This Just In - LeBron James Didn't Choose the Clippers
by Steve Perrin on Jul 8, 2010 6:33 PM PDT
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PrintThe reverse mojo strikes again.
I have to say, I was wrong about LeBron James. I really believed that his ego would not allow him to go to Miami - where Dwyane Wade has already played for seven years, is already lionized almost as much as LBJ is in Cleveland, where Wade has already won a championship for FSM's sake. I thought that James' desire to be 'the man' (the one and only man, the indisputable man, the man the man) would preclude him pairing up with Wade, especially in Miami. The two of them starting over together in Chicago? Maybe. James going to Wade's team? I couldn't see it.
Of course, it may not be Wade's team much longer, but for now it is.
And we'll see how it works to have the two players' with the highest usage rates in the league (not to mention three in the top ten) on the same team. Someone is going to have to give up some touches, that much is clear. It's going to be fascinating to watch this experiment, I'll tell you that much. Oh, and I'm glad this team is in the East. Because even if they will have some holes this season, when they start adding MLE players over the next few seasons, this could certainly be a group to win three or four rings over the course of this contract, and we'll see what happens after that.
But I have another thought on this subject, and it paraphrases Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. He said "Greed is good." I'm going to say "Ego is good."
Wouldn't it have been better if this (un)holy trinity had not aligned? There's something anti-competitive, anti-basketball about it, isn't there?
When you go to the playground to play three-on-three, do the best three players team up and destroy everyone? Sure, there are certain advantages. It's fun to win. Winners get to stay on the court and keep playing. So if you want to play, then it makes sense for the best players to band together.
But don't you want to compete also? When you were a kid choosing sides, did you make the best player a team captain, and then give him the first two picks? No. Because that would suck.
Ego is good. Ego would keep you from sharing the limelight with the other best players. Ego would keep a certain competitive balance.
And I thought LeBron's ego would keep him from joining Wade. But I was wrong. I guess LeBron's ego is not as big as I thought (though you couldn't really tell from the TV show).
This is going to be pretty interesting.
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He will never be the greatest
No chance of ever surpassing Michael Jordan now. Dwayne Wade will always have 1 more championship than Lebron. Let’s Go Boston or Orlando or Chicago, kick their asses (and the Lakers too).
Did he?
ESPN didn’t. What did he say? I must have missed it.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
he said
he wanted to thank the six teams. And stuart scott said clippers once
Even the Clippers, those longtime losers, thought they could be a player this summer.
Yep I heard it too
I was surprised! First time ESPN has mentioned us in a while, besides the Del Negro hiring.
lol no, but im assuming since he has to share the spot light.
Unless he gets DWade and Bosh to join in.
Good for the league - current and future contenders need to think hard about what they need to do to beat this team
It could turn into some spectacular (desperate) moves by say, the Lakers…to keep up with the Jones’.
Is it?
Are desperate moves good?
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
i can see teams mortgaging their future or even breaking up their current team...
basically, big gambles should follow over these next few years…
I think this reshaped the league within a few seconds, but I don’t think it’s necessarily good for the league. I think any league would want some semblance of parity, and getting arguably some of 3 best players at the position at the prime of their careers all on one team is NOT good for the league. Just creates more of the “haves” and “have-nots”, and I’m guessing you can tell what side the clippers are going to end up on…
honestly… i dont even really think the lakers would have to worry much. they are probably a better team than the heat right now.
bosh is pretty over rated. so really its bron and wade on the same team. they still have kobe. and the rest of the team is far superior to 8 d-leaguers.
except
they’re not, really. Sasha Vujacic? D-Leaguer. Josh Powell? D-Leaguer. They don’t have any bench to speak of.
im just saying,
if you assume blake starts for them, their bench is odom, walton, fisher and shannon brown or something and probably derrick character and that other draft pick of theirs.
granted thats not fantastic. but they would have a better pg and center starting and their bench would still probably be as a whole better than 8 random guys.
i’d assume the lakers would be able tog et a “vet wanting a ring” just as much as miami could as well…. i mean they already did with blake right.
walton is a D-Leaguer too, he just has a nice name. Fisher would start if they ever signed him. Shannon Brown isn’t a Laker yet either. Odom is a great bench player, but he’s all they have. These random guys are probably about even with the Lakers’ bench minus Odom.
yeah, but hte laker starters are better as a whole. 2 of the starters on the heat will be like shaq and jason williams or something like that..
JWill is still a beasy
The Lakers have issues at PG, Bynum can’t stay healthy, they start Ron Artest, and Kobe is looking to never be the same. They have Pau, who is better than Bosh, but that’s really all. Watch for Kobe to go into a serious decline this year.
