With the Golden State Warriors’ recent championship repeat, people are wondering who can beat them. The Cleveland Cavaliers are the only team to ever beat the Steph Curry era Warriors in the Finals, but with their star, LeBron James, likely leaving for a new team, the Cavs are sort of out of the running. Although, the constant threats of the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Utah Jazz are present, LeBron’s looking to other Eastern Conference Teams add the Philadelphia 76ers, the New York Knicks, or the Boston Celtics.
Also looking at heading to the Rockets, Pelicans, Jazz, Spurs, and Lakers, there’s a plethora of possible locations for the King. We all know that any team run by LeBron has a shot against the Warriors, so his choices greatly affect who could topple the terrible team trying to three-peat. This article will cover both teams that could beat the Warriors as is, and their chances with him. As for the teams who could win with LeBron, we’ll only look over the teams that could acquire him. First, we cover the Western Conference: HOUSTON ROCKETS: James Harden led the Rockets to almost a victory over the World Champions in Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals, and they only lost the game by nine points. The Rockets were the favorites to win the Finals after Boston’s Kyrie Irving was ruled out for the season in the second half. They only lost Game Seven after their game plan fell apart: their shooting was undisciplined and their passes were infrequent. At that point Golden State capitalized and that led to lots of fast breaks which put the Warriors ahead. Without choking, Houston is the team teeing off against LeBron. Speaking of LeBron, possibly the greatest clutch player of all-time, if Harden and Trevor Ariza had the King playing at their sides, there’s no doubt that they would have dumped Curry and Kevin Durant into the waters between Oakland and San Francisco. And yes, they have the cap room. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday are a powerful duo and they took the powerful Warriors to an extra game in the Western Conference Semifinals. They’re always a threat in the West and they have a protected first round pick in the 2019 Draft. Not to mention that they have improving players and veterans to help lead, such as Nikola Mirotic, Demarcus Cousins, and Rajon Rondo. UTAH JAZZ: Donovan Mitchell is a godsend to Salt Lake City and he took Houston to five games in the second round. He’s also likely to be second in the voting for the Rookie of the Year behind Philly’s Simmons and just ahead of Boston’s Jayson Tatum. Alongside Rudy Gobert, you shouldn’t count the Jazz to leave a measure early. When Gordon Hayward made a sharp turn for Boston, he left the Jazz improvising with what they thought were flat notes. Thankfully, the rookie, Mitchell made sure they didn’t skip a beat, and brought the season to a forte fortissimo. Next year, assuming Houston doesn’t pick up LeBron, their team will start to feel the effects of aging on Trevor Ariza and injury on Chris Paul. Utah will breeze past them. In addition to that, Mitchell is playing better than a young Steph Curry, so alongside Gobert, Jae Crowder, and next year’s first round draft pick, Mitchell will lead the Jazz past Golden State. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: LeBron would play a huge factor, and they’d probably only have a shot until Manu Ginobili retires and until Kawhi Leonard leaves. That’s right, San Antonio wants to trade their star and he doesn’t particularly want to stay, anyway, so even if LeBron comes to that Texas team in particular, they’ll only be a flavor of the month. However, should LeBron end up in silver, that would make them a formidable foe for Curry’s Warriors. His and Kawhi’s defense would likely shut down the usually golden shooting display and it’s pretty clear how that offense would play (hint: it’s freaking awesome). LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Only if they had LeBron. Why? He’s LeBron. Enough said. Also, Kyle Kuzma provides the scoring from the outside that’s perfect to accompany a great inside scorer like LeBron. Also, Lonzo Ball’s passing puts him near the top in assists, so if LeBron joins him, the flow will be incredible. The Cavs needed a good passing game to move the ball outside so Kyle Korver and Kevin Love could pull off better shots and to move the ball inside so they hit LeBron while he’s open. But the only player on the team with the ability to do that was LeBron, and in basketball passing to yourself is a travel, so he couldn’t really do that unless he was tossing it off the backboard for a dunk from the free throw line. But, he dearly needs a good passer, and with one, he can beat the Warriors. