He's a great rebounder for his size in the NBA but that wasn't something you'd expect coming from his numbers in college. Averaged 7.8 per 31mpg which pretty much the same as Bam who averaged 8 in 30mpg.
Build a team around Lebron to beat GS
- Thread starter North Carolina Blue Wildcat
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He's a great rebounder for his size in the NBA but that wasn't something you'd expect coming from his numbers in college. Averaged 7.8 per 31mpg which pretty much the same as Bam who averaged 8 in 30mpg.
How about this for realistic... someone would have to take less money, maybe it'll be LeBron:
PG Chris Paul (FA)
SG Irving
SF Paul George (trade Love, he'd be beloved in Indy)
PF LeBron
C Noel (FA)
Backups:
Get JaVale McGee. He's a goof but he's been very valuable off the bench.
Get Jeff Teague, he's cheaper (8 mil) that some options and he has a high assist %. Or trade for Ish smith (6 mil).
Get Liggins again. Never should have let him go. His defense would nice to have right now.
Get Clint Capela or Bismack Biyombo... terrible on offense but have very good Block %
Find a dead eye three point shooter
Irving just isn't a PG, but he does have skills. Tell Irving to get up on his man and deny the 3, and Noel can clean up. Love just doesn't fit on this team, I feel. He's post up or 3, and he can't jump. You can maybe keep Tristan Thompson if you san stay under the cap, but I'd rather trade him for something.
PG Chris Paul (FA)
SG Irving
SF Paul George (trade Love, he'd be beloved in Indy)
PF LeBron
C Noel (FA)
Backups:
Get JaVale McGee. He's a goof but he's been very valuable off the bench.
Get Jeff Teague, he's cheaper (8 mil) that some options and he has a high assist %. Or trade for Ish smith (6 mil).
Get Liggins again. Never should have let him go. His defense would nice to have right now.
Get Clint Capela or Bismack Biyombo... terrible on offense but have very good Block %
Find a dead eye three point shooter
Irving just isn't a PG, but he does have skills. Tell Irving to get up on his man and deny the 3, and Noel can clean up. Love just doesn't fit on this team, I feel. He's post up or 3, and he can't jump. You can maybe keep Tristan Thompson if you san stay under the cap, but I'd rather trade him for something.
Novel is a restricted free agent so maybe you could work a sign and trade with Thompson. I'm feeling that the cava have got to let Love or Thimpson go, maybe both.
Still not very realistic due to the cap. Cleveland will be $26mil over the cap for next season. That's before any trades or FA pick ups. If Indiana traded George for Love (which I don't think they would) then the Cavs would still be $21mil over cap. Meaning they can't sign Chris Paul unless LeBron took a $21mil pay cut. Not to mention Noel is going to cost around $15mil-$20mil. Biyombo is going to cost around the same. Capela is still under contract with Houston. Jeff Teague will want more than $8mil. With all that said, they still have Thompson's contract which will be $19mil next season which they can't move without finding a team with $19mil in cap room and willing to take him. They could probably land McGee and Liggins though. So if LeBron wants to build another super team, it's looking like he is going to have to jump ship again after next season. Cleveland just doesn't have cap room.
Lol how many all stars does LeBron need to win a championship.
He has great teammates on the Cavs and he had great teammates on the Heat (albeit Wade was getting old).
LeBron is trying to mimic what Jordan did. Team up with 2 all stars (for MJ is was Pippen and Rodman; LeBron- Wade/Bosh; Irving/Love) along with dependable role players and win championships.
2 problems:
1) GS has the best overall starting line up in the NBA.
2) LeBron isn't Jordan. LeBron complains about needing this or that, or getting rid of a guy like Love. Maybe Jordan didn't play a team as stacked as GS but he always found a way to push through adversity and winning with what he had without whining,
It would definitely take moving Thompsons contract and moving Loves, maybe not for George but for something. Then LeBron would have to opt out and re-sign for a much lower figure, and hope Paul will sign under market to chase a title (don't think the Warriors stealing the Clippers spotlight doesn't stick in his craw). Likely? No. But it is realistic. Because of the under market deals for Klay and Curry, and with the news that Durant may opt out and take less, somebody is going to have to take less money to compete with the Warriors.
Yeah I get ya, but the butthurt Johnny come lately Cavs fans around here have me on the defense.
Point being, the Warriors didn't have to have KD to beat the Cavs, but adding him just increased the odds of doing so exponentially. Like I said elsehwere, this KD/GSW union had been in talks way before last year's series.
Maybe so, but they made sure it happened just to increase their chances IMO. If they didn't have him, I don't think they lead 2-0.
I don't get why folks hate on LeBron so much honestly. I guess it's because of the big deal ESPN made about his FA choice a few years ago. Other than that, what has he done to draw such ire. I don't get it.
He's not an egomaniac like Jordan. He's not been in any trouble like Kobe. I don't get it.
The Cavs could possibly add Chris Paul if he signed for a lot less and LeBron takes a hugh pay cut. They would have to get rid of the contracts of probably Thompson, and JR Smith (easier said then done). They would not be able to sign Noel, Biyombo, Teague, or any other starting quality players. Plus their bench would probably be worse than it is this year. I will say your roster idea is a lot more realistic than most in this thread. At least you didn't throw in AD or KAT.
JR Smith is a really bad contract. They should have let him walk, but he was LeBrons buddy. I could see LeBron taking a huge cut to try and rally a super team to take out the Warriors. He will simply have to if Durant is willing to do so.
