Build a team around Lebron to beat GS
- Thread starter North Carolina Blue Wildcat
- Start date
Kyrie Irving
Jesus
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Tristan Thompson
That's my starting 5. I know Irving and Jesus both aren't super tall, but you can always count on a miracle happening or something.
Anyone know of a site where you can build a roster based on the salary cap and current player's salaries? I found something but it's been updated with 2017-18 salaries already
He's a good player, not going to say he isn't but you build around a leader which he isn't. He's getting old too. If you're going to be THE star you don't quit. Yesterday he quit, what was it, 2 points in the fourth quarter and not much more than that in the third. Playing half of a game isn't going to cut it. He's already had one horrible game this post season that other great players never had in their career's.
I guess that leaves the question of who would you chose and I don't really have a solid answer but there are several to chose from. It's not that Lebron is out there leading bad teams to the play off's. They have built teams and added him to go along with stacked rosters and they've done good but I rather see a guy committed to the game and being the best instead the guy looking for an easy path. JMO
Prime Derrek Rose and Kyrie are the best finishers I have ever seen. It seems like Kyrie struggles with picking his spots to take shots when Lebron is in Finals Bron mode.
Irving IS isolation. He can't run an offense. Here's a good write up: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/n...es-top-among-cavs-offensive-woes-vs-warriors/
KD is the guy who took the easy path , not LBJ.
LeBron has never joined a stacked team to the degree of what KD joined
Not sure if you are serious about this. If I remember correctly, Jordan had 6 playoff games where he scored 10 or fewer points. He shot 3-18 against the Knicks in 1993. The reason we remember and scrutinize Lebron's bad playoff games is because he has so few that we nit pick and rip him apart if he doesn't go for 30, 12, and 10 every single time.
Another thing I don't get about Lebron is that everyone wants to rip him when he doesn't win the fnals every year, yet no one rips Jordan for not even making the finals and losing in the eastern conference. Yeah, MJ was 6-0 in the finals, but what about the other years where he couldn't even get his team there and had an early exit?
Found one finally
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/tools/roster/
Can create a full NBA lineup with salaries and salary cap applied. But for some reason George Hill is missing. This is suprisingly harder than I thought it would be without going over the cap, since LeBron is making 33 million. You have to get a lot of rookie contracts to not go over the cap, thankfully there are a lot of really good players still on their rookie contracts. Of course, with all these great rookie contracts, this roster is wholly unrealistic even though it would technically be a valid NBA roster. Last five spots were listed as utility before making my picks, so I tried to go with a somewhat balanced five out of guys that actually play and make next to nothing, relative to NBA salaries, that is.
Beverly, Ulis, Booker, Bradley, Crowder, Porzingis, Nurkic, and Jokic all have ridiculously good value contracts. Hell, Malcolm Brogdon, with is great value contract, might even be a better fit than Booker in one of the top two SG spots due to his defensive abilities.
I think you take what you have and add a better starting 2G. To me you have to go either elite shooter or lock down defender. If going O I take JJ Reddick over JR Smith. If defense I go Simmons or Green from San Antonio. I also think they need better depth in the front court. A guy like Derrick Favors would help them a lot off the bench.
Found one finally
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/tools/roster/
Can create a full NBA lineup with salaries and salary cap applied. But for some reason George Hill is missing. This is suprisingly harder than I thought it would be without going over the cap, since LeBron is making 33 million. You have to get a lot of rookie contracts to not go over the cap, thankfully there are a lot of really good players still on their rookie contracts. Of course, with all these great rookie contracts, this roster is wholly unrealistic even though it would technically be a valid NBA roster. Last five spots were listed as utility before making my picks, so I tried to go with a somewhat balanced five out of guys that actually play and make next to nothing, relative to NBA salaries, that is.
Beverly, Ulis, Booker, Bradley, Crowder, Porzingis, Nurkic, and Jokic all have ridiculously good value contracts. Hell, Malcolm Brogdon, with is great value contract, might even be a better fit than Booker in one of the top two SG spots due to his defensive abilities.
Probably bc Hill is a FA
You built the sophomore/rookie team + AD and Lebron haha.
I think experience is underrated.
Just stop lol. GSW, like any great team, is stockpiling the most talent they can get on their roster. You might not like, but you sure do when Cal does the same thing year in and year out at UK.
