LeBron James

[theSTEREO.]

What matters the most to me....

LeBron decision or coaching/executive decision to sit him?

This x1000...

 

[KI4MVP]

I did some browsing at stats.nba.com

Around here LeBron is being portrayed as guy pounding the ball while Kyire is the guy running the offense.

The first stat I looked at is time of posession.

LeBron 26th in the league at 5.9 minutes/game (you'd think he was first reading the threads)
Kyrie is 27th in the league at 5.8 minutes/game

Kyire has 4 more passes/game - 60.9 vs 56.7, LeBron creates more points with his passes - 17.5 vs 12.2. LeBron also scores more points per touch (his own points), 0.297 vs 0.234.

When you factor in taking more shots and getting to the line more, LeBron really doesn't hold onto the ball any longer per posession than Kyrie and generates more points for the team per touch.

Note that I'm not trying to criticize Kyrie at all, just pointing out how overboard the criticism of LeBron has gotten. Even though there are 25 players in the league who have the ball more than LeBron, only two of those players scores more points per possession and neither of those two players produces more points with passes.

 

[Maximus]

What matters the most to me....

LeBron decision or coaching/executive decision to sit him?

My guess is it's a little bday rest, a little pouting, a little "let's see how you do without me". If he sits, it's a smart move to pick a game where we are playing the best team in the East who recently trucked us at home.

 

[mrbeaks]

My guess is it's a little bday rest, a little pouting, a little "let's see how you do without me". If he sits, it's a smart move to pick a game where we are playing the best team in the East who recently trucked us at home.

But it also gives Kyrie incentive to show how good the team can be if they run Blatt's offense. This is going to be fun! (We'll probably lose by thirty.)

 

[Simon]

 

[KI4MVP]

The Cavs could be as good or better right now without Lebron and Love depending who was signed in their place. I never thought I'd say that before the season started. If the Cavs didn't sign Lebron they would have signed Hayward or Parsons. That would have been a good team. Considering the East, they'd be at least 18-12.

Would you have expected Love's PER to drop so precipitously playing with Lebron? Would you have expected Kyrie's PER to go down playing with Lebron? The Cavs playing together as unit would be better than Lebron playing half-assed by himself. We won't have solid data on this until he finally takes some games off.

It gets to a point where a guy's gifts aren't worth the continued selfishness. I'd rather watch guys grow and give a sh*t than a guy turn the ball over 7 times in an effort to covertly undermine his coach.

Utah would have matched Hayward (how has carried them to a 10-21 record)
And why would Parsons pick our 33-49 team over 49-33 Dallas?

And didn't both guys sign before we even knew we were getting LeBron? Miami found out the same day we did where LeBron was going and all they could manage to sign was Deng and they've fallen from .659 last year to .438 this year (a .221 drop). We lost Deng and added LeBron, we've gone form .402 last year to .600 so far this year (a .198 improvement).

When you put 3 top guys together, you expect individual stats to drop. It happened in Boston when they got KG and Allen, it happened in Miami (they got 3 of the top 4 in PER from the prior season). Why were we supposed to be any different?

Kobe's best scoring season he was a first round exit.
Jordan's best scoring season he was a first round exit.
Love's best scoring season he couldn't make the playoffs.

Most players are okay if their individual stats drop some and the team is winning.

Kyrie has never been more than 1 game over .500 before this season.
Love has never been more than 3 games over .500 before this season.
Tristan has never been more than 1 game over .500 before this season.
Dion has never been more than 1 game over .500 before this season.

None of them have ever been over .500 more than 20 games into a season before.

 

[godfather]

Is it impossible for people just to enjoy LBJ? I'll give you that he's not the same player he once was, but positing that this team would be better sans Lebron is mind boggling. He is still the best player in the NBA, if you want to go by stats still top-3. And for everyone saying he has been detrimental to this team look at how much better Kyrie and Dion are playing this year. They are playing team ball. Without LBJ we don't have Mike Miller, Kevin Love, and Shawn Marion. We have Anthony 'Asthma' Bennett and Andrew 'The Rookie' Wiggins.

I don't think anyone is questioning LeBron the talent. I never get this notion, you're not allowed to call out, or heck, be critical of a player, because he's great. Even if he's the best in the game.

I mean, is it so much to ask the guy to not throw the head coach under the bus basically, undermine him, and create a controversial vibe in the locker room?

Or just to you know, play hard every night, and send a positive message to the team?

