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JPRouve

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Ah good, even better then. There you go, he's won multiple championships without relying on being on a superteam.
My bad I put a not for no good reason. The Heat were a superteam, as where the Cavs, as were the Lakers.

In the case of the Cavs some seem to ignore the fact that he joined an all-star and World Cup MVP while they also traded for a multiple second team all-NBA player. It's Lebron James with two all-NBA caliber players.
 

SmallCaine

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Nah, I am seeing enough people who do watch basketball agreeing with me on his heroics. It looks like I underrated him. He gained a fan in me, going to follow him on twitter now. Followed lakers on reddit now.
I knew there was something wrong with you, didn't know you were completely hopeless.
 

giorno

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Lakers reddit is awesome and full of the best people in the world, y'all don't know what you talking about
 

SmallCaine

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Lakers reddit is awesome and full of the best people in the world, y'all don't know what you talking about
To be fair it was fantastic last season, especially after beating the Warriors and then getting swept by the nuggets series, haven't visited in a while, the takes were hilarious, is Austin Reaves still their home grown Ginobli? Wonder what happened to jokic stopper rui?

The only lot who can compete with laker fans in their delusion are the scousers and maybe the cowboys.
 

JPRouve

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To be fair it was fantastic last season, especially after beating the Warriors and then getting swept by the nuggets series, haven't visited in a while, the takes were hilarious, is Austin Reaves still their home grown Ginobli? Wonder what happened to jokic stopper rui?

The only lot who can compete with laker fans in their delusion are the scousers and maybe the cowboys.
I used to be a lurker on RAWK and their fans were for the vast majority totally fine and many generally excellent. A small minority was absolutely hilariously deluded though.
Lakers fans are more like online Barcelona fans, they think that the entire sport owe them something.
 

Desert Eagle

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It's funny cause Lakers fans are actually most similar to United fans. We're the most successful and most popular and most hated and the media hyper focuses on us which leads to resentment from the other teams and fans. We also struggle with clown management a lot.

I was a proud lebron hater before he became a laker but watching him the past couple years has really made me a lebron fan. We're talking just the player not the off the court stuff. His game at this age is incredible and isn't really getting the credit it should. I think there is a stat that he shot a better clip from three than curry this year? Come on put some respect on lebron the player. He's all time greatness.
 

ThierryHenry

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Yup, Lakers are the United of the NBA and the Celtics are Liverpool. Can't stand either of them.
 

hasanejaz88

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My bad I put a not for no good reason. The Heat were a superteam, as where the Cavs, as were the Lakers.

In the case of the Cavs some seem to ignore the fact that he joined an all-star and World Cup MVP while they also traded for a multiple second team all-NBA player. It's Lebron James with two all-NBA caliber players.
How were the Lakers a super team? Yes they had two great players in LeBron and AD but they didn't have a third star, you need atleast a third star to be called a super team. If you say two great players makes one then pretty much every team bar Dallas in 2011 and the 94 Rockets weren't superteams (maybe 2000s and 80s Detroit as well).
 

Charlie Foley

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How were the Lakers a super team? Yes they had two great players in LeBron and AD but they didn't have a third star, you need atleast a third star to be called a super team. If you say two great players makes one then pretty much every team bar Dallas in 2011 and the 94 Rockets weren't superteams (maybe 2000s and 80s Detroit as well).
According to the Wikipedia page that version of the Lakers became a super team in 2021
 

charlton66

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How were the Lakers a super team? Yes they had two great players in LeBron and AD but they didn't have a third star, you need atleast a third star to be called a super team. If you say two great players makes one then pretty much every team bar Dallas in 2011 and the 94 Rockets weren't superteams (maybe 2000s and 80s Detroit as well).
I'm not sure you can make a sweeping statement like that. I think it depends on the players. By your definition, the Lakers 2001 team is not a "superteam" because they only had Shaq and Kobe. I would argue those Lakers were one of top 5 teams in history and I would take them over any of LeBron's teams and any of the Dubs teams for that matter (with the exception of the 2017-18 teams of course).
 

