How bad did LeBron damage his legacy?

Cognitivebias · Post #261 » by **Cognitivebias** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:42 am

His legacy will be decided years after he stopped playing, and that legacy will be influenced by the state of the league in the years after he quits. This is definitely a chapter he'd rather forget, but he's still relatively young and has plenty potential opportunities to make up for the 2011 debacle.

Winning does cure a lot, and these performances are almost always hidden in the big picture when we look back. It's an inherent tendency of men to embellish the past.

6_Rings · Post #262 » by **6_Rings** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:45 am

Hon-essim wrote:That's putting an insult to Ai and Marbury.

Marbury for all his weakness never became passive and did the reverse of what Lebron did.

AI similarly always put his heart on the line unless you took the minutes away from him.

Sure Lebron is more favorable as an overall non-team cancer but in terms of legacy category you never put Lebron along the category of guys full of passion and heart when they played the game.

At this point in his career, he can barely scrape the Steve Franchise category at least in terms of heart. Obviously talent is a different thing.

I stand corrected then. Sprewell? francis?

blumeany · Post #263 » by **blumeany** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:55 am

BUT LEBRON SHUT DOWN DERRICK ROSE!

Yeah, amazing how good you look when you are covering a 6'3'' point guard and are guarded by a defender playing 40+ minutes every game. :lol:

But as far as legacy goes, it's tarnished - no doubt about it. If he would have pulled it off this year, it would have been a big FU to his doubters and haters, but he didn't. So now everyone gets a prolonged offseason to scrutinize and criticize the guy. But it's quite a contrast to look at Dirk's road to a title and Lebron's quest. Dirk's title will always mean more and be more highly regarded. Lebron, if he gets one, will always be overshadowed by the free agency 'coup' of Pat Riley and his vilification by Cavs fans.

Chris435 · Post #264 » by **Chris435** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:13 pm

6_Rings wrote:Legacy LOL. Legacy of hate and failure. He is not worthy of even tying Jordan's shoelaces. Id categorize him with AI, Marbury.

I'm not a big fan of AI. He was a selfish guy, but at least he went down fighting.

Frosty · Post #265 » by **Frosty** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:25 pm

Legacy's have a funny way of ignoring past failures once you supplant them with success. If he goes on to win a bunch of titles no one will hold this against him.

Magic had some huge failures during his early career. Losses to teams he shouldn't have lost to, a series of chokes during the Finals and sweeps. Bird lost a bunch of series they were slightly favored in.

If he gets past this it won't even be a factor. People will look back and say these guys got to the Finals their first year together and then got over the hump.

redux46 · Post #266 » by **redux46** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:28 pm

Jordan never performed this badly in a finals series. Kobe, despite having some poor performances could never be accused of giving up in a game.

The way Lebron lost this series is an argument that even the most die hard fanboi is going to have problems answering in future GOAT debates.

e92kevin · Post #267 » by **e92kevin** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:31 pm

LEbron homers always find a way to defend their prince.

jc23 · Post #268 » by **jc23** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:33 pm

Because of lebrons god given talent he will go down as a great player but we will never be seen as one of the all time greats.

With that said calling Dirk one of the greatest to ever play the game is a bit premature.

No Offense · Post #269 » by **No Offense** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:37 pm

That book is yet to be completed.

This has hurt his reputation. Let's not confuse that with legacy.

However, I think it will be difficult for him to bounce back from the past two post seasons. This type of choke job will stay in his psyche. One of the weirdest things I have ever seen as a sports fan is LeBron playing hot potato with the ball. The pressure was too much.

I don't see how the Dallas series doesn't affect him moving forward. But let's be clear: His legacy is still being written. Legacies are defined when a player's career is over. Hell, look at Jason Kidd. 17 years into his career and his legacy has now changed drastically.

Hon-essim · Post #270 » by **Hon-essim** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:43 pm

redux46 wrote:Jordan never performed this badly in a finals series. Kobe, despite having some poor performances could never be accused of giving up in a game.

