Agree on Curry and Harden deserving it more than Lebron but how can you dismiss Lebron's MVP case by saying that he played "like a lazy fucker" at the beginning of the year while at the same time saying Russ should "probably get it based on ridiculous he's been playing the past month."
No Heat fan validated that claim when the LeBron trying to get Blatt fired rumors were starting. Didnt see it on Realgm or other forums. Also...I'm sure that would have been a big pretty big deal back then right?
People believe what they believe. He didnt sabotage the Heat in order to get him fired.
As I've stated before. Some people dont know the difference between not embracing your head coach and actively trying to get him fired.
As far as to start the season. Is it possible that a guy who went to 4 straight NBA finals, thats known to coast to start the season (the last 2 years or so), dealing with knee and back injuries and just happened to be a real funk on a team team.....
struggled?
No bias. LeBron was bad for LeBron. The Cavs win more if the Best Player played liked he was supposed to be the best player. There were a number of other factors that played into that. The team actually went on a 8 game win streak while LeBron was "sabotaging"
Not to drift off into another topic. But this belief that LeBron is so almighty I dont buy. He can willing play terrible to fire his coach and then have a sudden change of mind to switch back into the best player....is laughable. Maybe he just got healthy. Maybe he finally was able to adjust.
Its a bait topic....and I took the bait. I'm leaving it alone though.
Leave it alone or not, the board got confirmation from one of it's most legitimate sources that LeBron was actively trying to get Blatt fired. Multiple times. We've been given zero reasons to distrust the source and many, many, many to trust him.
You may not have been aware of the conversations had about it here or less likely, just ignored them, but it happened.
All the disagreeing with @Jack Brickman is bullshit. I'll chalk it up to ignorance because I doubt people saw the posts and just forgot.
Fire Balt!!!!
It's especially ironic seeing as almost all of us were pissed at LeBron early this year for his obvious lack of effort on the court and failure to buy in off of it. To his credit, he's now bought in and playing like an MVP, but the MVP is an entire year award, and you can't discount LeBron's play over the first third of the season, or those two weeks he took off to nurse minor injuries.
Curry or Harden (as much as I hate him) deserve the award more, and Westbrook should probably get it just based on how ridiculous he's been playing the past month.
Absolutely. But most of the teams who have had superstars like Jordan and Kobe etc have played isol and won things. The key is not to overdo it.
why does LeBron's first 1/3 of the season exclude him yet Harden's last 3rd of the season, where he hasn't shot .500 once since the all star break, or Curry's last 3rd of the season, where his stats have fallen, are okay?
LeBron took a lottery team and has turned them into the best team in the league. I saw this on RealGM
** Start of the post
Cleveland In/Out
(adjusted for HCA/SOS)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron IN (61 G, 44-17)
+6.7 SRS, +8.8 Offense, +1.5 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT (11 G, 2-9)
-7.2 SRS, -3.7 Offense, +5.2 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron IN, Irving | Love IN (54 G, 41-13)
+7.8 SRS, +9.7 Offense, +0.7 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT, Irving | Love IN (8 G, 2-6)
-5.7 SRS, -1.6 Offense, +5.8 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Post Lebron's Rest | Irving, Love, Mozgov IN (27 G, 24-3)
+12.9 SRS, +12.1 Offense, -1.9 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT | Irving, Love, Mozgov IN (3 G, 1-2)
-5.7 SRS, -0.33 Offense, +7.9 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
*The bolded would be all-time best marks for a full season. Healthy Lebron + Mozgov trade has Cleveland playing at a 73 win pace and a 13 SRS, which would be 71 Pythagorean Wins
** End of the post.
A team with a first time head coach, a first time GM, and who now has only 3 players left from last year's lottery team wasn't going to come flying out of the gates. Lifting them from that to where we are now is MVP worthy.
why does LeBron's first 1/3 of the season exclude him yet Harden's last 3rd of the season, where he hasn't shot .500 once since the all star break, or Curry's last 3rd of the season, where his stats have fallen, are okay?
LeBron took a lottery team and has turned them into the best team in the league. I saw this on RealGM
why does LeBron's first 1/3 of the season exclude him yet Harden's last 3rd of the season, where he hasn't shot .500 once since the all star break, or Curry's last 3rd of the season, where his stats have fallen, are okay?
LeBron took a lottery team and has turned them into the best team in the league. I saw this on RealGM
** Start of the post
Cleveland In/Out
(adjusted for HCA/SOS)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron IN (61 G, 44-17)
+6.7 SRS, +8.8 Offense, +1.5 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT (11 G, 2-9)
-7.2 SRS, -3.7 Offense, +5.2 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron IN, Irving | Love IN (54 G, 41-13)
+7.8 SRS, +9.7 Offense, +0.7 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT, Irving | Love IN (8 G, 2-6)
-5.7 SRS, -1.6 Offense, +5.8 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Post Lebron's Rest | Irving, Love, Mozgov IN (27 G, 24-3)
+12.9 SRS, +12.1 Offense, -1.9 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron OUT | Irving, Love, Mozgov IN (3 G, 1-2)
-5.7 SRS, -0.33 Offense, +7.9 Defense
---------------------------------------------------------------
*The bolded would be all-time best marks for a full season. Healthy Lebron + Mozgov trade has Cleveland playing at a 73 win pace and a 13 SRS, which would be 71 Pythagorean Wins
** End of the post.
A team with a first time head coach, a first time GM, and who now has only 3 players left from last year's lottery team wasn't going to come flying out of the gates. Lifting them from that to where we are now is MVP worthy.
Because I don't think a guy who actively tried to get his coach fired for the first third of the season and phoned in a ton of games deserves to win the MVP. It's that simple.
Actively tried to get his coach fired is a stretch considering it's all based on speculation. And for every game he supposedly phoned in he played like his usual dominant self in two more. The team was playing great with him (18-12) before he got hurt, he was still one of the best players in the NBA before we made the blockbuster trades that saved the season.
Everyone acts like LeBron underwent a major change since returning from his hiatus; the team just got a whole lot better around him. His numbers pre-January 13th (his return and right before the 12-game winning streak) aren't nearly as bad as they're made out to be.
Pre-injury: 29 games, 25/7/5 on 49/37/74 splits
Post-injury: 32 games, 27/7/6 on 50/34/70 splits
This thought he played so poorly in the first part of the season is getting old.
Don't you think you could attribute a lot of that to the fact that the team as a whole started winning? I mean don't get me wrong Lebron has definitely been playing better since the injury, which helped contribute to our team winning more, but he played great before it, too. On/off is dependent on the teammates one plays with, so after the roster overhaul, this team obviously looked and fit a lot better, which would explain why EVERYONE on the team's on/off got better after the trades. Because we were winning with the team we constructed after the trades.ON/OFF splits ( how much they did better with him on the court vs off thecourt per 100 possessions, the cavs have been playing at about a low 90's for reference. )
NOV +6.7
DEC +7.1
JAN +17.8
FEB +20.4
MAR +10.5
and for just plain ON numbers ( per 100 )
Pre Injury +5.1
Post injury +15.8
Because I don't think a guy who actively tried to get his coach fired for the first third of the season and phoned in a ton of games deserves to win the MVP. It's that simple.