The Cleveland Cavaliers are done without Lebron

[Lebron232]

This is probably one of the most painful experience seeing our best player not playing in the 2nd half due to a sprained injury in his finger. No one can deny that among the best player in the NBA the most important player for his team is none other that Lebron.

You can takeaway Duncan from the Spurs, and they are still a contender in the Western Conference.

You can removed Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns lineup, and they would be winning games in the regular season.

You can take Kobe out of the Los Angeles Lakers lineup, and they can still make it in the playoffs.

You can send Dirk Nowitzki back to Germany, and the Dallas Mavericks are still a formidable team in the NBA.


You can take Kevin Garnett out of the Celtics lineup, and the Boston Celtics are still a playoff bound team in the NBA.


But take Lebron James out of the Cavaliers lineup, and the Cavs turns out to be the worst team in the history of the NBA.

That is why I think he deserve to be the MVP in 2006, and I hope that he can quickly recover, and show the NBA that he is indeed the MOST VALUABLE Player this season.

 

[Lebron232]

Detroit commentators kept bringing up how much LeBron means to this team...and Mike Brown just quit coaching in the start of the 2nd half, and just throw in the towel after Lebron was out of the game.

 

[Test2]

In many cases in NBA loosing theyr main man makes TEAM better. Lakers always plays better without Kobe etc... There are many explanations of this.

"But take Lebron James out of the Cavaliers lineup, and the Cavs turns out to be the worst team in the history of the NBA."

I disagree - Cavs still have nice players. Gibson can be leader for couple games. I still think that cavs without Lebron is better than Sonics

 

[jugoplastika2]

Lebron23, who are you, lebron`s fanboy who has 15 years?
C`mon dude, write about somebody else too, not always about a same player.
And guess about who, it is all about Lebron... it is so annoying...

Ilgauskas isn`t worth something?
Pavlović - he is only plaer who has nice shooting % in Cavs...

It is not problem in other players. They ar underrated, IMO.
A coach is problem, big contracts of sh.itty players, and their style of game.
They are build for playoff series, not for an regular season game.
They are big and slow team, generally.

Maybe Lebron has a ball in his hands too much, ha bro?
Think about that, too...

over and out

 

[hotjam_22]

That is why I think he deserve to be the MVP in 2006, and I hope that he can quickly recover, and show the NBA that he is indeed the MOST VALUABLE Player this season.

You could be right about his importance on the Cavaliers, but I don't think he's the MVP. He was only the 3rd leading scorer for team USA in 2006 at Worlds. And why would Cleveland management traded Carlos Boozer a few years back, except so that Lebron can up his scoring tally?

The bad news I think is that now Ilgaukas will play more minutes(44 last game) which will give him an excuse once again at the end of the season to not play for the Lithuanian national team

 

[mvblair2]

I think LeBron23 makes some good points. Coach Mike Brown has built this team's concept around LeBron James, not around team play. LeBron is a great team player, and he could run a good team offense, but for whatever reason, Brown wants LeBron to do everything in isolation. That's why LeBron is so important for this team.

Without LeBron, we have good players: Z, Gooden, Gibson, Pavlovic. But those players don't get many opportunities in Mike Brown's offense (with or without LeBron) because that offense is based on LeBron's isolation. If Mike Brown changes the offense, we might be OK....I don't know if you guys are familiar with NBA coaches, but they're a stubborn people.

 

[Lebron232]

The Cavaliers are not very good without Lebron James and that if we had Larry Hughes in the game, it might not have been that much better because Lebron is the ultimate creator for our team. Which means that this team is build around him, and he is the main reason our franchise are one of the best team in the Eastern Conference.

 

[Lebron232]

I think LeBron23 makes some good points. Coach Mike Brown has built this team's concept around LeBron James, not around team play. LeBron is a great team player, and he could run a good team offense, but for whatever reason, Brown wants LeBron to do everything in isolation. That's why LeBron is so important for this team.

Without LeBron, we have good players: Z, Gooden, Gibson, Pavlovic. But those players don't get many opportunities in Mike Brown's offense (with or without LeBron) because that offense is based on LeBron's isolation. If Mike Brown changes the offense, we might be OK....I don't know if you guys are familiar with NBA coaches, but they're a stubborn people.

Lebron is clearly a better player than Nash, Dirk and KG because he has taken his team into the NBA Finals with a crappy supporting casts, and a coach that cannot even design some play for his team.

 

[rikhardur2]

Lebron is clearly a better player than Nash, Dirk and KG because he has taken his team into the NBA Finals with a crappy supporting casts, and a coach that cannot even design some play for his team.

