How are you ever going to prove that LeBron didn't do his best?
Legolas Send a noteboard - 18/08/2010 07:34:10 PM
He was just telling the story as it is. LeBron did heavily underperform at the end of the Celtics series. He did quit. LeBron should have been fined for his stunt, not Gilbert for his letter. Just shows how Stern is a lapdog of the commercial interests in the NBA.
His performance in game five was fairly bad by his standards, yes, but how many players are there in the game who have performances of "only" 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 15 points on a bad day? And if you look at game six, well, he has a massive stat line there so you can hardly call that underperforming. Game four was a near triple double as well.
And even if one thinks his game five performance which would be considered okay for basically everyone else was poor, it doesn't follow he lost on purpose, and if he did it's impossible to prove. Even if he didn't give it his all, he spent seven years at Cleveland, and made it incomparably better than it would've been without him. Cut the guy some slack. And if you're going to start handing out fines every time a player doesn't seem to be going for it 100% in a game... well, the money should roll in for the NBA.
As for Gilbert's letter, you cannot seriously be defending that. One can certainly understand the man's disappointment, and that of all Cavaliers fans, and if some random Cavalier fan would write a rant like that on some forum, sure, no problem. But the owner of the team? Mudslinging like there's no tomorrow against the guy who's made his team big for seven years even if he never managed to take it all the way, against the best player the Cavs have ever had by a mile, a player who delivered consistently and lived up to all the hype in damn near every game he played? And before you think I'm a big LeBron fan, I'm really not, and I'm rooting for the Heat to be taken down a few notches this coming season, but there's no denying his incredible talent, or the consistency with which he delivered. He has good reasons to be a bit arrogant.
One doesn't have to approve of LeBron's decision (personally I think he had every right to leave, but I find this whole "let's get three superstars on a team" deal a bit tacky and lame) to say that he really deserved better than that letter. If Gilbert had any class at all, he'd have written some letter in which he expressed his disappointment, and yes, perhaps poked fun at the bizarre spectacle of "The Decision", but then thanked LeBron for the massive performances he gave Cleveland and wished him good luck in the future. As it is, he wrote something that is so outrageous and frankly unhinged that one almost starts thinking LeBron is a saint for having survived seven years under this guy, and certainly blames him less for leaving.
LeBron James GQ interview
18/08/2010 04:35:23 PM
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If people can forgive Kobe, Big Ben, ARod, Tiger... *NM*
18/08/2010 04:41:00 PM
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I'm considered people, and the hell if I forgive AFraud. Can't be done. *NM*
19/08/2010 03:05:47 PM
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Will somebody tell him to PLEASE stop referring to himself in the 3rd person???
18/08/2010 04:54:46 PM
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Let's be serious, Gilbert was way, way more of an ass there than LeBron.
18/08/2010 04:54:59 PM
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Disagree.
18/08/2010 07:09:53 PM
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How are you ever going to prove that LeBron didn't do his best?
18/08/2010 07:34:10 PM
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If the Heat doesn't win the Championship next season..
19/08/2010 12:49:26 AM
- 373 Views
Actually chances are that they won't.
19/08/2010 01:22:09 AM
- 483 Views
Garnett, Pierce and Allen did it in their first season together. Why can't they?
19/08/2010 04:13:55 AM
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Re: Garnett, Pierce and Allen did it in their first season together. Why can't they?
19/08/2010 03:25:05 PM
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He's an immature, little boy in a grown up body and it just shows every time he speaks. *NM*
19/08/2010 02:31:13 AM
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