Lakers vs. Heat
May come down to Bynum and how good (healthy?) he can be. Of course, Miami will have to stop Dwight Howard at some point. They’ll probably sign four min vet bigs, just to have 24 fouls to use on DHo in the playoffs.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
Miami will probably just sign Howard instead
Do not worry. (Matthew 6:27)
Cant say that i think "DHo" is a very becoming nickname
by Takebb909 on Jul 8, 2010 7:34 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I've never heard that one before
D12, Superman, Magical Beast (I made that one up), those are his main nicknames.
wow
I agree , STEVE…I also did not think his ego would allow him to play with two other superstars, and not be THE MAN. I mean he still is the man, but he’s gotta share it now with another one and a third man. I’m glad he didnt come here, because when Gordon and Griffin’s rookie contracts would be up, we’d be screwed money wise to resign. I’d rather build this team up with the new coach, new gm and high character, hard working youth!!
Wow, Steve - you posted this writeup in like 10 minutes or something?
You must have plagiarized it from somewhere with a quick copy and paste
LOL
Had it written before, since it seemed pretty clear where he was going. Just had to hit enter.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
Nah
We know SP, the infamous “plagerist,” just copied it and then had to hit enter.
So he's this desperate to get a ring?
I hate their ego’s destroy that team.
I would of loved to see him go to the Clips (knew it would never happen) but thought joining the Nets would of been really interesting.
Who Needs Him?
We got Foye, who was traded even up for Brandon Roy, and Ryan Gomes. Suck on that Miami.
I wish we had their problem.
"look, you can find any coach you want, bring him in here and run the situation. But I don't think they are going to do as good a job as I do." -Mike Dunleavy Sr.
by CLiPPz WeRD 12 on Jul 8, 2010 7:40 PM PDT up reply actions
News for LeBron
Rondo>Mario Chalmers and Perkins>Joel Anthony
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
i thought anthony opted out? Guess their draft picks can be signed… who’d they get? pittman, de’sean butler, and vornado or whatever? That makes a 7 man rotation…. haha
They gave Anthony the qualifying offer
Lebron is much better than Pierce, Wade is much better than Ray Allen and Bosh is kind of close to 31 year old KG.
FA in 2010.
time to offer the heat TE for beasley
by cantthinkofagoodname on Jul 8, 2010 6:47 PM PDT reply actions
Lisa Dillman tweeted this earlier today
Beasley won’t be coming to Clippers. Been down that road before, not happening again. As EP tweeted, “culture” was the big word yesterday.
"Smart dudes that know the game of basketball." - Al-Farouq Aminu referring to his new teammates
hmmm
So has he just become the most hated player in the NBA?
by MagnusVonKilgore on Jul 8, 2010 6:47 PM PDT reply actions
poor guys, so mean to give his choice that way
just make sure his whole town hate him for ever
Im glad we tried....
I’m so very very glad he did not choose us. That’s with all scencerity. Don’t think I could have stomached it.
by Takebb909 on Jul 8, 2010 6:51 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
i was thinking about it
to choose us he will have had to leave cleveland, b ut doing it in tv would have been so mean that i doubt i could have rooted for him
as much as i want Kobe to have a career ending injury
back in the day when he flirted with the Clippers I would have rooted for him on our team. Now it’s back to the haterade.
yeah but it didn't have to be like that with LBJ
i mean no decision programme and going anywhere but to miami i would still root for him.
I agree in that going to Miami is the only option he had that I will root against him to win a championship, e
xcept if they play the Lakers because that hate runs deep.
that's what will suck
to root for them if they get to the finals agaisnt the lakers.
lebron james has one more thing to declare....
IM LEBRON JAMES BITCH!
Lebrons argument to go to miami is he wont have the pressure to score all the points
Think Kobe or Jordan would have said that?
nope
not at all. He sure took the easy route to get a ring.
by dulciusXasperis on Jul 8, 2010 7:11 PM PDT up reply actions
No such thing as a easy route
I think Lebron prefers to make the right basketball play and not necessarily having to score himself.
FA in 2010.
Random question
How does a team go over the cap? The main concern with miami now is how their going to fillout their roster. Couldn’t they just buy all the players like what the lakers are doing now, assuming that their not worried about the luxury tax?
Even the Clippers, those longtime losers, thought they could be a player this summer.
For now they can only sign minimum salary players
Next year they can sign players they own the bird rights for as well as rookies they draft and use the Mid-level and Bi-annual.
This year, watch them to scoop up veterans on the cheap during the we surrender buy out phase late in the season.
Shaq also wouldn’t surprise me on a vet’s minimum to start the season.
