The "Built Around Him" Excuse

Moderators: Domejandro, infinite11285, Harry Garris, ken6199, Dirk, bisme37, KingDavid, bwgood77, zimpy27, cupcakesnake

User avatar
KING CB4
Bench Warmer
Posts: 1,468
And1: 34
Joined: Jun 02, 2011
Location: Naples, Florida

The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#1 » by KING CB4 » Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:34 pm

I see this line brought up a lot when people try defending LeBron's Cavalier teammates. Certain people feel that because LeBron was surrounded by shooters in Cleveland, it cancelled out their severe lack of star talent aside form LeBron. Whats the point of having the "team built around you" when your opponent in every playoff series has the next 3-4 best players after LeBron? Doesn't the fact LeBron won a title and went to two Finals with Wade, put the "built around him" excuse to bed? I never really understood the arguement....
Image
User avatar
dyukcs
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,097
And1: 493
Joined: Jun 20, 2010

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#2 » by dyukcs » Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:37 pm

Because sometimes you can assemble a really good team that exceeds what you expect from the individual pieces. The Cavs were a good team in that sense, another example would be the 2011 Mavericks. A lot of people feel like Lebron bailed on a great team, and it wasn't as hopeless there as people like to pretend in hindsight.
User avatar
No Offense
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,202
And1: 260
Joined: Aug 28, 2008

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#3 » by No Offense » Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:41 pm

KING CB4 wrote:I see this line brought up a lot when people try defending LeBron's Cavalier teammates. Certain people feel that because LeBron was surrounded by shooters in Cleveland, it cancelled out their severe lack of star talent aside form LeBron. Whats the point of having the "team built around you" when your opponent in every playoff series has the next 3-4 best players after LeBron? Doesn't the fact LeBron won a title and went to two Finals with Wade, put the "built around him" excuse to bed? I never really understood the arguement....


That's not an "excuse." The Cavs won 127 games in a 2 year span. One guy, no matter how great he is, can do that on his own with scrub teammates.
Mr Grant Hill
Sixth Man
Posts: 1,907
And1: 102
Joined: Jun 25, 2011
 

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#4 » by Mr Grant Hill » Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:47 pm

KING CB4 wrote:I see this line brought up a lot when people try defending LeBron's Cavalier teammates. Certain people feel that because LeBron was surrounded by shooters in Cleveland, it cancelled out their severe lack of star talent aside form LeBron. Whats the point of having the "team built around you" when your opponent in every playoff series has the next 3-4 best players after LeBron? Doesn't the fact LeBron won a title and went to two Finals with Wade, put the "built around him" excuse to bed? I never really understood the arguement....

I mean, it's like you've perfecty described the 2011 finals with your "next 3-4 best players" statement - LeBron, Wade, Bosh were all better than everything Dirk got on his team.
Or 1994: Weren't Ewing, Starks and Harper all better than what Hakeem got on his team?
Or 1991: Sure, Pippen was great, but Lakers had Magic, Divac, Perkins and Worthy!
Wake up, girl. I wanna go surfing.
User avatar
MaliBrah
RealGM
Posts: 19,753
And1: 4,303
Joined: Feb 03, 2011
   

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#5 » by MaliBrah » Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:47 pm

meh , he had alright talent around him nothing special but when it came to when the lost in 09 and 2010 they were just outmatched by the magic and celtics in talent
User avatar
Frank Mulely
Head Coach
Posts: 6,847
And1: 649
Joined: Sep 04, 2009
Location: gone phishing

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#6 » by Frank Mulely » Mon Jan 7, 2013 10:08 pm

He definitely showed some quit in him during the playoffs, that roster wasn't adequate to win a ring but we all saw what happened.
Shv3d wrote:
Frank Mulely wrote:Honestly if this was the 80s

The official motto of RealGM.
ZoomCities
Ballboy
Posts: 14
And1: 8
Joined: Jul 02, 2012

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#7 » by ZoomCities » Mon Jan 7, 2013 10:34 pm

All I can say is that Cavs team with LeBron have the same setup as the 76ers team with AI, except AI didn't win any championship after teaming up with Melo. LeBron did because he was younger, smarter and more of a team player.
MrSashimiLover
Sophomore
Posts: 166
And1: 31
Joined: Dec 13, 2011

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#8 » by MrSashimiLover » Tue Jan 8, 2013 6:49 am

ZoomCities wrote:All I can say is that Cavs team with LeBron have the same setup as the 76ers team with AI, except AI didn't win any championship after teaming up with Melo. LeBron did because he was younger, smarter and more of a team player.


Yeah, it's kind of similar. However, besides the age advantage and superior playing making skill you mentioned, prime Bosh & Wade are significantly better than Melo & any other Nuggets.
User avatar
narmerguy
Lead Assistant
Posts: 5,577
And1: 3,052
Joined: Dec 27, 2010

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#9 » by narmerguy » Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:24 am

The Cleveland team was garbage and Mike Brown was garbage. That's really all there is to it.
Image
IMHO
Junior
Posts: 397
And1: 24
Joined: Sep 05, 2012

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#10 » by IMHO » Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:32 am

if it was really all because of lebron then why didn't he win that many regular season games in Miami?
User avatar
JustAwesome
Analyst
Posts: 3,712
And1: 78
Joined: Nov 15, 2009
Contact:

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#11 » by JustAwesome » Tue Jan 8, 2013 7:57 am

Mr Grant Hill wrote:Or 1994: Weren't Ewing, Starks and Harper all better than what Hakeem got on his team?


