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I've read even this year many fans saying it's bad for the league that James, Wade and Bosh teamed up. I'm not going to rewrite what everyone has been saying since they got toghether but, why don't those same fans complain about:

- Lakers: so it's wrong for LBJ to join Wade cause they're both MVP candidate caliber players but it's right for Howard to join Kobe? If Bosh is the big difference, then how about a All-Star PF Pau Gasol and a great playmaker like Nash that won 2 MVP awards in the past?

- Boston: so KG joined Pierce and Allen and it was never a big deal. Why not? Cause they were older? They lasted 4 years... And could even still do it this year. Why didn't anyone complain?

- NYK join DPOY with all-star PF and Melo (for some a MVP candidate, I'd say he's a lock for top 10 players in the league). But no one seems to care. Why? Because they played below expectations?

So what? Was it just an excuse because people hate LeBron? Just another excuse to hate him? Specially with LAL, why don't the same fans complain about it? I mean, it's a super team and Howard acted the wrong way like no one else and yet he doesn't get any hate for it.

I really don't get the hate on the Heat and LeBron. And don't get me wrong, I love that LAL put that team toghether and I'm really interested to see how they perform and if they can go all the way.

LeBron promised Cleveland a title.
LeBron didn't give Cleveland a heads-up - the team that had been his home for years.
LeBron had " The Decision " , which was a ridiculous media circus.

+ the way he has been in the media, he made himself an easy target. Imo there's much less hate now, he didn't talk **** last year and let his game do the talking, winning the title.

+ The 1# player in the NBA will always have criticizers and hate - it's how it is.

He took a shortcut to a championship
Because he couldn't get over the hump

Andre3822 wrote:LeBron promised Cleveland a title.
LeBron didn't give Cleveland a heads-up - the team that had been his home for years.
LeBron had " The Decision " , which was a ridiculous media circus.

+ the way he has been in the media, he made himself an easy target. Imo there's much less hate now, he didn't talk **** last year and let his game do the talking, winning the title.

+ The 1# player in the NBA will always have criticizers and hate - it's how it is.

I get LBJ didn't act 100% correct. But did Howard? I'm not even saying I didn't expect any hate towards LBJ. But I see no hate from anyone toward Howard.

Joao Saraiva wrote:

Andre3822 wrote:LeBron promised Cleveland a title.
LeBron didn't give Cleveland a heads-up - the team that had been his home for years.
LeBron had " The Decision " , which was a ridiculous media circus.

+ the way he has been in the media, he made himself an easy target. Imo there's much less hate now, he didn't talk **** last year and let his game do the talking, winning the title.

+ The 1# player in the NBA will always have criticizers and hate - it's how it is.

I get LBJ didn't act 100% correct. But did Howard? I'm not even saying I didn't expect any hate towards LBJ. But I see no hate from anyone toward Howard.

Where have you been?

people hate howard
/thread

The situations you mentioned are all completely different then the miami heat situation.

Lakers - howard didn't sign there as a free agent. He was traded there, and he wanted to go to brooklyn. Gasol was also traded there, years ago, and the two didn't decide together to team up.

Celtics - again, ray allen didn't sign there, they traded jeff green for him. Kg didn't sign there, they trade al jefferson for him and kg didn't even want to be a celtic at first.

Knicks - lol, how is this even relevant? Chandler is far from a star player and knicks didn't make it out of the first round.

Because ESPN's NBA coverage revolves around LeBron James and 'The Decision' was something even Forrest Gump wouldn't do

Knicks - lol, how is this even relevant? Chandler is far from a star player and knicks didn't make it out of the first round.


Hahahahahahaha like The Nets have been anywhere but the basement. I take Tyson over Brook overrated Lopez any day of the week.

All those superstar teams are bad for the league.
I can accept that those players have no pride, they're just human. But it's hard to accept a league that throws 4/5 of its teams under the bus.

First off, the Heat signed their team via unrestricted Free Agency while the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks all were build via trades.

Secondly, James was the best player in the league and after two spectacular flame outs in Cleveland, he left for Miami. In literally the worst way imaginable. I mean at no point before the Decision did anyone seriously believe James would throw black paint on his legacy and go to Miami.

Third, everyone and their mother is hating on Dwight Howard. People are just so done with saying "I hate Dwight Howard" because of how long the process was.

Fourth, the other teams you mentioned were not acquiring the best player in the peak of his NBA career. KG was already on the downslide (though gave Boston 1.5 more KG like years) in Boston, Gasol is clearly a #2 option on a title contender, the Knicks don't even bare mentioning until they're a playoff team and not a regular season team.

Mr Grant Hill wrote:All those superstar teams are bad for the league.
I can accept that those players have no pride, they're just human. But it's hard to accept a league that throws 4/5 of its teams under the bus.

Yeah, the league only grew from second tier sports league to actual sports league in the 80s because of two superstar teams and every year since 2008, the league has experienced ratings growth for the Finals. And the league is about to become a $5 billion dollar league. Primarily because of super teams.

PetroNet wrote:The situations you mentioned are all completely different then the miami heat situation.

Lakers - howard didn't sign there as a free agent. He was traded there, and he wanted to go to brooklyn. Gasol was also traded there, years ago, and the two didn't decide together to team up.

Celtics - again, ray allen didn't sign there, they traded jeff green for him. Kg didn't sign there, they trade al jefferson for him and kg didn't even want to be a celtic at first.

Knicks - lol, how is this even relevant? Chandler is far from a star player and knicks didn't make it out of the first round.

QFT.

