2010 NBA offseason draft, FA, etc etc...

My basketball history might be a little fuzzy, so the answer may be 'yes,' but did he ever win a title without another HOFer still in his major contributing years?

 

Nope. But neither did Bill Russell or dozens of others.

And how much did playing alongside Magic make Worthy a Hall of Famer? Is he still in the Hall if the Lakers draft Terry Cummings instead and the Clippers take Worthy? And is Cummings in the Hall if he plays alongside Magic?

 

We'll never know. And we'll never know if Jordan could have won one without Pippen.

So I can understand discrediting James for leaving his own team, but I don't get the criticism that he needs another great player to win a title. They almost all do.

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/walsh_legoner_TjAGAVCCQBtBSGHYhxfkSN

 

No one besides Cleveland took it in the shorts harder than New York in this whole shebang. And maybe the NYK came out of it even worse. Cleveland gets a final appearance and years of NBA relevance as a parting gift. The Knicks tore their team apart and got nothing.

 

The Knicks have been a non entity for 2 1/2 seasons in preparation for Lebron stakes.

Sure The NBA had a lot of publicity in past few weeks but in the end they will be worse off with few teams that have a chance to win.

They have 2 teams in the major market of NY that will be a non entity in the next 4 years.

 

Probably, Boom, but not necessarily. There will be a lockout, new CBA, and many new free agents in that time period. As we have seen, NBA success has become pure luck. Get the top pick in the lottery in a year when it means something, once every five years or so, or manage to attract disgruntled veterans to your club for a shot at victory (2008 Celtics model). The Nets and Knicks might get lucky. I wouldn't bet on it, but it's a possibility.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?page=lebronleavescavs-100709

Just read the above piece which sheds some light on Gilbert's anger and provides some detail on the extent Gilbert bent over backward for the king:

After 7 years of that, it was just awful form for Lebron to exit without even communicating with Gilbert, leaving the Cavs entirely in the dark and forcing them to watch that hideous show last night to find out. An outraged response is fairly understandable. If Gilbert only could've found a less batshit crazy way of venting it.

 

I can't understand why you would blow your entire roster up over three seasons for the sole purpose of hedging everything on one free agent. That strategy was stupid from the beginning.

 

NYK could have been smarter (not trading away all of their draft picks), but in general, their roster needed to be blown up.

 

Judging by that ESPN column above, combined with his letter, I think Gilbert's a bigger fool than Dolan!

All he's missing is a headband, a Cards T-shirt, and a "moran" sign!