asubennett wrote:You folks wanting to build it organically are crazy -
1) Does it really matter if you drafted the superstar (Durant, Duncan etc...) as opposed to obtaining the superstar via free agency? If so, explain why. Superstars don't grow on tree's. You either get super lucky with a ping pong ball bounce and enjoy a decade (if the player resigns with you) of success. Or you get your superstar through this beautiful process call free agency. Just like the corporate world, if your have an opportunity to do better for you with pay, or work life balance or more profitable / winning company - you consider that. Good for Lebron embracing what the league allows him to do. Explore his options.
2) Our team won 48 games last year. Adding Lebron is instant contender status. Adding Lebron and Melo to our current core is just scary, borderline unfair to the rest of the league. I would argue much better team than Miami has ever fielded. That team went to 4 straight NBA Finals.
3) The last time we were in the finals - while it feels like yesterday to me - it was freaking 21 years ago. Archie Goodwin was not even alive then.
4) This town went nuts in 1993. I want to see that happen again. You sell harder than you have ever sold before to make this thing go down. Phoenix will go insane. Afterall, outside of a few of us, there is not better bandwagon fan state than Arizona. Everyone is transplants. Let the 5th largest city in the US rally behind Lebron. Look at what Fitz has accomplished with the Cardinals. Lebron would be a whole different level of support.
5) You don't want Lebron...... Really? Are you scared of being good? Scared to win?
I agree with everything you said, but I completely get where everyone who is saying they're apprehensive about Lebron is coming from.
You're right...superstars dont just grow on trees and no team has ever done it without snagging a few key FAs. But I think a lot of these people look more at the Spurs now. Sure, they signed free agents, but they didn't sign superstars. They drafted one amazing, sure fire talent in Timmy, then drafted what everyone labeled "projects" in Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli and polished them up, trained them, let them flourish. I think most of us are under the impression that the Spurs are where they are because of solid organizational moves and great coaching and teaching.
That kind of rare success based on development is something we all want, because it seems so much more organic. You pay for Lebron, you get amazingness. But it was paid for. It's like paying for a pizza versus making it at home. Yeah, Pizzeria Bianco and Cibo are going to make far more amazing pizzas and nothing I can do at home will replicate it, but it feels so much cooler to make it myself.
That being said, while I get it and I feel it, and I do wish our first championship is won via homegrown methods, I know it's not that simple and not that easy, and I wouldn't be mad if we paid for Instant Success Player, whatever his name may be, because it's been far too long for this city and this franchise. We all suffered through the years, through good and bad, through KJ and Thunder Dan just as much as through Negele Knight and Jerrod Mustaf. A championship is a championship is a championship, no matter how it's won, just like pizza is pizza is pizza, no matter where it's cooked.
It just tastes a little sweeter when you know you cooked it yourself.
