#6 LeBron James

[Kevin Greene]

Its the truth. Read up on Bird. Unlike Magic, he wasnt afraid of the challenge of going to a sorry 30 win team and turning it around as a rookie. His first season in Boston he increased their win total 30 games (giving them the best record in the league) and led them to the Eastern Conference Finals. Keep in mind, this is before McHale and Parrish arrived. Might be a big reason why he won Rookie Of The Year over Magic. And Bird won a title the next season. Its a slap in the face to Bird or any other #1 pick who goes to a sorry ass team to imply Magic did the same thing or had the heart/desire to. He did not. He even told us so himself.

Heat win by 30 tonight. Bounce back strong after the Laker loss. How did those Lakers fare tonight after that huge win on Sunday?

Actually Larry did struggle with the challenge both in College and then waiting a year to join the Celtics after his senior season, when he had no where else to go.

Bird found the transition to college life difficult. He started out as an Indiana Hoosier but later left the school and team coached by the legendary Bobby Knight's team. Then he left the local junior college, Northwood Institute. Finally Bird enrolled at Indiana State, which had posted 12-14 records in each of the two previous years and where the pressure was not quite the same as at Indiana, a perennial Big Ten power and national title contender.

Home-game attendance hovered around 3,100 when Bird arrived at Indiana State, but as he had done in Springs Valley, Bird single-handedly packed the house and elevated his team to respectability and more. He averaged better than 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Sycamores during his first campaign. Season-ticket sales tripled. TV stations showed film clips of Bird instead of commercials. Students skipped class to line up for tickets eight hours before tipoff.

"Larry Bird Ball" was the most popular sport in Terre Haute.

The Sycamores went undefeated and reached No. 1 in Bird's senior year--that is, until a Michigan State team featuring a 6-9 guard named Earvin "Magic" Johnson knocked them off in the 1979 NCAA Championship Game, one of the most widely watched showdowns in basketball history. Bird was named the 1978-79 College Player of the Year and left ISU as the fifth-highest scorer in NCAA history. The Sycamores had gone 81-13 during Bird's three-year career. The Boston Celtics had selected him in the 1978 NBA Draft, hoping that Bird, who had become eligible for the NBA after his junior year, might forgo his senior season-but knowing he was worth the wait even if he didn't. In 1977-78 the Celtics had compiled a 32-50 record, their worst since 1949-50. When Bird elected to return to Indiana State for one more year the Celtics dipped to 29-53, but Bird finally came to Boston for the 1979-80 campaign and sparked one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NBA history.

Oh yeah, there's that horrible Earvin guy mentioned again as well. ;)

http://www.nba.com/history/players/bird_bio.html

[Kevin Greene]

"I'd have stayed in school," he said here Tuesday, standing alone outside Gate 3 1/2 of Chicago Stadium, the house that could have been his. "A coin toss changed the course of my whole life." Chicago called heads in a 1979 coin flip with Los Angeles for the No. 1 pick in the NBA college draft. It came up tails.

Johnson signed with the Lakers after his sophomore year of college and proceeded to win five championships. The Bulls picked second, took UCLA's David Greenwood and have won no championships.

"I wouldn't have played here," Johnson said on the eve of Game 2 of the NBA finals between his team and the team that could have been his. "The only reason I came out was to play with Kareem and the Lakers."

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-06-05/sports/sp-83_1_lakers

Magic, Bird, Michael, Barkley, Malone, etc. All these dudes from the 80s are so lucky they dont play today. On the court they are far superior to today's players, but off the court they werent no different in a lot of ways and a bigger mess in others. Magic's lucky we didnt have a 24 hour sports news cycle/twitter/etc to hold him accountable for such statements and remind people of his and his fans hypocrisy. Magic wanted no parts of going to a sorry 30 win Bulls team at that time. He wanted to be Kareem's "sidekick".

So what you're really saying is Magic would have done what Larry did do his senior year?

[King Taharqa]

Actually Larry did struggle with the challenge both in College and then waiting a year to join the Celtics after his senior season, when he had no where else to go.

Oh yeah, there's that horrible Earvin guy mentioned again as well. ;)

http://www.nba.com/history/players/bird_bio.html

Interesting how the NBA allowed teams at that time to draft a player, for example Bird, prior to them declaring. And allowing that team to retain his rights. Imagine if the NFL did that. :eek:

For the record KG, Bird & Magic are 2 of my favorite players. Magic is my favorite PG of all time. And while most people like to mention Mike & Kobe when it comes to LeBron, I've always said he should "chase" Bird. The things he was able to accomplish as a small forward were incredible. He's also had some of the greatest Finals performances from the 3 position.

