Magic Johnson: "From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird."

• IggyPride00

  

  Well, Magic has now weighed in and taken his turn punking Lebron.
  

  "We didn't think about it 'cause that's not what we were about," Johnson said at Baruch College in New York, according to Bloomberg News. "From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird." "It was never a question in our mind because nobody has ever done that."

  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5395989
  
  
  I think quite frankly these guys are enjoying taking shots at him because it enhances their stature. They came in the league in the same draft class as well, so I think they enjoy sticking their chest out and saying they were real men because they were more interested in competing and beating eachother than joining forces.
  
  Lebron will never admit to caring, but I wonder if he is privately getting aggravated that the games greats keeping trying to make him look like a chump. For someone as concerned about their brand as he is, it can't help to have the GOAT and Magic questioning your desire to compete.
• Al Bundy

  I don't think anyone who competes will really understand what LeBron did.
• thedynasty1998

  

  These guys are entitled to their opinions, but neither Magic or Jordan were ever in Lebrons position. Both had great players around them and had no reason to go elsewhere.
  
  With that said, today's game is different. These players are more friendly and all get along with each other, rather than the hated rivalries.
• gut

  thedynasty1998;428717 wrote:These guys are entitled to their opinions, but neither Magic or Jordan were ever in Lebrons position. Both had great players around them and had no reason to go elsewhere.
  
  With that said, today's game is different. These players are more friendly and all get along with each other, rather than the hated rivalries.

  
  How much of that is Lebron to blame for, though? Jordan signed an EIGHT year extension after his fourth season. Lebron's short extension left the Cavs with a win-now mentality and probably having to play some suboptimal moves. I also wonder how much say Lebron had in some of these deals and if perhaps he had too much. I would bet money Lebron is privately incensed over all this - being GOAT is important to him and probably a critical part of his plan to be a billionaire. He cannot be happy at all with how this is all playing out.
  
  Just saying Lebron probably deserves his share of criticism for the Cavs being unable to put a team around him capable of contending year after year. And, of course, Lebron's team was the best and good enough the last two years up until they got beat, when they then became a cast of jokers and also-rans.
  
  Lebron is a chump and a quitter, pure and simple. I mean, c'mon, even us chumps that only played highschool sports would never have wanted to join forces with the rival highschool across the street, you wanted desperately to beat them. But, of course, you always did have the selfish quitters or guys who weren't part of the family/tradition who would transfer.
• mallymal614

  *sighs*
• thedynasty1998

  

  gut;428732 wrote:Lebron's short extension left the Cavs with a win-now mentality and probably having to play some suboptimal moves.

  
  I have never really understood this argument. It's the Cavs job to build a championship team, not Lebrons job to sign a 10 year deal. Contracts in sports are usually 3-5 years, but it seems like Lebron is being singled out for making the team win now.
• gut

  thedynasty1998;428737 wrote:I have never really understood this argument. It's the Cavs job to build a championship team, not Lebrons job to sign a 10 year deal. Contracts in sports are usually 3-5 years, but it seems like Lebron is being singled out for making the team win now.

  
  It's pretty simple. He left them no room for error, gave them a very short window. In those last few years it was throw away money to get the best of what you could bring in to win now. If you want to get a long-term contender, you need to make the long-term commitment to build the right way. If you want to just win now, well then you understand it's a bit of a crap shoot every year and your a quitter when it doesn't work out right away. Obviously the Cavs never felt (understandably in hindsight) that they could build the team the right way - it was win now or Lebron is going to fly the coop. Jordan went to his first finals (and won) his 7th year in the league.....James bolted CLE after just his 7th year.
  
  And it's HIGHLY debateable about whether Lebron really didn't have a team around him to win, it's just been a very popular excuse for him. Guys disappeared/choked the last few years, but usually it takes a few years of struggling to get over that hump - James quit. Coaching plays a key role, too, and while I said Mike Brown should have been canned 3 years ago, the Cavs made that move but it was too little too late. They were a player and a coach away, but Lebron quit. People are acting like Lebron left the Pittsburgh Pirates or something, nothing anywhere close to it.
  
  Do you not see a problem with wanting to have a team built around you but holding a gun to the head of the team? Build a team around me right now or I'm leaving tomorrow?
• Al Bundy

  thedynasty1998;428717 wrote:These guys are entitled to their opinions, but neither Magic or Jordan were ever in Lebrons position. Both had great players around them and had no reason to go elsewhere.
  
