Larry Hughes - rather have fun than win championships

[Heatmagic84]

Here's what Larry had to say about his time in cleveland

[miller31time]

What is he thinking?

[Heatmagic84]

Some people in this world sacrifice a lot of money to work somewhere that they enjoy.

I don't see anything wrong with that. May not be the most PC thing to say though in a sport position.

[Next Coming]

I thought Hughes was supposed to be Pippen to James Jordan. What happened?

[Troubadour]

Hey, if the guy wants to play for fun, while still playing at a competitive level, more power to him. If you sign with a team - like he did with the Cavs - expecting to log 25-30 minutes a game and you don't, you'd be upset to. Obviously he isn't the kind of guy you want to build your franchise around, but at least he isn't a bad character guy like Ron Artest. It's better than him signing a max contract promising to play his tail off, but then later discovering the guy has no passion (a la Vince Carter).

[PlinkingPanda]

People play the game for different reasons. Some play to win championships, others play to enjoy the game itself, and some are "forced" into playing the game. It's their decision to chose how to play. You can criticize them, but that won't really change much. Sprewell's "I have a family to feed" is much more worse. Unless he's Shawn Kemp I'm sure that contract the Wolves offered him would have fed his family for generations to come.

[mg]

Probably alot of guys have this same attitude but it's stupid to actually admit it in an interview. I doubt any winning team would trade for this cat.

[Flash3]

He's speaking the truth, and you're flogging him for it?

[High 5]

It's not like he's messing around out there, he's still trying to win. I don't see how this compares to Sprewell's statement at all.

[CircleCitysportsfan]

He's speaking the truth, and you're flogging him for it?

Exactly, I understand his point. He's a guy who lost his brother that he loved dearly, so what's Championship to him? I'm sure he plays 100% everynight, it's just that winning it all is not the most important thing in his life. nor should it be. MJ4MVP...ERRR LJ4MVP is a clown though, should not of expected anything less.

[Puertorique]

I actually like his honesty. It's also good to see that someone in the league actually enjoys playing the game for the fun of it. Make no mistake I'm sure he would like to win a chip but he's saying he rather have fun. Who wouldn't want to have fun at work?

[Jules Winnfield]

I don't see anything wrong with Hughes' statements.

[dacher]

That's why they had to get him out of Cleveland. Neither him nor Gooden are win-first players. It becomes obvious in the playoffs which players are only regular season, paycheck players, and which are playing for the love of the game and the love of winning.

They all make millions for their regular season productivity, it takes something else inside your character, to drive you to keep doing it in the post season, where they (starters) don't really earn much more for each extra playoff game played.

[SOUL]

I dont see anything wrong either, unless hes saying hes not trying because he wants to have fun.. which he never said

[Storm Surge]

Nothing wrong with that, life is about enjoying it, you do what you do to make the most out of it. Some people think championships are everything, Larry Hughes knows there are different types of rewards in life and not just one trophy.

[Alex_De_Large]

the problem is:
u can't win championship in the cavaliers
u can't have fun in the bulls.

[Texas Longhorns]

He'll get hungry in a couple of years. He is just not learned because this is the first time he has been on his own. Once he figures out the frustration and the reason why you play basketball, he will hunt for contenders.

[kandiking]

what's wrong with him saying this? so he does'nt care to play for a losing or winning team. he has grizzlies written all over him

[INKtastic]

just to followup my original post, these comments from the author of the article pretty much sum up my thoughts on Larry's comments

I do understand that Larry did make sacrifices when he played for the Cavs. I do understand that he was not playing in a system that thrilled him. But I cannot believe he is saying he would rather have fun

[Rooster]

That's a lot of interpretation. I'm glad Larry Hughes has the appreciation that he has a wonderful occupation and know what? I'd be a little ticked if I signed a $70M contract with a team, that team won it all and I didn't feel like I could contribute my share. It's not enough to a lot of these guys just to have hardware, they want to feel like they're being a part of something special.

If I were in the NBA, I'd want to be having fun too. No matter how much you win, that's a huge physical beating to take if you're not enjoying it.