Congrats Heat. They earned it as a team and OKC lost it as a team.

Scotty Brooks should be worried about his job. What a lame coaching job.

He just sat there with ZERO adjustments 2 the Heat performance.

The FBI should put out an APB on Harden.

[Edited 6/22/12 3:58am]

Graycap23 said:

Congrats Heat. They earned it as a team and OKC lost it as a team.

Scotty Brooks should be worried about his job. What a lame coaching job.

He just sat there with ZERO adjustments 2 the Heat performance.

The FBI should put out an APB on Harden.

[Edited 6/22/12 3:58am]

Maybe the Thunder should give Phil Jackson a call. I'm being serious.

I heard on WFAN Harden might have an injury to his hand, and that's why he struggled most of the finals.

OKC has a decision to make - do they keep Harden or Ibaka?

uPtoWnNY said:

Graycap23 said:

Congrats Heat. They earned it as a team and OKC lost it as a team.

Scotty Brooks should be worried about his job. What a lame coaching job.

He just sat there with ZERO adjustments 2 the Heat performance.

The FBI should put out an APB on Harden.

[Edited 6/22/12 3:58am]

Maybe the Thunder should give Phil Jackson a call. I'm being serious.

I heard on WFAN Harden might have an injury to his hand, and that's why he struggled most of the finals.

OKC has a decision to make - do they keep Harden or Ibaka?

Harden played like a chump. He has no emotion or expression on his face the whole series. That has nothing 2 do with a hand injury.

They should kep both. Luxury tax if need be.

King James and Prince Bosh!!

I'm very happy for both of them and the entire team. They deserved this and worked their asses off for it too.

OKC had an amazong season and congrats to them too.

Don't 4get King Flopper Wade.

Empress said:

King James and Prince Bosh!!

I'm very happy for both of them and the entire team. They deserved this and worked their asses off for it too.

OKC had an amazong season and congrats to them too.

Graycap23 said:

Don't 4get King Flopper Wade.

Empress said:

King James and Prince Bosh!!

I'm very happy for both of them and the entire team. They deserved this and worked their asses off for it too.

OKC had an amazong season and congrats to them too.

Now, now don't be bitter. LOL - You and I both know James deserved this championship. As for Bosh, I've been following him since he was a youngster with the Raptors. I have a soft spot for him and probably always will.

I would definitely like to see another team win next year though.

Empress said:

Graycap23 said:

Don't 4get King Flopper Wade.

Now, now don't be bitter. LOL - You and I both know James deserved this championship. As for Bosh, I've been following him since he was a youngster with the Raptors. I have a soft spot for him and probably always will.

I would definitely like to see another team win next year though.

Gotta Love James and Bosh. Wade? Not so much.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Here is the thing about LeBron. Bron leaving Cleveland was not the problem (it was a little bit of it.) We all know he is a human being who can choose to lave his job, bla bla bla. At the end of the day, he's a ball player and one of the best if not the best. As the best, he shouldn't be joinin anyone he should be gettin players to join him. As the best, he shouldn't want to join up with one of his top competition in dwyane Wade. He should want to beat his guts. When Jordan was gettin his ass handed to him by Isiah and the hey Bad Boy Pistins, he didn call Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins up and say "hey, if we come together we can beat the Pistons" cause of course they could, but he didn't go out that way. He got in the gym with a young Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and they finally beat them on their way to a 3 peat.

Who the hell wants to go to Cleveland? Would you go to Cleveland?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Here is the thing about LeBron. Bron leaving Cleveland was not the problem (it was a little bit of it.) We all know he is a human being who can choose to lave his job, bla bla bla. At the end of the day, he's a ball player and one of the best if not the best. As the best, he shouldn't be joinin anyone he should be gettin players to join him. As the best, he shouldn't want to join up with one of his top competition in dwyane Wade. He should want to beat his guts. When Jordan was gettin his ass handed to him by Isiah and the hey Bad Boy Pistins, he didn call Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins up and say "hey, if we come together we can beat the Pistons" cause of course they could, but he didn't go out that way. He got in the gym with a young Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and they finally beat them on their way to a 3 peat.

