The "Built Around Him" Excuse

[KING CB4]

It's called the whole being more than the sum of it's parts. Happens all the time in sport and in life.

See: 2011 finals.

The 2011 Mavs have a great coach and role players that could hit shots in the clutch. Terry, Kidd, Barea, etc. How many times do you remember LeBron's teammates coming through in the clutch? Boobie Gibson in 07, Delonte West in the wizards series, and Jamario Moon hitting like 6 threes are the only ones that come to mind right now.

[Dupp]

^ hedo and Lewis outplayed everyone on the cavs bar lebron quite handily jb. Wallace come back from a broken leg and even pietrus played better than mo. He out scored our entire bench practically every game. Rashard was amazing.

The series wasnt that long ago and you know this, you're just saying false things to cater to your agenda.

Edit - Boston wasn't legit contenders? They took LA to the final minute of game 7. Not sure what you think a contender is? I guess OKC wasn't a contender last season?

As you point out, Boston was obviously a contender, since they were literally minutes away from winning...

However, they were not a "great" team. I think the 09, 10, 11 were fairly weak years without a dominate team in either conference. The '08 Celtics were dominant, but KG was hurt in '09 and they were too old in '10. '12 Heat were dominant, but not ready in '11. I think the Lakers and Mavs both got a bit lucky (in terms of peaking while the rest of the league was a bit soft)....

So, I think that saying there was a window of opportunity missed for the Cavs in '09, '10 is pretty valid.

I agree but that wasnt what he was saying.

[MrBigShot]

A team well built around it's star is the difference between the 05-06 Lakers and LBJ's cavs. Granted, LeBron is more unselfish and better at making guys around him better, but ultimately a team has to fit together. A bunch of talent that doesn't fit together won't get much done.

Fit was one of the reasons the 03-04 pistons beat the lakers in the finals that year.

[Golabki]

A team well built around it's star is the difference between the 05-06 Lakers and LBJ's cavs. Granted, LeBron is more unselfish and better at making guys around him better, but ultimately a team has to fit together. A bunch of talent that doesn't fit together won't get much done.

Fit was one of the reasons the 03-04 pistons beat the lakers in the finals that year.

05-06 Lakers? I think they are similar to LBJ's cavs.

Both teams had a star, one very good complimentary player (Odom/Varajao) and a bunch of trash that would be fringe NBA players or done in 2 years.