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons almost led Philly to the Eastern Conference Finals. In half the games the Celtics took against Philly, Philly fought hard and brought the game down to the wire. And with injured players and an inexperienced, recovering Markelle Fultz, they should be dropping confetti from the ceiling for that accomplishment. Let’s just let that last part sit for a moment… Anyway, J.J. Redick also showed a stand up performance hitting the deep, contested threes that they need from him. Next season, Philly will prove to be near the top again, and if Boston stays injury prone, which they likely will, there will be a new king in the East and they’ll be full of brotherly love. LeBron is also looking at the Liberty Bell for a new home (not to mention that JuJu Smith-Schuster would love to put the King in Pennsylvania). Playing down low with Embiid on his side, receiving passes from Simmons, and dishing it out to Redick poses a great foe for Boston and after defeating the Celtics, the Warriors in the Finals. Curry, Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala know James wellm but with two stars and a nasty (good nasty) three point game beside him, LeBron is looking at bringing home his and the Sixers’ fourth NBA Championship. MILWAUKEE BUCKS: It’s not exactly as great as it sounds: teaming Lebron up with the Greek Freak in Giannis Antetokounmpo seems like a dream for Bucks’ fans, but they’re just to similar to be productive. They’re both strong bigman power forwards who usually would be found in the paint, so they need a Kyle Korver or Ray Allen around the three-point line. Unless, Malcolm Brogdon, Khris Middleton, or Eric Bledsoe is that guy, it’s tough to see them coming out of the first round of the playoffs. Then why are the Bucks included in this list? Because the possibility of LeBron. Frankly, every team in the National Basketball Association could be included because of the possibility of LeBron joining their squad, but the Bucks also have a future Hall of Famer with a wingspan longer than the distance from Cleveland to Milwaukee, as well as fair (not great, but fair) shooting and ball-handling. NEW YORK KNICKS: Kristaps Porzingis leads a team that’s like the Cincinnati Reds of basketball. The Knicks have a star player and a lineup with lots of potential, but they’re lacking one key piece. For the Reds, it’s pitching; for the Knicks, it’s a scorer. They’re not merely missing a scorer, Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Enes Kanter are all scoring 14+ points per game, but they’re missing an all-around scorer. Every great team has one; Warriors have Durant, Rockets have Harden, Celtics have Al Horford, Jazz have Mitchell, etc. The point is that either they need to groom Trey Burke, Frank Ntilikina, or Michael Beasley to score in the paint and shoot, or they can make a push to get LeBron who would be the addition to Porzingis they need. Although, frankly, getting LeBron is like the part of that episode of Friends where they enter the New York State Lottery. Chandler says that with his being out of a job and since he and Monica are going to start a family, they could really use $384 Million. The Knicks are in great need of scorer, so they could really use arguably the greatest player of all-time. BOSTON CELTICS: Assuming Irving and Hayward stay healthy, Scary Terry Rozier, Horford, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown lead a terrifying team that were eight points from being the kings of the east. They made it to Game Seven against LeBron without two of their stars, so you can only imagine how incredible they’ll be with their stars back. We’ll keep this one short because this has been a long article and it’s fairly obvious how great Boston will be next year. They’ll have the third pick in the pick in the draft, so that'll be another big, low-cost addition to the Championship-caliber team. In terms of acquiring LeBron James, Boston is very interested, as they should be. Of course, they'd need to make cap room, so they'd probably be giving up some lower lineup talent and one to two of their major stars, Irving, Hayward, or Horford. They can keep Brown, Rozier, and Tatum because, as of now, they have rather low-paying contracts. Imagine a lineup where Rozier brings the ball up with Tatum and Brown outside and Horford and LeBron in the paint. There's no lineup who could beat that in a best of seven series, no chance. Jesse A. Cook June 12, 2018 “Teams That Could Beat Golden State”
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James Harden is not the MVP and Ben Simmons is not the ROY. That doesn’t sound too crazy, does it?
