15 Years, LBJ Leaves Cleveland Twice, One Title, was it truly worth it?

I would love to know what really happened with Kyrie? Is this the same reason Paul George opted to stay in OKC rather than be LeBron's Robin?

To me to celebrate the Title was awesome and I just wore my Lockerroom T yesterday but the it is kind of sad. Should have been so much more. LeBron and a healthy Kyrie are the only thing in this NBA that could unseat the Warriors. Where was this Kevin Love in the past few Finals because him with LBJ/Kyrie could have done it. To me 2018 Houston was basically 2016 OKC they didn't want it enough. I mean come on 27 straight missed 3 point shots. Take it to the hoop dammit, LOL.
 
I would love to know what really happened with Kyrie? Is this the same reason Paul George opted to stay in OKC rather than be LeBron's Robin?

To me to celebrate the Title was awesome and I just wore my Lockerroom T yesterday but the it is kind of sad. Should have been so much more. LeBron and a healthy Kyrie are the only thing in this NBA that could unseat the Warriors. Where was this Kevin Love in the past few Finals because him with LBJ/Kyrie could have done it. To me 2018 Houston was basically 2016 OKC they didn't want it enough. I mean come on 27 straight missed 3 point shots. Take it to the hoop dammit, LOL.

Listen to the podcast. It's kind of in there.


Maybe Yappi's biggest LeBron hater wasn't reaching too much after all ? :laugh:
 
Both LeBron and Kyrie had huge egos in Cle. What the roundtable today intimated was that Kyrie wasn't really interested in winning, but rather making himself more marketable.

I think the point was that, to Kyrie, sacrificing team primacy wasn't worth winning more sooner. I doubt he'd eschew the Title for another Uncle Drew movie.

I found it interesting - albeit not surprising - that the guy planning on remaining in LeBron's in-season entourage was the most guarded on the LeBron questions, and that the guy that will remain working in Cleveland daily danced around the Gilbert/Altman/Lue questions. Having all three men in the same room as close friends willing to immediately dispute or support the others' opinions was great, that's for sure.

Best radio that Lord Baseball has done yet. Probably the producer's idea.
 
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I think the point was that, to Kyrie, sacrificing team primacy wasn't worth winning more sooner. I doubt he'd eschew the Title for another Uncle Drew movie.

I'm sure he wasn't happy that after he hit what was essentially the game winner in Game 7 and had just one point less than LeBron he got less attention than even J.R. for running around without his shirt on.

He also makes poor choices, like buying into flat Earth conspiracy theories, so there's that.
 
I now understand the emotion you're expending on this.

To answer the question at hand, HELL YES!

The emotion of a true Cavs fan. Maybe you only call yourself one when it's convenient.

As for bringing LeBron back for a farewell lap...why? What does he add to the team? Just taking up roster and cap space. It would just be to stroke his ego. Let him rot on some other roster.
 
The Cavs were a lot closer to losing the series in the semi finals than going 2 and 2 against the Warriors. When you lose 7 of 8 games in the finals to the same team light years behind is not that much of a stretch.
I took a 49 point quarter and 86 point half to get the one finals win in two years.
 
They lost 7 out of 8 finals games and had 24 fewer regular season wins in the same two years. Two even teams until two seasons ago when one of the teams added the second best player in basketball while the other lost a top 20 player last year. Yep, they were neck and neck.
 
They lost 7 out of 8 finals games and had 24 fewer regular season wins in the same two years. Two even teams until two seasons ago when one of the teams added the second best player in basketball while the other lost a top 20 player last year. Yep, they were neck and neck.

And when a team has an owner whose luxury tax bill is only one million less than the entire rest of the league - $130,000,000 to $131,000,000 - maybe it’s time to ask why it was so hard to get other top level talent in here :shrug:
 
Everything the past 15 years.

