2021 NBA Offseason Thread

Kawhi definitely looked like the best player in the world in the first two rounds of the playoffs last year, but in the Finals he looked dog tired and half injured. Still great but noticeably fraying. One thing Lebron has over Kawhi is durability — at least if he hasn’t aged out of being a physical superman

Alec Zander said:

Kawhi is overrated and faced an Uber nerfed Warriors team.

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Well that's one take.

Look LeBron is gonna get his shot.

But if they dont win the title this year no excuses. Zero. Hes got his superstar running mate. No more juggernaut Warriors.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

But according to your previous statement, Durant's Achilles tear only *partially* contributed to the Raptors' victory. You think if Durant wasn't out for 5/6 of a series and Klay didn't get hurt that the Cavs led by LeBron wouldn't be celebrating another title or two?

Let's be real here, many RCF'ers (yourself included) are impervious to objective analysis of LeBron after he went to the Lakers, and that extends to pumping up the "Kawhi myth" like he's some kind of "dynasty killer", when in actuality he's inherited the kind of luck (roleplayer on a dynasty coached by the GOAT, multiple injuries) that LeBron could only dream about having.

It's even sadder when Kawhi has had zero of the obstacles standing in his way that impeded LeBron from leading the Cavs to more titles.

That's by biggest problem with this...y'all KNOW it's bullshit, yet your pettiness over LeBron switching teams makes you forget several painful truths about why we only have 1 title.

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Lol.

I love how the "LeBron is never lucky" stuff just sorta pretends he didn't spend 4 seasons in Miami and that he didnt choke in the Finals against Dallas with the more talented team.

Had a top 5 NBA coach and one of the all-time great GMs and instead of sticking it out after losing a series he bounced.

Rich said:

Lol.

I love how the "LeBron is never lucky" stuff just sorta pretends he didn't spend 4 seasons in Miami and that he didnt choke in the Finals against Dallas with the more talented team.

Had a top 5 NBA coach and one of the all-time great GMs and instead of sticking it out after losing a series he bounced.

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That "top 5 coach" and "all-time great GM" have won 1 playoff series and missed the playoffs 3 times in the five years since LeBron left. In the "weak East." Spoelstra has done nothing in his coaching career without LeBron.

7 seasons without him:
Lost in first round
Lost in first round
Missed playoffs
Lost in conference semifinals
Missed playoffs
Lost in first round
Missed playoffs

Dude is 12-19 in the playoffs without the best player in the world on his team. If he's a top 5 coach then so was Ty Lue.

Alec Zander said:

Kawhi is overrated and faced an Uber nerfed Warriors team.

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He was shitting on them in 2017 so bad they they had ZAZa take him out just to win

Morant has had such a good start to the season, very impressive. If he can keep it up Zion would have to have a really great season to win ROY.

It's hilarious to me that the Warriors new arena is half empty while this terrible Warriors team is actually playing well and up on the Celtics early on.

Mr. Orange said:

Would likely have to be a buyout. Or trade picks late in the 2020s. But when you have AD and Lebron you do that. As we have seen, picks can be acquired...Windler, KPJ, etc.

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The problem they have is more cap-related. Who could they move to make room for another good player?

Rich said:

Lol.

I love how the "LeBron is never lucky" stuff just sorta pretends he didn't spend 4 seasons in Miami and that he didnt choke in the Finals against Dallas with the more talented team.

Had a top 5 NBA coach and one of the all-time great GMs and instead of sticking it out after losing a series he bounced.

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LeBron has definitely had some good fortune and some self inflicted obstacles. Sad thing for for us Cavs fans is that most of his genuine bad luck came at our expense. But he also could never commit long term to Cleveland so that made it kind of tough.

But this year? Hes definitely in what I would call a lucky situation. He ended up with AD, let's not forget largely cuz the Lakers got lucky and ended up with a top 5 pick to trade. He doesnt have to face the Warriors or any KD led team, and his overall talent level on the Lakers (in terms of star players) far outshines almost every other team in the league. Hes played with more super star players than most players over the course if his career. So acting like he has not had a ton of good fortune is crazy. If he wins the title this year, theres lots of luck or 'advantageous circumstances' involved including being in a market that a star will force himself to over all other teams.

So yea, because the Cavs got most of the crap of his career in terms of bad luck and Lebron inflicted limits regarding roster construction, I am definitely not rooting for him to get a relatively easy title in LA.

Lets be honest LeBron choked in 2010 against Boston too.

Rajon Rondo was the best player in the series. Not LeBron. And no one will ever forget his game 5 meltdown.

I think it's both true that LeBron has failed at times and that LeBron has been unlucky at times. He absolutely failed in 2011 - that loss was one hundred percent on him. As others have pointed out, he also failed in 2010 (though personally I don't think that Cavs team was good enough to win it all either way). He's also had luck bounce his way - Ray Allen's three pointer saved the Heat in game 6 in 2013 before LeBron took over in game 7.

On the other hand he's been bounced multiple times when he played really well (2009 against Magic, 2014 against Spurs, 2015 against Warriors without Love and Kyrie). 2015 was especially unfortunate with the Cavs' injuries. And that's all before the second best player in the league was able to join a 73 win juggernaut through a once-in-NBA-history cap spike. The Durant to Warriors move basically wasted another two years of LeBron's prime; it really didn't matter how well he or anyone else played - nobody was going to beat a healthy version of that team. That was incredibly unlucky.

Sixers have been really underwhelming this season. They desperately lack outside shooting so far. Like Korkmaz is by far their best three point shooter. Ben Simmons is still not even willing to take a jump shot. Embiid continues to miss games, while looking out of shape. And their late game execution is atrocious. They basically have only two plays late in games - Joel Embiid mid-post iso and Josh Richardson iso at the top of the key. At this rate they will be a second round exit.

Rich said:

Lets be honest LeBron choked in 2010 against Boston too.

Rajon Rondo was the best player in the series. Not LeBron. And no one will ever forget his game 5 meltdown.

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What exactly are you trying to prove by going back almost a decade to dissect LeBron's worst playoff games? Yeah, he sucked in some playoff games. What superstar hasn't?

Hell, you can even look at Jordan for bad playoff games. Bulls go up 2-1 in the 1989 WCF. They stole home court in game 1. Jordan then loses 3 straight. Goes 5-15 in game 4, 4-8 in game 5 (wow Jordan only took 8 shots in a playoff game in a tied series?). Game 6 he goes 13-26, but only 5-12 from the free throw line. Yikes! Got out scored by Vinnie Johnson and Mark Aguirre in game 5.

We're a month away from 2020 and people are still harping on the 2011 Finals. It's because ever since that moment there's nothing LeBron's critics can really point to. Every superstar has had terrible playoff games. There just wasn't 24/7 social media analyzing every second of every game back then.

ACisKING said:

Sixers have been really underwhelming this season. They desperately lack outside shooting so far. Like Korkmaz is by far their best three point shooter. Ben Simmons is still not even willing to take a jump shot. Embiid continues to miss games, while looking out of shape. And their late game execution is atrocious. They basically have only two plays late in games - Joel Embiid mid-post iso and Josh Richardson iso at the top of the key. At this rate they will be a second round exit.

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It's simultaneously the least surprising thing ever and strangely surprising as well. Like, we knew they wouldn't have jack shit in terms of floor spacing and depth, but their defensive ceilling and top end talent is arguably the highest in the entire league. It's just such a weirdly constructed team, when looking at conventional teambuilding philosophy right now.