Hot Air
I’ll tell you what: the Miami Heat’s offseason handiwork has mostly been viewed as a positive for the players and the organization. However, the recent comments directed at Lebron James made by his ‘Airness’, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson show that not everyone is impressed. To paraphrase what Jordan said, basically, was the fact that he would never imagine calling up the other superstars of his generation including Larry Bird or Magic Johnson to play on the same team together. He was trying to beat those guys not play on the same team as them. Magic Johnson basically reiterated the same thing, saying “we didn’t think about it cause that’s not what we were about,” said Johnson. “From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”
Now is this ‘hating’ or is this simply the greats dropping knowledge? I think the truth lies somewhere in between. Jordan and Johnson both have valid points. In their era, the competitive nature of athletes in the NBA was extremely high. In today’s game, not so much. It seems that marketing and money is what drives the players today. So to call the move by Lebron James, who is undoubtedly the game’s most marketable player, cowardly because he could not achieve a championship on his own holds quite a bit weight. Factor in that this quote is attributed to the greatest basketball player of all time, somebody I am sure that Lebron idolized as a kid.
However, I think there are two sides to a story. Did Jordan ever have a good relationship with any of his peers off the court? Short answer, No! Do Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh have a good relationship off the court? They certainly do. So is it unfair to criticize a guy who wants to play with his friends on the same team, especially when they make one of the most talented trios in NBA history? I think it is, to an extent. Lebron has had an extensive amount of time to show his mettle in the NBA. He is a great individual player, but Lebron has shown that he alone is the undisputed leader of his team, that he can not deliver an NBA title. Just look at the past two seasons. His former team had the number one seed in the Eastern or ‘Leastern’ conference as I like to call it, the past two seasons and they have been thoroughly embarrassed in the playoffs each time. The Cavs even failed to reach seven games in either series: one against an Orlando Magic team that got embarrassed by the Lakers; and two, against an aging Boston Celtics team that proved they still had game.
All of that is moot now because with Lebron joining the Heat it almost guarantees that he will win at least one title before his contract is up. The drawback is that is his proposed legacy of being one of the great leaders of all time is pretty much defunct because he will never be ‘the man’ on that team. When you have two future hall of famers on your team, how can you really show your individual worth? In fact, it will be an absolute joke if any of the players on that team win an MVP award while playing together because not a single one of them can claim that they are the reason they are winning because they each will be carrying an equal load. Well Lebron, you have to live with your decision, whether it was the right one or the wrong one, one thing you have assured is that you will probably never ever be considered the greatest player of all time.
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July 27th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Look there is no disputing Lebrons talents. He’s one of the great players of our generation. He will be remembered as one of the greats without a doubt. He’ll win a couple championships with the Heat and he’s marketability will be enormous.
What Jordan and Magic said are both bullshit. Magic refused to be drafted by the Bulls because he wanted to play with Kareem and the Lakers…people tend to forget the shit he pulled back in the day…Jordan on the other hand was never in the free agent market and was surrounded by championship winning players.
What did Lebron have the past few years with the Cavs??? Mo Williams was his second best player the past two years and the year they went to the Finals David Wesley (remember him) was their second leading scorer.
It’s unfair to judge him like the way you have…because it’s obvious you’re just hating on the fact that the Heat will win a couple championships for sure. Also, dont say its bad for the NBA and all the BS excuses that other people make, cause we both know if Lebron or Bosh joined the Rockets, you’d be jizzing in your pants too.
Is lebrons legacy gonna be diminished if he averages 25PPG, 12AST, and 9RBS?!?!? No, he’ll just win the MVP again, cause no one will put up those kinds of numbers.
End thread.
Please do some research on Magic and Jordan and the shit they pulled when they played before believing everything that they say.
Thanks!
July 27th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Now that I read it sounds kinda mean…I wasn’t trying to be mean.
BTW Yao Ming might retire….did you hear about that??
July 29th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
No worries buddy, I don’t get upset about things like that. Yao Ming isn’t going to retire yet. Rockets Owner Les Alexander has seen him several times and he is right on schedule to join the team for training camp. I suspect most of his comments are just posturing for the Chinese Basketball Association. He doesn’t want to play internationally any more but they’ve basically forced him against his will to do so the last several years. If you notice, those comments were made to a Chinese newspaper and then it got picked up in America.
You’re right about Magic. However I was just reporting his comments. As for Jordan and his squad full of championship players…outside of Scottie Pippen who are you referring to? BJ Armstrong? Horace Grant? Will Perdue? John Paxon? Trust me, none of those guys would be where they are if weren’t for Jordan and Pippen. Even in the second 3 peat, the players that contributed the most were drafted outside of Dennis Rodman.
Now for Lebron, when they made it to the Finals in 2007, the East was much weaker than it is now. They happened to upset the Pistons who were the only other team worth talking about in the East. Also Daniel Gibson caught fire in the conference finals. They got manhandled in the Finals by a much better team and Lebron was shut down.
Now for the more recent teams, in Basketball, great players elevate their teams in the playoffs and the Cavs were good enough to have the number one seed in the East the last 2 years and they were heavily favored to win it both times yet they failed. Last year, they had an All-Star in Antwan Jamison and even an aging Shaq in the East can provide enough matchup problems for most teams. So they fielded a team at least worthy enough to at least go to the Finals and he failed.
So I totally understand Jordan’s point, its no secret Jordan is a bit of a narcissist and I suspect his comments were just driving the point that nobody will be better than him.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Oh yeah and Jordan certainly was in the FA market, Jordan just signed one year $22 million deals every year….
July 29th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Only in Jordans last two years did he sign those kinds of deals…previously he had signed a 8 year $25million dollar deal.
July 31st, 2010 at 9:32 am
I don’t see how that is relevant to the discussion. Jordan did sign a deal at market value.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Jordan never was a free agent in his prime. That’s why its relevant!
August 4th, 2010 at 3:13 am
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August 5th, 2010 at 12:44 am
I still don’t see how that is relevant, not being a free agent in his prime has nothing to do with seeking superstar help…even so, I still don’t see Miami as strong enough this year to win a title. They have 3 great individuals with a bunch of has-beens. I wouldn’t call it a ‘team’ but a collection of 3 great players. After next season it will be interesting because we’ll see what kind of players Pat RIley can acquire to supplement his superstars
August 5th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Rajiv….Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, James Jones, Joel Anthony, Eddie House, Juwon Howard, Big Z, and Mario Chalmers are not good enough to complement Wade, Bron, and Bosh?!?!
You’re just a hater.