Memphis

Perhaps you should wait to see what happens in Free Agency/trades after Dec 9th to see who is actually going to be on the teams?

I know the top 3 teams on my list will have pretty much the same roster. If Boston gets Paul they would just be even better. I think 1 of the top 3 wins it all this year. I dont think Memphis can really move forward, last year they were a nice story, back to reality for them.

Wouldn't that almost be like waiting for the entries to come out before handicapping races?

Why wait to the last minute?

Can anyone tell me what the hell Kobe has against Andrew Bynum? Bynum was 12-14 tonight, totally unstoppable, has been on a dominating run for a good little while now (March averages of 23.0 pts, 13.3 boards, 2.0 blocks, 63.6% from the field and 75.4% from the line)..........and Kobe is still gunning up shots. Bryant was 3-20 tonight and the Lakers lost a close one at home to Utah. I still say that I'd rather have Bynum than Howard. The numbers are very similar and that's with Bynum sharing the ball with two other all-stars, including the biggest gunner in the league.

So you're saying Kobe doesn't like Bynum because he has a bad shooting night where he takes 20 attempts and doesn't pass the ball?

And you want an answer for that? :rolleyes:

Kobe has always been a gunner, he just misses more now.

The thing that will always keep Kobe from the list of the greats like Jordan, Magic, Bird, and to a lesser extent James is that he doesn't adapt his game. It's always got to be his way. Back when they won their three-peat, he was complaining about the offense then. While winning titles. He's always been selfish but now he's disappointing. I remember Bird playing a game where McHale scored 56 points. I can't imagine Kobe every letting someone else have that kind of success. Those other guys, they would see what the team needed and try to give them that on that night. If Kareem wasn't playing, Magic might go for 15 boards or 40 points. If McHale wasn't playing, Bird might go for 45 or 20 boards. When Jordan lost his point guard, he played the position and put up seven straight triple-doubles and 10 in 11 games. James is often criticized for deferring but in most of the cases, analysts agree that it was the right basketball play. Kobe should have been able to see that Bynum had it going and couldn't be stopped and adapted accordingly. He refuses and it's sad.

How can you talk head and try to say that stats queen Lebron is better? That's a hater move, dude. No sane person thinks Lebron is better than Kobe. There are 5 rings to prove it. Bring up Shaq all you want but it's not like Jordan, Bird, and Magic were playing with scrubs.

Kobe doesn't get enough respect.

I don't know, I thought King Glorious's post was right on target. He didn't say Kobe wasn't a great talent. But, I can't argue with anything he said.

I don't get the Lebron hate, save his silly behavior last year, but given the accolades he has been receiving since he was about 12, his overall behavior has been incredible. Plus, Kobe could NEVER have taken that Cavs team to the Finals. To me, that was a remarkable achievement that gets completely dismissed.

His initial point is that Kobe is selfish and to me that is unfair to Kobe and is undoubtedly a popular opinion.

And if he is truly a selfish player then that shows that the NBA is a league about individual stars and not team basketball.

And yes LeBron is a great team player...until the finals. And in a society that only remembers the winners long term it is ludicrous to say LeBron is better than Kobe.

Win just one championship. It should be a requirement.

I will say that LeBron will be considered one of the greats if he can win 2 championships. That's a big if though. He's got as much time on the court as Magic and Bird did when they were completing their championship runs. Wade is getting old too.

They have a 4 year window tops to hit at 50%. I don't see it happening.

Comparing LeBron's situation coming into the league with Bird/Magic is crazy.

LeBron was drafted by a team coming off of a 17-65 season with Ricky Davis being the best player. They improved 18 wins with no other additions (though you could argue the subtraction of Davis helped). The other 4 starters for his 2nd year when they improved to 42 wins:
C- Ilgauskas
F-Drew Gooden
F-Ira Newbie
G- Jeff McInnis

2 years later they lost in the Finals with Larry Hughes, Eric Snow, Sasha Pavlovic, Ilgauskas and Gooden. Not a single player other than James ever played a signifigant role on an NBA team before or after.