[Kevin Greene]

=King Taharqa;3601499]Interesting how the NBA allowed teams at that time to draft a player, for example Bird, prior to them declaring. And allowing that team to retain his rights. Imagine if the NFL did that. :eek:

For the record KG, Bird & Magic are 2 of my favorite players. Magic is my favorite PG of all time. And while most people like to mention Mike & Kobe when it comes to LeBron, I've always said he should "chase" Bird. The things he was able to accomplish as a small forward were incredible. He's also had some of the greatest Finals performances from the 3 position.

Ironically, Kobe would agree with you, he doesn't consider the current crop of "NBAers" to be his rivals.

According to Kobe, those who were once considered rivals faded away, and the current crop of stars is too young and haven’t won enough rings to truly measure up. From ESPN: “Despite Bryant’s acknowledging that it’s not just another game, he wouldn’t characterize his relationship with LeBron James as a rivalry. ‘Not for me,’ Bryant said. ‘I get up for everybody just the same, to be honest. It’s hard for me to turn my meter up any higher than it normally is.’ OK, Bryant was asked, how about Dwyane Wade? [...] ‘He’s too young,’ Bryant said. ‘He’s too young. When I came into the league, he was in elementary school.’ Bryant is three years older than Wade, but was already a seven-year veteran when Wade was drafted in 2003. Bryant said it is ‘a little late in the game’ for him to develop a rivalry with any current NBA player, so instead he is chasing names in the record books rather than in box scores from the 2011-12 season. ‘At this point my rivals, in terms of what I have left to accomplish in my career, (left the game) when Magic (Johnson) and Michael (Jordan) retired in ’98,’ Bryant said, referring to the second of Jordan’s three retirements that came after he won his sixth and final championship with the Chicago Bulls. ‘That’s it. In terms of what I’m looking to accomplish, that’s about it.’ [...] ‘What I have left to accomplish, those players retired a long time ago,’ Bryant said. The San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan won four championships to Bryant’s five throughout their shared careers, but Bryant said while the Spurs might have qualified as a team rival to his Lakers, Duncan’s individual rivalry came against Shaquille O’Neal as a fellow big man. ‘He was never in my position,’ Bryant said. ‘He was more Shaq’s rival than mine. As a team, the Spurs were always a team that we had to go through. So from that standpoint, yes, but in terms of personally, no. I’ve outgrown them all, from A.I. (Allen Iverson) when I first came in to (Tracy) McGrady to Vince Carter and so forth and so on.’”]

This is one of the things that made the Celtics/Lakers, Bird/Magic battles so compelling, They had each other at the peak of their careers to carry out their duels on the NBA stage togehter. They live and died beating each other.

They were Ali/Frazier on the basketball court. :)

Lebron is young enough to find his nemesis, maybe Kevin Durant. They just need to show us.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/03/kobe-bryant-doesnt-think-hes-ever-had-a-rival-in-the-nba/

[King Taharqa]

He's right, him and James and him and D Wade are at different points of their career so its not like a Magic-Bird type rivalry. But I think he's trying too hard when he acts like he doesnt get up a little when he faces LeBron in primetime. I'll also add the main rival in his career was his teammate. How quickly he forgets.

[Kevin Greene]

Interesting how the NBA allowed teams at that time to draft a player, for example Bird, prior to them declaring. And allowing that team to retain his rights. Imagine if the NFL did that. :eek:

Yeah I cant remember the CBA back then KT. Obviously Boston retained Bird's rights when they drafted him as a Junior.

I'm guessing you couldn't draft a sophomore like Magic was unless they had declared.

And when the Lakers won the coin toss, Magic declared. :confused5:

[King Taharqa]

With Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton sitting courtside watching, LeBron James drops 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks to lead the Heat past visiting Atlanta Hawks. LeBron moved up to #55 on the all time scoring list ahead of Rick Barry.

[King Taharqa]

Wade: LeBron should be DPOY candidate

MIAMI (AP)—It happens fairly regularly at games in Miami, a moment when LeBron James gets serenaded by chants of “M-V-P” from the Heat crowd.

Dwyane Wade thinks those fans are only getting it half right.

James is a leading candidate to be the league’s MVP this season, an award that would be his for the third time in four years. He’s on pace to become one of the top 50 scorers in NBA history by early April, and is the only player in the league ranked among the top 25 in points, steals, rebounds and assists per game this season.