The way Lebron lost this series is an argument that even the most die hard fanboi is going to have problems answering in future GOAT debates.

Kobe was accused plenty of times for legit reasons. His series against Phoenix. This playoffs.

Kobe was pretty well known for this so it's not because Lebron quit alone. It's because he had the biggest breakdown - the biggest letdown - the biggest disappearing act in a superstar + a stacked team on top of that...

Here, I'll phrase it in Lebron terms:

Not Jordan (#1 star for his team), Not Kobe (#2 star for his team), Not KG (#3 star for his team), Not Carter (#4 star on Orlando), Not Havlicek (arguable #5 star on Boston), NOT King (0 rings), NOT Webber (lesser breakdown)

If Lebron does multiple bone headed moves, he could go down multiple times in all time rankings.

Frosty · Post #271 » by **Frosty** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:22 pm

kodo wrote:When Kobe or MJ make mistakes, they get pissed at themselves and turn up their defense into another gear and run back and usually make an amazing defensive play.

Must be a different Kobe then the one I watch. The one I watch usually stands there crying to the ref while the play goes the other way...

isekii · Post #272 » by **isekii** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:25 pm

Lebrons Legacy = Biggest narcissistic douchebag in nba history.

Who the hell refers to himself as "king james."

He could've been an all time great if he stayed in cleveland instead of trying to ride the coattails of Wade and Bosh.

Galis4 · Post #273 » by **Galis4** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:31 pm

5DOM wrote:Couldn't even be the Pippen to Wade

I can't wait to see next year people saying after a win against Raptors, with Lebron's 48 points that he's learned from his mistakes and he is gonna be the next MJ etc etc.... :lol:

amar_e · Post #274 » by **amar_e** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:43 pm

LeBron doesn't have a legacy. Even if he eventually wins a championship one day it will be tainted.

rottenzombie · Post #275 » by **rottenzombie** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:45 pm

Galis4 wrote:
5DOM wrote:Couldn't even be the Pippen to Wade

I can't wait to see next year people saying after a win against Raptors, with Lebron's 48 points that he's learned from his mistakes and he is gonna be the next MJ etc etc....

Oh I am sure a win against Raptors will ensure a championship, no, a dynasty of championships for the great KING JAMES.

Certainly a regular season win like that will erase all doubt people had about him not performing in the finals.

SolidSnake008 · Post #276 » by **SolidSnake008** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:49 pm

amar_e wrote:LeBron doesn't have a legacy. Even if he eventually wins a championship one day it will be tainted.

i agree with this.....his legacy is marred forever....Forever will have an asterisk in the minds of most...A good chunk of people will think he took the "Shortcut" to the championship

carlosey · Post #277 » by **carlosey** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 1:55 pm

There is no Legacy unless you consider the disdain of the public a legacy.

Lebron is the product of a generation where NBA ball tried to hype individual talent and now we are seeing the end result of Stern's experiment: Primadonnas. Since his early days he was being hyped as the next best thing. the cant miss prospect. He must have had nike knocking on his door at age 15 playing to his need for "greatness". I mean, his high school games were available in pay per view!

Hes had nothing but brown-nosers telling him how great he is and he feels it is something he naturally deserves. Not something that is earned.

He jumped the shark with his announcement to go to Miami.

Once you go there, there is no going back. His "brand" is not going to recover from this ever. At this point the only thing that would be worse is being exposed for steroid use.

arterimal · Post #278 » by **arterimal** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:16 pm

BrooklynBulls wrote:Well, I guess us regular people do have some problems. But I only have to worry about my Dad fcking MY Mom.

haha, and rashard lewis with babies momma

Post #279 » by **Next Coming** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:05 pm

Even his marketability has taken a huge hit. Darren Rovell of CNBC wrote a pretty good article about how James failing selling power.

anorexorcism · Post #280 » by **anorexorcism** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:06 pm

What legacy :rofl:

?