3ball
09-29-2019, 04:55 AM
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His teams' drop-off without him shows his greatness
Any team that has 1 big ball-dominator will lose without their ball-dominator (lebron-ball, harden-ball, westbrook-ball, nash-ball).. So it isn't just Lebron - if a team employs the ball-dominant, CP3-Lebron brand, the team will lose without that player.. that's just how that inferior brand works
Otoh, teams that don't have a ball-dominator (most champions) are playing good basketball and moving the ball with or without their top guy... the thing that makes their top guy great, is that he can come back and simply add his elite production right on top without taking away from anyone - i.e. he's elite both on-ball and off, so he fits with any player type and doesn't take way from guys - kawhi has this on-ball/off-ball capability, along with the other Finals winners like curry, kobe, durant, MJ, bird.
He carries weak teams to the Finals
Lebron had the best 2nd option in the conference in 2018, and the best 2nd and 3rd options (super-teams) from 2011-2017.
So he only made it with a weak cast once (2007), when everyone else was doing it too (09' Dwight.. 02/03 Kidd.. 01' Iverson)..
Ultimately, guys like Dwight, AI, Lebron and Kidd proved that a good cast usually wasn't needed to win the conference from 2001-2009, yet Lebron failed in 09/10 and stacked the deck from 11-18' to ensure Finals runs.. So the idea that he overcomes long odds to make the Finals is false - he literally stacked the deck in a weak conference that didn't require a strong cast to win it
(you could argue that lebron made it with a weak cast in 15' in addition to 07', but Kyrie played all but 2 games in that Eastern run)
Comp
1) Facing great teams doesn't prevent you from having great teams yourself that can compete EVENLY/adequately... But Lebron failed to compete adequately because he's 2-5 against the best teams of the era (Spurs/Warriors), including 2 sweeps and 2 record defeats.
2) Lebron had his own Big 3's and only faced talent deficits in 07', 15', 17' and 18' Finals (losing mostly via sweep or record amount).. the only time he overcame a talent deficit was the 07' ECF, so MJ overcame more talent deficits, and bigger ones.. Ultimately, MJ played in a 2-star vs 2-star format, so those teams can't be compared to the 3-star vs. 3 star format that Lebron played in
3) Lebron was compensated for his perceived Finals "comp" by getting more Finals chances via weaker comp in the first 3 rounds (weak conference)
.
His teams' drop-off without him shows his greatness
Any team that has 1 big ball-dominator will lose without their ball-dominator (lebron-ball, harden-ball, westbrook-ball, nash-ball).. So it isn't just Lebron - if a team employs the ball-dominant, CP3-Lebron brand, the team will lose without that player.. that's just how that inferior brand works
Otoh, teams that don't have a ball-dominator (most champions) are playing good basketball and moving the ball with or without their top guy... the thing that makes their top guy great, is that he can come back and simply add his elite production right on top without taking away from anyone - i.e. he's elite both on-ball and off, so he fits with any player type and doesn't take way from guys - kawhi has this on-ball/off-ball capability, along with the other Finals winners like curry, kobe, durant, MJ, bird.
He carries weak teams to the Finals
Lebron had the best 2nd option in the conference in 2018, and the best 2nd and 3rd options (super-teams) from 2011-2017.
So he only made it with a weak cast once (2007), when everyone else was doing it too (09' Dwight.. 02/03 Kidd.. 01' Iverson)..
Ultimately, guys like Dwight, AI, Lebron and Kidd proved that a good cast usually wasn't needed to win the conference from 2001-2009, yet Lebron failed in 09/10 and stacked the deck from 11-18' to ensure Finals runs.. So the idea that he overcomes long odds to make the Finals is false - he literally stacked the deck in a weak conference that didn't require a strong cast to win it
(you could argue that lebron made it with a weak cast in 15' in addition to 07', but Kyrie played all but 2 games in that Eastern run)
Comp
1) Facing great teams doesn't prevent you from having great teams yourself that can compete EVENLY/adequately... But Lebron failed to compete adequately because he's 2-5 against the best teams of the era (Spurs/Warriors), including 2 sweeps and 2 record defeats.
2) Lebron had his own Big 3's and only faced talent deficits in 07', 15', 17' and 18' Finals (losing mostly via sweep or record amount).. the only time he overcame a talent deficit was the 07' ECF, so MJ overcame more talent deficits, and bigger ones.. Ultimately, MJ played in a 2-star vs 2-star format, so those teams can't be compared to the 3-star vs. 3 star format that Lebron played in
3) Lebron was compensated for his perceived Finals "comp" by getting more Finals chances via weaker comp in the first 3 rounds (weak conference)
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