As from LeBron, GSW beat him in 2015. And in 2016, it took a final shot in game 7 by Kyrie for the Cavs to beat a Warriors team last year that was without Bogut, played an injured Curry, and dealing with Greens suspension and idiotic shenanigans.
GSW didnt go out and get KD because they feared LeBron. The rumors out here had been going on for a couple years already that GSW may possibly make a move for KD before it actually happened.
I agree on Kyrie with regard to iso, but realistically don't see the Cavs cutting ties (which is why he remains on my proposed roster). Only way they move him is if someone like Chris Paul is a real option. Then you can trade Kyrie and have the flexibility to pick up some nice pieces to go around Paul, LeBron, and Love (Heyward, George, Simmons, Bradley, etc.).
If Kyrie remains, then the only other option is to get him to buy into a more balanced iso/motion approach on offense.
I'd rather have talent than experience though. Experience doesn't score buckets. The Warriors team that won the title two years ago had very little Finals experience on it.
Alas, Beverly, Bradley, and Crowder are veterans, that's probably my starting lineup to go with LeBron and AD. Though I might consider going Beverly, Bradley, LeBron, AD, and Jokic.
The bottom five I didn't even care about. They wouldn't play in any meaningful minutes of a Finals game.
I agree. They didn't "need" Durant to beat Cleveland. They had done so the year before. They were already a championship caliber team and then had a chance to add a top 5 player in the league. Why the heck not take it?
depends on the purpose of your "building a team." You wanna win next year, nobody I'd take over Lebron. But at 32, how much longer will he be in his prime? If I was building for the next 5 years and beyond, I'd start with AD, Leonard, or Curry. Maybe Harden.
Smith and Thompson have been pretty much non-existent. Upgrading those two positions in the off season should be key for the Cavs for next season.
Lebron took the warriors to six in 2015 without Kyrie and Love.
Bogut has been pretty trash for a while now.
The Curry injury stuff is so overplayed. It's the finals. Every player is hurt.
Greens a part of the team so dealing with his shenanigans comes with him.
I think it's fine if the warriors want to stockpile talent. But don't make excuses for them last year while pointing out they beat a Cavs team under worse circumstances the year before.
My point was that the Warriors didn't go out and get KD simply because of fear of Big Bad Bron and the Cavs which was the post I was responding to.
Although I agree with you about 2015, you are wrong about 2016 but im not going to spend the time making any other points about it than I already have because I get the vibe your mind is made up already anyway.
Yea I assumed he meant to win now. And there is nobody else to even consider if that's what you mean. James is the best player in the league and probably top 5 of all time. Its ridiculous to say you wouldn't build around LeBron and go with another player right now. Its flat ignorance.
But yes, if you're talking future, AD or Kawhi or KD might be better picks.
It needs to actually be a realistic team. Of course an all NBA team would beat them.
Thompson is a great rebounder and he switches well on screens. Bam doesn't have a really stand out skill yet.
According to this site Jordan only had 1 career game as Bull in which he failed to score double figures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Michael_Jordan
You have to remember that today's eastern conference is a lot weaker than the days of the great Celtics, Pistons and Bulls teams. The Cavs had some excellent teams in the late 80s and early 90s but failed to ever get past the Bulls. But I'm sure Jordan never faced a super team like the this great Warriors team in any of his finals, and we might not ever see a better collection of talent assembled as this current Golden State team.
And yes, the Internet is a factor when it comes to criticizing LeBron James. You can nitpick nearly every second of every game these days.
On the subject of Irving, I don't he's a good fit to pair together with LeBron. He's a great offensive player but he's also one of the worst defensive PG's in the entire league. This entire Cavs team has slipped as a defensive unit this season. I'm not trying to say that James doesn't have enough talent surrounding him, but the pieces don't really seem to fit at times.
Golden State has a "Big 4", and that's what LeBron needs. If not looking at money, the 3 guys who need to be with LeBron are Kawhi, AD, and I'd go with Wall. I think those 4 guys on the same time would mesh very well on the court together, they can all score the ball, but they can also do other things such as rebound and defend to win the game.