Agree.Well Said but of course the Lebron stans who thinks his perfect do care about this fact. Not that it matters but Jordan, Magic, Charles ALL said this..

If your the greatest basketball player in the league than why can't you build players around you and take your team to a game 7 in the finals? I aint about the bullshit life. The basketball mentality of today is very different than in the past. These players want things and dont want to work hard for them.

uPtoWnNY said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Here is the thing about LeBron. Bron leaving Cleveland was not the problem (it was a little bit of it.) We all know he is a human being who can choose to lave his job, bla bla bla. At the end of the day, he's a ball player and one of the best if not the best. As the best, he shouldn't be joinin anyone he should be gettin players to join him. As the best, he shouldn't want to join up with one of his top competition in dwyane Wade. He should want to beat his guts. When Jordan was gettin his ass handed to him by Isiah and the hey Bad Boy Pistins, he didn call Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins up and say "hey, if we come together we can beat the Pistons" cause of course they could, but he didn't go out that way. He got in the gym with a young Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and they finally beat them on their way to a 3 peat.

Who the hell wants to go to Cleveland? Would you go to Cleveland?

It was fun talking to you honestly but sometimes it seems you are just an over the top stan and are not open to any constructive criticism. Did you read anything LittleBlue typed? He was not bashing James. James is not that competitive.

Graycap23 said:

Congrats Heat. They earned it as a team and OKC lost it as a team.

Scotty Brooks should be worried about his job. What a lame coaching job.

He just sat there with ZERO adjustments 2 the Heat performance.

The FBI should put out an APB on Harden.

[Edited 6/22/12 3:58am]

He is not a good coach at all. Hopefully he gets replaced!

Empress said:

Graycap23 said:

Don't 4get King Flopper Wade.

Now, now don't be bitter. LOL - You and I both know James deserved this championship. As for Bosh, I've been following him since he was a youngster with the Raptors. I have a soft spot for him and probably always will.

I would definitely like to see another team win next year though.

Barring a major injury, I don't see any team in the East posing a serious threat to the Heat for awhile, including the Bulls and my hometown Knicks. I'm hearing Steve Nash or Ray Allen as possible free agent pickups for Miami. That's scary.

As for the Knicks, they have issues - three MAX players who can't play together(and aren't on the same level as Miami's big three), and one of them(Amar'e) is on the downside and has zero trade value. They won't be able to keep Jeremy Lin if another team offers him a ton of loot, Shumpert won't be back until January or Feburary, J.R. Smith is probably done and our owner is an idiot.

Thank goodness for the football Giants.

uPtoWnNY said:

Empress said:

Now, now don't be bitter. LOL - You and I both know James deserved this championship. As for Bosh, I've been following him since he was a youngster with the Raptors. I have a soft spot for him and probably always will.

I would definitely like to see another team win next year though.

Barring a major injury, I don't see any team in the East posing a serious threat to the Heat for awhile, including the Bulls and my hometown Knicks. I'm hearing Steve Nash or Ray Allen as possible free agent pickups for Miami. That's scary.

As for the Knicks, they have issues - three MAX players who can't play together(and aren't on the same level as Miami's big three), and one of them(Amar'e) is on the downside and has zero trade value. They won't be able to keep Jeremy Lin if another team offers him a ton of loot, Shumpert won't be back until January or Feburary, J.R. Smith is probably done and our owner is an idiot.

Thank goodness for the football Giants.

I can only speak 4 my team the Bulls. They are OVA unless they get rid of some combination of Deng, Noah, Korver, Brewer & Boozer. On top of that, Rose is nowhere near as good as his ego think's he is. Shoots 2 much, turns the ball over 2 much, and makes 2 many bad decisions.

Graycap23 said:

I can only speak 4 my team the Bulls. They are OVA unless they get rid of some combination of Deng, Noah, Korver, Brewer & Boozer. On top of that, Rose is nowhere near as good as his ego think's he is. Shoots 2 much, turns the ball over 2 much, and makes 2 many bad decisions.

