He finally did it.
He finally reached the mountaintop after several years and close calls.
All he needed was two other superstars and a bare-bones supporting cast that actually showed up in the NBA Finals.
Yes, LeBron James is an NBA champion.
Sure, there will be an asterix next to the year to indicate it was a lockout-shortened season, much like 1999-2000, but the championship still counts the same, the ring is still going to be his once awarded next season.
Say what you want to say about him as a person, he stepped up big in the finals and showed why so many believed when he came into the league that he could end up being mentioned among the all-time greats. He finally thrived in a big game situation rather than wilting and deferring to Dwayne Wade.
Of course, it helped that the Oklahoma City Thunder threw the ball over the place, Russell Westbrook shot the ball miserably, and James Harden had a terrible series. It helped that Mario Chalmers actually had a good series and that the rest of the role players took turns stepping up (an aspect that was noticeably absent in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks).
The Miami Heat finally did it. What does it mean for Cleveland fans?
Nothing.
If you still aren't over James leaving, what's the reason? He left over two years ago now. As some have pointed out, he gave us 7 remarkable seasons. He shouldn't have gone on national television to leave, but he did, he moved on, and everyone else needs to as well.
Instead, all that was heard were reasons why his championship isn't legitimate.
It was a shortened-season filled with injuries. Yes, it was. Derrick Rose's ACL tear in the Chicago Bulls opening game against the Philadelphia 76ers remains the defining moment in the playoffs, the moment that told everyone that the season was compacted too much, the players didn't get enough rest, and that the injuries were excessive.
IF Rose were healthy, the Bulls would've moved on. He was healthy last season when they lost. The Bulls again were the best team in the NBA record-wise, but it was no guarantee they would've beaten the Heat in the playoffs with a healthy Rose. It would have been a great season.
He needed help to win while other greats didn't. This is perhaps the worst argument. Remember, Magic Johnson's Lakers were loaded with talent, the Bulls with Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen, who was better than most other team's best player, and Larry Bird had Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale. Point being, most championship teams have at least two legitimate All-Stars. When did LeBron consistently have that with the Cavs?
He's still a douche for leaving. Yes, yes he is. But he was also within his right to do so.
He's overrated. This one's highly debatable amongst some, but after watching him for 7 years here, he's definitely not overrated. He's put up numbers that frankly haven't been seen in the NBA. If he has any fault, it's that he doesn't play off the ball very well, which causes some to consider him a ballhog. But when you average 7+ assists a season on a regular basis, you're far from a ballhog. If anything, if his teammates would consistently hit their shots off of passes from him, he could conceivably average over 10 assists a game. Unfortunately, his teammates miss a lot of shots.
Look, I hated that he left Cleveland, but as much as I dislike him as a person, I can't take away from his abilities on the court. Being a dick doesn't make you a bad basketball player, it just makes you a dick off the court. While I wish he would've stayed and won that title here, that's not what happened. And while I'll always root against the Heat, it's more for how they went about building a championship, not because of one specific player.
Frankly, the city needs to get over it. The fans need to let go. The media needs to stop reporting on him like he's still here. We have our own team, our own budding superstar to follow, and new players drafted last night to follow.
Speaking of the draft...
I know the Cavaliers didn't exactly set the world on fire with their selection of Syracuse guard Dion Waiters last night. I know the immediate reaction was "how could they screw this draft up so badly?" before the kid has even stepped foot on the court. Then they traded for Tyler Zeller and the hands went up in the air again.
"We gave up 3 draft picks for him?"
*sigh*
It's like a tradition for Cleveland fans to immediate overreact to things like this. Neither has stepped on the court yet, but already legions of fans are experts on what kind of careers these two are going to have.
The best comment I read was someone on Facebook who said "We picked a bench scrub. A bench scrub."
Last I checked, a guy who won 6th man of the year in the Big East on a nation championchip contending team is not a mere bench scrub. This is a guy who played limited minutes, but put up some decent numbers given the time he was playing. His skill set is what the Cavs need and I don't care what anyone thinks, I was never sold on Harrison Barnes as an option. I had mild hope that Michael Gilchrist-Kidd would fall to them, but that didn't happen.
As for Zeller, if he plays like he did in college, the Cavs will be all right. One of the problems they had was consistently rebounding and Zeller can grab boards with the best of them.
The moral of the story is you can't grade a draft until the season is over, much like you can't grade a trade until a significant amount of time has passed. Sure, you can look at what they did in college and think you know how it will translate, but you don't.
Kyrie Irving was a question mark, remember? Many "expert" fans wanted Derrick Williams over Irving, that Williams was the sure thing. Well, Irving won rookie of the year, Williams was unremarkable, and now the pundits are starting up again with the most recent picks.
Listen, give it a season. If Waiters and/or Zeller fall flat on their faces and the Cavs stink even worse, then you were right.
Until then, calm down and breath. Like with the Browns, it's just a game. No one's life is going to end because of how their sports team performs.
No comments:
Post a Comment