** Official 2024 Make or Break Offseason Thread **

[Stanford]

I think Lebron taught the valuable lesson that your employer is not your family & you don’t owe them sh*t.

True!

Lebron's biggest sin (aside from being the corniest person on earth) was trying to get credit for championships as both a player and an executive.

[Jailblazers7]

I think Lebron taught the valuable lesson that your employer is not your family & you don’t owe them sh*t.

And then went crawling back to Mr. Gilbert a mere handful of years later. So much for that lesson.

You mean when Gilbert said he’d have a title before Lebron & instead got the #1 pick 3 different times? And drafted Anthony Bennet as an all time bust? Then Lebron came back, took over the organization & remade it to his own liking, forced Gilbert to pay all his friends over market value, carried them to a title, and then left on his own terms?

Oh boy, Dan Gilbert sure showed him whose boss lmao

[Negrodamus]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

[Stanford]

I'd be fine with LeBron at this point in his career but he'd bring LeBron fans with him, which is 100x worse than what we experienced with Harden.

[PhillyNj]

I'd be fine with LeBron at this point in his career but he'd bring LeBron fans with him, which is 100x worse than what we experienced with Harden.

LeBron at 30 mil. Absolutely. LeBron at 50 mil. Hell no!

[Kobblehead]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

Nobody considers Kobe's, Wade's, or Steph's titles artificial. Nothing wrong with true franchise players accepting help from the mercenaries.

[Kobblehead]

I think Lebron taught the valuable lesson that your employer is not your family & you don’t owe them sh*t.

And then went crawling back to Mr. Gilbert a mere handful of years later. So much for that lesson.

You mean when Gilbert said he’d have a title before Lebron & instead got the #1 pick 3 different times? And drafted Anthony Bennet as an all time bust? Then Lebron came back, took over the organization & remade it to his own liking, forced Gilbert to pay all his friends over market value, carried them to a title, and then left on his own terms?

Oh boy, Dan Gilbert sure showed him whose boss lmao

Who cares about Dan Gilbert? I'm just calling LeBron's hypocrosy for what it is.

He didn't take a principled stand by leaving Cleveland because he didn't like Gilbert. He left Cleveland because he lacks resolve and couldn't overcome basketball adversity.

If he left due to principal, he wouldn't have come crawling back to willingly call Gilbert boss again.

[Kobblehead]

LeBron will never sign for less than the maximum amount he can earn. And he's worth it, given the merch and box office he moves.

[Jailblazers7]

And then went crawling back to Mr. Gilbert a mere handful of years later. So much for that lesson.

You mean when Gilbert said he’d have a title before Lebron & instead got the #1 pick 3 different times? And drafted Anthony Bennet as an all time bust? Then Lebron came back, took over the organization & remade it to his own liking, forced Gilbert to pay all his friends over market value, carried them to a title, and then left on his own terms?

Oh boy, Dan Gilbert sure showed him whose boss lmao

Who cares about Dan Gilbert? I'm just calling LeBron's hypocrosy for what it is.

He didn't take a principled stand by leaving Cleveland because he didn't like Gilbert. He left Cleveland because he's a coward that couldn't overcome adversity.

If he left due to principal, he wouldn't have come crawling back to willingly call Gilbert boss again.

You brought up “Mr. Gilbert” not me lol

Lebron has always made decision that he felt were in his self-interest. Call him selfish (he obviously is) but I see absolutely nothing hypocritical in his behavior. Just because you don’t like the decisions he made doesn’t make him a hypocrite.

You bring up Kobe, Wade, and Steph as “true” franchise players but the one constant is that they had competent organizations behind them their whole careers. Except Kobe who demanded a trade after Shaq left lol. Why should Lebron, the greatest & most powerful league figure since Jordan, stick with around with a subpar organization for his entire career?

All I think about when I hear people complain about Lebron leaving Cleveland:

https://youtu.be/409Pjtq7jzY?si=YP-wXpPGTHyL_0c0

[youngcrev]

Think we could legitimately count on Ricky Council in a bench role next year? The free agent forward list is rough, particularly when you factor in that every team is always looking for wings.

[Negrodamus]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

Nobody considers Kobe's, Wade's, or Steph's titles artificial. Nothing wrong with true franchise players accepting help from the mercenaries.

Right, in this context Embiid is the superstar in question here.

[stormi]

The Jordan / Lebron conversation is extremely dated.

It's pretty disrespectful to Lebron to group him up with a midrange spammer that 'dominated' the lowest quality era in NBA history.

Anyways, Lebron's statistically is still a top 10 superstar in the league which is absurd at his age. I would accept him with open arms, he's never coming here though so his detractors can stop fictioning up links to start bashing him.