Will Rose play next season?

uPtoWnNY said:

Graycap23 said:

I can only speak 4 my team the Bulls. They are OVA unless they get rid of some combination of Deng, Noah, Korver, Brewer & Boozer. On top of that, Rose is nowhere near as good as his ego think's he is. Shoots 2 much, turns the ball over 2 much, and makes 2 many bad decisions.

Will Rose play next season?

Maybe in March..............

What took LeBron so long? Saddle up kid, you got not one more to win, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six etc...

(all jokes aside I'm ok with the Heat winning. Clay Bennett don't deserve shit )

Ugh. I give up. I look forward to the next NBA thread when the Finals aren't being discussed. Maybe then people will start speaking like they actually know basketball again.

And in case this post is confusing, like I already pointed out, Harden isn't even 23 yet. He's technically still a COLLEGE player. And Scott Brooks is going to get a LONG extension for the incredible job he did this year. It's like you guys are sometimes watching a different game, I'm tellin' ya.

Cerebus said:

Ugh. I give up. I look forward to the next NBA thread when the Finals aren't being discussed. Maybe then people will start speaking like they actually know basketball again.

And in case this post is confusing, like I already pointed out, Harden isn't even 23 yet. He's technically still a COLLEGE player. And Scott Brooks is going to get a LONG extension for the incredible job he did this year. It's like you guys are sometimes watching a different game, I'm tellin' ya.

Did u see any Brooks coaching in the finals? Players have bad games but Harden did not even bother 2 show up 4 the Finals. That was brutal.

Graycap23 said:

Cerebus said:

Ugh. I give up. I look forward to the next NBA thread when the Finals aren't being discussed. Maybe then people will start speaking like they actually know basketball again.

And in case this post is confusing, like I already pointed out, Harden isn't even 23 yet. He's technically still a COLLEGE player. And Scott Brooks is going to get a LONG extension for the incredible job he did this year. It's like you guys are sometimes watching a different game, I'm tellin' ya.

Did u see any Brooks coaching in the finals? Players have bad games but Harden did not even bother 2 show up 4 the Finals. That was brutal.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did it for five games. His team got beat, badly. Look up the video of the speech he gave his team near the end of the game when he pulled his superstars. That guy is a teacher and he's all class. He has the second youngest team to make it to the finals, EVER. He did a great job this year, including the finals.

It's called being overwhelmed. It's what often happens to 22 year olds who reach the highest point they can reach in their chosen profession. It's happened to MANY players before him. Some would say it happened to LeBron James. A good player will go back, look at their mistakes, get their shit together and come back stronger next year.

Cerebus said:

Graycap23 said:

Did u see any Brooks coaching in the finals? Players have bad games but Harden did not even bother 2 show up 4 the Finals. That was brutal.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did it for five games. His team got beat, badly. Look up the video of the speech he gave his team near the end of the game when he pulled his superstars. That guy is a teacher and he's all class. He has the second youngest team to make it to the finals, EVER. He did a great job this year, including the finals.

It's called being overwhelmed. It's what often happens to 22 year olds who reach the highest point they can reach in their chosen profession. It's happened to MANY players before him. Some would say it happened to LeBron James. A good player will go back, look at their mistakes, get their shit together and come back stronger next year.

Can't argue with that logic................I still don't see how they could not make a simple adjustment 2 cover the three point shoot better. That has NOTHING 2 do with age.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Here is the thing about LeBron. Bron leaving Cleveland was not the problem (it was a little bit of it.) We all know he is a human being who can choose to lave his job, bla bla bla. At the end of the day, he's a ball player and one of the best if not the best. As the best, he shouldn't be joinin anyone he should be gettin players to join him. As the best, he shouldn't want to join up with one of his top competition in dwyane Wade. He should want to beat his guts. When Jordan was gettin his ass handed to him by Isiah and the hey Bad Boy Pistins, he didn call Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins up and say "hey, if we come together we can beat the Pistons" cause of course they could, but he didn't go out that way. He got in the gym with a young Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and they finally beat them on their way to a 3 peat.