LeBron's biggest problem is that on his current team, there's too much of a drop-off between him, Love, and Kyrie, and the rest of the bench. Tristan is not deserving of a max contract, Deron Williams and Iman Shumpert are trash, and JR Smith is either awesome, or non-existent. You got 5 other guys on the team who are at least 36 years old and don't contribute much. The roster is horribly balanced and there is NO quality depth.
Whether or not you're a LeBron fan, there is no denying nor debate when it comes to this, the man is getting NO help in this series so far.
LeBron's biggest problem is that on his current team, there's too much of a drop-off between him, Love, and Kyrie, and the rest of the bench. Tristan is not deserving of a max contract, Deron Williams and Iman Shumpert are trash, and JR Smith is either awesome, or non-existent. You got 5 other guys on the team who are at least 36 years old and don't contribute much. The roster is horribly balanced and there is NO quality depth.
Whether or not you're a LeBron fan, there is no denying nor debate when it comes to this, the man is getting NO help in this series so far.
Durant, Curry, Thompson, Green, find anyone over 7 ft to man the middle from time to time. Find Kerr a decent surgeon and hire him to coach. Then he'll beat the Warriors.
My mistake. I was quoting this article posted 5/23/17. Maybe there were some with the Wizards towards the back end of his career.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/5/...e-3-celtics-bad-playoffs-poor-play-not-really
"We remember these bad LeBron moments because they’re so infrequent.
We also remember them because they happened so recently, and because the hot take landscape has developed into what it is today. James isn’t perfect and his occasionally spotty games show that. But hey, neither was Michael Jordan.
Without turning this into a debate about which one was better, it’s notable that Jordan had six games with a game score under 10. He shot 3 of 18 down 2-0 to the Knicks in 1993 and only managed 6-of-19 shooting in the 1996 Finals against Seattle. It’s easy to whitewash Jordan’s occasional mortal moments because they’re all so far removed. In many cases, the legend of Jordan persists over everything else."
The Cavs aren't landing George with that trade. The Pacers turned down a trade offer of a 2017 Top 3 pick (which is now the #1 pick), Avery Bradley, and Jay Crowder at the trade deadline last season. The Cavs have zero trade options outside of Irvin and Love.
If the Cavs want to win again with Lebron they are going to have to build a team specifically gears toward beating the Warriors. I think it could be done but they have got to have someone who can play defense aside from Lebron and they have to add a shooter. JJ Reddick seems realistic and would help with the shooting but for certain isn't enough. Need to look to trade Love for someone who can defend inside. Maybe they could get someone like Noel. They would still need more. You probably aren't going to beat Golden State in a 7 game series without at least two elite multi deminsional players with a couple solid defenders and a shooter.
Here is my attempt
Add Noel and Zach Randolph inside through Free Agency. You get offense, defense and rebounding. Trade Love to the Thunder for Andre Roberson, the 21st pick and another pick next year. Work a sign and trade with Irving and that 21st pick for Chris Paul. Sign JJ Reddick.
Gives you
Paul
Reddick
Lebron
Randolph
Noel
You would have Roberson as a lock down defender coming off the bench and Thompson in a role he is more suited for. Plus you add an extra draft pick. That lineup gives you a better PG who can defend. A good shooter who is adequate on defense. A shot blocker and defender inside. Stronger rebounding and plenty of scoring. Don't know how it works financially and that team may still get destroyed but it at least seems realistic.
Here is my attempt
Add Noel and Zach Randolph inside through Free Agency. You get offense, defense and rebounding. Trade Love to the Thunder for Andre Roberson, the 21st pick and another pick next year. Work a sign and trade with Irving and that 21st pick for Chris Paul. Sign JJ Reddick.
Gives you
Paul
Reddick
Lebron
Randolph
Noel
You would have Roberson as a lock down defender coming off the bench and Thompson in a role he is more suited for. Plus you add an extra draft pick. That lineup gives you a better PG who can defend. A good shooter who is adequate on defense. A shot blocker and defender inside. Stronger rebounding and plenty of scoring. Don't know how it works financially and that team may still get destroyed but it at least seems realistic.
I take it that these rosters aren't supposed to be realistic? I haven't seen one roster that could possibly happen. Even the ones that claim to be "possible" have zero chance of happening due to the NBAs salary cap or unless the other teams GM wants to be fired.
Similar threads