[stormi]

You brought up “Mr. Gilbert” not me lol

Lebron has always made decision that he felt were in his self-interest. Call him selfish (he obviously is) but I see absolutely nothing hypocritical in his behavior. Just because you don’t like the decisions he made doesn’t make him a hypocrite.

You bring up Kobe, Wade, and Steph as “true” franchise players but the one constant is that they had competent organizations behind them their whole careers. Except Kobe who demanded a trade after Shaq left lol. Why should Lebron, the greatest & most powerful league figure since Jordan, stick with around with a subpar organization for his entire career?

All I think about when I hear people complain about Lebron leaving Cleveland:

https://youtu.be/409Pjtq7jzY?si=YP-wXpPGTHyL_0c0

Kobe (rapist) = winner because he lost three FMVPs at the start of his career on a superteam to his superior teammate.

Jordan = winner because he's "6-0" -- (played 15 seasons lol), the majority of which where he was getting swept in the first round and/or acting as a walking punching bag for Larry Bird (0-6 record against him in the playoffs) and the Bad Boy Pistons.

Lebron = loser because he spent a decade carrying Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden deep into the playoffs, winning 60+ games and going to the NBA finals with absolutely zero attempts by the FO to spend money or improve the roster in any tangible way.


Sensationalized lowbrow NBA fan logic.

[mjkvol]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

Not that Kyrie isn't a mercenary, but you're reaching just a bit here. Kyrie was acquired in a trade.

Unless there was a hotel room meeting with Luka, Cuban, and Kyrie beforehand that we don't know about.

[elchengue20]

You mean when Gilbert said he’d have a title before Lebron & instead got the #1 pick 3 different times? And drafted Anthony Bennet as an all time bust? Then Lebron came back, took over the organization & remade it to his own liking, forced Gilbert to pay all his friends over market value, carried them to a title, and then left on his own terms?

Oh boy, Dan Gilbert sure showed him whose boss lmao

Who cares about Dan Gilbert? I'm just calling LeBron's hypocrosy for what it is.

He didn't take a principled stand by leaving Cleveland because he didn't like Gilbert. He left Cleveland because he's a coward that couldn't overcome adversity.

If he left due to principal, he wouldn't have come crawling back to willingly call Gilbert boss again.

You brought up “Mr. Gilbert” not me lol

Lebron has always made decision that he felt were in his self-interest. Call him selfish (he obviously is) but I see absolutely nothing hypocritical in his behavior. Just because you don’t like the decisions he made doesn’t make him a hypocrite.

You bring up Kobe, Wade, and Steph as “true” franchise players but the one constant is that they had competent organizations behind them their whole careers. Except Kobe who demanded a trade after Shaq left lol. Why should Lebron, the greatest & most powerful league figure since Jordan, stick with around with a subpar organization for his entire career?

All I think about when I hear people complain about Lebron leaving Cleveland:

https://youtu.be/409Pjtq7jzY?si=YP-wXpPGTHyL_0c0

Blaming him for leaving fricking Cleveland makes no sense.

He was getting beat by a Superteam in Boston. Nobody blames KG for leaving Minesota to Boston. They even say he should have leaved way earlier lol. People have such absurd standars for LeBron.

Before LeBron, Kobe in LAL was asking to be traded and also having "cap room talks" regarding teamates with the FO. Its just the way the league(and life overall) has been shifting for decades now.

But lets blame it all on LeBron lol.

I guess Shaq leaving Orlando in '96 was also his fault. Absurd narrative based on hating.

[Negrodamus]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

Not that Kyrie isn't a mercenary, but you're reaching just a bit here. Kyrie was acquired in a trade.

Unless there was a hotel room meeting with Luka, Cuban, and Kyrie beforehand that we don't know about.

Yea, he got traded because he became such a toxic asset in Brooklyn that the Mavs could acquire him for a far future first, two second rounders, Dinwiddie, and DFS lol. He forced his way to wherever he wanted.

Doncic could win it all and no one in Dallas will care how they got him or if he was a mercenary. Meanwhile if we get LeBron, the championship is tainted for some reason.

I mean, what if we won it with Harden lmao? He was the king of forcing himself where he wanted.

[Kobblehead]

You mean when Gilbert said he’d have a title before Lebron & instead got the #1 pick 3 different times? And drafted Anthony Bennet as an all time bust? Then Lebron came back, took over the organization & remade it to his own liking, forced Gilbert to pay all his friends over market value, carried them to a title, and then left on his own terms?

Oh boy, Dan Gilbert sure showed him whose boss lmao

Who cares about Dan Gilbert? I'm just calling LeBron's hypocrosy for what it is.

He didn't take a principled stand by leaving Cleveland because he didn't like Gilbert. He left Cleveland because he's a coward that couldn't overcome adversity.

