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Thugnomoe
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 Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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apples and oranges..
GSW and OKC aren't near the rivals that Lakers/celtics were and still are.
It's not like some historical rivalry between the two teams. OKC was fortunate to get up 3-1.. and it was a matter of time before they lost. |
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| saetarubia wrote: | | He sounds pretty neutral about it saying he had great players and was in a great situation. Even Isiah Thomas said that he would have loved Bird at Pistons while weakening Celtics at the same time. Anyways, the whole landscape has changed. I don't think Pippen earned close to what Jordon got from Bulls. Right now both could get max contracts. Staying at Indiana as their franchise guy probably made more sense financially for Reggie. Now, it's easier to form super teams and get paid the same. |
You make a lot of good points.
The entire change of the salary structure has allowed for a complete change in the landscape.
I believe a guy should do what he wants to do, but I don't like to see franchise players moving teams. I don't begrudge Durant, but I agree with those who feel if he does win a title in Golden State that it wouldn't be the same as doing it in OKC.
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unleasHell
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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That's because he is a hick, a country hick and LA, and flash of Hollywood would have scared the poor chinless lad...
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ocho
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC.
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EzBuyLakers
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:51 pm Post subject: |
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| ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
This. Bird needs to quit acting like their situations were the same. They weren't even close. Bird was lucky to play with HOF talent his entire career. |
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MJST
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| LAkers 4 Life wrote: | | Math wrote: | | MJST wrote: | | Math wrote: | | We wouldn't have taken you, Larry. |
Like heck we wouldn't have 
You really think if Larry Bird ever came to Jerry Buss and said "I want to be a Laker" and we could do it while keeping our core that Jerry would have said no? |
I really do. |
No way. Jerry Buss was all about winning titles. Plus, to screw the Celtics in the process? He'd do that in a millisecond. |
Precisely!!
lol he'd live for trotting a team of
Magic Johnson
Byron Scott
Larry Bird
James Worthy
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
out there vs the Celtics... just to see the looks on their faces
And also if that scenario I said did happen to come true and the 91 Finals was the Thomas, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Bulls vs the Magic, Worthy, Bird, Jabbar Lakers.... I am fairly certain that would have broken even more television records than it did, as it would TRULY be the old guard vs the new guard.
And I can't lie..... I'd have paid all I had to see it now that I think about it
I also do feel that if Magic did have Larry on the team with him when "The Announcement" happened, I think Larry could have convinced Magic keep playing when he came back the first time, regardless of what the media thought or what Karl Malone said.
And if Magic plays from 91-96 imagine how many more records he'd have, and he has plenty. Not just that, but if Magic just stays ONE more season... then we would get at least ONE season of Kobe, Magic and Shaq... and if I had one highlight.. just ONE highlight of Magic throwing a no look alley oop to Shaq as a "passing of the torch" moment.. a tear would come down my eye  |
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ocho
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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[list=][/list] | EzBuyLakers wrote: | | ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
This. Bird needs to quit acting like their situations were the same. They weren't even close. Bird was lucky to play with HOF talent his entire career. |
I believe by Year 2 the Celtics had put McHale and Parish next to Bird. That's not even considering DJ, Ainge, Walton, etc. Such hardship. I will say at least Bird did indeed stay with one team his whole career. Charles Barkley had the nerve to criticize KD and he jumped ship looking for a ring TWICE.
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 10:47 am Post subject: |
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| ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
There is a good chance he has been
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| EzBuyLakers wrote: | | ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
This. Bird needs to quit acting like their situations were the same. They weren't even close. Bird was lucky to play with HOF talent his entire career. |
The situations are the same, the difference is people here totally failing to understand Bird's point. Zooooommmmmm.
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JUST-MING
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:53 am Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | EzBuyLakers wrote: | | ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
This. Bird needs to quit acting like their situations were the same. They weren't even close. Bird was lucky to play with HOF talent his entire career. |
The situations are the same, the difference is people here totally failing to understand Bird's point. Zooooommmmmm. |
http://i.imgur.com/bykS0If.jpg |
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EzBuyLakers
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:58 am Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | EzBuyLakers wrote: | | ocho wrote: | | Fairly certain if Durant was flanked by multiple HOFers like Bird was he would still be in OKC. |
This. Bird needs to quit acting like their situations were the same. They weren't even close. Bird was lucky to play with HOF talent his entire career. |
The situations are the same, the difference is people here totally failing to understand Bird's point. Zooooommmmmm. |
How exactly am I failing to understand his point? I get his point completely. He would never go join his competition. The difference is he didn't have to, did he? How many titles did Bird win again? How many has Durant won? Is it KD's fault they traded away Harden and Ibaka and got the worse end on both deals? Did the Celtics make deals like this? Please explain it to me. |
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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Durant played on a pretty stacked team by today's standards and only sniffed the Finals once. So he turned tail and went to the team that beat him. I am with Bird on this one, that is pretty weak sauce. And if GS wins a title does that mean Durant is a champion? I don't think so.
