The 2017 NBA Finals Thread

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Boston got good in a hurry when big ticket and that smooth shooter joined the truth. Those were all stars as well, yes?

Yes but I view that more as an incredibly smart collection of moves by Danny Ainge.

The "super team" concept (at least to me) conjures up players trying to game the system to create competitive imbalance. Hence my pointing out the Heat and Durant "fleeing" a contender to go to the (arguably) best team in the league.

 

[AZBALLER]

Lebron is a child. He's never committed a foul in his life. He's never lost a game in his life. When his player roster moves or coaching moves don't work out, it's the gm or coaches fault. He's one of the best players ever, but he never grew up.

 

[Ronin]

Jeff Zillgitt‏Verified account@JeffZillgitt 2m2 minutes ago
Cavs-Warriors Finals = most watched NBA Finals since 1998, per Nielsen. Five games averaged 20.8M viewers with peak of 29.5M on Monday.

 

[Hoop Head]

Lebron is a child. He's never committed a foul in his life. He's never lost a game in his life. When his player roster moves or coaching moves don't work out, it's the gm or coaches fault. He's one of the best players ever, but he never grew up.

That is why he's viewed negatively by a good portion of NBA fans. It was a few pages back in this thread I believe when someone asked how someone could hate Lebron and how he's a good guy and class act, at least since he came back to Cleveland, but his attitude in how he views the game is why it's easy to dislike him and root against him. I can't believe he actually said he'd never played on a super team, especially the way he delivered his response. You could tell that he truly believes that BS.

 

[Russ Smith]

no rabbit ears?

Wasn't my house at my girlfriends brothers house they apparently don't have anything like that.

 

[Russ Smith]

Lebron is a child. He's never committed a foul in his life. He's never lost a game in his life. When his player roster moves or coaching moves don't work out, it's the gm or coaches fault. He's one of the best players ever, but he never grew up.

I think him and Durant are products of a different system. Lebron was on a HS and AAU team that was built entirely around him. He was the chosen one at like 12 years old so that entire team was built around him. In HS his mom kept violating his amateur status because they knew he wasn't going to college. When you have all those years of rules not applying to you or being the key to everything, and you're that good, it's understandable he sees the NBA the same.

Durant moved all over the place in HS, different prepschools(bad grades) AAU programs. He played in an AAU program that came out later was doing all sorts of shady stuff, brokering players to colleges hire this guy as a coach we'll give you a player, stuff like that. The same guy that got Josh Selby suspended at Kansas was involved with Durant giving gifts to the mom. He was on a series of "superteams" in HS.

So it's not really a surprise when he got tired of the setup in OKC he decided if the culture on the team hasn't changed yet, it's not going to, so he moved to a new team that had the culture he wanted, sharing the ball, and obviously winning tons of games.

 

[Dback Jon]

I think him and Durant are products of a different system. Lebron was on a HS and AAU team that was built entirely around him. He was the chosen one at like 12 years old so that entire team was built around him. In HS his mom kept violating his amateur status because they knew he wasn't going to college. When you have all those years of rules not applying to you or being the key to everything, and you're that good, it's understandable he sees the NBA the same.

Durant moved all over the place in HS, different prepschools(bad grades) AAU programs. He played in an AAU program that came out later was doing all sorts of shady stuff, brokering players to colleges hire this guy as a coach we'll give you a player, stuff like that. The same guy that got Josh Selby suspended at Kansas was involved with Durant giving gifts to the mom. He was on a series of "superteams" in HS.

So it's not really a surprise when he got tired of the setup in OKC he decided if the culture on the team hasn't changed yet, it's not going to, so he moved to a new team that had the culture he wanted, sharing the ball, and obviously winning tons of games.

So AAU has ruined college ball, and is now working on ruining the NBA?

 

[AZBALLER]

I think him and Durant are products of a different system. Lebron was on a HS and AAU team that was built entirely around him. He was the chosen one at like 12 years old so that entire team was built around him. In HS his mom kept violating his amateur status because they knew he wasn't going to college. When you have all those years of rules not applying to you or being the key to everything, and you're that good, it's understandable he sees the NBA the same.