But Wade thinks James shouldn’t just be in the MVP conversation—he’s advocating him for defensive player of the year as well.

“The guy guards any position and does it every night,” Wade said of James, who plays inside and on the perimeter at the offensive end. “I think he should be in the discussion for that.”

Case in point, the way the Heat closed out the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.

There were times down the stretch where James would be matched up against Josh Smith—a strong forward, roughly James’ size—and times when he found himself guarding speedy Hawks guard Jannero Pargo. That’s been a trend for as long as anyone can remember with James, who has even had some late-game success when guarding reigning MVP Derrick Rose of Chicago, a point guard.

Asked if he’d rather win MVP again or defensive player of the year for the first time, James paused and thought for several seconds before answering.

“It would mean a lot to be considered defensive player of the year—a lot,” James said. “I know how much I’ve put into it and I know I don’t get the 15 rebounds a game, the 13 rebounds a game, I don’t get the 3.5 blocks per game as well and I know that plays a big part in defensive player of the year. For me, I take just as much pride on defense as I do on offense. And that’s every night.”

Getting James to say even that much about any postseason award takes a bit of doing. Whenever Wade tries to engage James in MVP talk, it’s usually a one-sided conversation.

Even among friends, James doesn’t want to say much.

“He won’t talk about it,” Wade said. “I bring it up and he says, `I don’t really care.’ But I want him to get it. I’ve never played with someone who’s won MVP before. I want him to get it. I want to be at the press conference. I want to be there.”

His wish might come true.

James and the Heat are 30-9 this season, and he entered Thursday ranked third in the NBA in scoring (27.7), ninth in steals (1.8) and 14th in assists (6.7). Using the formula known as PAR—points, assists and rebounds—James is having the best statistical season of anyone in the league, his nightly average of 42.8 better than Kevin Love (41.2), Kobe Bryant (39.3) and Kevin Durant (39.3).

But is James a lock to win? Wade isn’t sure.

“It all depends who’s looking and it all depends on what you’re looking at,” Wade said. “I think when you’re looking at a complete player, it’s not a race. When you’re looking at highlights and points, then it’s a race. … Obviously, I believe he’s MVP right now. He’s a complete player. He does it every night. He deserves it.”

Especially lately, that’s true.

James has been doing things the league hasn’t seen in decades—or maybe ever.

There have been two games this season in which a player has posted at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and no turnovers. James has both—on consecutive nights earlier this month, no less. According to STATS LLC, there have only been 11 other such games in the last 25 seasons. And when adding in his five steals to a 38-point, 11-rebound, six-assist, no-turnover night at Portland on March 1, that’s a game that hadn’t been duplicated since individual turnovers began being charted in 1977.

“For me, every time I step on the court I try to be the MVP for our team and that means doing it on both sides of the floor,” James said. “I try not to take (any) possessions off. But when I hear the MVP talk, I really don’t want anything to do with it. I kind of let that take care of itself. If I’m having an MVP season … I don’t have to make the case. I’ll just let my game do the talking.”

Still, James said he still finds it “humbling” to hear about where his stat lines rank in history.

“I always remind myself, less than 10 years ago I was just a little kid from Akron, I was 200 pounds, 215 pounds, 205 pounds, and struggling to get a meal and just playing the game for fun,” James said. “I’m happy I’m able to do that now.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ar.0B7HehgwpKvj1xmdfJg.8vLYF?slug=ap-heat-lebronsyear

[Porn Shop Clerk]

but but but he doesn't chuck the ball every time it hits his hands without looking for his teammates

[Kevin Greene]

A massive night tonight by Lebron and DWade.

71 points by the Dynamic Duo.

But the Chicago Bulls, withouth their best player Kevin Love have the heart coming off the bench to defeat Miami tonight. As the ESPN Announcers said, no fear by back up Lucas.

It's what Champions are made of.

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

Scoreboard.

.

[Henne Given Sunday]

A massive night tonight by Lebron and DWade.

71 points by the Dynamic Duo.

But the Chicago Bulls, withouth their best player Kevin Love have the heart coming off the bench to defeat Miami tonight. As the ESPN Announcers said, no fear by back up Lucas.

It's what Champions are made of.

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

Scoreboard.

.

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

*Subscribes for later*

[Crixtala]

kevin love?

[Kevin Greene]

kevin love?

:lol: Rose.

*brain fart*

Thanks :cheers2:

[King Taharqa]

No chance the Heat get past the Bulls come Playoff time.

;)