I blame Kerr for this one, left Varajeao out on the court too long in the first half and Ezeli had no business sniffing the court in crunch time in the fourth. Would look up the plus/minus for those sequences if I wasn't so ******* depressed.

Heck of an end to a series that looked to be over early. Happy for the Cleveland fans.

Posted by bkbillups on 6/17/2016 4:33:00 PM (view original):
Not sure it makes someone a hater to say if Lebron played like he did these finals and the last ones that he would have more rings, but we'll agree to disagree.

I said he would have had one more i.e. Dallas. I can't see how anyone with a straight face could claim the Cavs in 07 would have beaten the Spurs no matter how good James was (and for the record, James wasn't terrible at 22/7/7). Last year, James was pretty damn good and they lost in 6. The Heat lost in 5 to the Spurs in 14 and James was damn good in the series at 28/8/4 on 57% shooting (52% from three). James wasn't getting much better in 14 and the Heat lost in 5.

James was terrible the last couple of games in Dallas. Had he played better, the Heat win that series, but none of the other Finals James lost had anything to do with his play. His teams were just overmatched.

It's not playing "better", it's playing with a different mentality. I think he should have won vs mavs and heat. IMO, he just lacked the killer instinct to put the game on his shoulders and not accept defeat.
Like I said we'll agree to disagree, but it doesn't make someone a hater to expect something more from one of the greatest players to play the game.

All respect to LeBron and the Cavs. They deserved to win. Curry & Thompson did not do much of anything in Game 7. Green was on fire the first half and than hardly touched the ball in the 2nd half. Some of those plays LeBron made (mostly I'm thinking about that block on Andre) were amazing plays. Ezeli and Varejeao should not have been left in as long as they were and Harrison Barnes...I don't even know what to say about him. I hope the Warriors let him sign elsewhere this off season.

Posted by bkbillups on 6/20/2016 1:59:00 PM (view original):
It's not playing "better", it's playing with a different mentality. I think he should have won vs mavs and heat. IMO, he just lacked the killer instinct to put the game on his shoulders and not accept defeat.
Like I said we'll agree to disagree, but it doesn't make someone a hater to expect something more from one of the greatest players to play the game.

This. That's always been my thing with Lebron. He occasionally shows that killer instinct, but it's turned off more than it's on.

Lot of questionable things happened in this series, but Lebron's play was not one of them. Congrats to Cleveland. I said Warriors in 7 & felt stupid after game 2 because I didn't think it'd even go 5 at that point. Wow.

Scary thing is the Cavs really have a solid roster. Tristan is double doube machine. Love can stay or go, but he isnt a bad player at all. JR appears to have matured as much as possible. Of yeah the have a confident Kyrie now too. They can cruise through the east again next year and let the west beat eachother up again.

Posted by pointfwd on 6/20/2016 10:25:00 PM (view original):
Scary thing is the Cavs really have a solid roster. Tristan is double doube machine. Love can stay or go, but he isnt a bad player at all. JR appears to have matured as much as possible. Of yeah the have a confident Kyrie now too. They can cruise through the east again next year and let the west beat eachother up again.

How are they gonna fit Paul, Carmelo, and Wade on the team?

Posted by bkbillups on 6/21/2016 7:24:00 AM (view original):

Posted by pointfwd on 6/20/2016 10:25:00 PM (view original):
Scary thing is the Cavs really have a solid roster. Tristan is double doube machine. Love can stay or go, but he isnt a bad player at all. JR appears to have matured as much as possible. Of yeah the have a confident Kyrie now too. They can cruise through the east again next year and let the west beat eachother up again.

How are they gonna fit Paul, Carmelo, and Wade on the team?

Trade - Irving for Paul

Trade - Love to Boston, Carmelo to Cleveland, #3 to New York (those are the main pieces other parts included)

Wade signs 1 year for the maximum Cavs can offer

PG - Paul, Delly, Williams
SG - Wade, Smith, Shumpert
SF - Anthony, Jefferson
PF - James, Fyre
C - Thompson, Mozgov

and then Durant and Horford go to Golden State and we have a real life War of the Gargantuas!

I don't think I'd trade Irving for Paul. Irving is much younger and can still improve. Paul is who Paul is and he won't be getting any better. If anything, age will decrease his abilities soon.

Posted by wylie715 on 6/21/2016 6:25:00 PM (view original):
I don't think I'd trade Irving for Paul. Irving is much younger and can still improve. Paul is who Paul is and he won't be getting any better. If anything, age will decrease his abilities soon.

It is an interesting dilemma because let's face it, when Lebron gets old the Cavs aren't winning with Irving as the main cog and I don't think Irving has the pull to attract other free agents to Cleveland. So if your Cleveland I think you have to maximize your Lebron James window. I believe Paul does that at least next year if not for a couple more years, so I think you have to make that trade, especially if it leads to Lebron signing long term. The Clippers then fit Irving in next to Griffin and greatly extend their own window.

Yeah, but if I'm the Cavs, I'm thinking I know we can win with LeBron & Kyrie. We just did it. So why take on an aging, more expensive player in Paul? When LeBron gets old, Paul will also be old and he won't have the pull to attract other free agents to Cleveland either. At least you'll still have a relatively young and talented point guard in Irving. You trade Irving for Paul and when Paul and LeBron get old you have nothing.

If I'm the Clippers I make that trade in a heartbeat. They obviously can't win it all with Griffin and Paul, so why not get a bit younger without losing much in talent?

Also, despite the LeBron suckfest in the media, KYRIE won them this series; with his defense on Steph and that sick 25-footer with a minute to go. There was ONE basket made over the last four minutes, and it wasn't made by the self-proclaimed king. LeBron's stats this series weren't that much different from last year when the Cavs lost. Kyrie was the difference.

And Steph owns CP3 like Kyrie owns Steph.

I don't know that I'd say Kyrie owns Steph. he had a better finals, but that doesn't mean he owns him.