Durant moved all over the place in HS, different prepschools(bad grades) AAU programs. He played in an AAU program that came out later was doing all sorts of shady stuff, brokering players to colleges hire this guy as a coach we'll give you a player, stuff like that. The same guy that got Josh Selby suspended at Kansas was involved with Durant giving gifts to the mom. He was on a series of "superteams" in HS.

So it's not really a surprise when he got tired of the setup in OKC he decided if the culture on the team hasn't changed yet, it's not going to, so he moved to a new team that had the culture he wanted, sharing the ball, and obviously winning tons of games.

I guess that's just sad that's the culture children's parents put up with. It's just the difference in attitudes between Lebron and Durant. It makes one of them easier to root for, while respecting the skill of both.
Thanks for the response Russ, it gives me more background, when looking at the 2 people. My ears are open if you want to talk about anymore aau/college stories.

 

[GatorAZ]

Lebron is a child. He's never committed a foul in his life. He's never lost a game in his life. When his player roster moves or coaching moves don't work out, it's the gm or coaches fault. He's one of the best players ever, but he never grew up.

Is it that surprising given he was labeled a future top 10 player of all time at 14? I remember seeing stories of him driving a Hummer to high school.

 

[AZBALLER]

No, it's not surprising Gator, but it's sad. It helps to explain his attitude without assuming.

 

[Russ Smith]

So AAU has ruined college ball, and is now working on ruining the NBA?

Been saying it for years AAU has it's good things, creating opportunities for kids to compete against other good players, but the downside is they play too much. Kids learn to not hate losing because they play so many games, and they learn a system that's just not good basketball. If you were to attend an AAU event and watch the games over several days it's really bizarre, the best players almost have an "understanding" where they don't play defense they just score. You get this deal where kids sort of think if they play hard on defense, and still get scored on, it's bad, but if you don't try on defense and get scored on it's ok because you weren't trying.

 

[Russ Smith]

Is it that surprising given he was labeled a future top 10 player of all time at 14? I remember seeing stories of him driving a Hummer to high school.

his mom bought him one for I think his 18th birthday. THey were living in public housing(projects) and his mom co signed for a 50K hummer that had 3 tv's and a video game system in the car. They had to ship it from California to Ohio. He got suspended, they investigated and believe it or not he was cleared because the mom produced evidence she had taken out a bank loan to finance the car and had NOT used his athletic prowess as collateral, and the bank actually vouched for her and insisted his future NBA earnings were not why they approved the loan, which was obviously preposterous.

Later on he got suspended because he was in a store, people recognized him and gave him free clothing(jerseys) in exchange for signing autographs. I think he got suspended 3 times in HS.

And to be clear, I'm not saying he was a bad kid he knew he wasn't going to college so he figured why should I follow amateurism rules. The problem was really that the Ohio officials kept reinstating him because he was so famous instead of holding him accountable. If you get treated like that at a young age and then get to the NBA and make millions, and are as good as he is, you're going to see things a certain way and he clearly does.

 

[AZBALLER]

Wow! It's not Lebron's fault that he was raised wrong, but it still makes his attitude/personality hard to cheer for.

 

[Hoop Head]

How long have AAU programs been around? I don't recall much talk about them in the 90's. It seems like they got big in the of them in the late 90's and very early 2000's. It seems like they've grown in influence over the years, peaking in the early 2000's when a lot of players made the jump from High School to the pro's but since the CBA added the "One And Done" rule, I don't see the need for as many AAU programs. Quality high school players will make it to college and if they don't show enough to draw NBA interest in their first year then they should stick around to build their stock. I wish the NBA added another year to their college rule, making the age limit 20 for US and foreign born players. I don't know if that would curb the AAU's impact but it might. It would give the league a higher quality of rookies every year though.

 

[chickenhead]

It is just baffling to me that they are arguing the semantics of this, especially LeBron. The Heat were the most textbook example of a superteam we've seen yet. And if you want to make a distinction that the Warriors drafted their core, that's fine. But I never found it any less frustrating that players chased rings with the Yankees because they had drafted theirs.

This is just LeBron being insecure about all possible criticism. If he goes to LA in a couple years I'm sure he'll have a long-winded justification for that, too. It's like players wanting to be lauded and then also be able to say that no one believes in them after they win.