DanTown8587 wrote:First off, the Heat signed their team via unrestricted Free Agency while the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks all were build via trades.

Secondly, James was the best player in the league and after two spectacular flame outs in Cleveland, he left for Miami. In literally the worst way imaginable. I mean at no point before the Decision did anyone seriously believe James would throw black paint on his legacy and go to Miami.

Third, everyone and their mother is hating on Dwight Howard. People are just so done with saying "I hate Dwight Howard" because of how long the process was.

Fourth, the other teams you mentioned were not acquiring the best player in the peak of his NBA career. KG was already on the downslide (though gave Boston 1.5 more KG like years) in Boston, Gasol is clearly a #2 option on a title contender, the Knicks don't even bear mentioning until they're a playoff team and not a regular season team.

/thread.

Best post of the thread. And, just to be clear, people hate the other super teams too. It´s just that people "hate" Lebron more. The Celtics did do it first, but people felt KG had already paid its dues to Minny. Not so with Lebron and Cleveland.

for me, it was about wade and lebron joining forces - they were pretty much peers who played similar roles on their teams. that's why it was kind of like saying how it'd be strange if bird and magic teamed up.

kobe and dwight.. is just different, since they're completely different players.

Looking back, the comments people made after LeBron joined the Heat are hilarious.

"He's never going to be in the MVP discussion again"

"Now he can never be Michael Jordan!!"

"When you're the MVP they come to you!!!!"


And all he's done since joined the Heat is won a title, won an MVP, been in contention for another, and enhanced his basketball legacy.

Lebron joined someone, not someone joined Lebron.

Joao Saraiva wrote:I've read even this year many fans saying it's bad for the league that James, Wade and Bosh teamed up. I'm not going to rewrite what everyone has been saying since they got toghether but, why don't those same fans complain about:

- Lakers: so it's wrong for LBJ to join Wade cause they're both MVP candidate caliber players but it's right for Howard to join Kobe? If Bosh is the big difference, then how about a All-Star PF Pau Gasol and a great playmaker like Nash that won 2 MVP awards in the past?

- Boston: so KG joined Pierce and Allen and it was never a big deal. Why not? Cause they were older? They lasted 4 years... And could even still do it this year. Why didn't anyone complain?

- NYK join DPOY with all-star PF and Melo (for some a MVP candidate, I'd say he's a lock for top 10 players in the league). But no one seems to care. Why? Because they played below expectations?

So what? Was it just an excuse because people hate LeBron? Just another excuse to hate him? Specially with LAL, why don't the same fans complain about it? I mean, it's a super team and Howard acted the wrong way like no one else and yet he doesn't get any hate for it.

I really don't get the hate on the Heat and LeBron. And don't get me wrong, I love that LAL put that team toghether and I'm really interested to see how they perform and if they can go all the way.

There are surely plenty of good answers in this thread, I might be re-stating them but...

Lakers are KOBE's team. Adding Howard, Nash, Gasol is not at all the same. Those guys all admitted defeat on winning a ring for THEIR team.

LeBron was supposed to be "the king" "best ever" and for him to leave a 60 win team to play with the #2 sg in the league and a top 5 overall player in Wade solidified that he wasn't who we were told he was.

Also, fans are used to the Jordan/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe, Duncan/Manu(then later Parker) model. The KG/Allen/Pierce combo was the original "expendables" scenario where all guys had their individual accolades completed and wanted to go for that ring in the twilight of their careers. Because what they did seemed like such an unfair advantage, it became the rule. You now needed a "big three". Notice Andrew Bynum was just a center until the notion of "big three" came about and Bynum was propelled into that 3rd star spotlight by media and Kobe's will/encouragement.

It is a big deal in Miami though ultimately for this reason: The Heat crippled two organizations to help their own. Cavaliers were in cap-hell due to surrounding LBJ with guys to help him get those 60+ wins/season. Likewise Raptors were also left without compensation for the young cornerstone of their franchise.

No one cared about Seattle/Minni for these reasons:
Seattle: Sonics were going to let Lewis walk anyway, it was time to rebuild and the compensation was actually quite generous. top 5 pick, 2 young talents for an old Ray Allen is a good deal!
Minni: KG from "da kid" to "the big ticket" was actually a beloved player to the league. His give-it-all attitude was greatly appreciated and after so many years of futility, no one faulted him for wanting one real run at a championship. Again, Wolves were well compensated with Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, draft picks and I believe a 3rd player who was supposed to evolve into something (some tweener forward whose name escapes me).

i think the Heat is Lebron's team now...not Wade.

It wasn't liked cause LeBron screwed Cleveland.
Also, in 2006 Heat got Walker,Posey and Williams for nothing in a trade. People thought that it was Pistons or Heat in the Finals but on the minds of people after the trade it was pretty clear the Heat would play in the Finals unless a injury hit Wade or O'Neal. After a trade like that the usual "Stern wants them to win" talks started, Mavericks lost in a controversial way to them in the Finals. The Heat weren't liked after 2006 by many.
Then they went downhill from there for years and by adding 2 All-stars in LeBron and Bosh they were relevant again out of thin air. So again a fairly new franchise compared to most of the teams lucked out again in a short period of time, it's easy to hate them.

People are used to seeing the Lakers in the playoffs and winning in trades.
Boston was a really poor historical team. Boston-LA rivalry is the biggest in the NBA history so people wanted to see it again. (cause it hadn't been really a rivalry for like 15 years)
Knicks haven't really done anything since adding Melo beside starting great this season and they gave up some good players and depth for Melo.