NBA 2017-2018 Season thread

[SUPERECWFAN1]

what badwill? who cares what Cleveland thinks?

if he stayed in Miami, they would have attracted free agents and probably won 2 more rings

Im a Knicks fan, we knew he was never coming here but going back to Cleveland.....I never understood it

Well he's a Ohio guy and wanted to win a championship for that city and fans so bad. He wanted to do it and that will make him immortal. He came back , the city is in the shitter due to how bad the Browns are and local economy. Yet he comes back and he wins a championship there. Its like the classic , home town guy returns and powers a team to glory story. And if its over ...he did that. Now to go onto helping himself and getting 1 last mega deal for himself.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

a s**thole city that saw its downtown businesses see a 40 percent drop when Lebron left because no one cared and they went through 2-3 head coaches?

hell of a legacy

There's a lot of people that think it enhances Jordan's legacy that the league's popularity declined when he left. Lebron has a whole city's economy fall apart.

That said I still think you are underselling that when the legacy is written Lebron's hallmark accomplishment will be dragging his team from 3-1 deficit to win a Finals against one of the greatest teams in NBA history. It's the closest you'll get to a Patriots vs Giants in the Super Bowl scenario for the NBA

[daBronzeBomma]

what badwill? who cares what Cleveland thinks?

if he stayed in Miami, they would have attracted free agents and probably won 2 more rings

Im a Knicks fan, we knew he was never coming here but going back to Cleveland.....I never understood it

Lots of wrong to unpack here. Let's take it from the top.

What badwill? How quickly time forgets 8 years ago. I haven't. LeBron went from phenom future of the league to outright villain to openly root against in the summer of 2010. I didn't care much for him, but I at least respected many aspects of his young game from 2003/4 thru 2009/10.

But after the Decision? Overnight, LeBron became, for so many fans not connected to either Cleveland or Miami, the embodiment of "everything wrong with today's players". The Dallas Mavericks, for one finals, were America's team, the David to the Heatles' Goliath. I cannot recall rooting harder for a non - hometown team than I did for Dirk & Co that year. Not that I love Nowitzki that much (He is underrated, tho), but I sport - hated Miami LeBron like nobody before or since. And I definitely was not alone in this.

The Decision also reinforced the notion that smaller - market teams had no shot of competing with larger- market teams for free agents, even their own. Which would be bad for the league. San Antonio is the exception that proves the rule here.

If he had stayed in Miami, he would have watched D-Wade physically break down and his game prematurely age while Chris Bosh get diagnosed for polyps in his lungs. Miami was a sinking ship, in hindsight, and LeBron escaped in time. No more rings were coming his way down there and he knew it.

His going back to Cleveland was about two things: winning and optics. He knew what they had and how he could fit in there to get back to the Finals.

He also knew the "going home" narrative would be the one thing to publicly erase the pain of HOW he made the Decision (He had every right to the WHY as a free agent, but the way he did it on live tv was so bad even in real - time).

Winning a single championship for a loser city like Cleveland did way more for his legacy than 1 or 2 more championships in Miami (which already had won 1 without him in 2006) could ever have done.

And to do it from down 3-1 against the most dominant regular- season team in NBA history? That is the cherry on top.

LeBron was absolutely right to come back to Cleveland in 2014. And he is absolutelly right to leave now, if he wants to.

[Sacred Knight]

I just hope he's prepared for the reality that this sweep will be the last taste of the Finals he ever gets if he truly does go to LA for "lifestyle" reasons over basketball, like Wade implied.

Anyone who still has competitive fire I'd imagine that being a hard pill to swallow. But LeBron and George? That's not getting it done. Not in the West. And honestly its not even a sure thing yet that George is leaving. There's more a chance he could stay in OKC than is given credit for. MAYBE if they were to also land Leonard but I think he's staying put.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Looks like Dwane Casey will be the next head coach in Detroit:

https://sports.yahoo.com/pistons-nee...182420810.html

[daBronzeBomma]

Looks like Dwane Casey will be the next head coach in Detroit:

https://sports.yahoo.com/pistons-nee...182420810.html

Wow, that was fast. Esp for my Pistons, who remain a dumpster - fire of an organization from the top down. Our team owner Tom Gores is never in town, we still have no GM or team president since Stan Van was fired, we have no first - round draft pick, no cap room, a washed -up "superstar" with an insane contract, no big - time talent on our roster whatsoever ...

But, if you forget all that, this is still probably the best coaching hire the Pistons could have made. Casey is a damn good coach. Not championship or Finals good, but eff that, right now just get us through one round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, and that's all we need for progress in the next 2 years.

[HowitzerJoe]

Well he's a Ohio guy and wanted to win a championship for that city and fans so bad. He wanted to do it and that will make him immortal. He came back , the city is in the shitter due to how bad the Browns are and local economy. Yet he comes back and he wins a championship there. Its like the classic , home town guy returns and powers a team to glory story. And if its over ...he did that. Now to go onto helping himself and getting 1 last mega deal for himself.

I never understand leaving in the first place if he wanted to win a championship there. I always felt that he left to make for certain that at worst case scenario he won at least one championship with a quality roster if he couldn't do it with Cleveland.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I never understand leaving in the first place if he wanted to win a championship there. I always felt that he left to make for certain that at worst case scenario he won at least one championship with a quality roster if he couldn't do it with Cleveland.

I think with James he really wanted to win that championship. Its like where Cleveland is now in a way. He was 26 years old , the Cavs had just lost a couple championship games and the roster was nowhere near what was needed to help him. His friends were like...come to Miami. In Miami we all can play and unite to win that championship with you. Lebron could have handled it better but he was young and he wanted to pursue that dream of holding a NBA Championship at least once. And he needed some help for sure.

He likely is gonna weigh where he goes and if he can win that 4th championship. He likely realizes he can give super human performances as we saw this season...but having help works best.

[Hiromi]

James Wade and Bosh had already mutually decided to play together before the offseason that year, but hadn't decided on a team, they went to Miami because Pat Rilely gave the best recruitment interview(basically dumped a bag full of his championship rings on a desk, which was something the Cavs and Knicks couldn't do)

[Scott Taylor]

I never understand leaving in the first place if he wanted to win a championship there. I always felt that he left to make for certain that at worst case scenario he won at least one championship with a quality roster if he couldn't do it with Cleveland.

In the 2016 finals he pretty much won at least two games on his own. I don't think that would have been possible had he not gone to Miami for a few years and learned how to win from the best.

One of the things about LeBron is that he is a very smart player who just keeps getting better mentally at the game year after year.

[daBronzeBomma]

Ok, folks, time to start winding this thread down ... at least until that 2018 NBA off-season thread gets underway.

5 words or less, sum up this past NBA "on-season" (opening night in October through the last Finals game in June, regular season + post - season) of 2017-2018.

Mine would be ...

"More of the same".

Not necessarily a bad thing, but it just felt like a repeat of everything both good and bad from the previous on-season (2016-2017) to me.

You?

[Surf]

Ok, folks, time to start winding this thread down ... at least until that 2018 NBA off-season thread gets underway.

5 words or less, sum up this past NBA "on-season" (opening night in October through the last Finals game in June, regular season + post - season) of 2017-2018.

Mine would be ...

Let's. Go. Pacers.

[Scott Taylor]

My summary is ...

Young, hungry teams on the rise.

[HowitzerJoe]

Jordan Bell was having a blast at the parade. Oakland crowd hooked him up with more Hennessy when he ran out haha. Not a bad rookie campaign to have.

[HowitzerJoe]

Everyone's favorite goon Swaggy P.