Triple Threat: A Countdown of the Best Trios in the NBA

[Wizardspride]

I apologize if this has been posted.


EDIT: I didn't realize that this had been posted in the general forum. My bad.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2389 ... nba/page/3

5. Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, and Mo Williams

The Cleveland Cavaliers where the best team in the regular season last year but fell short of their ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship. LeBron James and his sidekick Mo Williams were both All-Stars last season and formed one of the more formidable duos in the league last season.

Williams' shooting ability proved to be a very valuable asset to the penetrating ability of James and the two worked very well together but it was still not enough to win a championship. So what did the Cavs do to appease these players and strengthen their roster?

Well they just happened to go out and trade for perhaps the most dominant player that the NBA has ever seen in Shaquille O'Neal. Although he is getting up there in age, Shaq proved last season that he is still a dominant force down low as he was an All-Star yet again and the Phoenix Suns' best player. Having Shaq down low gives LeBron the dominant big man that he has yet to play with and a guy that will take some of the pressure off of James.

James is coming off his very first MVP season and is hungry to win an NBA championship. I would not want to have to face this trio in the playoffs, that is for sure.

[Benedict_Boozer]

Fine with it. CLE could be higher on that list if Shaq plays like he did last year. But we will see.

[Canomad]

i dont know if boston deserves to be number 1 on that list anymore. im not saying the cavs should but somebody else should be. they are like 100 years old combined and they aint getting any younger.

[eyejayem]

All I have to say is whoa. Just the list in general looks wrong to me. I dont think the Cavs were number 1 but I didnt think they were 5.

[bcortell]

Sometimes it's hard to point out who the big three are for each team. I would say Odom might be more a part of a big three than Artest, but that's just me. Anyways, I think Boston is still number 1 if all three of their guys play how they can, but I don't know if that will happen. I'm alright with number 5, mostly because I don't give two ishts about what writers say about us.

[sCoTTYwIN]

rofl the cavs are gonna be SUCK with that old a$$ man Shaq and Jebron's joke of a career side-tracked by movie appearances and smokin w33d

cavs fans are delusional too

[Wizardspride]

rofl the cavs are gonna be SUCK with that old a$$ man Shaq and Jebron's joke of a career side-tracked by movie appearances and smokin w33d

cavs fans are delusional too

You can make a legitimate argument why Shaq might not help the Cav's as much as many think he will.

But to say that they're going to "suck'" is ridiculous....don't you think?

[calibanPK]

ballboys.

[Niko23]

When did we sign Jebron Lames?

[Furrski]

Jebron will be suck. LOL

[landphil]

Jebron James is the man!

But in relation to the story, i have absolutely no idea what this guys criteria was? I didnt read the whole article but i did skim it and I saw that the Knicks trio of Al Harrington, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson were ranked dead last behind the Kings (Martin, Hawes, and Evans - who by the way hasnt played 1 NBA minute yet), the Rockets (Brooks, Scola?! and Ariza?), Bucks (Redd, Bogut - Ha!, and Brandon "I might be the greatest player ever, wait I take it back" Jennings), the 76ers...i could go on for days. The point is, the Knicks suck yes but are they rated lowly because those 3 players are honestly the worst trio of stars on a team in the NBA or does winning have something to do with it? Because again, they still wouldnt be last. This list screams of utter chaos.

On a side note, I am a cavs fan but it is utterly ridiculous that the Oklahoma City thunder with Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin "I could literally average 35 points a game in my sleep" Durant below the likes of the Raptors, the 76ers, the warriors, the grizz, and the Clippers because they are too young. Yes they are young but how does that make them a bad trio?!

That was much longer than i thought it was going to be...my bad

[Spadez23]

Magic fan here how is SA trio ahead of the Cavs trio, Magic and Lakers... Ginobili isnt better than any of those people of all those trios I mentioned... Ginobili is so overrated its ridiculous and isnt a better player than Mo Williams... Mo Williams had a good year last year and so did others on that list... But Duncan is declining and Boston shouldnt be number 1... Real Top 5
1. LA Kobe, Odom and Gasol
2. Boston KG, Pierce, Allen
3. Magic Dwight, VC, Shard
4. Cavs Shaq, Mo and LBJ
5. Spurs Duncan, Parker and Manu

[vct33]

It's such a hard thing to compare the Cavs in this manner. The 2nd best player on the Cavs would only be the 4th or 5th best player on a couple of teams. However, LeBron is so far and away better than anybody else in the league that you can pair him with anybody and make an argument that they are near the top of the list. LeBron kinda changes the rules for this sort of comparison.

[bcortell]

It's such a hard thing to compare the Cavs in this manner. The 2nd best player on the Cavs would only be the 4th or 5th best player on a couple of teams. However, LeBron is so far and away better than anybody else in the league that you can pair him with anybody and make an argument that they are near the top of the list. LeBron kinda changes the rules for this sort of comparison.

Agreed. There was a thread on the PC board about whether you would rather have Lebron and KG or Pierce, Allen, and KG. Almost everyone picked Lebron and KG. So let's say that Lebron>= Pierce and Allen, are Shaq's and Mo's impacts on the game > KG's impact? I don't know but it's just something to think about.