7 years. No playoffs first two but improvement shown. Almost beating Kingpin Detroit then beating Detroit to get an undermanned team to the Finals. Then reshuffling roster and taking eventual champs to 7 games before falling. Then consecutive earlier than expected losses despite 66 and 61 wins. There was Delonte, Elbow or No Elbow, Did he Quit?, The Decision and "Quitness". Then there was 3 awful years but in year 4 there was some improvement. LeBron comes back despite media doubting it. Cavs struggle early but get to the Finals with a hobbled team and were nearly up 3-0 in the Finals. Then came the 3-1 to Champions vs the Most winning team in NBA History. Then Durant joins The Evil Empire. Cavs fall in 5 in the "Three-Match", Kyrie leaves, team is filled with old stiffs and trades at deadline better the team. LBJ nearly falls in Round 1 for the first time ever but then roll the #1 seed in the East before surviving a wounded Celtics team to get back to the Finals. Epic performance in Game 1 but an even worse performance by the officials on multiple occasions as well as two of his teammates bumbling a win. Was there a hand injury or was it Elbow 2.0? Now he leaves for the second time and goes to a place that has resented and disrespected him for a decade and a half.

Was that ONE CHAMPIONSHIP worth it? While it was unforgettable and so many epic performances and moments was it worth it? Some would say that in his 11 years in Cleveland the supposed GOAT should have been able to win more than a single Championship.

What does everyone think?

Excellent post. Very thought provoking. LeBron has been the greatest individual performer the last 20 years, but has he been the best teammate? Look and the wake of former teammates he's had. He's been through countless coaches as well.
I'm not a Cavs fan, but it's a fair criticizm that if he's as good as people claim, one title in 15 years is a little thin. And consider if he was in the east, maybe some of those finals appearances don't even happen if he's in the west.
 
I'm not a Cavs fan, but it's a fair criticizm that if he's as good as people claim, one title in 15 years is a little thin. And consider if he was in the east, maybe some of those finals appearances don't even happen if he's in the west.

One title would be pretty thin, but he has three titles :shrug:
 
One title would be pretty thin, but he has three titles :shrug:

lol

14 really is a complete knucklehead.

The rosters LeBron had the first time around were atrocious. Relative to the times, just look at what Krause put around Jordan. Second time through, Warriors. Just tough luck, like the Price/Daugherty Cavs running up against MJ's Bulls.
 
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My question would be, what year did the team Lebron was on have enough talent to win, but didn't? The 2012 Miami team I would say is the only example. And that's offset by the 2016 Cavs team which had no business winning but did largely thanks to arguably the greatest finals performance ever from Lebron.
 
My question would be, what year did the team Lebron was on have enough talent to win, but didn't? The 2012 Miami team I would say is the only example. And that's offset by the 2016 Cavs team which had no business winning but did largely thanks to arguably the greatest finals performance ever from Lebron.

Pretty accurate. They had no business in playing in the Finals in '07, the fact they made it there should be an accomplishment for LeBron, many use it to point to his 3-6 record in the Finals. Basically every year he's been to a Finals as a Cav, they've been vast underdogs.
 
Loss to the Mavs is LeBron's only blemish in the Finals, and I agree he made up for that by beating the 73-win Warriors team.

There's a not-so-crazy case to be made that he could have 3-peated with Cleveland if Kyrie/Love don't both go down in 2015 and if Durant doesn't join forces with Golden State in 2017
 
Just looked it up, Lebron has been the underdog in 7 of 9 finals(Mavs and first Spurs series the exceptions.)

I did not remember them being underdogs to OKC but evidently Vegas had OKC as a very slight favorite the year they met in the finals.

So he has actually overachieved with 3 titles.
 
Just looked it up, Lebron has been the underdog in 7 of 9 finals(Mavs and first Spurs series the exceptions.)

I did not remember them being underdogs to OKC but evidently Vegas had OKC as a very slight favorite the year they met in the finals.

So he has actually overachieved with 3 titles.

Yeah, pretty obvious that MJ was never quite strong enough to carry an underdog team all the way to the Finals. Jordan either had the horses or he didn't go :shrug:
 
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