He has no right, to call out coaches, players, etc, when he HIMSELF is not always playing good basketball. Good basketball for what we've come to expect from him at least. We are judging him on a far different level, than we would others, because he is the best in the game.

I never like this "look he's still this, that, etc" argument, as to say we should just put up with whatever he's willing to give us, because he's such a great player. LeBron doesn't have to give 100% effort, and he will still be one of the best in the game, because he's that talented.

I don't know if he's completely healthy, and maybe that's a legit issue, I'm not going to fault the guy if that's the case. But let's be real, he's not exactly being the leader that we really need right now either.

I just don't like hearing reports, that might be BS, but still where there's smoke, there is usually fire, that he "could" leave. Even if its just a strong arm tactic to put pressure on the front office.

I don't like what he's doing to David Blatt. He doesn't have to respect the guy, but if he's going to create a wedge between him, then we are in serious trouble. And that's just a terrible thing for him to do to this team right now.

I'd like the guy to take more accountability, and not always look to point the finger elsewhere. He seems like the personality, that needs everything to go exactly how he likes. And if he doesn't, he's going to use/abuse his power because of it.


I'm tired of it too. I don't want him to leave, or go away. I just wish the guy would be the leader on and off the court that this team desperately needs him to be!

 

[DatDudeZ3]

I personally don't think LeBron will sit on his birthday, but we will see... But then again, you can't go against what Max says..

 

[theSTEREO.]

My guess is it's a little bday rest, a little pouting, a little "let's see how you do without me". If he sits, it's a smart move to pick a game where we are playing the best team in the East who recently trucked us at home.

Oh man, if we suddenly see a healthy dose of properly executed Blatt sets, the outcome of the game is gonna make things very interesting.

And by interesting, I pretty much mean "wanna puke" either way cuz this sucks.

 

[gopre]

Oh man, if we suddenly see a healthy dose of properly executed Blatt sets, the outcome of the game is gonna make things very interesting.

And by interesting, I pretty much mean "wanna puke" either way cuz this sucks.

Your sig is amazing, and sad...

 

[theSTEREO.]

Your sig is amazing, and sad...

I'm just bitter at the moment. I hope I have reason to delete it within the week.

 

[mrbeaks]

Oh man, if we suddenly see a healthy dose of properly executed Blatt sets, the outcome of the game is gonna make things very interesting.

And by interesting, I pretty much mean "wanna puke" either way cuz this sucks.

If the team plays well and beats a surging Hawks team, I will be nothing but overjoyed because a) my team won, b) I'll get to see Blatt's offense executed by players with no hidden agendas and c) LeBron's camp will once again look like a pack of sullen, manipulative children. Then, hopefully, as he did in Miami, he'll cease with the political nonsense and start playing like a goddamn MVP.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Would Lebron would really openly sit out a game he could play in to prove a point to the media + Blatt...I just don't see it, not this early in the season. Unless he just REALLY wants Blatt gone and gone now, just not seeing it.

Either way this is bad long term for us, because say our guys run the Blatt sets and win @ ATL, Lebron isn't going to just suddenly cave and admit he was wrong. The $ Lebron creates give him the power to pretty much do whatever the hell he wants, including influencing trades, coaching staff, and rotations and he knows it. Blatt will NEVER win that battle of wills period no matter how it plays out on the floor.

 

[godfather]

LeBron will never admit he's wrong. He had no choice in Miami, because he hadn't won. Wade and Riles had rings.

We don't have that cache at all, he came back to run things HIS WAY. And boy, it's turning out to be a disaster. I know we're a better team than last year, but this team is not playing even close to what they should be. I never thought they were a title contender, but they should be a hell of a lot better than what they are at this point.

When your superstar can literally do whatever he wants, you're not going to build a healthy foundation of championship basketball.

LB is ONE GUY! You can't live on him alone. I think we should have hired someone with cache, the minute LB decided to come home. Whether it was some special adviser, just someone else, another voice, LeBron would be willing to listen to. Someone that's done things in this league, and someone LeBron would have no choice but to respect that person.

There's probably no one in this organization he respects enough that he'd probably truly listen to. It certainly isn't going to be David Griffin (who he probably never even heard of), certainly not Gilbert, and obviously not David Blatt.

I'm not saying LB can't have a voice, and a very strong one in this organization. I get it, he's a superstar. He's earn the right to have a large say in things. But we've unleashed a beast in where I think his voice is the only one that matters, and boy, is that a scary way to run things.

 

[Kbiz]

Happy Birthday, Lebron James. No birthday cake for you but please feel free to dine on some pie...