Your analysis just don't add up. What NBA rule says that just because you're a top

5 or 10 player you can't join another top player in the game for a common goal of

winning a title? Was their any whining when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Pierce in

Boston. Kobe Bryant that same season was whining to get traded before Pau Gasol

came aboard for peanuts and Derrick Fisher came back. Bron never whined to leave Cleveland. He gave them seven years. He was a free agent period. Carmelo Anthony all

but orchestrated his trade from Denver to New York to play with another star Amare

Stoudemire. Where was the outrage? It is really pointless to bring up Jordan, Bird,

Johnson, Barkley(really as he did the same shit and actually whined his way out of

Philly and Phoenix) because it's comparing apples to orange. These guys didn't have

free agency the way as we know it today in the NBA so we'll never know whether some

of those guys would have joined each other. It would be like comparing Plan B(NFL) of

the early 90's to the current free agency system in the NFL as we know it now.

Graycap23 said:

Cerebus said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did it for five games. His team got beat, badly. Look up the video of the speech he gave his team near the end of the game when he pulled his superstars. That guy is a teacher and he's all class. He has the second youngest team to make it to the finals, EVER. He did a great job this year, including the finals.

It's called being overwhelmed. It's what often happens to 22 year olds who reach the highest point they can reach in their chosen profession. It's happened to MANY players before him. Some would say it happened to LeBron James. A good player will go back, look at their mistakes, get their shit together and come back stronger next year.

Can't argue with that logic................I still don't see how they could not make a simple adjustment 2 cover the three point shoot better. That has NOTHING 2 do with age.

Totally agree. Heard a couple interviews today with Shane Battier where he expressed this very thing. Battier and Miller were able to do what they did because ALL of the Thunders players (not just Harden), were crashing inside to double team LeBron, Wade and even Bosh (which is also how Bosh was so open for dunks a couple times). He even named Ibaka, saying he just never stopped leaving the outside shooters to try and get blocks on the inside. I'd like to know if they were coached one way or the other. My gut tells me they were coached to stay on their man, but continued to try and make big plays anyway. I say that because when they were collapsing in for the double teams there was no offside rotation, which is what was leaving the shooters open. If that was the plan there would have been other players rotating out to the shooters.

phunkdaddy said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Here is the thing about LeBron. Bron leaving Cleveland was not the problem (it was a little bit of it.) We all know he is a human being who can choose to lave his job, bla bla bla. At the end of the day, he's a ball player and one of the best if not the best. As the best, he shouldn't be joinin anyone he should be gettin players to join him. As the best, he shouldn't want to join up with one of his top competition in dwyane Wade. He should want to beat his guts. When Jordan was gettin his ass handed to him by Isiah and the hey Bad Boy Pistins, he didn call Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins up and say "hey, if we come together we can beat the Pistons" cause of course they could, but he didn't go out that way. He got in the gym with a young Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and they finally beat them on their way to a 3 peat.

Your analysis just don't add up. What NBA rule says that just because you're a top

5 or 10 player you can't join another top player in the game for a common goal of

winning a title? Was their any whining when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Pierce in

Boston. Kobe Bryant that same season was whining to get traded before Pau Gasol

came aboard for peanuts and Derrick Fisher came back. Bron never whined to leave Cleveland. He gave them seven years. He was a free agent period. Carmelo Anthony all

but orchestrated his trade from Denver to New York to play with another star Amare

Stoudemire. Where was the outrage? It is really pointless to bring up Jordan, Bird,

Johnson, Barkley(really as he did the same shit and actually whined his way out of

Philly and Phoenix) because it's comparing apples to orange. These guys didn't have

free agency the way as we know it today in the NBA so we'll never know whether some

of those guys would have joined each other. It would be like comparing Plan B(NFL) of

the early 90's to the current free agency system in the NFL as we know it now.

