The Cavaliers have recently added Antawn Jamison to their roster as you all know. And although the Cavs have hit a rough stretch since the trade losing 3 straight games the trade was a good thing. Jamison is a talented player, and a team can't have too much talent as far as I'm concerned. Danny Ferry has done his best to surround LeBron James with the pieces necessary to win a title. As great as James is he can't win a championship by himself, as was evident a few years ago when San Antonio swept the Cavs in 4 straight games. If we take a look at the great championship teams in recent NBA history we find that not only did they have a superstar player( and in some cases more than one) but a strong supporting cast as well.
Going back to the 1980's we saw Magic Johnson lead the Lakers to multiple championships. He had Kareem Abdul- Jabbar who was named one of the 50 greatest players of all time and was arguably one of the top 5 or 10 players of all time. Add to the mix James Worthy( 7 time All-Star and 2 time All-NBA, one of 50 greatest players) And Michael Cooper ( 8 time All Defensive Team and Defensive Player of the Year) and it is clear that Magic was not a one man show.
Larry Bird's Celtics teams had a pretty good overall cast as well. There was Robert Parrish (9 time All-Star, 2 time All NBA, one of 50 greatest players ), Kevin McHale (7 time All-Star, 6 time All Defensive team, one of 50 greatest players), Dennis Johnson (8 time All Defensive, 2 time All NBA), and Tiny Archibald (5 time All NBA , one of 50 greatest players). With a team like that it's surprising the Celtics didn't win more than they did.
Even the great Michael Jordan had his share of help. There was Scottie Pippen (7 time All NBA, 10 time All Defensive team, one of 50 greatest players), Dennis Rodman(10 time All Defensive team, 2 time Defensive player of the Year, led NBA in rebounds for 3 straight years with Bulls), and the most accurate 3 point shooter in league history Steve Kerr (.454 %) and the 7th best 3 point shooter in league history B.J. Armstrong (.425 %).
None of these teams I have just mentioned would have won titles without their superstar players leading the way. There is no way the Bulls would have been 6 time World Champs without M.J. so please don't misunderstand where I'm coming from . My point is that these dynasties were not one man shows, they were good teams with more than one great player that they could count on to contribute.
The point is that Lebron's supporting cast over the course of his career with the Cavs can't even be mentioned in the same sentence with the aforementioned teams. Lebron James has carried under talented teams as far as he could in seasons past, but great individuals don't win titles great teams do. Although I do give Danny Ferry credit for making the most significant move in the NBA at this years trading deadline the question remains is it enough to get the Cavs a championship?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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What is most important to note about the “supporting” cast analogy, is that in most cases, LA and Boston in particular, and even San Antonio as well, look at the state of the team BEFORE the superstar arrived. In most cases, the superstar was the LAST piece of the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIn LeBron’s case, he was the first. So as I look at how the Cavaliers roster has evolved over time, it is clear that they (Ferry and Gilbert) have done everything in line with making the team better.
Moreover, if you look at the talent that has actually been “available” – one could make the point that they have done as well, if not better than any other team when it comes to acquiring talent. Mo Williams for Damon Jones….come on! Shaq for Sasha, and Wallace…please!
However, here is where the casual observer may miss the point. Take for example the Amare Stoudemire circus. Some may judge the acquisition of Jamison versus getting Amare instead. How is that even possible? Amare, as we know – was NOT traded, so to surmise that we could have had him is completely false. It is not as if the Cavaliers were choosing between 2 free agents here.
The bottom line is this: We have the best record in the league, we have the BEST front line in the NBA. We have an all-star guard (on the mend) in Mo and a good collection of supporting pieces (Andy, Delonte, AP, JJ, Jawad, Moon) and we may get Z back as well. So while no team has everything, our record against the best is the best; and our overall record is tops as well.
I wouldn’t want it any other way!
Cavs will go as far as streaky backcourt will take them. Boobie, Mo, Delonte combined 4-23 from field Sunday against Otlando. Throw in Candice Parker, and the performance was just ugly. Cavs shoot well off double-teams, they are in great shape...they don't, another "wait 'till next year".
ReplyDeletePS: Brown must start Jamison. I would also start Jewad Haward instead of Parker (who I have NO use for). I like Jewad's length and defense...he matches up well against elite teams, while Parker's game disappears against the league's best!
Yeah if you shoot well you win, but that kind of goes for everyone. Lebron has had no Pippen, Mchale,or even DJ or the chief style help yet in my opinion, but in this watered down league with a more teams i dont know if you will get a lot of those tandems any longer. I think Shaq-Kobe was the last great combo. I think the Cavs have enough to win but Brown has to figure out the rotation and he has time to do that. I have said for 3 years though that I think Brown may be a lot of whats holding the Cavs back as well. How do you Cleveland fans feel about Brown?
ReplyDeletePex,
ReplyDeleteAs far as Brown is concerned, the fact of the matter is that you can win 55-60 games every year and if you do not win the big one (especially when you have a megastar) you are seen as unsuccessful. It may or may not be fair, but that's how it goes.
Personally, I am always a little confused about how he rotates his players. The talk around here is that if he does not win it this year he may be gone and LeBron will pick the next coach should he stay. Pretty amazing don't ya think.
Mike Brown will have to come out of his comfort zone and be more flexible in the play-offs. In my opinion when the Cavs struggled in the play-offs in the past Brown was out coached by coaches such as Popovich and Van Gundy. His excuse was that he didn't have the players to match up with opposing teams. Now that Ferry has added more talent we'll see if Brown can match X's and O's with the better coaches.
ReplyDeleteI am NOT a Brown apologist, however, getting outcoached by Popovich is nothing to be embarrassed by – especially when it was Pop who Brown learned under.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Brown as a coach – I do like him and I think the Cavaliers can win in the playoffs with him. They HAVE won in the playoffs with him. The Cavaliers are the ONLY team in the past 4 years to make it out of the first round of the playoffs – so he must be doing something right.
Yes, he did get outcoached by Stan Van, but it didn't help that they shot the lights out - but none the less, I think he knows the issue and they made changes coming into this year to address it.
Back to Brown and Pop – even if Brown coached better, it wouldn’t have mattered. We weren’t beating San An. Check the Cavaliers line up – it was a miracle we made it to the finals so Brown must get some props for that.
Plus, the real issue here with Brown is how to “manage” a Superstar in LeBron. Sure he dribbles to much at times, and the offense boggs down – BUT you must give Brown credit for developing a DEFENSE first mentality that LBJ and EVEYONE has bought into. Also, Brown has shown a willingness to adapt as he did hire an o-coordinator (Marty Shottenhiemer, are you listening?).
So at the end of the day, Brown has gotten better, learned from mistakes (see Bill Belicheck for a reference), and as such, The Cavaliers are in the best position to win a Championship.
Don't care for his rotations at times, but how can you start the conversation wiith the question...does LeBron have enough of a supporting cast? and then make the coach the fall guy?
ReplyDelete