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Ric hatin' ass Bucher wrote:The rush to judgment and, in most cases inflate, everything LeBron and, to a lesser extent, the Heat, have done has

long bothered me. The same barking dogs who fail to see the entire game and jump to anoint Danny Green a Finals' MVP candidate are at it again, rushing to decide here and now how LeBron compares to Kobe and MJ and everybody else with multiple rings. That argument isn't any more ready to be made today than when it was first posed upon his arrival in the NBA. I applaud LeBron for his two championships. I truly applaud both he and the Heat for three straight runs to the Finals, a test of will and endurance and hunger that few have achieved and that I, admittedly, wasn't sure they had. I applaud LeBron, too, for accepting the responsibility that comes with being 6'9" and 270 pounds in the paint. But I can't forget that he still was peculiarly passive at times in this series. Even in Game 7, who set the tone? I'd argue it was Dwyane Wade, who shared the load of seeking out every mismatch and gap and aggressively exploiting it at key moments in the game. Wade, physically broken, sent a clear message with his multiple offensive rebounds on that one early possession. Wade tailored his offense to the player guarding him but never did he defer unless the situation called for it. (I had to laugh at the stats on how the Heat scored with Wade off the floor, ignoring who the Spurs had out there at the same time.) The harsh truth? LeBron *still* floated through parts of the game tonight and let the Spurs off the hook by dribbling out the shot clock or taking a stand-still jumper. Call it "hating" if you want; I call it not getting starry-eyed over the numbers and understanding that how and when a basket is scored and against whom adds or lessens value in the big picture of how a game unfolds. The great ones that I've seen don't have you repeatedly asking, "Why isn't he going at him?" I sense those who over-estimated what he did in Cleveland and when he first arrived in Miami are now gleefully looking at his two championships and saying, "See, I told you he was all that!" Only he wasn't. LeBron has evolved; the occasional lapses into who he once was provide the contrast. The growth is a credit to him, and those that drew it out of him. But let's hold off on the sweeping judgments about Game 7 or his place among the greats. It's safe to say he's the best player in the game today. Let's enjoy that. Let's hope he continues to evolve, because as amazing as it sounds, he *still* has room to grow. I, for one, look forward to watching it.

unowen85 wrote:My .44 make sure all Ric's kids don't grow.

The rush to judgment and, in most cases inflate, everything LeBron and, to a lesser extent, the Heat, have done has long bothered me. The same barking dogs who fail to see the entire game and jump to anoint Danny Green a Finals' MVP candidate are at it again, rushing to decide here and now how LeBron compares to Kobe and MJ and everybody else with multiple rings.