  With that said, today's game is different. These players are more friendly and all get along with each other, rather than the hated rivalries.

  
  Magic was drafted by a very good team, but Jordan wasn't. Jordan competed very hard and didn't go running to the Lakers, Pistons, Celtics, etc. when things got difficult.
• thedynasty1998

  

  gut;428742 wrote:It's pretty simple. He left them no room for error, gave them a very short window. In those last few years it was throw away money to get the best of what you could bring in to win now. If you want to get a long-term contender, you need to make the long-term commitment to build the right way.

  
  When you have the best player in the league, it should always be, WIN NOW. That's the thing I don't really get. Why would they have wanted to build for the future when you have the best player in the NBA, and a city starved for a championship. You worry about the future when it's time, but while you have Lebron, you do whatever it takes. Every championship contender gets a window in which they are a realistic contender. Boston is that way now, they have 1-2 more runs in them and then what? Kobe is still in his prime, the Lakers are doing whatever it takes to win NOW.
• enigmaax

  Same old story. If Cleveland had brought in Wade and Bosh, would Clevelanders be talking shit about how Bosh and Wade quit on their teams and how Cleveland is unfairly stacked and how LeBron shouldn't have had to bring in two top ten players to win a title? Would he be a quitter then or would you be shitty that you had two quitters on your team? No, you guys would be counting on the next ten championships.
  
  Any superstar wants a team that can win a title around him. LA, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, San Antonio - these teams all did that for their stars. Cleveland had not yet done that for its star, so he went to them. The only difference is who made the decision.
  
  I paritally buy into the LeBron put them in a bind by needing to win now, but it was Cleveland's own choice as to who they signed and how much they spent to get that done. There have been free agents in past years, teams can also trade and draft well. Cleveland just didn't do it. It is assinine to say he should wait until he's 35 and they if he still doesn't have a ring, its okay to go somewhere to try and get one. Why not just go somewhere when you're 25 and try to win ten?
  
  The other thing is, Magic said he was always trying to beat Bird. LeBron is always trying to beat Kobe. He didn't join Kobe so the comparison just isn't there.
• Hb31187

  

  We get it already, the greats wanted to beat their rivals. Its a broken record around here lately
• SportsAndLady

  

  lol enigmaax and dynasty should just go fuck each other already...their flirtatious takeover of Lebron/Cleveland threads makes me believe they wanna gape each other
• WebFire

  Al Bundy;428746 wrote:Magic was drafted by a very good team, but Jordan wasn't. Jordan competed very hard and didn't go running to the Lakers, Pistons, Celtics, etc. when things got difficult.

  
  Exactly. The Bulls didn't even have a winning record with Jordan until 1988. That's 4 seasons of losing records. He didn't bail. He stuck around and BUILT the team around him.
• enigmaax

  SportsAndLady;428776 wrote:lol enigmaax and dynasty should just go fuck each other already...their flirtatious takeover of Lebron/Cleveland threads makes me believe they wanna gape each other

  
  So that makes you the bitch in one giant Cleveland gangbang, right?
• SportsAndLady

  

  enigmaax;428780 wrote:So that makes you the bitch in one giant Cleveland gangbang, right?

  
  Nope, that just means you wanna fuck dynasty.
• Automatik

  

  Take my advice.....
  
  GET OVER IT YOU PUSSIES
• enigmaax

  SportsAndLady;428784 wrote:Nope, that just means you wanna fuck dynasty.

  
  Good one. Are you the guy who gets randomly punched in the face by your own team's fans?
• SportsAndLady

  

  enigmaax;428786 wrote:Good one. Are you the guy who gets randomly punched in the face by your own team's fans?

  
  Lol you say "good one" after your last "comeback"? haha suck my dick fairy, you have no life, you post novels on a message board about a topic you have no affiliation to. You're a pimple face loser douche who escapes to a message board. Lame bro...lame.
• enigmaax

  SportsAndLady;428791 wrote:Lol you say "good one" after your last "comeback"? haha suck my dick fairy, you have no life, you post novels on a message board about a topic you have no affiliation to. You're a pimple face loser douche who escapes to a message board. Lame bro...lame.

  
  Ha ha. I'm not trying to "comeback" to anything. I mean, you don't have an original thought so you make up stupid fag jokes? Okay, you can have that. I was just making sure I've got the right person - you have three times as many posts here and apparently the sight of you in person makes people want to shatter your face? I mean, obviously I don't take your insults seriously, but I don't know if I should sincerely feel sorry for you.
• thedynasty1998

  

  SportsAndLady;428791 wrote:Lol you say "good one" after your last "comeback"? haha suck my dick fairy, you have no life, you post novels on a message board about a topic you have no affiliation to. You're a pimple face loser douche who escapes to a message board. Lame bro...lame.