If he left due to principal, he wouldn't have come crawling back to willingly call Gilbert boss again.

You brought up “Mr. Gilbert” not me lol

Lebron has always made decision that he felt were in his self-interest. Call him selfish (he obviously is) but I see absolutely nothing hypocritical in his behavior. Just because you don’t like the decisions he made doesn’t make him a hypocrite.

You bring up Kobe, Wade, and Steph as “true” franchise players but the one constant is that they had competent organizations behind them their whole careers. Except Kobe who demanded a trade after Shaq left lol. Why should Lebron, the greatest & most powerful league figure since Jordan, stick with around with a subpar organization for his entire career?

All I think about when I hear people complain about Lebron leaving Cleveland:

https://youtu.be/409Pjtq7jzY?si=YP-wXpPGTHyL_0c0

You just said LeBron taught a lesson to be disloyal to your employer because you don't owe them anything. Yet he went right back to Dan Gilbert to deliver him a championship and increase his net worth. That's clearly hypocritical. Or pathetic. Or both.

Steph made the Warriors a competent. Who the hell were they before him? Who were the Bucks before Giannis? Who were the Nuggets before Jokic?

All-time greats MAKE their organizations competent and break through and win a championship. They don't bolt because things get hard. LeBron ruined his own legacy and then fooled dopes like Durant to follow suit. Both players made the freaking Finals for their drafted teams. You don't think the Cavs would have won a title by like 2011 or so if they just stuck it out? You don't think the Thunder would have broken through? Even Dirk eventually broke through after years. Point is, don't give up and be a weak-resolved clown mercenary. LeBron had a chance to be the GOAT. Instead, he settled for just being Shaq.

Again, shout out to Steph for being the face of the generation and killing the player movement era before it fully took off.

[stormi]

Lebron haters have convinced themselves that he would have "bolted" had he been in any other comparable players career situation and it's really sad.

They also simultaneously beg and plead on their hands and knees for their own teams FO's to acquire top end roleplayers while having a legitimate #2 and competent depth, but will disparage Lebron for spending this first half of his career uplifting vet min fodder to the peak of the mountain.

No other marquee or top 10 player has ever been near an equivalent situation like Lebron was drafted into. There was no hope. He walked into a pathetic organization as an 18 year old and was the heartbeat, the exoskeleton, the brain and all of the organs until he left. What he did in Cleveland V1 was GOAT level. It's what established him as a rare player and the greatest to ever play the game, even without a championship. This is ignoring his performance in 2016 which stamped him.

Unfortunately he'll always have it pinned against him that he left Cleveland, but he gave them nearly a decade of high level MVP basketball every season and wasn't handed a Klay/Draymond. He didn't get eventually get a Pippen/Rodman to show him how to win a playoff round. He didn't start his rookie season alongside Shaq. He didn't even get a Westbrook/Harden like Durant did, which would have been his best surrounding cast by a mile.

That franchise capitulated as soon as Lebron left. Jordan 'retired' and the Bulls won 50 games.

Lebron left a 60 win Cavaliers team and they immediately drafted first overall the following season after winning 19 games.

These sorts of things can't be calculated or assessed without a level of objectivity. Lebron won't ever get that though. He has to be the only player in NBA history to win singlehandedly to get acceptance from a certain crowd desperate to protect the name of their gambling addicted savior.

It's actually sort of Embiid-like but on a scale much more magnified.

Watch on YouTube

[mjkvol]

It's crazy to think that Luka will win an artificial title this year because mercenary Kyrie Irving is helping to carry his team to the WCF and possibly beyond.

Not that Kyrie isn't a mercenary, but you're reaching just a bit here. Kyrie was acquired in a trade.

Unless there was a hotel room meeting with Luka, Cuban, and Kyrie beforehand that we don't know about.

Yea, he got traded because he became such a toxic asset in Brooklyn that the Mavs could acquire him for a far future first, two second rounders, Dinwiddie, and DFS lol. He forced his way to wherever he wanted.

Doncic could win it all and no one in Dallas will care how they got him or if he was a mercenary. Meanwhile if we get LeBron, the championship is tainted for some reason.

I mean, what if we won it with Harden lmao? He was the king of forcing himself where he wanted.

C'mon, I'm just trying to keep it light. All those guys are mercenaries, but there is a difference between being traded or signing as a free agent, and moving from team to team while dictating personnel decisions as you go. I'm not excusing the actions of Harden, Durant, or Irving, because it all sucks..

Regarding James, the only things 'tainted' IMO were the championships engineered by his henchman Silver in 2016 and 2020. And without Irving, he doesn't win in 2016 even with the NBA assist.

[GoSixersBro]

Did Bum hack others accounts to glaze LeCorn? This forum just keeps getting better.