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pjiddy
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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I think these are easy claims to make when you already played with multiple hall of famers.
Magic: "I can't imagine playing with Larry Bird!" Really?? Can you imagine playing with the greatest center of all time and another top 50 all-time player?
And none of these guys had to play in a 30-team NBA where it's considered a miracle to have a roster as stacked as GS, and under the scrutiny of the 24/365 social-media-addled news cycle that constantly questions your legacy. |
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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It is even easier to see that guys in Bird's day weren't leaving their stacked team to go to someone else's stacked team. I mean, it is reality, it is history. Guys were just wired different then.
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KBH
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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| KD is fully at liberty to make whatever move he wants to make in his career. But I agree that it is weak sauce. As a competitor, I would think taking the Warriors down would be more satisfying then joining them. Especially since KD and Westbrook looked increasingly annoyed by the media love fest with Curry and the Warriors when they played. |
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MJST
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | Durant played on a pretty stacked team by today's standards and only sniffed the Finals once. So he turned tail and went to the team that beat him. I am with Bird on this one, that is pretty weak sauce. And if GS wins a title does that mean Durant is a champion? I don't think so. |
Because his team got rid of what took that team over the top in James Harden.
I will say it always. OKC screwed themselves over by being cheap.
They picked KENDRICK PERKINS over James Harden.
They could have had a team of
Russell Westbrook
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
6th Man: Jeff Green
All about to enter their prime, all on rookie contracts, all on Bird's Rights.
Then THEY could be what Golden State is now. BUT they decided to be cheap, and lost Harden. After that, they were never making the finals again. This year was their best chance, Steph was hurt, they had the Warriors on the ropes 3-1.. and still.. lost.
That was how far that team was gonna go in a nutshell. Replacing Ibaka with Oladipo and expecting Illyasova to somehow anchor the defense at the 4 doesn't save things, nor does asking Kanter to be the 4 and anchor the defense either.
Considering the injury ridden 2 years prior Durant had, he made the smartest and BEST decision he could have. Insanity is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting different results, giving OKC "one more chance" when their window was closed and even if they had made the finals WOULD have lost to the Cavaliers, I think that's a universal opinion at this point. He would have continued to go nowhere and be 'close but no cigar'.
That team wasn't getting any better than they were, and that team was never beating a healthy Warriors team OR the Cavs. so he made the smartest decision he could and was free to make.
If the Lakers had a championship roster and had max space to sign LeBron James the Summer of 2010 and he'd landed HERE instead of Miami with us keeping Kobe, Gasol and Odom afterwards? I don't think ANYONE would have complained about that. Not one of us.
And then the very next season if we made the trade of Gasol and Odom for Chris Paul? And had the big three of Chris Paul, LeBron and Kobe? Would ANYONE be complaining then? I doubt it. Because despite Lebron getting 3-4 rings, Kobe would have 8 or 9 and would go down as the Greatest Basketball Player of all time. |
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ocho
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | It is even easier to see that guys in Bird's day weren't leaving their stacked team to go to someone else's stacked team. I mean, it is reality, it is history. Guys were just wired different then. |
"Back in my day things were better" - every old person. Yawn.
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ocho
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| venturalakersfan wrote: | | Durant played on a pretty stacked team by today's standards and only sniffed the Finals once. So he turned tail and went to the team that beat him. I am with Bird on this one, that is pretty weak sauce. And if GS wins a title does that mean Durant is a champion? I don't think so. |
Would the sauce be stronger if he went to Philly? Would building a team there prove he's a tough guy? He shouldn't go to the best team, so should he go to the worst? Or does it have to be somewhere in the middle? Pretty sure most people in their professions would take the best job on the table. That's all Durant did.
And really? If he wins a championship he's not a champion? What a ridiculous thing to say.
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wsjan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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| MJST wrote: | | venturalakersfan wrote: | | Durant played on a pretty stacked team by today's standards and only sniffed the Finals once. So he turned tail and went to the team that beat him. I am with Bird on this one, that is pretty weak sauce. And if GS wins a title does that mean Durant is a champion? I don't think so. |
Because his team got rid of what took that team over the top in James Harden.
I will say it always. OKC screwed themselves over by being cheap.
They picked KENDRICK PERKINS over James Harden.
They could have had a team of
Russell Westbrook
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
6th Man: Jeff Green
All about to enter their prime, all on rookie contracts, all on Bird's Rights.
Then THEY could be what Golden State is now. BUT they decided to be cheap, and lost Harden. After that, they were never making the finals again. This year was their best chance, Steph was hurt, they had the Warriors on the ropes 3-1.. and still.. lost.