Coaches don't matter. - Bill Simmons, The Book of Basketball
Thought about Shaq
Here’s got 4 and Kobe’s got 3… would he go there for the min straightaway?
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
Shaq and LBJ
How did they leave it?
And what about Shaq and Miami and DWade?
Does seem to make sense, although at a certain point Shaq becomes pathetic and tarnishes his own career. But maybe he’s already done that.
Shaq is not Shaq anymore
But he isn’t hurting his team, yet.
Coaches don't matter. - Bill Simmons, The Book of Basketball
Shaq would be a good choice
But I think he wants more $$ rather than another ring
Do not worry. (Matthew 6:27)
It just doesn’t feel like LBJ enjoyed playing w/ shaq last year, although I think bosh always said he’d prefer to play w/ a real center. I think they should pick up DJ Mbenga
but you have to root for him, he never gets to play
maybe they’ll pick up sun yue too :)
Miami's plan
Assuming they keep Beasley, and assuming James/Wade/Bosh didn’t take a very big pay cut, Miami only has one choice to fill out their roster: league minimum salaries. They have some second round picks who might make the team (on minimum deals). They have at least seven and up to nine roster spots to fill with minimum contracts. It’s the craziest thing ever. Of course, some decent players, who might be able to make more money elsewhere, might be willing to sign with them in order to win a ring.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
I can't figure out why this annoys me so much...
But I agree wholeheartedly, Steve, that this is just terrible for the game. It’s just not fun. When Boston did it, it was different. Those guys were all at the end of their careers and had fought so hard on 3 weak teams. The Lakers getting Pau was annoying as all hell, but even they weren’t just handed a championship. They had to beat a lot of nearly equally talented teams to get it. This “Bigger 3” garbage in Miami is just outlandish. Why would I ever want to watch LeBron, Wade, or Bosh play now? There’s no adversity to struggle with… no mountains to climb. Just a small step to take, and they’re champions. Then we get to see the fake looks of disbelief on their faces when they hoist their trophy.
And of course, Pat Riley will come down from his perch to coach again, just so he can steal Spolestra’s thunder. The only person I’m happy for is Erik Spolestra, and only because his name is spelled correctly.
The most important thing that everyone in the league should take away from this: if they don’t allow teams to take action before the trade deadline, why should players be allowed to? It’s just silly that these guys are allowed to meet up and manipulate the NBA landscape without ever having to work for it. No one should have that amount of power. Especially not immediately proceeding a new collective bargaining agreement.
@WojYahooNBA Ryan Gomes has signed a three year, $12 million contract with the Clippers, his agent, Bob Myers, tells Y! Sports.
over/under
cleveland ….. over or under …33 wins?
miami ….over/under…..66 wins?
i say…under and under
It is
But player collusion is not illegal
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
Why isn't it?
Anyone know if it’s illegal in other sports/leagues? It just seems like it crosses a line. The line between having dinner with a player to convince them to join your squad, and having dinner with other players to decide which team you all want to go to.
Sure, maybe Wade was trying to convince them to both come to Miami, but then Riley probably would’ve been there too (I’m thinking back to Boston’s dinners with KG and Allen).
I love this
The free market rules
Do not worry. (Matthew 6:27)
In case you guys haven't heard..
Clips will sign Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes. Foye is 3years for $12mil. Let’s hope gomes is not much either
by SamCassellforCoach on Jul 8, 2010 7:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Yup
Over at the fanshots. Need to go back and see if there’s more commentary. A little hard to get excited about it, especially in this thread.
Is SP working on it?
I guess I've always like the underdogs (hence: Clippers)
This is the exact opposite of an underdog scenario. This is an… overdog.
It’s just silly that these guys are allowed to meet up and manipulate the NBA landscape without ever having to work for it.
How different is that from 30 odd men doing the same thing as owners, they create and manipulate the league as we know it. They make more money than the outlandish salaries of the players they own rights to.
by Takebb909 on Jul 8, 2010 7:28 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Because the owners are competing against each other?
Competition is fun; collusion isn’t fun. Like I said, I’m having trouble pinpointing why this bugs me so much. It just doesn’t feel right.
If the owners want to stop this kind of player collusion
All they have to do is eliminate the maximum contract. Let teams pay LeBron and Wade what they really are worth on the open market, and they wouldn’t be on the same team.
owners are not competing against one another. its a club were they sell tickets and all make money.
what happens when a team goes over the salary cap? that pay the equivalent of that amount to whom…ALL of the owners below cap, equally. they share in certain revenues. they collude in how they want this league run and what the rules to participate would be. a new owner has to get voted in by his friends. there is just no “collusion” when all the owners aren’t able to take part. Free-agency is the only time a player has that FREEdom. All other times, once that contract is signed, they are that owners b****. How much does an owner care about a player having to uproot his family to move to a new area when they trade them not a year after telling them they are the future of this team? They are all millionaires+, the owners and the players so its all the same, except most of the times the owners are “bigger” millionaires.
