Why does Curry get a pass and Lebron doesn't?

[OnlyOneWay2Play]

And LEBRON hasn't?? Curry has had 2 great regular seasons, 1 good postseason run, zero Finals MVPs, and zero Olympic Gold Medals. Bron has been a top 3 player for 12 straight years, dominant postseasons for at least 10 years, 2 FMVPs, 2 Gold Medals. Curry's greatness has been a blip compared to the ERA of LeBron's greatness. So if anyone needs to "prove it", it's Curry.

wait? what? You think LeBron was top 3 player in 05-07? Even in 08 he may not be top 3.

2005 I wouldn't say he was top 3 yet. 2006 he was (finished 2nd in MVP voting). 2007 he finished 5th in MVP voting, but I don't think any other player in the league could've gotten that Cavs team to the Finals like he did. I think that statement is not as far off as you seem to be implying.

Thank you dreamshake. LeBron has been 1st team All-NBA every year from 2006 - 2016 (he will make it this year) except for 2007. And as dreamshake said, all LBJ did that year was single-handedly carry the Cavs to the Finals with perhaps the greatest one-man effort in a playoff game (Game 5 vs. DET). And take a look at these 1st teams; LeBron is better than at least 2 players essentially every year: http://espn.go.com/nba/history/awards/_/id/44

That leaves 2005 to make it 12 years; all he did then was 27.2 / 7.4 / 7.2 / 2.9 (steals+blocks) on 47%/35%/75% - which is better numbers than everyone on the 1st team NBA - and he lead the entire NBA in Expected Wins Added (EWA): http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/sort/VORPe/year/2005

And 2008 WTF are you talking about?!? LeBron put up 30 / 7.9 / 7.2 and led the league in EWA and PER by a mile (only peak prime CP3 was even close).

Go study some stats and have some respect for an all-time great.

[LouisLitt]

It's as simple as Curry not being as good as Lebron. Everyone knows it.

The media just want Curry to be view as some sort of god so they can increase revenue, he's not and has never been as good as Lebron.

[JDizzel3000]

It's always interesting to me that we see Steph as the underdog, even though he's the son of a professional athlete and grew up rich, while LeBron came from practically nothing and he's Goliath.

Who said being irrational required logic

[zimpy27]

Curry won't get a pass for long.

[Blame Rasho]

Curry didn't say, "We're going to win championships! Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7...we could have Pat Riley play point guard for us and still win. It's going to be EASY! It's going to be EASY!"

And well this...


In all honestly, if the Thunder win the series... the Warriors and Curry will be vilified to no end just like Brady and the Patriots did during their perfect run that was not.

[gts1]

as seen above, Curry didn't come into the league with "chosen one" tattooed across his back....

LeBron through some of his own hype with a huge helping from the media has been shoved down the sports fans' throats as some level of basketball god since before he came into the league. Curry's hype machine has only been cranked up to full for two years...

Curry and the Warriors won a title right off the bat, the media frenzy was just getting going for Curry, it was actually a bit behind the times whereas with Lebron be it fair or not the frenzy preceded Lebron and he hasn't really delivered on expectations... Yes he won the two titles but that was with a team many feel was built by blatant collusion and he's lost twice as many finals as he's won

Like I said fair or not it is what it is....

[KL78192020]

Because secretly people think they could be Curry, small guy who can shoot. But no one can be Lebron.

[crazy_me_87]

he was killed for not shaking hands with the magic in 09 LOL

They said he literally quit on his team in 2010 after dropping a triple double

Yup 27/19/10 with 3 steals and 1 block was considered quiting. That Celtics team ALMOST won the title, they lose 83-79 in game 7 vs the Lakers (with Kobe, Gasol, Odom, etc..). Seriously, as if it was a given that the Cavs would beat that team lol.

Yeah always thought that was baffling...
I watched the Game live and All i did read all day after that Game in 2010 was "he quit"
I was really in awe what people did call "quitting"..
They lost Game 6 By 9... Is Lebron the only player in History who is expected to score 40 EVERY damn night like its nothing?

No one talks about Antwan Jamison going 2-10, or the Cavs Bench COMBINED doing 13 Points...

I mean how about saying "damn his Teammates really let him down against the Celtics" ... but nooo. thats boring... rather hate the dude huh?

[10DayContract]

Why do people cry about the "Chose One" tattoo so much? DID HE LIE? lol.

[ppedro123]

Why do people cry about the "Chose One" tattoo so much? DID HE LIE? lol.

i know right? The dude was the first pick in the draft


people are too sensitive

[Rapcity_11]

This may have been mentioned but do people not realize that Curry can simultaneously be hurt and have it affect his play AND put together good possession(s) at a time?

[Bruh Man]

Because he lead his team to a title last year?

[gts1]

This may have been mentioned but do people not realize that Curry can simultaneously be hurt and have it affect his play AND put together good possession(s) at a time?

now you're just making sense... there's no room for that here...lol

[HotRocks34]

I don't deny that LeBron wasn't himself and was overly passive against Dallas. I just don't think it's as big a deal as people made it out to be, because of all the times he's dominated in the playoffs before and after that series. It was a blip in an otherwise amazing career, not the norm.

It was a big deal because of how the series turned out. But in the larger scheme of LeBron's career, it does indeed seem to be a "blip" as you point out.