JPRouve

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How were the Lakers a super team? Yes they had two great players in LeBron and AD but they didn't have a third star, you need atleast a third star to be called a super team. If you say two great players makes one then pretty much every team bar Dallas in 2011 and the 94 Rockets weren't superteams (maybe 2000s and 80s Detroit as well).
I don't think that it's a case of 2 vs 3 super stars, some have 2 super stars and a bunch of abnormally high level support players. Also when that construction is planned around imported talents instead of homegrown talent, the way I see it the label super team has more to do with the roster construction and intent.

As an example I wouldn't call OKC with Harden, KD and Westbrook a super team because they were all homegrown players, though I totally understand if you don't agree with that distinction.
 

giorno

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If the current/recent champiosn Lakers are a superteam then that term has no meaning. Nearly every NBA champion ever is a superteam

The cavs were, and they split the finald against the dubs before the latter acquired KD and turned into the godfathers of all superteams
 

JPRouve

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If the current/recent champiosn Lakers are a superteam then that term has no meaning. Nearly every NBA champion ever is a superteam

The cavs were, and they split the finald against the dubs before the latter acquired KD and turned into the godfathers of all superteams
Yeah nearly every NBA champions are. It's actually one of the argument made against people who keep downgrading Lebron James talent, the point being that super teams aren't new and many of the teams that people use to criticize James were super teams.
 

charlton66

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Yeah nearly every NBA champions are. It's actually one of the argument made against people who keep downgrading Lebron James talent, the point being that super teams aren't new and many of the teams that people use to criticize James were super teams.
I think the problem is that we're way too loose with the "superteam" terminology. I've been watching the NBA for over 40 years and IMLTHO I think i would class about 5 teams as real "superteams" in that time.

The Showtime Lakers,
The 80s Celtics,
The 90s Bulls,
The 2000s Lakers (1st iteration)
The Curry/KD Warriors.

The 80s Pistons and the 2010s Heat would get honorable mentions. Not sure where to put the Spurs. They were just really good for a really long time.
 
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JPRouve

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I think the problem is that we're way too loose with the "superteam" terminology. I've been watching the NBA for over 40 years and IMLTHO I think i would class about 5 teams as real "superteams" in that time.

The Showtime Lakers,
The 80s Celtics,
The 90s Bulls,
The 2000s Lakers (1st iteration)
The Curry/KD Warriors.

The 80s Pistons and the 2010s Heat would get honorable mentions. Not sure where to put the Spurs. They were just really good for a really long time.
That represents the majority of championships or contenders, right?
 

charlton66

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That represents the majority of championships or contenders, right?
It does, but it excludes every one of LeBron's teams. I think he tried to produce "Superteams," I just don't think he was very good at it. With his talent and longevity, he should have won way more than 4 Championships. With the Heat for instance, 1,2,3,4,5 etc...ended up being 2.

I think all his teams where he was a contender have just been very, very good.
 

JPRouve

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It does, but it excludes every one of LeBron's teams. I think he tried to produce "Superteams," I just don't think he was very good at it. With his talent and longevity, he should have won way more than 4 Championships. With the Heat for instance, 1,2,3,4,5 etc...ended up being 2.

I think all his teams where he was a contender have just been very, very good.
Fair enough, I don't agree but I can live with that viewpoint.
 

giorno

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It does, but it excludes every one of LeBron's teams. I think he tried to produce "Superteams," I just don't think he was very good at it. With his talent and longevity, he should have won way more than 4 Championships. With the Heat for instance, 1,2,3,4,5 etc...ended up being 2.