  
  Shouldn't you be discussing sucking dick while playing a game of Fifa right now?
  
  And talk about no life, how about the guy who gets on a message board not to join in a discussion, but to ask a guy to suck his dick?
• derek bomar

  

  I wonder what Will, Mike, and Sam have to say about this
• gut

  thedynasty1998;428749 wrote:When you have the best player in the league, it should always be, WIN NOW.

  
  And what of CLE's actions were inconsistent with that? Not winning now doesn't mean you weren't trying. But at the same time, there's no real history of success of just slapping together some players and winning. You can't just grab a few role players and expect to win. You have to build something with guys who can mesh over a few years and climb the mountain together. When Lebron made a conscious decision to become a FA signing that deal, he gave them an arbitrarily small window that stands in direct contrast to Jordan's 8-yr commitment to the team. And going back even the last few years, Lebron did nothing to diminish the belief CLE had two years and that was it. There are obvious trade-offs involved knowing you have 2 years instead of, say, 4. He basically put Ferry and the Cavs on notice and pointed the gun at their head the last two years and I don't know how anyone could reasonably argue that didn't contribute to some poor moves. 3 yrs ago he's happy with Mike Brown despite some obvious indications he's doesn't cut playoff mustard, then the next year he's supposedly not happy when those doubts are affirmed - but do you complicate things changing coaches with 2 year window fast closing?
  
  Lebron had more of a hand in this all than being given credit for. He's 25 - he displayed impatience and a quitter mentality that understandably doesn't sit well with some of the greats. Again, it's not like Lebron was playing for the Pirates - CLE led the league in wins the last two seasons. Building for the future and trying to win now need not be mutually exclusive, but when you have to win RIGHT NOW you sometimes sacrifice upside potential for more certain expected production now. If you rewind the clock a few years and Lebron isn't holding a gun to the head, it's entirely possible there's a better cast in CLE now and possible the team is better if some of those development guys grow faster than expected. What I'm saying is there's no opportunity to recognize this roster can't get to the mountaintop and we have to take a step back to go forward, and instead you end-up with a team not quite good enough the last year or two instead of one on the cusp and improving.
• thedynasty1998

  

  Lebron played in Cleveland for 7 years. If that wasn't enough time, then I don't know what is? Whether they had a championship contender or not isn't really relevant, what is relevant is that he gave them 7 years and decided to move on. You can't blame him for only signing a 3 year extension when he did.
  
  So would 4 years have been better? What about 5? It is what it is.
• SportsAndLady

  

  thedynasty1998;428807 wrote:Shouldn't you be discussing sucking dick while playing a game of Fifa right now?
  
  And talk about no life, how about the guy who gets on a message board not to join in a discussion, but to ask a guy to suck his dick?

  
  Cool response bro. You make the NBA yet?
• gut

  thedynasty1998;428841 wrote:Lebron played in Cleveland for 7 years. If that wasn't enough time, then I don't know what is? Whether they had a championship contender or not isn't really relevant, what is relevant is that he gave them 7 years and decided to move on. You can't blame him for only signing a 3 year extension when he did.
  
  So would 4 years have been better? What about 5? It is what it is.

  
  So when you draft a FRANCHISE player and try to build a team around him, 7 years is what you should get? Everyone knows picking that high will take at least a few years to dig out of the whole. As was mentioned, the Bulls weren't very good when Jordan commited to an EIGHT year contract. Lebron went with 3....do you honestly no understand how 3 years limits your opportunity set of potential moves, especially when you get to years 2 and 3 of that deal? Do you think it's at all possible the prospect of Lebron leaving in a year or two affected who CLE was able to sign the last few years? Do you think a rising star would want to be stuck in CLE for several years after Lebron flew the coop?
  
  CLE was on the cusp, probably just a player away, and Lebron's gun to the head approach certainly factored in that, it's undeniable. But the simple fact is, after 7 years - and really more like 3-4 - Lebron took his ball and went home. They were going in the right direction. They cam up short of expectations the last few years, but Lebron threw in the towel. Again, people act like he was playing for the Pirates. This whole "he gave them 7 years and they don't have what it takes" is just a BS excuse.