I still root for the Pelicans. Brow is amazing and I still wish Heat drafted Eric Gordon instead of Beasley, but it’s okay because he’s on my other team.
LeBron never sucked. Prime Wade was better.
This game best represents the huge gap between LeBron and Wade in 2006.
Bron’s offense was literally 99% layups or dunks. Weezy had the post-ups, the finishes, the jump shots…
LJ came a long way, but he was playing catch-up for years.
But if you are going to keep it 100, Jameer was an All-Star BECAUSE of Dwight, and Rashard is part of Team Joe Johnson…and was rewarded for playing alongside Dwight.
I didn’t think Jameer deserved allstar at all, but he and Rashard both got the honors so you gotta give them the respect. He chipped in 16 ppg and 5 assists, and Rashard was capable of dropping 20 for a couple of those years. Hedo was a 20-5-5 guy. Dwight definitely didn’t carry anybody.
In hindsight, what has Dwight done without them? He hasn’t averaged 20-10 since he left Orlando.
eh, i don’t think you can say dwight carried that team, but that team was designed for dwight.
surround him with 4 shooters, let him roam the lane, dump off or oop if he ever got position… it never was “feed dwight then ball and get out of his way”. even defensively, they just let dwight roam the key and make plays. that orlando team was successful due to a really good system, and none of those guys have played as well since.
Right, “surround him with 4 shooters,” not “team up with Rash, Nelson and Turk.” I’ll give you Hedo as an important piece that year, but Dwight (and injured Celts, and a conference bad enough that Lebron and scrubs make the CFs) made “4 shooters” effective that year. And I’d still pick Denver, Dallas, LA, Yao-less Houston (in 7) over them or Cleveland.
Obviously Lebron is more talented and was Cleveland’s #1 option, but I just meant those Cinderella stories of one superstar making the Finals only fly out East. And in those examples they squeezed out 2 wins against the West.
If were talking dragging a team to the finals Mo wasn’t apart of the finals team. But former Allstar Zydrunas Ilgauskas was and Larry Hughes who averaged 22/6/4 two seasons before that in Washington.
That Lebron run to the finals has always been overstated. They played a putrid decimated by injuries Antwan Jamison led Wizards, a 41-41 Nets team who had the starting front court of Mikki Moore and Jason Collins. The “Chris Webber” Pistons who made Daniel “Bobbie” Gibson a household name.
Actually, Lebron’s impact on Mo was minimal.
06-07 Bucks
17.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.1 ast PER 16.3
07-08 Bucks
17.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 6.3 ast PER 17.0
08-09 Cavs
17.8 ppg,3.4 rpg, 4.1 ast PER 17.2
Only thing that really changed his Cleveland year was his TS. and FT% and the TS was affected because of him shooting 90% from the line, for the first time in his career. His FTA’s showed little to no change.
And what about the years after LeBron left? I’m not surprise he got 17 ppg on those Bucks team since it was pretty much him and Michael Redd doing all the scoring.