BIGCatBobcat
09-28-2010, 06:22 PM
"I'm taking my talents to South Beach."
"I've never said I wanted to be traded. I never once said that."
"He feels like they haven't put the right pieces together,"
"mentally checked out or, you know, just wasn't quite into it down the stretch, he wasn't the same guy. And I think everybody saw that, just no one wanted to acknowledge it."
When you string them together like that, it really sounds horrible. I'm pissed. I really am. It's not being a small-market team's fan, it's not being on the outside looking in on the "Big Boys" of the NBA. It's a general disdain for that attitude. It's the AAU thing or something. These guys come up in a team with a coach who that's his job and you're pandered to. You get invited to Nike, Adidas, camp. You are wooed by every major college coach in the country. Sometimes that AAU coach or your own pops gets a job as an assistant with that team, just for you playing there. You hold the cards.
Where do these 26 year olds get off demanding a trade? Turning their back on a fan-base? Checking out on the team that drafted and paid you?
So what? You don't have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen or Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom beside you? Get serious. You have billboards the size of a city block singing your praises and it's not enough. The front office shuffles guys in and out at your whim and they aren't good enough.
New Jersey and Denver tried to move mountains to get Carmello somewhere he'd "want" to be. Players are moved like pawns, agents called in the middle of the night and weekend. "Let's all group together at one agency and World Wide Wes will take care of it. Just like AAU, we let the grown ups make the decisions and do the hard part while we just play the game." Grow up fellas.
We all wanted to be like Mike growing up. This selected few are blessed with the same athleticism and talent as the owner of this "small-market" team. Why can't they follow his example and make the others around them better? Take over games like he did? Be strong but not demanding, aloof but not unapproachable and classy without being pretentious.
"But I can't live through those guys. I have to make my own destiny. I thought coming here was the best move for me." You don't get the point. MJ, Larry, Magic and Charles weren't getting on you about the move to Miami. They were talking about the way you did it. The complete lack of grace or dare I say intelligence about your "taking your talents" wherever they might land.
Maybe it's the money. People doing documentaries about the kid and his team from high school, while they're still in high school. Someone always trying to make a buck off of them and always in their ear. The fatherly figures that show up at just the right moment to say "The owner is going to treat this like a business, you should too. Only look out for yourself. Do the best thing for you." World-Wide Wes, Leon Rose, even David Stern holding the "star" above the game.
I just don't know. This is longer than it should be for a forum post but I wanted it here rather than on the blog so it'd be more of a discussion. Miami can keep 'em. New Orleans too. New York/New Jersey can do what they think they can to get these guys to the big media market. I wouldn't trade a guy like Gerald Wallace for Carmello Anthony. I would have a damn hard time taking LeBron back for Crash. I guess I just don't want the drama in my life.
PS: Lebron, if you start typing "LeBron James" into Google, the auto complete takes it to "LeBron James Mom Delonte West". Just sayin'
"I've never said I wanted to be traded. I never once said that."
"He feels like they haven't put the right pieces together,"
"mentally checked out or, you know, just wasn't quite into it down the stretch, he wasn't the same guy. And I think everybody saw that, just no one wanted to acknowledge it."
When you string them together like that, it really sounds horrible. I'm pissed. I really am. It's not being a small-market team's fan, it's not being on the outside looking in on the "Big Boys" of the NBA. It's a general disdain for that attitude. It's the AAU thing or something. These guys come up in a team with a coach who that's his job and you're pandered to. You get invited to Nike, Adidas, camp. You are wooed by every major college coach in the country. Sometimes that AAU coach or your own pops gets a job as an assistant with that team, just for you playing there. You hold the cards.
Where do these 26 year olds get off demanding a trade? Turning their back on a fan-base? Checking out on the team that drafted and paid you?
So what? You don't have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen or Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom beside you? Get serious. You have billboards the size of a city block singing your praises and it's not enough. The front office shuffles guys in and out at your whim and they aren't good enough.
New Jersey and Denver tried to move mountains to get Carmello somewhere he'd "want" to be. Players are moved like pawns, agents called in the middle of the night and weekend. "Let's all group together at one agency and World Wide Wes will take care of it. Just like AAU, we let the grown ups make the decisions and do the hard part while we just play the game." Grow up fellas.
We all wanted to be like Mike growing up. This selected few are blessed with the same athleticism and talent as the owner of this "small-market" team. Why can't they follow his example and make the others around them better? Take over games like he did? Be strong but not demanding, aloof but not unapproachable and classy without being pretentious.
"But I can't live through those guys. I have to make my own destiny. I thought coming here was the best move for me." You don't get the point. MJ, Larry, Magic and Charles weren't getting on you about the move to Miami. They were talking about the way you did it. The complete lack of grace or dare I say intelligence about your "taking your talents" wherever they might land.
Maybe it's the money. People doing documentaries about the kid and his team from high school, while they're still in high school. Someone always trying to make a buck off of them and always in their ear. The fatherly figures that show up at just the right moment to say "The owner is going to treat this like a business, you should too. Only look out for yourself. Do the best thing for you." World-Wide Wes, Leon Rose, even David Stern holding the "star" above the game.
I just don't know. This is longer than it should be for a forum post but I wanted it here rather than on the blog so it'd be more of a discussion. Miami can keep 'em. New Orleans too. New York/New Jersey can do what they think they can to get these guys to the big media market. I wouldn't trade a guy like Gerald Wallace for Carmello Anthony. I would have a damn hard time taking LeBron back for Crash. I guess I just don't want the drama in my life.
PS: Lebron, if you start typing "LeBron James" into Google, the auto complete takes it to "LeBron James Mom Delonte West". Just sayin'