The problem for the Heat in the 2010/11 season was that they lacked a clear hierarchy (Alpha/Beta/etc) and were too often playing in a "your turn/my turn" style. This can bring problems, and it can particularly bring problems when the true Alpha tries to play a Beta role he's not suited for.

A team, and it's coaches, has to recognize who should be "the guy" for the team. If this is not resolved properly then a team can fail to live up to its potential.

Once the Heat and the players involved recognized that the team needed to be LeBron's team and not Wade's team, things fell into place. But that didn't really seem to happen in the 2010/11 season.

A similar crisis or problem happened for the Lakers in the late 1980's. They went one year too long trying to be "Kareem's team" rather than switching to be "Magic's team" and it cost them in the 1986 playoffs (lost Conference Finals to Rockets).

However, once the Lakers decided Magic should now be the Alpha and Kareem the Beta (maybe there is some argument for Worthy as the Beta then?), things got remedied rapidly and the Lakers won the next two Finals. Similar to how the Heat failed in the 2011 Finals but then took the next two titles.

This "staking out the Alpha" sometimes happens naturally and without incident and sometimes it doesn't. Curry is clearly the best player on the Warriors, so there are no issues there. But Wade was still a great player in 2011/11, even if he wasn't at LeBron's level. And LeBron was coming to Wade's team in Miami so you can see how there could be issues resolving the "Alpha issue."

If I recall right, Shaq deferred to Wade once Shaq came to Miami. Even though Shaq was still a very effective force in the league at the time. It worked. The Boston Celtics in 2007/08 worked even though you had 3 high level players on the same team.

Sometimes things happen as they need to happen the first time around and sometimes they don't. For the 2010/11 Heat or the 1985/86 Lakers, it didn't happen properly in the first go round. But once the mistake was understood, the correct changes were made and both teams succeeded.

[john2jer]

Curry doesn't get a pass, but he also wasn't hyped to be a contender for GOAT coming out of high school. Hype and expectations are world's apart for the two.

[ils411]

Curry didn't say, "We're going to win championships! Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7...we could have Pat Riley play point guard for us and still win. It's going to be EASY! It's going to be EASY!"

this.

[Hobo4President]

It's because a lot of fans hate lebron, honestly I think it stems from them being mad watching him demolish their teams in the regular season or playoffs (if they're out east) and then goofing around with his teammates.
That said I think the biggest reason for hate was that a huge number of people were massive fans of Kobe and saw Lebron as a threat to his legacy. I remember in the late 2000s Lakers fans saying Kobe is the best player in the league when it was very clearly lebron. That's to be expected though, Lebron fans were doing the same thing with Durant when he had his amazing year a few seasons ago.

Because lebron keeps telling us he's the greatest ever, better than kobe, MJ etc. Everyone knows the truth though.

Yeah the truth being he is much better than Kobe

[Braggins]

Because Curry's white, obv...

[DoubleLintendre]

It's been said already, but Curry is likely playing hurt right now and so that's part of the reason he's not being roasted alive by the media right now-- among all the other reasons posted already. Lebron has taken heat because he was easy to hate. Curry is the NBA's golden boy because the only thing to hate about him is his wacky post-shot celebrations. Which in reality, is really nit-pickey and is a subtle expression of a fan's dislike of anything titled as "the best".

The truth is he's the top player in the league and its human nature to dislike whoever is universally regarded as the best, whether it be a team or individual player in any sport: and love the darkhorses. Just look at this matchup, Thunder are the underdogs and they are growing fan favorites among basketball fans. Green is now considered a dirty player now that the Ws are at the top, but similarly physical players like Dellavedova became beloved when the Cavs were massive underdogs in the last Final's.

What's perceived as likable and dislikable, acceptable and unacceptable, changes based on our perceptions of who deserves criticism and who deserves praise. Top dogs are always heavily criticized with the spotlight on them, with every minute flaw of their character under the microscope. That being said, the series isn't over yet.

If you know the Warriors you know that they are the probably the most likely out of any team in the league to bounce back from being down 3-1. Warriors have found their way out of poor positions throughout the season, throughout key games. However if the Warriors end up losing this series, you can bet the media and NBA fans will find the chink in the armor of Curry's seemingly impenetrable, ultra positive public perception of being a perfect, generational player. It will happen and he won't get a complete "pass" as suggested in the thread.

But it will take a lot of work to turn fans against Curry completely. He's too likable (perfect?) off the court. He's too good at making once in a lifetime shots and plays. Unlike Lebron, the majority of fans aren't looking for reasons to hate Curry. Lebron basically encouraged fans everywhere to root against him. Curry has the opposite effect. Most of the time you look to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's a "nice, good hearted human being". Not some "nasty boastful ringchaser".

And no matter how much certain fans want Curry to get the same treatment as Lebron, it's just not going to happen. In order for Curry to get to that point there would have to be a perfect storm of: individually horrific basketball play, team self-destruction, and a huge question mark attributed to Curry's heart and character as a person.

So, yeah. Good luck with that. That's my long-winded, honest answer to the question being asked.

[NO-KG-AI]

Steph had much lower hype and expectations coming in, and he came up as an underdog, and as such a small and less physically gifted guy, he still sort of is. He's been sort of the people's champ through his rise.