Well I thought LeBron had an opt out but it looks like he doesn't right now. In that case they HAVE to move JR Smith (useless) and Thompson (some value) if they wanna get anyone good. They may have to give up more than a few future draft picks to make that happen.
I've come around on LeBron over the years tbh. Still not ready to call this series after witnessing what we did last year. Different circumstances to be sure, but with this much star power on a team like Cleveland, they're never out of it.
GS has an incredible roster for the cost. If others want to keep up, they better be willing to sacrifice personal finances to achieve greatness. No one can catch GS if there's no turnover on the roster. What they give up in salary, they'll make up through other means as long as they keep winning.
Especially when you have KD willing to take less money on his upcoming extension to keep the core of the roster intact.
I won't argue with you on that but then people don't go around claiming KD is the GOAT either. The realty of this season is that the Warriors out played Lebron at his game of team jumping.
I don't recall and can't even find a single game where Jordan didn't reach double figures in a play off game. The worst I could find was 22 points. That's in line with what folks were saying after the game he took off. I don't think any of the players considered great have something like that on their record.
You're missing horribly on Jordan too. He never bailed on his team to go and of all things be Robin to another teams Batman. He stayed and helped build a championship franchise. Lebron started out right but then gave up and took the easy route by joining a team that would help give him a ring. He's never put in the work to build a team into a champion.
GS didn't have to do anything. Lol. A top 3 player in the world wanted to join them, what, are they gonna say no? GS would have retooled and been right in the same spot. Not as dominant, but still right in the same spot as final favorites.
No, what Jordan did was wait around til the great players and great teams retired and disbanded. Bird, Magic, Kareem, the Celtics and the Pistons weren't around for 5 of Jordans 6 titles. Jordan also had a competent Franchise, LeBron didn't and still doesnt. Jordan was great, and still potentially the greatest, but as the years pass, he has become irreproachable and somewhat of a superhuman. There are very few teams that win a championship without 3 allstars. The problem is that Jordan gets all this credit for a team accomplishment, while Lebron gets punished for not having as good of a supporting cast. The Bulls came in second in the east the year Jordan took his baseball hiatus. The Cavs won like 10 games the year Lebron went to Miami. What does that say about who each was playing with??
They took him because they needed him. If he's not that big a deal, then why get him. If he had joined the Cavs folks would be crying foul and saying LeBron wanted KD to assure another title.
Rodman and Pippen are also >> Irving and Love
There are too many crappy vets on the Cavs. McCaw and Clark, both deep in the Warrior's depth chart, are better than JR, Shump, and Williams. It's stark how horrible the Cavs are when Lebron leaves the court. Lebron is the glue, the virtuoso, and the stalwart for that team.
You bring John Wall to play with Davis cousins, Holiday and a top 5 small forward
That's a pretty solid team
That's a pretty solid team
I'm going with keeping Lebron, Kyrie and Love, because that is their nucleus and those 3 are still very good. You need to add a defensive stopper and a legit knockdown 3point threat.
1. Kyrie
2. Jimmy Butler (he's a sf but can play the 2 guard)
3. Lebron
4. Love
5. Hassan Whiteside
coming off the bench you need your 3 point threat if Kyrie isn't making shots I would go with Redick.
This way you have a legit Defensive Stopper to D up the hot hand on the Warriors and Lebron to D up the 2nd option. Whiteside to take away those wide open layups/dunks GSW is getting. Tried to be realistic in my picks. It would be too easy to say:
1. Russell Westbrook
2. James Hardin
3. Lebron
4. AD
5. Boogie
1. Kyrie
2. Jimmy Butler (he's a sf but can play the 2 guard)
3. Lebron
4. Love
5. Hassan Whiteside
coming off the bench you need your 3 point threat if Kyrie isn't making shots I would go with Redick.
This way you have a legit Defensive Stopper to D up the hot hand on the Warriors and Lebron to D up the 2nd option. Whiteside to take away those wide open layups/dunks GSW is getting. Tried to be realistic in my picks. It would be too easy to say:
1. Russell Westbrook
2. James Hardin
3. Lebron
4. AD
5. Boogie
Hes a top 3 player in the world. Lol. Of course hes a big deal. But saying they NEEDED him to bear LeBron is a big stretch .
A big stretch. Please. LeBron has gotten to NBA Finals 7 years in a row. They knew who they were gonna be facing and they wanted KD to help them beat LeBron. Spin it all you want. If the Cavs had signed AD or Boogie, you guys would be saying that LeBron was afraid of the Warriors so he went and got more help.
Jimmy Butler and Hassan Whiteside aren't very realistic. Both are under contract to 2020. Cleveland doesn't have any trade pieces outside of Kyrie and Love.
I really don't know what Cleveland can do to improve. They are $26 mil over the cap for the 2017-2018 season. Maybe talk some vets into taking the league minimum like the Heat did with Ray Allen. Bring in someone like Redick maybe? The only thing I could see them do to bring in another star is trade Kyrie and for Paul. The salary cap will prevent them from added another through free agency.
Irving is one of the best scoring PGs in the league. Love was a double-double machine, and was high scorer before he joined LeBron. Same for Bosh too. Maybe not the double doubles but he was a high scorer. Big men seem to fall in the shadow when LeBron joins on the team.
This is about what it would take to beat the Warriors at the moment.
MJ is the GOAT
My viewpoint is that LeBron built this team himself for the most part. He has effectively acted as a de facto general manager and forced his opinion on the organization as a whole, which can easily be seen with the firing of Dave Blatt and the ridiculous contract extension of Thompson. If he wins the championship, then much of the credit should go to him, but if he loses the series, he deserves an overwhelming share of the blame too.
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