****OFFICIAL NBA Playoffs Thread****

[KC_Connection]

Have been banned from the other thread by an apparently sensitive snowflake (ironically after dozens of pages of political discussion from others) so I'll stick my thoughts on the NBA Playoffs here from now on. We needed a new thread anyway.

[CarlosCarson27]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

If a Lebron wins a title and nobody sees it, did it still happen?


5.6m viewers. Or, less than half of what Kansas-Villanova 2018 Final Four got (13.3m).
https://awfulannouncing.com/turner/t...n-network.html

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Let us know the last time an NBA Championship went head-to-head with NFL Sunday Night football.

Until then, shut the **** up.

Amazing what is considered success or interest in a product.
Only 6 mil or 13 mil in a country of 300 million people.
And yet sports fans mock people who don't like sports lol.
Sports fans are fringe fanatics.not The accepted norm. But it's quite enough to build an industry on.
Sports fans mock bandwagon jumpers but those are the people who make the leagues more money every year.

[KC_Connection]

The gap in cumulative stats is going to be a chasm. Barring injury, LeBron will be the league's all-time leading scorer. (It went unnoticed, but in Game 5 against Miami, LeBron passed Karl Malone for No. 2 all time in combined regular season and postseason points.) He could double Jordan in assists and rebounds. LeBron is not hanging on, compiling stats. He's still the best player. We are still near his peak.

Be careful dismissing LeBron's 10 Finals appearances as the product of a weak East. During Jordan's six title runs, the four highest East seeds aside from Chicago posted a .640 combined winning percentage -- with an average net-rating of plus-4.8 points per 100 possessions, per ESPN Stats & Information research. The same subset during LeBron's run to eight straight Finals: a .623 mark with a net-rating of plus-4.5. As our Kevin Pelton has argued, the player pool is deeper now.

LeBron's ceaselessness must be heard. Jordan did not, or would not, endure this long at the top.

At minimum, it's a debate now. Jordan backers can no longer shout "6-0" and declare it over. Maybe it's a matter of taste. Do you prefer peak value or long-term near-peak consistency? How much do you weigh LeBron's 2011 Finals collapse against Jordan's perfection?

For some, perfection is all that matters. LeBron could never unseat Jordan. To win one game, their answer will always be Jordan -- and in that framing, it's hard to disagree all that strongly.

But the totality of LeBron's career is undeniable. If he wins one more title, and has maybe two more seasons almost on par with this one, the grounds for Jordan as the greatest ever -- the criteria by which he "wins" the debate -- will get precariously narrow. There is a chance, maybe a good one, LeBron drives this GOAT conversation closer to a consensus than anyone would have imagined possible a decade ago.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-different-now

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by FD

I think this is the key thing. For the casual fan Jordan has such a clean narrative it is easy to say "6-0" and be done with the debate. But if you take the totality of their careers seriously LeBron has surpassed him. He is now the greatest ever.

6-0 is all they've have for a while now and it's all they are ever gonna have. LeBron is going to continue to amass records (and most likely, titles too) as time goes on and it will considerably narrow an already limited, flawed position.

LeBron is truly the greatest to ever play the game.

[BigCatDaddy]

As DJ pointed out Jordan had a higher peak.
80% of current players also recognized MJ as the GOAT.
2 3 peats with the same team. (No collusion with elite players needed)

But yeah, LJ will replace KAJ as the king of career stats. I'll give him that one and well as you the award for carrying more water for the guy that anyone else I've seen. You are obsessed with trying to change the minds and hearts of the NBA players and general public.

[FD]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-different-now

This whole article is really excellent.

[CarlosCarson27]

Lol at trying to compare them.
They are one and the same person.
LeBron is simply the new product.
These people weren't actually great.
Games are manipulated to constantly put the most publicized jock at the forefront, to sell more sneakers, cereal, etc etc.
Jocks are just the new, well paid slaves.

[RealSNR]

Do NHL fans do nothing but bitch and whine and moan and piss and drink their own pee just because Gretzky isn't playing anymore?

Asking for a friend.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by CarlosCarson88

Jocks are just the new, well paid slaves.

You're ****ing lunatic.

