LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

By the way what exactly is the prep work I need to be doing for getting my body ready?

 

Lebron is Little finger, jumping sides as he sees fit

 

Whatever he's doing here.

 

I have to contest that they weren't good enough. They made the finals at 23, and although they lost in 5, if you break down games 2, 3 and 4 - they were within 1 possession with 1-2 mins to go in each game. If Harden doesn't disappear, good chance they win. Then they had 3 years of injuries, met the Spurs super offense one year that would of taken out anyone in history. Their last season together, they had a 73-9 team down 3-1 and were up in the 4th quarter in each of the close out games. Absolutely, they were good enough - two top 5 players in the league. It takes a bit of luck in everyone staying healthy for one full off-season and they probably wind up with a ring or two.

No doubt Durant is better than PG, however PG adds to the Thunder's defence in a way Durant didn't when he was there (he has played wonderful post defence since arriving in GSW though). I honestly see the Thunder's supporting cast as quite good for Westbrook and PG - defensively they can be a real problem for a lot of teams, Roberson, Patterson and Adams are all good to great defenders. They have a few bench pieces that we need to see how they fit in Felton, Abrines, Grant and Kanter. I can't see them taking out GSW as they have too many weapons and a nasty defence themselves, but I can see them being the best of the rest.

Also, it's worth remembering it wasn't just Curry/Klay/Green when Durant and Westbrook had them down 3-1, they also had Barnes and Bogut. Comparing them from a purely Durant vs Barnes/Bogut point is silly, but a team can only get so good with one ball on the court. After a while the law of diminishing returns takes over and I think we've seen that with Golden State. Adding Durant certaintly improved them but not as much as everyone expected. Curry and Klay had to take a slight step back to allow Durant to flourish, they may be better than that 79-3 team, but they aren't twice as good - I'd say somethng like 10% better (10% better on a 73-9 team is still a lot). That's why I still believe some teams can challenge them, that's why I'd love Kyrie to go to the Spurs and Melo to go to the Thunder/Rockets. Load up and take them down! If Durant/Westbrook/Ibaka can get that 73-9 team down 3-1, maybe a PG/Westbrook/Melo, Kyrie/Kawhi or a CP3/Harden/Melo combo can.

Also I forgot to mention, the thunder don't really have that many terrible contracts. Kanter at 17per isn't awful when you compare him to Moz at 16 or some of the other contracts bigs have gotten. Kanter is only 25, is guranteed this season with a PO next year and if he can be relatively passable on defence, he is still a good-great offensive player. There was rumours they also found a trade for him if they were going to sign Rudy Gay. Is Adams worth 25m? No, probably not, but depending how Adams develops his finishing in the PnR now that they have a little better spacing, I see him as a valuable big and one of the better young ones when you take his mobility and defence into view. Roberson at 10per is a good deal for both sides, if he develops a shot he is a premier 3&D guy in the league, if he doesn't he is decent at cutting and a defensive specialist who can harm your spacing. Then they have Abrines, the jury is still out on how valuable he can be, and lastly Kyle Singler, who could be used as a makeshift in a trade or get stretched to a 1.4m cap hit over 7 seasons, annoying but not the end of the world when the cap will be 110m+.

 

Gag reflex suppression.

 

No suppression possible

 

Yeah that would be practical. If I knew how to work on that. This stuff is hard to take.

 

So LLLLLebron took something that was private and turned it public because it didn't suit him?

Nice. Nice to see the media finally calling him out for this stuff. But leaking a story on a teammate to make them look bad because they don't want to play with you - knowing you don't plan to be there next year, and don't want to deal with your crap?

b**** move.

 

On another note:

I just reserved ihatelebron.com

I don't know how that was available, but I may or may not make use of it

 

Baron is former UCLA, and has stayed in shape hoping to get a final shot in the League. Back when Kobe was young, UCLA had legendary summer pick up games we've heard about. Maybe some more are going on?

Otherwise, I can't see BD being the guy to drop future FA type of hints.

 

They should stop that!!!