I really don't think so. Besides being different types of players, the Cavs are structured around LeBron, which isn't clearly the case with Nash, Nowitzki and now with Garnett. If you assemble a team around a player, it's obvious that he'll score and score and be the main man in difficult moments. For the same reason I wouldn't say Kobe is better than those players you mentioned, far from that. The thing is with the others the game plan is more distributed which doesn't make them less competent or skilled. And the rest of the team is not crappy at all, the players aren't just used in the way LeBron is. But we already know you are a hardcore LeBron fan

 

[jugoplastika2]

Lebron is clearly a better player than Nash, Dirk and KG because he has taken his team into the NBA Finals with a crappy supporting casts, and a coach that cannot even design some play for his team.

Worst team ever in NBA finals, on weakest Eastern Conference in NBA history.

Please don`t make Interbasket forum users foolish.

You seems to me too subjective, and also not realistic guy.

And I will say again - few Cavs` players are underrated.

 

[Neozyrus2]

Without LeBron, we have good players: Z, Gooden, Gibson, Pavlovic. But those players don't get many opportunities in Mike Brown's offense (with or without LeBron) because that offense is based on LeBron's isolation. If Mike Brown changes the offense, we might be OK....I don't know if you guys are familiar with NBA coaches, but they're a stubborn people.

You just explained what i thought.

 

[Lebron232]

Worst team ever in NBA finals, on weakest Eastern Conference in NBA history.

Please don`t make Interbasket forum users foolish.

You seems to me too subjective, and also not realistic guy.

And I will say again - few Cavs` players are underrated.

You can take Nash, Dirk, Kobe and Garnett one of them would play with the Cavs, and i can guarantee our team would not even make it in the playoffs.

Nash despite playing with a better system, and supporting casts failed to reach the NBA Finals after being destroyed twice by the Spurs in the playoffs.

Same goes with Dirk, who have one of the worst choke job in the history of the NBA after being ahead 2-0 in the 2006 NBA Finals, they find themselves struggling in the next 4 games, and got decimated by Wade. Then, one year later the Mavericks being the no.1 seed team in the Wests got eliminated by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.


Kobe and Kevin Garnett failed to take their team deeper into the playoffs. and KG was lucky to be traded to the Eastern Conference, but i cannot see him win an NBA Championship this year.

 

[Test2]

The bad news I think is that now Ilgaukas will play more minutes(44 last game) which will give him an excuse once again at the end of the season to not play for the Lithuanian national team

That is not big problem for LT NT fans, everybody know that he will not play in NT next year and will create another new excuse. However he even did not deserved to play in Olympics. NT 2007 tryied hard to qualify in to Olympics, and he was drinkning Coca Cola on vacation.

Sorry for offtopic

 

[Test2]

Lebron is clearly a better player than Nash, Dirk and KG because he has taken his team into the NBA Finals with a crappy supporting casts, and a coach that cannot even design some play for his team.

There are no better players in NBA than Nash and Dirk. If they can not dunk crazy windmill aleyoops that doesn't mean they are worse players.

 

[Lebron232]

There are no better players in NBA than Nash and Dirk. If they can not dunk crazy windmill aleyoops that doesn't mean they are worse players.

Dirk is not even a top 10 MVP Candidate this season, Josh Howard is the main reason the Mavericks are winning games in the regular season. Dirk will no longer win the MVP trophy unless he average more than 36 PPG in the regular season, and finished with the best record in the NBA.

 

[damelo2]

Well, Kobe in the east goes to Finals, Lebron in the west goes first round.

 

[Lebron232]

Well, Kobe in the east goes to Finals, Lebron in the west goes first round.

No, Kobe as much i admit he is the best individual player in the NBA has proven that he cannot carry a franchise to the 2nd round of the playoffs because he focused his energy in scoring, and less passing to his teammates in the last 3 years being the face of LA.

 

[CKR132]

Brave new world for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Who will be the face of the franchise since LeBron James? How many game will they win after the LeBron James era? I miss their Black Away Jersey though.

 

[mvblair2]

Brave new world for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Who will be the face of the franchise since LeBron James? How many game will they win after the LeBron James era? I miss their Black Away Jersey though.

Wow, you're resurrected this thread from the dead.

Right now, our roster still looks pretty good. We're still a solid play-off team.

• PG - Mo Williams, Delonte West
• SG - Anthony Parker, Delonte West
• SF - Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker
• PF - Antawn Jamison, Leon Powe
• C - Anderson Varejao, JJ Hickson

We need somebody behind Parker and Moon at the SF and we probably need another big man (Big Z will hopefully come back, although, I hate to say it, he would be the perfect fit in Miami).

By the way, I think we still have Boobie Gibson, who was great for a stretch a few years ago and then got buried behing Williams and West. He could make a comeback.

 

[CKR132]

Minus the contracts of Shaquille O'Neal ($20 Million) and LeBron James ($30 Million, if he signed) the Cavs have the financial flexibility this season. Delonte West and Bobby Gibson's contracts are moveable in which the Cavs can get serviceable players from other teams let's say Al Jefferson on who the Wolves are reportedly shopping to free up cap space.

Then there's next year's draft of Harrison Barnes or Enes Kanter