Ewing was better than Olajuwon's teammates, but an argument can easily be made for them against Harper and Starks.
User avatar
Dupp
RealGM
Posts: 112,066
And1: 66,677
Joined: Aug 16, 2009
Location: Lifelong Nuggets Fan
 

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#12 » by Dupp » Tue Jan 8, 2013 9:19 am

The team had great chemistry and played really well together. A lot of really good role players on those teams but at the end of the day we needed another star or better second option at least. The fact of the matter is no one ever performed in the playoffs when it mattered bar lebron and delonte. Thats just not a recipe for success, even though we were so close to beating the magic in 09. Series could have gone either way. The ben wallace leg break turned out to have a major impact on us failing imo.
User avatar
Young_Star11
Retired Mod
Retired Mod
Posts: 22,282
And1: 1,767
Joined: Oct 28, 2005
Location: RealGM
   

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#13 » by Young_Star11 » Tue Jan 8, 2013 9:25 am

They could have done a better job of it but maxed out with the players they did have

Still would rather have him in Cleveland now!
ricochet
Banned User
Posts: 1,736
And1: 18
Joined: Sep 09, 2012

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#14 » by ricochet » Tue Jan 8, 2013 11:45 am

narmerguy wrote:The Cleveland team was garbage and Mike Brown was garbage. That's really all there is to it.


+1

Certain teams can do all the huffing and puffing in the regular season, but come playoffs it's only the really good teams can do it over seven games. There was nobody on those Cleveland teams that could do zilch come playoffs other than Bron.
User avatar
Joao Saraiva
RealGM
Posts: 13,007
And1: 5,809
Joined: Feb 09, 2011
   

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#15 » by Joao Saraiva » Tue Jan 8, 2013 12:27 pm

When you average 38-8-8 in a ECF and still lose it that settles it. Nothing more LeBron could have done.

And the people that defend that roster also used to say Mike Brown was OK for a coach. We're now seeing those Kobe fans that said anything to go against LBJ saying that Mike Brown sucks... aw well.
“These guys have been criticized the last few years for not getting to where we’re going, but I’ve always said that the most important thing in sports is to keep trying. Let this be an example of what it means to say it’s never over.” - Jerry Sloan
User avatar
Ito
General Manager
Posts: 9,032
And1: 775
Joined: Apr 13, 2002
Location: UPTOWN, NY

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#16 » by Ito » Tue Jan 8, 2013 12:52 pm

Cavs would have won it all in 09 in they never trade for jamison... Antawn Jamison is a cancer
Image
User avatar
Renkz
Pro Prospect
Posts: 802
And1: 132
Joined: Dec 30, 2011

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#17 » by Renkz » Tue Jan 8, 2013 2:38 pm

Ito wrote:Cavs would have won it all in 09 in they never trade for jamison... Antawn Jamison is a cancer

They got Jamison in 2010, he did not influence the cavs losing in 09.
User avatar
No Offense
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,202
And1: 260
Joined: Aug 28, 2008

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#18 » by No Offense » Tue Jan 8, 2013 4:46 pm

narmerguy wrote:The Cleveland team was garbage and Mike Brown was garbage. That's really all there is to it.


"Garbage" teams don't win 66 games in a season and go 39-2 at home.

A "garbage" coach would never figure out a way to do that, either.
JordansBulls
RealGM
Posts: 60,440
And1: 5,313
Joined: Jul 12, 2006
Location: HCA (Homecourt Advantage)

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#19 » by JordansBulls » Tue Jan 8, 2013 6:11 pm

KING CB4 wrote:I see this line brought up a lot when people try defending LeBron's Cavalier teammates. Certain people feel that because LeBron was surrounded by shooters in Cleveland, it cancelled out their severe lack of star talent aside form LeBron. Whats the point of having the "team built around you" when your opponent in every playoff series has the next 3-4 best players after LeBron? Doesn't the fact LeBron won a title and went to two Finals with Wade, put the "built around him" excuse to bed? I never really understood the arguement....

The Magic had no one on the team after Dwight. Jameer was out and Hedo and Lewis were not that good in comparison to Mo, Varejao and Ben Wallace (proven champion).
The next year Boston had 0 all nba members and only won 50 games, not like they were some legit contenders or if it was the 2008 squad.
Image
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."
- Michael Jordan
User avatar
Dupp
RealGM
Posts: 112,066
And1: 66,677
Joined: Aug 16, 2009
Location: Lifelong Nuggets Fan
 

Re: The "Built Around Him" Excuse 

Post#20 » by Dupp » Tue Jan 8, 2013 6:23 pm

^ 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?

Return to The General Board