Every year, the NBA shows us that age, intangibles, and chemistry matters a ton. Every offseason we seem to forget that and just look at talent as the be all, end all.
Such is life.
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Every year, the NBA shows us that age, intangibles, and chemistry matters a ton. Every offseason we seem to forget that and just look at talent as the be all, end all.
Such is life.
@mcnamara247
There's 82 games before getting to the playoffs. We just saw Wade completely run out of steam and that's after being saved for the post-season. Next season, it will be 2015 --- which means Wade will be a year older. That Heat team's going to be toothless. We've seen them play without LeBron and it wasn't pretty. Their saving grace is they're in the Eastern Conference, which brings me to the following. No one really knows how good that Heat team was because prior to running into the Spurs they never had to play a tough team. The Pacers were a complete shell of themselves and if they were in the western conference, there's a chance the Pacers don't get out of the 1st round. So if we were to measure the Heat against the only team we know was good (the Spurs), they were beyond bad. Losing is fine, but they lost games by 40.
If everyone was healthy, sure, I can easily see an argument for Wade & Bosh, but that's not the situation. The reality is LeBron needs help during the season and that requires young legs.
Kyrie and Love haven't been shining beacons of health, either. Bosh is still an excellent #2 guy. Y'all hate on him too much.
Team USA have won 63 straight games (45 in official FIBA events and 18 in exhibition play ) and results are ''two times World Champion, (2010 Turkey, 2014 Spain) one Olympic Champion (2012 China)'' .
What a crazy winning serie .
And people will hate on Love the same way in the future. His stats will drastically decline as the 3rd guy on that team. Bosh accepted it and was still effective because he was an elite defender. Love will lost 30-40 percent of his offensive numbers but will still be a poor defender. When they lose, and they will, he will get the blame.
As for Wade "running out of gas", yes he did. After going to the Finals for the 4th straight year, he had a bad Finals. If Kyrie gets to 4 straight Finals and plays well in that 4th Finals, I will give him props. Until then, I still want Wade on my team if I have to win an important series. Guy had some amazing games in the ECF. Kyrie in the playoffs? Have never seen it, so I can't judge it.
Wouldn't you not want Wade on a team this year since it would now be the 5th straight finals for him?
Got no dog in this fight because I couldn't care less about the EC, but just thought that was funny.
Either way, better not tweet that comment. Pierre might come at you again.
I wouldn't say that Bosh is an elite defender and I don't think Love's offensive production will drop THAT much, but I agree with your general argument.
That Cavs team is going to have some hilarious games if/when Varejao goes down.
Funny you should say that, there have been articles written about International competition that say a number of the strong European and latin countries have gotten worst over the last few years. Alot of it has to do with teams getting old and not having good replacement talent, but alot of it also has to do with new talent not being dedicated to their team and more about making their way to professional European leagues or to the NBA.
And then in this world cup you have France upsetting Spain and Serbia upsetting Brazil, even though the defeated teams have more NBA talent. Granted it was just one game, but you can see this sort of manifestation happen even in the international game.
And I agree that Irving isn't all he's cracked up to be. And honestly I would have take John Wall instead of him for team USA, Irving's defence wasn't up to scratch (he tried hard but doesn't have the instincts because lack of experience in playing proper D), and on offense he didn't create much for others, which meant that if his shot wasn't falling he wasn't doing much. The only time I saw him make a decent impact was the finals when he essentially went NBA jam on his 3 pointers and hit EVERYTHING. Otherwise i don't think he's that great of an asset
I never said either was perfect, but give me the guy who played well in the ECF and terrible in the Finals over a guy who has never even sniffed the first round.
People pick apart those at the top, and guys who put up big stats on bad teams seem to get a free pass. Those days are over for Love and Irving. They will get dissected this season and I believe the criticisms for them will be much louder than they have ever been for Wade and Bosh. We will see soon enough
He really isn't. He disappears in the playoffs every year. Even when they need points and no one else is helping Bron all he does is spot up and hide in the corner.
Love is a monster on the boards so he doesn't need to be fed as much to get his. Plus he is a better shooter, he may take plays off on D but he goes hard on offense. He isn't as weak mentally as Bosh.
Irving will get a ton of open shots playing with Lebron and will be the 2nd ballhandler like Wade, and is a better player to have than Wade at this point. Remember you only get like 50 games out of Wade and then he shows his age in the playoffs
Last edited by speedyG; 09-16-2014 at 04:57 PM.
I feel like the Heat in the last year especially were forcing Wade as the number 2 option when he clearly isn't that player anymore.
Bosh got waaayyy too few looks in the finals and he is often the forgotten man on that team.
This year will be the determining year though. Wade isn't playing a full season and Bosh is going to be the number 1 option many nights and frankly should be every night at this point.
If Lebron stayed with Bosh and Wade this year I dont think he'd have any chance at a title. Too much weight on his shoulders in the playoffs.
Irving and Love may be unproven in the playoffs but they aren't old and aren't gunshy. Love doesn't seem like the kind of guy to shrink under pressure, Kyrie will need to refine his game some but Lebron will be hounding and teaching him. And imo they are both more valuable players than Wade and Bosh at this point
Bosh terrible rebounding is what hurt Miami while Cavs will be great on the boards.
Wade + Bosh is greater than Irving + Love
But,
Irving + Love + Lebron is greater than Wade + Bosh + Lebron, especially for this year.
I honestly don't know what to think of Kyrie Irving. I know he has skills, but I don't know if they're real or if it looks so because of him being the ONLY option in Cleveland for the last few years.
And I REALLY don't know what to think of his off-ball play or if it even exists.
This is what I think matters most with Cleveland going forward, because Lebron has always been a point guard in a power forward's body.
The only thing Love has proven is that he can rebound. (when he can stay on the court)
The most overused words on Pelicansreport.com. Wrongly, I might add.
ELITE - (often used with a plural verb) the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.
GREAT - notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding
These words should not be used lightly
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