Magic fan here how is SA trio ahead of the Cavs trio, Magic and Lakers... Ginobili isnt better than any of those people of all those trios I mentioned... Ginobili is so overrated its ridiculous and isnt a better player than Mo Williams... Mo Williams had a good year last year and so did others on that list... But Duncan is declining and Boston shouldnt be number 1... Real Top 5
1. LA Kobe, Odom and Gasol
2. Boston KG, Pierce, Allen
3. Magic Dwight, VC, Shard
4. Cavs Shaq, Mo and LBJ
5. Spurs Duncan, Parker and Manu

You are underrating both Parker and Manu there.

[vct33]

There was a thread on the PC board about whether you would rather have Lebron and KG or Pierce, Allen, and KG. Almost everyone picked Lebron and KG. So let's say that Lebron>= Pierce and Allen, are Shaq's and Mo's impacts on the game > KG's impact? I don't know but it's just something to think about.

Interesting scenario. First let me say that I'm a Celtics fan before I'm a Cavs fan. Having said that, I take LeBron over Pierce & Allen and really don't have to deliberate at all. I almost as easily take KG over Shaq & Mo. So it's a near wash for me.

How about you give me LeBron & KG and give the other team Pierce, Allen, Shaq & Williams and we'll call it a day.

[Spadez23]

There was a thread on the PC board about whether you would rather have Lebron and KG or Pierce, Allen, and KG. Almost everyone picked Lebron and KG. So let's say that Lebron>= Pierce and Allen, are Shaq's and Mo's impacts on the game > KG's impact? I don't know but it's just something to think about.

Interesting scenario. First let me say that I'm a Celtics fan before I'm a Cavs fan. Having said that, I take LeBron over Pierce & Allen and really don't have to deliberate at all. I almost as easily take KG over Shaq & Mo. So it's a near wash for me.

How about you give me LeBron & KG and give the other team Pierce, Allen, Shaq & Williams and we'll call it a day.

Shaq is still one of the top twenty players in the league- People will die to have Shaq and LeBron isnt better than Kobe.. Its the truth, LeBron hasnt won 4 championships, have a killer instinct and a consistent jumper... Dont give me that oh Shaq won those 3 championships by himself... He was the best player on the team indeed but it was guys like Horry, Fisher, Fox, Rice and others that helped too but no one takes anything away from them but Kobe... Well Kobe won this year vs my Magic team without another great player... Gasol isnt great yet... So you are crazy putting King James over Kobe and I love LeBron... I have 3 LeBron Jerseys but hes not better than Kobe yet.. LeBron potentially could be the greatest player we ever seen because of his skill and talent but he has to win... When he wins a championship hell be top 30 players of all time... No question but hes not better than Kobe career or now...

[Spadez23]

Also im not underrating Parker, TD and Manu
Parker is a top 15 player, Timmy is still a top ten player but Manu isnt the same player... Hes not even top 40 in the league now... If this was 2 years ago Manu of course theyll be one or two but this isnt the same Manu... Cavs do have a better trio than SA its a fact... And also all three of those guys of SA are injury prone and a legend TD is declining before our eyes... They are number 5...

[TheOUTLAW]

The reasoning to say that LeBron isn't better than Kobe (although that point is way off topic here) are spurious at best. Sure, if the Cavs had someone better than LeBron on the team (like the Lakers did with Shaq) they'd have 3 championships already. So to give Kobe credit is darned weak.

Sure Kobe has the better outside shot, but LeBron is way better taking the ball to the rim and shoots at a significantly higher percentages because of it. Kobe may or may not have a better killer instict, but so far all it has shown to me is his a greater willingness to take bad shots when the game is on the line

[landphil]

Shaq is still one of the top twenty players in the league- People will die to have Shaq and LeBron isnt better than Kobe.. Its the truth, LeBron hasnt won 4 championships, have a killer instinct and a consistent jumper... Dont give me that oh Shaq won those 3 championships by himself... He was the best player on the team indeed but it was guys like Horry, Fisher, Fox, Rice and others that helped too but no one takes anything away from them but Kobe... Well Kobe won this year vs my Magic team without another great player... Gasol isnt great yet... So you are crazy putting King James over Kobe and I love LeBron... I have 3 LeBron Jerseys but hes not better than Kobe yet.. LeBron potentially could be the greatest player we ever seen because of his skill and talent but he has to win... When he wins a championship hell be top 30 players of all time... No question but hes not better than Kobe career or now...

Here is a great article about Kobe's supposed "killer instinct" and it even ties in his consistent jumper http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

If you notice, Kobe shoots 25% in game winning shot situations over the last 6 seasons and in that time, Kobe has 1 assist while lebron shoots a higher percent (34%) and has 6 assists.

And you cant say that people cant say shaq won the titles because he had Horry, fisher, fox, and rice to help him out then turn around and say that Kobe won this title all by his lonesome because Gasol is a really good player, and they had guys like Ariza, Odom, Fisher, and others step up too. That is hypocrisy at its finest...

I do agree about SA too, they are definitely not what they once were but could definitely make some waves this season with the addition of Jefferson and if they can stay healthy

[TheOUTLAW]

What's even worse is that LeBron draws more attention than Kobe and he still has the higher shooting percentage and assist numbers.