One can't be a "slave" if they're being compensated for their work and in the NBA's case, millions of dollars per year.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by CarlosCarson88

Lol at trying to compare them.
They are one and the same person.
LeBron is simply the new product.
These people weren't actually great.
Games are manipulated to constantly put the most publicized jock at the forefront, to sell more sneakers, cereal, etc etc.
Jocks are just the new, well paid slaves.

So not slaves. Gotcha.

Also, has it ever crossed your dumbassed mind that maybe the best players are the most popular leading to brands selecting them as representatives (you know... endorsements...) and not vice versa?

How are you so ****ing stupid, man?

[Perineum Ripper]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

6-0 is all they've have for a while now and it's all they are ever gonna have. LeBron is going to continue to amass records (and most likely, titles too) as time goes on and it will considerably narrow an already limited, flawed position.

LeBron is truly the greatest to ever play the game.

It’s not all there is, you just don’t want to accept the advance stats show the two are actually super close to one another. It’s pretty much a coin flip at that point, and either pick isn’t really a bad one. At this point James has longevity and it’s impress as hell, but there are things that he still won’t catch Jordon on.

[Pants]

If I'm starting a franchise and get either LBJ or MJ to build around, I'm taking LBJ every day and twice on Sunday.

[smithandrew051]

Really hard to compare basketball players. The styles are so different that you can normally make a good argument for any one of the all time best.

I think MJ is the greatest competitor that basketball (or maybe any sport) has ever seen.

LeBron is the greatest team elevator I’ve seen in probably any sport. LeBron alone practically guarantees a top 3 seed every year and a deep playoff run.

Any team would be happy to have either. There’s really no wrong answer. Just preference.

[CarlosCarson27]

Originally Posted by Pants

So not slaves. Gotcha.

Also, has it ever crossed your dumbassed mind that maybe the best players are the most popular leading to brands selecting them as representatives (you know... endorsements...) and not vice versa?

How are you so ****ing stupid, man?

Well paid slaves. They didn't make themselves great. The people with all the money, let the jocks have some money. Jocks are owned. Just like the rest of us.
Ok, who's calling who stupid? It's just luck that the so called best players are able last 15 years or more? Their careers are manicured and manipulated by billionaires. If the sports were real, if other teams were actually trying to win. No one would last more than a decade and they'd either get injured or fail more often. You choose to believe a fantasy you are sold on your tv. No one on Earth is that lucky or good , that often, in reality.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by CarlosCarson88

Well paid slaves. They didn't make themselves great. The people with all the money, let the jocks have some money. Jocks are owned. Just like the rest of us.
Ok, who's calling who stupid? It's just luck that the so called best players are able last 15 years or more? Their careers are manicured and manipulated by billionaires. If the sports were real, if other teams were actually trying to win. No one would last more than a decade and they'd either get injured or fail more often. You choose to believe a fantasy you are sold on your tv. No one on Earth is that lucky or good , that often, in reality.

I'm pretty sure you're posting from a psych ward

[Pants]

Originally Posted by CarlosCarson88

Well paid slaves. They didn't make themselves great. The people with all the money, let the jocks have some money. Jocks are owned. Just like the rest of us.
Ok, who's calling who stupid? It's just luck that the so called best players are able last 15 years or more? Their careers are manicured and manipulated by billionaires. If the sports were real, if other teams were actually trying to win. No one would last more than a decade and they'd either get injured or fail more often. You choose to believe a fantasy you are sold on your tv. No one on Earth is that lucky or good , that often, in reality.

It's not "no one." It's 0.000005% of the Earth's population.

It's a product of EXTREME physical gifts, EXTREME mental fortitude, EXTREME will power, and EXTREME dedication.

It's normalized to your dumbassed brain because you see it on TV and never stop to think about the big picture. Any time you watch any professional sport, you're watching extremely rare individuals compete. The best of them go on to be generational talents and get ungodly amounts of money from brands who can afford to attach themselves to those individuals' names. It's how a free market economy works. The best float to the top. Nothing is manicured, you're just seeing the natural outcome.

Am I saying that super stars don't get special treatment by their leagues and officials? No. But that's a far cry from what you're claiming.