Tag Archives: LeBron James

Watching the Mavericks gets confusing.  Sometimes, when I watch them, they look like the greatest team in the history of great teams.  They roll out a starting lineup of 4 guys who are regularly in the All-Star game (Dirk, Kidd, Butler, and Marion).  They have Jason Terry, who consistently competes for the Sixth Man of the Year Award.  And more.  They have this little sparkplug dude who sometimes checks in and just sets the arena on fire (Barea).  They have some rookie from France who is capable of dropping 40 on a given night (Beaubois).   I haven’t even mentioned Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, and Eduardo Najera, each of whom has played significant minutes for competitive teams in the NBA.  When I watch the Mavs and they are clicking, I feel kind of like I’m watching the Globetrotters: part of me is amazed at what they can do, and part of me remembers that they are not as good as they seem.

Given how good they can be, their inability to win begs the question: Why aren’t they better in the playoffs?  The easy answer is to say that they are “inconsistent,” or that they aren’t built for the playoffs, but neither of those is really an answer — those are just things people say about any team that underachieves.  Here at Hoopservations.com, we dig deeper.

I think the reason the Mavs aren’t better in the playoffs is that having the best 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th man (or even all of the above) is not the way to win in the playoffs.  The teams that win in the playoffs have guys who marry girls who look like Eva Longoria  are the teams with the best “top 3.”  Check it out:

Bryant / Gasol / Bynum are better than Durant / Westbrook / Green.  The Lakers are up.

Nash / Amar’e / Richardson are better than Roy (especially when he’s injured) / Aldridge / Miller.  The Suns are up.

LeBron / Jamison / Williams are better than Rose / Deng / Noah.  The Cavs won.

Rondo / Allen / Pierce are better than Wade and whoever the other two best guys on the Heat are.  The Celts won.

Howard / Carter / Lewis are better than Wallace / Jackson / Felton.  The Magic won.

The only clear exception is the Hawks / Bucks series, because Johnson / Horford / Smith are better than the Bucks’ best 3 guys.  But the reason the Bucks are beating the Hawks is… um… actually, I have no friggin’ idea how the Bucks are beating the Hawks.  Whatever the reason, I don’t think it disproves the hoopservation that depth doesn’t matter all that much once the playoffs roll around.  A team is only going as far as its top 3 guys can take it.

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Ok, I’ll get this part out of the way at the beginning, so I’m not accused of being a contrarian, or a LeBron hater, or anything else that people are said to be if they question whether LeBron can actually walk on water… he’s the MVP this year.  The dude is scary good.   I mean, he averaged 30 points, 7 assists and 9 board per game.  That’s awesome.  No doubt.

But, still… the hyperbole about this guy just continues to get crazier.  Months ago, I pointed out that (i) LeBron’s numbers are not all that much better than other superstars who do not get nearly the same amount of credit, and also that (ii) Bill Simmons, among other people, essentially winds up drooling over himself when he writes about LeBron.  Ok.  Whatever.  Been there done that.

This morning, though, I was listening to Mike and Mike on the radio for a few minutes, and their guest was Dickie V.  Now, I know that Dickie V is not really the guy we look to when we hope people will start to turn the excitement down a notch.  But this was out of control.   Dickie V said – and both Mikes agreed with him – that LeBron is on his way to being the best of all time.  Yup.  Numero uno.  He then launched into the typical rant about how amazing it is that LeBron has done so much at such a young age with such a lousy supporting cast.

Is anyone else tired of hearing that, or is it just me?  LeBron is in his seventh season.  Isn’t it about time we start evaluating what he has done instead of what he has the potential to do?  I mean, how many years in the league does he deserve before people stop talking about how much potential he has to be great when he grows up?

Plus, LeBron’s teammates are good.  Very good.  I’ve already blogged about this elsewhere (here and here, for example), and won’t repeat myself.  The bottom line is that there are 4 different guys on LeBron’s team who were once All-Stars. And it’s not like they’re all old and crippled.  They still run, jump, pass, and shoot.  They’d run circles around D-Wade’s “supporting cast.”  Yet, when Dickie V explained why MJ was able to win so many more titles than LeBron has been able to win, he wound up knocking LeBron’s supporting cast, and talking about what a wonderful rebounder Bill Cartwright was on the Bulls.  Seriously.  Bill Cartwright.

There’s more.  Dickie V said – and the two Mikes agreed – that LeBron can score “whenever he wants.”  Yup.  Whenever he wants.  So, presumably, the only reason the Cavs lost any games this season was that LeBron didn’t “want” to win them.

I’m not sure why people need to give him soooo much credit.  He’s awesome.  He’s the MVP.  Until he proves that he can lead a team to a championship, he deserves to be grouped with the other superstars who never won a championship — not with the ones who won six.

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