That was how far that team was gonna go in a nutshell. Replacing Ibaka with Oladipo and expecting Illyasova to somehow anchor the defense at the 4 doesn't save things, nor does asking Kanter to be the 4 and anchor the defense either.
Considering the injury ridden 2 years prior Durant had, he made the smartest and BEST decision he could have. Insanity is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting different results, giving OKC "one more chance" when their window was closed and even if they had made the finals WOULD have lost to the Cavaliers, I think that's a universal opinion at this point. He would have continued to go nowhere and be 'close but no cigar'.
That team wasn't getting any better than they were, and that team was never beating a healthy Warriors team OR the Cavs. so he made the smartest decision he could and was free to make.
If the Lakers had a championship roster and had max space to sign LeBron James the Summer of 2010 and he'd landed HERE instead of Miami with us keeping Kobe, Gasol and Odom afterwards? I don't think ANYONE would have complained about that. Not one of us.
And then the very next season if we made the trade of Gasol and Odom for Chris Paul? And had the big three of Chris Paul, LeBron and Kobe? Would ANYONE be complaining then? I doubt it. Because despite Lebron getting 3-4 rings, Kobe would have 8 or 9 and would go down as the Greatest Basketball Player of all time. |
Yep, none of the fans of the team that landed him would have complained, but everyone else would just like right now with Durant. Nobody like superteams other than the fans.
Remember the Pau Gasol trade? Every non-Lakers fans were up over arms. Popovich and Cuban even wanted investigation over the so-called "robbery."
But looking back now, both teams came out like winners with Lakers won 2 titles with Pau and Grizzlies got their center of the future in Marc Gasol. |
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Shecky
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| japanesebeef1 wrote: | Larry Bird: blah blah blah.
When we were young, we were better than you.
Blah blah blah. |
Uh, in huge part due to Len Bias dying. Might wanna keep that in mind. |
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1hu2ren3dui4
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree with Larry bird. But the reality is the cap has changed everything. I'd rather suck for more years and keep cap flexibility. |
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EzBuyLakers
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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| pjiddy wrote: | I think these are easy claims to make when you already played with multiple hall of famers.
Magic: "I can't imagine playing with Larry Bird!" Really?? Can you imagine playing with the greatest center of all time and another top 50 all-time player?
And none of these guys had to play in a 30-team NBA where it's considered a miracle to have a roster as stacked as GS, and under the scrutiny of the 24/365 social-media-addled news cycle that constantly questions your legacy. |
Exactly what I said but apparently I didn't understand what Bird was saying. |
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ocho
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Yep, none of the fans of the team that landed him would have complained, but everyone else would just like right now with Durant. Nobody like superteams other than the fans.
Remember the Pau Gasol trade? Every non-Lakers fans were up over arms. Popovich and Cuban even wanted investigation over the so-called "robbery."
But looking back now, both teams came out like winners with Lakers won 2 titles with Pau and Grizzlies got their center of the future in Marc Gasol. |
If OKC traded Westbrook, Adams, Ibaka, and Waiters for Curry, Thompson, and Green nobody would fault Durant or discredit his success. When you boil it down, some people are very clingy to nostalgia and tradition. They aren't comfortable with players choosing what they want. They want the owners to choose it for them. For the record I criticized LeBron for the same thing back in the day and believe I was wrong for it.
As for the numerous silly reasons people will create to discredit any success Durant has in Golden State, none of it matters unless it matters to him.
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USCandLakers
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Thugnomoe wrote: | apples and oranges..
GSW and OKC aren't near the rivals that Lakers/celtics were and still are.
It's not like some historical rivalry between the two teams. OKC was fortunate to get up 3-1.. and it was a matter of time before they lost. |
I mean...they were the most talented team in the league. Had two top 5 players. Defense at every position. Incredible length. Were they really that fortunate?
If Durant doesn't (bleep) the bed after they go up 3-1 then that team is in the finals, which would have been their second trip in four years.
He left OKC because he didn't want to compete. He wants to be carried to a title. That's a weak minded individual.
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Last edited by USCandLakers on Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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venturalakersfan
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| Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| ocho wrote: | | venturalakersfan wrote: | | Durant played on a pretty stacked team by today's standards and only sniffed the Finals once. So he turned tail and went to the team that beat him. I am with Bird on this one, that is pretty weak sauce. And if GS wins a title does that mean Durant is a champion? I don't think so. |
Would the sauce be stronger if he went to Philly? Would building a team there prove he's a tough guy? He shouldn't go to the best team, so should he go to the worst? Or does it have to be somewhere in the middle? Pretty sure most people in their professions would take the best job on the table. That's all Durant did.
And really? If he wins a championship he's not a champion? What a ridiculous thing to say. |
And we are free to criticize him for giving up on himself and taking the easy way out. I never would have considered Payton or Malone as champions.
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