***Official 2022-2023 NBA Thread***

[dirk digler]

Can't believe the regular season starts tonight. Just seemed like the Finals ended a couple weeks ago.



Philly vs Celtics: 6:30PM CST TNT

GSW vs Lakers: 9:00PM CST TNT

[Hammock Parties]

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Remember, you only hate LeBron because you know deep down inside he's better than MJ and Kobe. pic.twitter.com/Wfp2O1sn3S

— Uncovering the Truth (@shendy456) May 23, 2023

I like LeBron and his game. Any "dislike" I have for him is due to idiots like Barry (and, perhaps, his team-hopping).

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

goodnight

�� pic.twitter.com/6MygZyiZSE

— ThatsGoodSports (@BrandonPerna) May 23, 2023

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by staylor26

By this logic, you only hate Steph Curry because you know deep down he's better than Lebron.

I don’t hate Steph Curry. I hate what he represents and what the media has made him up to be. He was never even the 2nd best player in the league at any point in his career and he gets talked about as if he’s a top 5-10 guy ever somehow.

[KC_Connection]

LeBron James ended his postgame press conference on a cryptic note...

H/T @jovanbuha pic.twitter.com/qyPiP2VzEH

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 23, 2023

LeBron putting the pressure on to get Kyrie.

[Ocotillo]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

Really hate seeing Broncos fans be happy about anything. Hopefully, Miami rips their hearts out.

Most of the Bronco fans I come across aren't even Colorado loyalists when it comes to sports.

They're Broncos in the NFL along with Dodgers in MLB and Lakers in NBA.

[Ocotillo]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

It’s not a dishonest argument, it’s just a fact. Even superstars like LeBron and MJ need help to win these things, that’s the way it has always been.

MJ was a great, great player in the 80s who did unmatched individual things but he never won a thing with Pippen.

I don't think Pippen matters.

Jordan and the Bulls, superstar and franchise, had to go through an evolutionary process to become the championship team they eventually would become.

Pippen or not, Jordan wasn't coming into the association and winning it all in years 1-3. That's the case with every superstar with the exception of Magic Johnson.

[Al Bundy]

Swept.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by RunKC

LeBron is 38. He’s on the decline. And yet he’s still playing this well even on a team that flat out quit.

Don’t get the hate.

Yeah I mean I like to troll him cuz I dont like him but hes been great. Greatest 38.5 year old bball player I can ever remember.

[ChiefsCountry]

Originally Posted by ChiefaRoo

If you take the best one year from Lebron, Kobe,
Michael, and a handful of other greats….
Just one year. IMO it’s MJ, Kobe, Lebron. I’m talking clutch shots and stats.

Kobe is nowhere near Jordan and Lebron. Kobe is a media creation

[Chief Pagan]

LeBron is a douche. And during his peak, prime years he didn't consistently enforce his will when it mattered like MJ did, so I will always choose MJ.

But LeBron got better with age and you absolutely have to give him credit for longevity.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

If I didn't defend LeBron here, it would just be a 24/7 bash fest due to the fear of him overtaking MJ. It has to be done.

Lebron would probably get more positive coverage and definitely less negative posts if you didn't try to turn everything he does into the best thing in the history of the nba.

"He missed the shot so perfectly that AD was able to power in and get the rebound and put back."

Thought that was you announcing at the time.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

More from LeBron James on Nikola Jokić.

"Everybody gets cracked up into his stats, but I don't think a lot of people talk about (the mental) part of his game. Maybe it's not talked about because a lot of people don't understand it. But I do. He's special." pic.twitter.com/AzB8DtINsK

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2023

LeBron is always such a sportsman in defeat. Another reason he’s the GOAT, he acknowledges, respects, understands and appreciates the greatness of other players.

I can keep going. I'm sure I can find more of Lebron being such a class act.

2009

Hey, Detroit and Atlanta both shook hands with Cleveland following those series, yet LeBron James displays his immaturity by walking off the court, refusing to shake hands or talk to reporters?

And, to add insult to injury, his statements the day after the event only made me realize that LeBron doesn't really have a clue about professionalism and good sportsmanship.

Or marketing.

Apparently LeBron is too much of a competitor to shake hands with someone who just beat him up. What?

Is he implying those other teams weren't competing?

Look, refusing to shake hands and then not admitting you were wrong after the fact is bad public relations, if nothing else. Of all modern athletes, LeBron and his handlers should understand marketing and PR, right?

Instead of coming out and making the statements he did, he should have come out and said, "I'm sorry, I was wrong, but in the heart of the moment I was upset at losing and acted with a lack of maturity. I want to apologize to the players and coaching staff of the Orlando Magic and congratulate them on a great victory. It won't happen again."

How hard would that have been? In fact, the whole thing would have gone away a lot quicker and we wouldn't be writing and hearing about it as much.

But no. Instead, here were LeBron's comments on the incident:

"It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them," he said. "I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

2023

After sending a message to the Grizzlies with an emphatic series-clinching Game 6 win in Los Angeles, Lakers superstar LeBron James made it clear he wasn’t in the mood to exchange pleasantries with the team he just sent packing in the first round.

James called it a night early on Friday against No. 2-seed Memphis after contributing 22 points in a series-low 31 minutes during the Lakers’ 125–85 victory. As James watched from the bench while the seventh-seeded Lakers iced the clinching game, however, the four-time NBA champion decided to head to the locker room with 14.1 seconds left.

James’s leaving the floor before the final buzzer was, of course, immediately noticed by the ESPN broadcast crew, considering his decision to forgo the traditional postgame handshakes with the opponent.

[BigCatDaddy]

Originally Posted by tyecopeland

I can keep going. I'm sure I can find more of Lebron being such a class act.

2009


2023

Lebron is like a used car. I've never seen people work so hard to try to sale him. Premium products sale themselves. MJ, Brady, Mahomes sale without 24-7 tweets and comments from guys like Wright, Barry and KCC. It's like their job to get him over.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

You don't think his foot had something to do with him having way less stamina than ever before and playing off ball more than we've ever seen him?

No. You keep pointing out how old he is. That's the reason for all of that. And the fact that they've been every other day for 2 series now definitely wasn't helping him.