Food For Thought about LBJ and the Draft

[ironman95]

Interesting article today on AOL, by Ziller, quoting a guy named Gladwell. He points out how of the 15 All-NBA players(1st, 2nd and 3rd team), only 3 have not played for the same team their whole career. I will note the Brandon Roy was traded on draft day. The 3 are Shaq, Billups and Gasol, who were all traded or acquired by winning programs. Also note, that of the 15 only Shaq didn't make the playoffs, and he only made the 3rd team because there are not many good centers around, he doesn't really even belong on the 3rd team this year.
The point is that all of these teams built themselves via the DRAFT, not by trades or free agent signings. The Hornets are good because they drafted Paul, the Cavaliers are good because they drafted LeBron, and the Spurs are good because they drafted Duncan, and on and on. So just maybe thinking that the Knicks will be good as soon as they acquire LBJ/Wade/JJohnson/Bosh/Stoudemire or any other allstar/superstar type players, is not good thinking based on this analysis and past history. Of course one could point out the Celtics as a rebuttle to this arguement. So maybe we should be talking about not just the 2009 draft, but how we can get back into the 2010 draft. Maybe it would be better to re-sign DLee and Nate(still can trade them later), and makes deals for draft picks with Hughes/Harrington, and forget about free-agent signings. Just build it up slowly from the bottom up. I can see it both ways. The Nuggets are now in a conflict with the WWE because, first they gave up on the season by trading Camby, then they jumped back in by getting Billups, but never expected to get this far. Not the owners anyway. So all of us are hyped-up about the possibility of getting LBJ, but should we be?

[neilverson]

Shaq should have been second team All-NBA. He had a better year than Yao IMO.
I also think Carmelo should have been 2nd team over Paul Pierce.
One can argue Gasol was more deserving than Duncan for 2nd team honors as well.

[kgooglog]

Iron...

Look at the names who will be available in summer 2010. LeBron will just be 24 years old in when FA starts and he is the MVP of the NBA. D-Wade will be 26? He has been mentioned by many as being the "deserving" MVP of this past season.

I think that the Celtics need to be looked at as an exception to your very astute point about building through the draft. It is my opinion that Donnie Walsh is looking for not one FA, but two. He also may be looking to trade this year's pick due to the talent level being a crap-shoot after the first 3 picks for next year's draft, which should be deeper.

The one thing I would slice my wrists over would be the Knicks trading expiring contracts for a broken player like T-Mac. Oh, I would also slice my ankles if Eddy Curry is not in shape by pre-season camp...

[neilverson]

Lebron is turning 25 the end of this year I believe. He'll be closer to 26 when he's a FA. Wade is already 26 if I'm not mistaken.

[daglazer]

May 18, 2009 18:44:47 GMT -5 ironman95 said:

Interesting article today on AOL, by Ziller, quoting a guy named Gladwell. He points out how of the 15 All-NBA players(1st, 2nd and 3rd team), only 3 have not played for the same team their whole career. I will note the Brandon Roy was traded on draft day. The 3 are Shaq, Billups and Gasol, who were all traded or acquired by winning programs. Also note, that of the 15 only Shaq didn't make the playoffs, and he only made the 3rd team because there are not many good centers around, he doesn't really even belong on the 3rd team this year.
The point is that all of these teams built themselves via the DRAFT, not by trades or free agent signings. The Hornets are good because they drafted Paul, the Cavaliers are good because they drafted LeBron, and the Spurs are good because they drafted Duncan, and on and on. So just maybe thinking that the Knicks will be good as soon as they acquire LBJ/Wade/JJohnson/Bosh/Stoudemire or any other allstar/superstar type players, is not good thinking based on this analysis and past history. Of course one could point out the Celtics as a rebuttle to this arguement. So maybe we should be talking about not just the 2009 draft, but how we can get back into the 2010 draft. Maybe it would be better to re-sign DLee and Nate(still can trade them later), and makes deals for draft picks with Hughes/Harrington, and forget about free-agent signings. Just build it up slowly from the bottom up. I can see it both ways. The Nuggets are now in a conflict with the WWE because, first they gave up on the season by trading Camby, then they jumped back in by getting Billups, but never expected to get this far. Not the owners anyway. So all of us are hyped-up about the possibility of getting LBJ, but should we be?

Iron, I have arguing this view for years to no avail. I will say that if Lebron chooses to leave the Cavs, then whoever signs him immediately becomes a contender because he is that good. SO, he is the exception.