I think all his teams where he was a contender have just been very, very good.
Not his fault the warriors coalesced into the death star with that timing. Without the warriors he probably does win a couple rings more with the Cavs. The record with the Heat is poor yes, the finals against the Mavs are the black mark on his career he never could quite shake off in the comparison with MJ
 

MrMarcello

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Yeah nearly every NBA champions are. It's actually one of the argument made against people who keep downgrading Lebron James talent, the point being that super teams aren't new and many of the teams that people use to criticize James were super teams.
I think I mentioned this before but the dislike was the free agency means that saw three buddies team up in Miami to create the first "artificial" superteam, guess that's the best way to label it. Prior to that, superteams were pieced together through draft trades, player trades, and sign-and-trades. But lost in some of that hatred towards LeBron is forgetting that often the player in these olden days trades forced the move.

We'll never know how it would have worked out years and decades before as this sort of free agency didn't exist until 1989 and has evolved since. It's also highly doubtful a star like Bird, Johnson, or Jordan would have remained with their respective teams if those teams sucked ass. But, guys that did go free agency thereafter - Pippen, Shaq, so forth - could easily have joined forces with "rivals" but they didn't. Well, Pippen later did in Houston with a pair of aging stars in Barkley and Hakeem.

Found this nugget on the biggest names each free agency period since 1989 through 2000. https://hoopsanalyst.com/?p=1922
 

charlton66

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Not his fault the warriors coalesced into the death star with that timing. Without the warriors he probably does win a couple rings more with the Cavs. The record with the Heat is poor yes, the finals against the Mavs are the black mark on his career he never could quite shake off in the comparison with MJ
That really is a cop out for LeBron fans. The Curry/KD Warriors were together for 3 seasons (2 really since KD and Klay got hurt in the 3rd). This is James' 21st season. Whether it's 4 wins in 21 or 4 in 18. You would have thought a player with his talent would have more Championships, especially when he's cherry picking his teammates.
 

giorno

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That really is a cop out for LeBron fans. The Curry/KD Warriors were together for 3 seasons (2 really since KD and Klay got hurt in the 3rd). This is James' 21st season. Whether it's 4 wins in 21 or 4 in 18. You would have thought a player with his talent would have more Championships, especially when he's cherry picking his teammates.
He didn't start cherry picking until 2010 though, so that's 7 years off carrying absolute dross, and the Lakers were a clusterfeck when he came over, and kept doing clusterfecky things afterwards. He joined at 34 and began suffering the first real injuries of his career. Between bad FO moves and injuries to himself and AD in his 6 years in LA he had competitive teams 3 times, and by 2021 he was no longer the best player in the league anyways, at 37 with the kind of mileage he had...so that's 13 seasons out of 21. In the remaining 8 seasons he made the finals with the Heat and Cavs - 2 of those he lost to the KD dubs, the other 6 he went 3-3, one he lost to injuries, one he won in part thanks to opponent's injuries/self sabotage, one his co-stars didn't show up, and the last where he didn't play like he should have
 

charlton66

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That really is a cop out for LeBron fans. The Curry/KD Warriors were together for 3 seasons (2 really since KD and Klay got hurt in the 3rd). This is James' 21st season. Whether it's 4 wins in 21 or 4 in 18. You would have thought a player with his talent would have more Championships, especially when he's cherry picking his teammates.
As an add on.

My top 10 players of all time:

MJ 6 Championships
LeBron 4
Kareem 6
Magic 5
Russell 11
Duncan 5
Bird 3
Curry 4
Kobe 5
Shaq 4

Of those 10, only Bird has less than 4 and he only played 13 seasons and the last couple of those were with severe back problems. LeBron really should have won more.
 

hasanejaz88

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I was going to reply about the point whether the 2020 Lakers were a superteam but the discussion afterwards covered all of my points :D

- Superteam is used as a derogitory term within the NBA to discredit the achievements of the individuals within those teams, so I would not use it so liberally for most NBA champions.
- The term shouldn't be used for teams built organically through the draft, so would exclude teams like the Shaq Lakers, since Kobe was drafted, and other teams before.
- Wouldn't use that term for teams with just two superstars or weren't clear favourites at the start of the season, like Lebron's Lakers.
- Miami, Cavs and Durant GSW would be the latest examples of a supersteam.
 