I'm gonna have to agree with phunkdaddy here. LeBron stayed for seven years. AFTER he made it to the finals his owner did little effort to bring in the players that would make that team better. LeBron gave him plenty of time to do it, too. But when he didn't do it, and it was clear he wasn't going to, LeBron went to someplace where those players wanted HIM instead. I think everything he did was fine, OTHER than that damn tv show. The last two years of his life would have been completely different if he had just quitely gone to Miami in the off season.

Cerebus & phunkdaddy NAILED it! Everyone agrees that Lebron screwed up with that silly media circus surrounding 'The Decision'. But all the other crap he gets hammered for is nonsense. Like Stephen A. said earlier this afternoon, "people need to grow up and get some sense".

Yeah it's unfair to think Lebron was acting like a bitch when there were other folks were acting way more bitchy than he was. Give the man credit, he almost gave Cleveland a championship and now he helped to give Miami another one (with help from Wade and Bosh and the supporting cast - I see you Juwan! ). We should just let it go... and give credit to where it's due plus give it up to Oklahoma for a great season. Hope they make the finals again. Or if not them, Chicago.

Im glad you guys well some of you finally admitted to Lebrons screwed up way of leaving Cleaveland. It wasnt the fact that he wanted to leave, it was HOW he did it. As far as other reasons why people have issue with Lebron I would say partially it also has to do with his behavior and responces in press conferences.. dude is arrogant and very conceited but like someone said most ball players are but making fun of other peoples injuries and blaming others for your losses instead of saying I didnt play my best Ill try again next game comes off as childish well at least to me. Trust and believe there is alot more to why some people just dont like his personality. We can agree the guy is talented ( His not my favorite ball player (talent wise) but his talented) but that doesnt necessarily mean everyone has to like him as a person and I feel the backlash he receives is warranted dued to his arrogant behavior over the last 2 years outside of him being a good ball player.

He worked really hard to change a lot of those things this season, but one season isn't going to be enough. He spoke very candidly over the last few days about how he did everything wrong last season. I'm willing to give him, basically, the rest of his career (which judging by the shape he's in will be a long one) before I pass judgement on the guy as a human being. As a player, no doubt, he's one of the best.

However, a lot of basketball players - not all, but a lot - have always had attitude (within the game). They've always talked shit (that's PART of the game). And truthfully, a lot of them have blamed others when they fail. Because in their minds, they have so much confidence in themselves that it MUST BE somebody else causing the problem. That's been part of the game forever. It's how kids come up playing at the park. Everybody else sucks, you never do anything wrong.

The difference with LeBron, for me, is his sense of entitlement. Unfortunately, I think a lot of that was fed to him. "Witness", and all that. Some players grow out of that. Some players just learn to adjust and play the media better (MJ and Kobe are examples of that, because they never really changed). LeBron has sucked at growing into being a mature adult who is constantly in the public eye. There's no argument for that. But I'm still willing to give him time to figure all this shit out.

When all is said and done he may end up getting all the awards, a handful of rings, still being a doucheface. I hope he turns it around and people can find reasons to embrace him. Because I don't really think he's a bad person. It's not like he's freakin' Jerry Sandusky or some shit. He's just a guy who was told he was the best for his entire life, that it was OK to be selfish as a kid because nobody was as good as him, but hasn't quite adjusted to the fact that people want something different from his as an adult.

[Edited 6/22/12 21:55pm]

If I was Lebron, I wouldn't give a flying fuck what strangers think, long as I have family & friends, but that's just me. Just be great and win. To me, he's the best right now.

[Edited 6/22/12 22:13pm]

uPtoWnNY said:

If I was Lebron, I wouldn't give a flying fuck what strangers think, long as I have family & friends, but that's just me. Just be great and win.

Did you see Mark Cuban tear Skip "Douchenozzle" Bayless a new asshole today on First Take? It was pretty great. He said players aren't thinking about what reporters and fans say about them. They just think about being prepared to win. He said a lot of other great stuff, too. And it was about damn time somebody did it. I loved how Stephen A Smith just sat there quietly. Sorry, I'm type-babbling. I just hate what those two have done to that show, so it was great to see somebody who actually knows what goes on tell them how wrong they are.