he having to average over 40 minutes a game to keep them afloat? He is playing monstrously right now. Not sure what you are watching.

 

100% LJ.

I can't remember the last time I watched a LeBron team that was this bad. No Kyrie, no Wade, no Bosh. The only player worth anything on his team is Love and everything after that is BAD.

 

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/05/...ending/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Mark Heisler on Bron to the Lakers rumors:

Remember the good old days when the river running through Cleveland was best known for catching fire, but at least they still had LeBron?

Cavaliers fans had another heart-stopping moment last week with LeBron James facing another free agent crossroads and a Game 7 in the first round, before finally getting past the Pacers.

Happily for the Cavs, they’re in the East, so even in their diminished state as No. 4 seeds, they’re capable of beating the No. 1 Raptors, whom they lead, 2-0, and the No. 2 C Bags without Kyrie Irving. Unhappily the relationship between owner Dan Gilbert and James has frayed to the point that keeping him looks like a long shot.

The Lakers, consensus favorites in the Bron Derby with their two maximum salary slots, needed a bunch of things to go right to get to his position… a worthy challenge for an organization reeling from years of misadventures (Kobe Bryant’s career-truncating injury; David Stern spiking their Chris Paul trade; the acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash; losing Julius Randle for the season in his first game; the Jeanie-Jim Buss split; D’Angelo Russell outing Nick Young; LaVar Ball running his mouth on Luke Walton, et al.)

— The young players forming the core of a team coming off seasons with loss totals of 55-61-65-56 had to finally be ready to compete.

Check.

With Randle, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma making quantum leaps and Lonzo Ball showing promise, they won 35 games the impressive way, starting 11-27, finishing 24-20.

— Magic Johnson had to clear two max slots, not just one, since Bron wasn’t coming by himself.

Check.

Trading local faves Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. accomplished that. They may even be able to re-sign Randle in addition if they get Luol Deng’s money off their cap by packaging in a deal with their first-round pick from Cleveland.

— Events had to play out so that James and Paul George had no better option.

Check … more or less … since only Bron and George can decide that.

(I’m assuming Gregg Popovich isn’t trading Kawhi Leonard to the Lakers, come hell or high water. If I’m wrong, Kawhi’s No. 2, or No. 1).

Hope, if not euphoria, still reigns in Cleveland where James, playing brilliantly at 33, could well carry the Cavs back to the Finals, even if they figure to be roadkill for the Warriors or Rockets.

Unfortunately for the Cavs, things have gone so far, winning a title might not bring Bron back.

James returned from Miami in 2014, not because of anything the Cavs did — they didn’t even approach him, instead hiring David Blatt to develop their young players — but because he wanted to come home. Gilbert had only to make the trip to Miami to acknowledge his regret at his screeching rant at Bron’s “cowardly betrayal” in 2010.

What followed was a three-year honeymoon, chaotic as it was, with the Cavs facing the Warriors in three Finals in a row and in the dramatic zenith of franchise history, coming from 3-1 behind to win in 2016.

Cleveland got a new, cool nickname—“The Land”–which a rap group invented but James popularized, starting a new fashion trend among NBA cities (“The Town” for Oakland, “The District” for Washington).

Nevertheless, the relationship between James and Gilbert deteriorated as before as the owner, an all-world meddler continued firing coaches and GMs, several of whom LeBron stood up for afterward. Signaling his displeasure last summer, Bron acknowledged to GQ that he thought Gilbert’s 2010 letter had racist overtones.

Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving, the sidekick LeBron needed who had hit the title-winning shot in 2016, was asking to be traded, possibly because he didn’t want to be the one left behind if Bron departed in a year.

What’s remains is modest. The mid-season trades for Clarkson, Nance, George Hill and Rodney Hood were supposed to make them more athletic and better defensively. Only Hill starts, suggesting they don’t see the others as good fits with James.

Kevin Love, a 20-10 guy when they acquired him in 2014, has devolved over years of role playing. He averaged 11.9 points against the Pacers–the only Cavalier besides LeBron in double figures.

The Cavaliers have already ducked one cannon ball in the first round in which they lost Game 1 at home to the Pacers by 18 points, sending the internet into a week-long convulsion, alternating between its fondness for forecasting what would happen based on freshly-constructed mathematical models (“analytics”) and becoming hysterical about what did happen.

The Ringer, Bill Simmons’ site, produced data showing that home teams that had lost Game 1 by 18 or more points had lost the series in 89.9% of the cases.

Or in other words, “For Once, History Is Not on LeBron’s Side.”

When the Cavs lost Game 6 in Indiana — by 34 points — everyone went into Possible Farewell Mode, asking James if he would devote any thought to the possibility that Game 7 might be his last as a Cavalier.

“Naw,” said James. “The thought that if we don’t play well, it will be my last game of the year, that will probably hit my mind but I haven’t thought about that [farewell].”

Of course, he could go through this process two more times in the next two rounds if the Cavs make it that far.

Then and only then, we’ll see. For the Lakers, as the guy who fell off a roof was heard to say at every floor, so far, so good.

 

Lol, LeBron just ended the Raptors. Second buzzer beater game winner of this playoffs. I hate on the man for fun all the time, but even I’m not blind, this is one of the best playoff performances through 2 rounds I’ve ever seen.