Magic's 1st year he was drafted by LA to play with Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Jom Chones on a team that went 47-35 the previous year. The next year Magic was injured but in his 3rd year they added Micheal Cooper, Rambis, Mitch Kupchak and Bob McAdoo. The next year they added James Worthy. Every player Magic played with was better than any player LeBron played with. Perhaps Kupchak, Chones and Rambis were similar to Ilgaukas and Gooden but those were secondary players not starters.

Bird's 1st year was a huge improvement from the previous year when there was almost a mutiny by the players. The team he played with had Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens (both on the downside but 31 years old), Gerald Henderson, Cornbread Maxwell, Robey, ML Carr, Chris Ford and Pistol Pete. The next 2 years they added McHale, Parish and Danny Ainge.

LeBron has failed at winning the championship with 1 legit team, last year. They dont have any excuses this year barring an unforseen injury. But the if Magic and Bird's teams are the measure of success then no one will ever match them because the salary cap will never allow that many good players to play together.

And Kobe is not only a selfish player and always has been but is the most selfish great player ever. It actually says something about his stature that he refused to share the ball pretty much his whole career yet was still able to win championships and be thought of as highly as he is.

Oh now I feel sorry for him. He had the option to not report. Instead he settled and even stayed longer than required. Had full control of who he could add to the roster.

Come on.

Give me someone selfish who doesn't disappear in the finals over the other side every single day.

I get it, people don't "like" Kobe, because he doesn't exactly come across as a likable guy. Who cares? It's not a popularity contest.

I despise the word hater, but Kobe has a lot of them.

Facts are facts. You are comparing the "championship" record of two guys that went into situations where they were surrounded by hall of fame players, all stars and solid NBA players to a guy who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavs led by Ricky Davis. Say what you want about the individuals but the idea that not winning championships with those Cleveland teams as a sign of failure by James is misguided.

Kobe's number of haters is miniscule compared to James. The entire idea of measuring individual players in a team sport by championships is a slippery slope considering the number of other factors other than 1 players performance.

Yes and Bird and Magic didn't win championships after their 10th season in the league. Sure age plays a factor but the amount of time in the league is far more important.

Yes facts are facts. Kareem had a long drought on championships until Magic came along.

I get it. Championships don't mean much on an individual historical level now that the media darling is gracing us with his talents.

The whole point was LeBron shouldn't be mentioned with Johnson, Bird and Jordan. The only reason why Kobe gets a pass is because he has 5 rings. I think we all know he's not on their level. But LeBron isn't close.

I am fairly knowlegeable on Cleveland sports and the simple facts are the 7 years LeBron played with the team are by far the 7 best successive years the franchise ever had, period, end of story. 4 50 plus win seasons, 2 60 plus win seasons, 6 winning seasons in 7 years, 5 straight playoff appearances, one finals appearance, 2 conference final appearances. What Cannon says is 100 percent correct. Self entitled douche behavior there, perhaps, yeah. The best players he played with in Cleveland were Larry Hughes, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, and Mo Williams, and Delonte West. That ain't murderers row there. For the team to make two conference finals and one NBA finals was pretty darn good. Other than his massive ego which pretty much all superior athletes have, and his silly way he left the city, he ain't a terrible guy for the most part. Time will tell with the championships as he now has legit teammates and there are zero excuses at all. Skill wise, he matches up with anyone who's ever played the game. Jordan, Magic, Bird included. I'm not saying he's better than any of them or Kobe. I would say skill wise, he has more than Kobe. He can pass better than Jordan ever could, he's a gazillion times more athlletic than Magic or Bird. I'll give him 5 more years to see where he rates overall but I think the chance is there he can join those 3 or 4 mentioned.

Lebron>Kobe all day.

It's official. The deadline to change your opinion is Monday