Artest: Cleveland Is 'Nothing' Without LeBron

[lilgodfather1]

REALLY?!


Come on guys. Its not that black and white.

Let me walk through this slowly. If Mo was the first option on offense, he would be doubled like almost every other first option is. Shaq still could be effective and IMO would be effective. Moon would replace Bron in the starting line, Moon is a boneheaded guy that plays good D and has great athletics. Andy gets a lot of his points from going to the basket and Bron passing him the ball, same with JJ. The Cavs would be complete garbage without Bron, they would only have two players that can create shots, Mo and Delonte if he doesn't get a heavy suspension that is.

[Knoe Itawl]

There is no doubt that Lebron is Today the player who has the most impact on the game. this is not even questionnable. Put Lebron in a normal-average good team as Grizzlies this season and they will become title contenders automatically. Regardless that being in East is easier than the West, which is more stacked not having Lebron would make the cavs a no-chance team. wether they reached the playoffs or not it would be irrelevant cos u would know for sure they would never make it to the Finals. no way in hell.

Seriously I dont get the point of Lakers fans which try to overrate Lebron's teammates just to make the gap between him and Kobe shorter. Today Lebron is the very best. Everybody outside biased fans are certain about this.

Kobe Fanboys are an especially stubborn lot. Anyone with any sense realizes the talent difference between LA and Cleveland is huge, yet Bron might still pull off the upset (and already beat them twice this year). Give him a team with the talent of LA? It wouldn't even be fair.

And deep down the fanboys know this.

[RaceBannana]

hes pretty much making the case for lebron to be the mvp

Exactly my thoughts.... way to boost Kobe chances for the MVP, Ron.....

[Indian guy]

Agree completely.

Lebron's supporting cast may not be all-stars but they are perfect fits for him. full of shooters and hard working hussle guys.

I think the 'perfect fit' would be the one that actually helps him win a championship. For now, he's got good shooters and a great defense around him. But Cleveland still has quite a few flaws for a contender. An average 2nd option in 'Mo, no true low post threat and severe lack of athleticism up front. Compared to other contenders, they still easily have the least talented roster in the league.

I don't think Artest is too off. Cleveland's a 30-win team w/o LeBron.

[KingJay718]

Duh.

[Cyclone112]

Lebron's situation reminds me of Iverson's situation with Philly back in the early 00's especially 01. The team is mediocre and without Iverson they would have failed miserably but they were built perfectly around him allowing them to succeed and look better than what they actually are. That's no knock on Lebron but people don't seem to realize that and just think how bad they would be without him instead of how much they complement Lebron.

People need to consider how bad the Suns would be without Nash. They are built around him as offensive weapons that generally can't create for themselves and heavily depend on Nash getting them the ball at the right time. Excluding the Suns hot start they are playing sub .500 ball which leads me to believe that this team without Nash would be at like 25wins on the season.

[ctown4eva]

When he got hurt two years ago his team went 0-8 without him (well, he played in one of the games but did not start due to injury and played only 23 minutes). With him they were on pace for 50 wins (61% win rate). What does that tell you? Artest is right. That team would not win 30 games without Lebron. They may not even win 20. Mo Williams as your best player? What Lebron is doing is amazing. It has only been done by a handful of legends like Kareem and Russell.

2 years ago they had guys like Sasha Pavlovic and Larry Hughes playing critical roles, fool.

[LA_Showtime]

No one is disputing the fact that LeBron James does more for his team than any other superstar in the NBA today. What's really annoying though is when people try and say LeBron's surrounded by garbage. He's got a lot of solid role players who can play defense, make open shots, and accept their roles.

[RedBlackAttack]

I don't think Artest is too off. Cleveland's a 30-win team w/o LeBron.

Again... Just because the team probably wouldn't work all that well without the key piece that the organization has built around does not mean that it is a weak supporting cast. The Cavs have been putting together a lineup that best suits LeBron for seven years, now. Of course the team is dependent on LeBron to be successful. That is just common sense.

LeBron is great enough to make any situation work, but I'm not sure there is a better cast out there for working with LeBron's skillset.