….you don’t think there is any collusion going on when a player or coach get “black balled”? that is the worst sort of collusive deeds.
I doubt its illegal anywhere
How could you possibly enforce that? aside from locking free agents away or cutting their phone lines.
by MagnusVonKilgore on Jul 8, 2010 7:28 PM PDT reply actions
what it means: not the first example
I’m choosing to see it as a logical extension of the development of superteams.
The Lakers were given Gasol, on a roster that already had a number of pieces besides Kobe.
The Celtics put together the Garnett-Pierce-RAllen squad, and managed to hold onto Rondo while doing it.
I give Riley a ton of credit here. I don’t know that it’s going to work, but he didn’t hesitate to go all out and to try to stack the deck. It should work. I suppose I have more respect for Riley than I do for the Bulls. Perhaps this can be seen as yet another consequence of the way the Bulls were less than classy, generous, and intelligent when Jordan was done and they started to rebuild. They made a run, they have some nice pieces, but Riley had Wade and kept him, they got Bosh and then they got Lebron.
It goes back to Wilt joining the Lakers, Kareem going to the Lakers and then getting Magic in the draft and then Worthy. The haves… have.
We root for one of the most have-nots of all time. It’s hard to make things change. You need effort and focus and you need to gamble and you need luck.
Best news I've heard all day... :)
Now maybe the Clippers will stop lagging and start putting their 2010-2011 team together.
http://www.swapshopracing.com
http://www.facebook.com/swapshopracing
http://www.twitter.com/swapshopracing
http://www.myspace.com/swapshopr
They've already started.
We’ve signed Ryan Gomes and Randy Foye.
And are taking a hard look at Brian Cook.
You might want to order your playoff tickets while they’re still available.
I've got nothing.
It is what it is.
The days of hometown loyalty are over. After bron, wade, and bosh structured their contracts their contracts in the way they did, others will follow suit. Can’t blame them, it’s the smart, if not right, move. The draft becomes less important, and clearing cap space becomes the most important part of the offseason. It is what it is.
by SamCassellforCoach on Jul 8, 2010 7:31 PM PDT reply actions
Online basketball is ruined!
Especially if the heat sign AI and shaq. All the players who are way past their prime are overrated in the videogames.
Interesting
Wouldn’t it be interesting, folks, if Miami did not make the play-offs?
by lovinglosangeles on Jul 8, 2010 7:39 PM PDT reply actions
Clippers have a better chance of making the finals than the Heat not making the playoffs.
I've got nothing.
Unless Dan Gilbert...
Tanya Harding’s Wade and Lebron then the Heat will make the playoffs. The Heat pretty much traded Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem and Jermaine O’Neal for Lebron James and Chris Bosh… the rest of the 2009-2010 Heat was just a bunch of waiver players. Once they make the playoffs their lack of quality bigs after Bosh will crush them against the Celtics and Magic. That is unless they convince get some quality bigs for the minimum.
FA in 2010.
They will definitely make the playoffs
unless the injury gods conspire against them and all three of the big 3 suddenly become super injury prone.
LeBron or Bust !!!!
And the celtic and magic
lack of ability to guard Bosh, Wade and LBJ together will crush them against the Heat
The Heat don’t need quality bigs. They just need some bigs and some shooters to stretch the defense, and a couple of backup SGs and SFs.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Jul 9, 2010 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions
They still need some help
If they can get Kurt Thomas, Juwan Howard and Theo Ratliff they will be fine. Nothing good about those guys but you can frankenstein them into a decent center.
FA in 2010.
I know
But a man can dream… can’t he? :-)
by lovinglosangeles on Jul 8, 2010 7:42 PM PDT reply actions
Perfect name for the Miami 3 ......................The sell outs!
LBJ took the easy road and could not hang with being in the west and going head-to-head with KOBE in LA.
Everything starts out New, Gets Old and Dies or is Destroyed.
I knew some Laker tools would show up
Obviously LeBron isn’t really worried about Kobe. LeBron is actually putting winning over being “the man”.
He is the anti-Kobe.
Do not worry. (Matthew 6:27)
Great for the game, the East adds another blue chip team
The Lakers have more competition, albeit most of their biggest threats reside in the Eastern Conference now.
1.MIA
2.BOS
3.ORL
4.CHI
5.ATL
6.MIL
7,PHI
8.CHA/WAS
Can’t even begin to handicap the West after LAL, it’s going to be crazy in the West next year.
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