charlton66

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He didn't start cherry picking until 2010 though, so that's 7 years off carrying absolute dross, and the Lakers were a clusterfeck when he came over, and kept doing clusterfecky things afterwards. He joined at 34 and began suffering the first real injuries of his career. Between bad FO moves and injuries to himself and AD in his 6 years in LA he had competitive teams 3 times, and by 2021 he was no longer the best player in the league anyways, at 37 with the kind of mileage he had...so that's 13 seasons out of 21. In the remaining 8 seasons he made the finals with the Heat and Cavs - 2 of those he lost to the KD dubs, the other 6 he went 3-3, one he lost to injuries, one he won in part thanks to opponent's injuries/self sabotage, one his co-stars didn't show up, and the last where he didn't play like he should have
Other greats (for the most part) didn't get the opportunity to cherry pick at all. They were either fortunate to end up in a good situation or more often than not, they made it happen.

LeBron should have won more.
 

JPRouve

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I was going to reply about the point whether the 2020 Lakers were a superteam but the discussion afterwards covered all of my points :D

- Superteam is used as a derogitory term within the NBA to discredit the achievements of the individuals within those teams, so I would not use it so liberally for most NBA champions.
- The term shouldn't be used for teams built organically through the draft, so would exclude teams like the Shaq Lakers, since Kobe was drafted, and other teams before.
- Wouldn't use that term for teams with just two superstars or weren't clear favourites at the start of the season, like Lebron's Lakers.
- Miami, Cavs and Durant GSW would be the latest examples of a supersteam.
Nah, you are just trying to protect your dear Lebron. :lol:
 

giorno

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Other greats (for the most part) didn't get the opportunity to cherry pick at all. They were either fortunate to end up in a good situation or more often than not, they made it happen.

LeBron should have won more.
Yes, obviously he should have won more. Specifically 1 more. Beyond that the criticism would be about picking the Lakers instead of going to the warriors or celtics or whatever, where he would have got ready made championship caliber teams
 

JPRouve

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Yes, obviously he should have won more. Specifically 1 more. Beyond that the criticism would be about picking the Lakers instead of going to the warriors or celtics or whatever, where he would have got ready made championship caliber teams
I actually have a different criticism. It's his GM abilities, the man is possibly the greatest passer ever and his ability to drive to the basket is impossible to ignore, so why has he failed to focus on shooters and rim crashers?
 

TheMagicFoolBus

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Yes, obviously he should have won more. Specifically 1 more. Beyond that the criticism would be about picking the Lakers instead of going to the warriors or celtics or whatever, where he would have got ready made championship caliber teams
The problem is Lebron fundamentally changed the NBA by making it OK for superstars to team up via free agency.

Of course he should have beat the Mavs in 2011 but you can't then give him credit belatedly for losing to the superteam Warriors because he's the one who set the precedent for that to happen in the first place.
 

charlton66

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Yes, obviously he should have won more. Specifically 1 more. Beyond that the criticism would be about picking the Lakers instead of going to the warriors or celtics or whatever, where he would have got ready made championship caliber teams
That goes back to my point earlier. He tried to make "superteams," he's just not very good at it. He saw the Lakers as his best option to win a lot more. If it wasn't for COVID, I'm not sure he even wins a 4th.
 

MrMarcello

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As an add on.

My top 10 players of all time:

MJ 6 Championships
LeBron 4
Kareem 6
Magic 5
Russell 11
Duncan 5
Bird 3
Curry 4
Kobe 5
Shaq 4

Of those 10, only Bird has less than 4 and he only played 13 seasons and the last couple of those were with severe back problems. LeBron really should have won more.
Guessing Wilt is 11th on your list.