[Roundball_Rock]

what is this all supposed to prove...?

if lebron bolts they are not even going to try and put a solid team out there? Replace lebron with danny granger and the team is still fighting for the 3 or 4 seed in the east.

lebron is playing some of the best basketball i have ever seen, but some of you guys are going overboard. its almost as bad as when espn creates random stat scenarios that lebron tops for the sole purpose of worshipping.

#3 or #4 seed with Granger? That would require 55-60 wins. Plus, it is not easy to acquire a elite SF to replace another one. There is no guarantee they would find someone like Granger to replace Lebron. When Jordan left--twice--who did Chicago replace him with?

That was my opinion. What is yours? What teams would CLE> without Lebron?

For all the people talking about the playoffs in the East, 30 or even 35 wins wouldn't cut it. You would need 38-40 wins to get the #8 seed.

What's really annoying though is when people try and say LeBron's surrounded by garbage. He's got a lot of solid role players who can play defense, make open shots, and accept their roles.

Who is saying garbage? No one is saying they would be the Nets without him.

Several people have said the Cavs would be okay without Lebron. Can you name the teams Cleveland would be better than without Lebron? It is easy to say "solid role players", "team D", etc. but when you get to comparing rosters the picture becomes more clear. Chicago is #8 in the East. Is anyone going to seriously argue Cleveland without Lebron>Chicago?

Rose>Williams
Deng>Shaq
Noah>Sideshow Bob
Hinrich>West

There are also some acting as if it is impossible for someone to take a 30 win team to 60 wins. It has happened before. Yes, Lebron is on that level...

[BFRESH44]

if lebron bolts they are not even going to try and put a solid team out there? Replace lebron with danny granger and the team is still fighting for the 3 or 4 seed in the east.

That has got be a joke.

[guy]

I think its funny that Artest is pretty much saying that a one-man show has beaten his heavily stacked team twice. Seriously, what does that say about his team?

Although I do agree with him that the Cavs are not that good at all without Lebron, Artest shouldn't be saying anything the way the Cavs, not just Lebron, have just been flat out tougher when they play each other and thats the biggest reason they won both times.

[RedBlackAttack]

Rose>Williams
Deng>Shaq
Noah>Sideshow Bob
Hinrich>West

There are also some acting as if it is impossible for someone to take a 30 win team to 60 wins. It has happened before.

So... The league is only about how much individual talent you have on your roster, not how well you build around your superstar? Yep... The Bulls may have better individual talent than the Cavs. But, slashers like Rose and Deng would not work as well with LeBron as pure, spot-up shooters do that are best playing off of the ball.

So, who really cares which team has the better individual players on the roster? Who really cares how many games the Cavs would win without LeBron? The Cavs have been built around LeBron and it has been built well. That should be plainly evident to everyone.

[Fatal9]

Nets have a better core than the Cavs imo. Brook Lopez and a healthy Devin Harris would both be second best players on the Cavs. Then you have decent role players in CDC, Yi, Alston etc. Only thing missing would be defense, but a lot of that has to do with coaching, and Lebron's presence would definitly help. Nets would also need to add a couple of shooters to really compliment Lebron well, but I would honestly take a healthy Nets team over the current Cavs without Lebron. How would the Cavs even manage to put up 80 points a game? Their whole offense is gone with Lebron, and they would be stuck with Mo Williams as the #1 option, when he can't even come through as a #2 guy.

edit: like I said...they barely managed to put up 80 pts on a game by game basis when they played those 6 games without Lebron due to the finger injury. Point totals were 74, 82, 70, 79, 86, 92. Record? 0-6. good lord

[Roundball_Rock]

So... The league is only about how much individual talent you have on your roster, not how well you build around your superstar? Yep... The Bulls may have better individual talent than the Cavs. But, slashers like Rose and Deng would not work as well with LeBron than pure, spot-up shooters do.

So, who really cares which team has the better individual players on the roster? Who really cares how many games the Cavs would win without LeBron? The Cavs have been built around LeBron and it has been built well. That should be plainly evident to everyone.

The question is how good would they be without Lebron. In other words, roughly how many wins is Lebron worth?

Individual talent matters, although chemistry and construction can offset a lack of some of it. Did you watch the ECF last year?