Of course, the league will probably pick them for their respective awards because that’s just what they do, but here’s why those are the wrong choices: Don’t get me wrong, Harden and Simmons both had incredible regular seasons and both so far led their teams to the second round of the playoffs. Those are incredible feats that very few players are able to do. MVP: Lebron James is the clear choice for the Most Valuable Player. If you take a closer look, rather than just looking at stats, James has every qualification over Harden. James said, “The body of work, how I’m doing it, what’s been happening with our team all year long, how we’ve got so many injuries and things of that nature, guys in and out, to be able to still keep this thing afloat, I definitely would vote me.” While he sounds a little full of himself, he’s not wrong; the Cleveland Cavaliers traded away a large portion of their team (including Kyrie Irving before the season…) and one of their main players, Kevin Love, rode the bench with an injury. James Harden is playing alongside Chris Paul and Trevor Ariza. The comparison from the strength of their teams clearly shows that LeBron is doing more than Harden has. LeBron has a larger impact. LeBron also played all 82 games, as opposed to harden’s mere 72. James also scored 2,251 points this year, while Harden scored only 2,191, James recorded 747 assists compared to Harden’s 630, and James had 709 rebounds over Harden’s 389. The crippled team and the stats show that LeBron is the most worthy of the 2017-18 NBA MVP (this would be his fifth). ROY: Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum are far more worthy of the Rookie of the Year Award than Ben Simmons is. Now, I won’t say who deserves it more, Mitchell or Tatum, but Julius Erving did say that, “Tatum probably should have been the first pick in the draft.” Think about what these players are working with: Ben Simmons has a potentially all-star lineup (when they’re all healthy) as he was accompanied by Joel Embiid, J.J. Redick, and eventually the first pick in the draft, Markelle Fultz. Mitchell had Rudy Gobert and then a relatively unknown lineup with Jae Crowder and Dante Exum. Tatum had Irving for half the year, Gordon Hayward for about five minutes, and then a rookie lineup with a bunch of injured backups… and of course an all-star in Al Horford. Mitchell definitely had the least to work with and he’s in the Western Conference Semifinals, tied with Harden’s championship-favorite Houston Rockets. Tatum played the least minutes, but to be fair, Brad Stevens likes to ration his players’ playing time (which has clearly worked!). In the meantime, Simmons has had an extra year to create chemistry with his teammates and an extra year to train and learn the ins and outs of the Philadelphia 76ers’ playbook. Simmons scored 15.2 points per game, recorded 8.2 assists per game, and got 8.1 rebounds per game. Clearly, he’s more of a team player, but he still doesn’t do enough himself. Mitchell scored 20.5 points per game, recorded 3.7 assists per game, and got 3.7 rebounds per game. Not bad numbers for a rookie in what is arguably the tougher conference. Tatum scored 13.9 points per game, recorded 1.0 assists per game, and got 5.0 rebounds per game. With Tatum, it’s important to remember how limited his minutes were when comparing him to Simmons or Mitchell. Another factor to note is that these men play different positions (Simmons is a point guard, Mitchell is a shooting guard, and Tatum is a small forward). You expect a point guard to rack up points and assists, but a shooting guard should solely be a point scorer. And a small forward is only expected to score and obtain rebounds, so you look at the numbers and the factors, and be the judge… (May the 4th be with you) Jesse A. Cook “James Harden Is Not The MVP And Ben Simmons Is Not The ROY” May 4, 2018 Today is the 20th anniversary of the Seinfeld episode concerning the holiday, Festivus. In following the tradition, this December 23rd, here is my airing of grievances and feats of strength from the major sports:
AIRING OF GRIEVANCES PLAYER’S POWER In the NBA, the power of the players to control their owners has been a constant problem. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Chris Paul say they want to leave their franchise team and there’s no debate, they’re right onto listening for new deals! They say they want out and they’re gone. That’s ridiculous, but it looked like it was staying in the NBA until recently. STANTON LEAVES MIAMI Giancarlo Stanton followed in suit with the NBA stars and decided he wanted to leave the city he’s called home for his entire eight-year career. Immediately, he’s dealt to the New York Yankees, which actually leads me to my next grievance which is how a lifetime Pinstripe traded the star of the team he newly owns to the Yanks for next to nothing! Derek Jeter willingly deals the reigning National League MVP from the Miami Marlins to the Bronx for Starlin Castro and a couple of mediocre minor leaguers? Something’s not right, here. FIGHTING IN FOOTBALL From Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib to A.J. Green and Jalen Ramsey, the fighting in the NFL has gotten out of control. The sport is dangerous enough as it is, and with the ongoing investigations into concussion protocol and CTE, they definitely do not to be scrutinized over how Ndamukong Suh stepped on Aaron Rodgers’ throat. The Cincinnati Bengals are a prime example, for they’ve been recognized as thugs ever since Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict tried to essentially assassinate Antonio Brown in the 2015-16 AFC Wild Card. NHL LEAVES THE OLYMPICS With great players from around the globe in the NHL, it’s a real shame that this 2018 Olympic Games is the first tournament to not include the NHL athletes. Who doesn’t want to see Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin lead Team Russia against Patrick Kane and Zach Parise for Team USA, or Tuukka Rask and Team Finland against Henrik Lundqvist and Team Sweden, or the many notable faces of Team Canada against whatever sorry country they’re pitted against? The NHL doesn’t want to take two weeks out of their season anymore to showcase their best and brightest stars, but fortunately, we still have the Hockey World Championship in late spring. NBA SUPERTEAMS The Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder are prime examples of superteams. These teams are corrupting the NBA because now great players are just getting together and making it ridiculous for other teams to even try! It’s not inconceivable that the only competition in the West is the Warriors, Houston and OKC and it’s only Cleveland and Boston in the East because of these superteams. FOOD AT MARINERS’ GAMES The Seattle Mariners are a fine organization, but their food has gotten a little outlandish. Safeco Field is now serving roasted grasshoppers at Mariners’ games, but however good they may or may not taste, this writer is not on board with munching on insects. HATING TB12 The New England Patriots are often thought of as the Yankees of the NFL because they just keep on winning, but that hate is directed mainly at Tom Brady. People claim that he’s not the greatest quarterback of all time, but the stats do not lie and now people are claiming that he’s not that good when he’s the front runner for MVP. Giving the MVP Award to somebody else is like when the NBA gave the award to Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon or Magic Johnson just so Michael Jordan didn’t get it every single year; greatness gets repetitive and people need to get on board. 31 TEAMS Sure, the Las Vegas Golden Knights is a pretty addition to the NHL, but now the league is in a weird situation. The West now has 16 teams and the East has 15, lopsiding the league so that there’s one more team to contend with in the Western Conference than there is the East. Maybe it’s just an answer to how the Nashville Predators, who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, were the last seed in the West, but the seventh seed Calgary Flames wouldn’t have made it in the East, so now teams have to do slightly better to make the playoffs. FEATS OF STRENGTH WIN STREAKS The Celtics, Cavs and Rockets all boasted win streaks in the double digits, with the Land at 12 games, Houston at 14 and the Celts at an outstanding, historic 16 games. Granted, all three of these organizations fell under my list of superteams, in the competitive National Basketball Association winning above ten games in a row is no small task. Only a strong team could pull off such a feat. ANGELIC DEALS The Los Angeles Angels are making themselves into a powerful foe for their American League counterparts. Already possessing arguably the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth in Mike Trout, with the recent acquisition of Shohei Ohtani, Zack Cozart and Ian Kinsler, they’re a daunting danger to the daring demeanor of the distant desert teams in the AL West. The all-star Reds’ shortstop Cozart and the WBC Team USA star Ian Kinsler make a deadly, dastardly duo in the middle infield and Ohtani speaks for himself, something he doesn’t do when addressing an English-speaking crowd! They barely missed the playoffs last year, so with this rejuvenation, this year will be a wild one. THE COMEBACK Okay, okay, it was last season, but it’s still 2017 and 28-3 is the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history. Without their star tight end, Rob Gronkowski, and only held up by Tom Brady’s cool calm collectiveness, Julian Edelman’s nimble fingers, James White’s clutch speed, LeGarrette Blount’s means of just hurling himself through a defense and Martellus Bennett’s grit, Bill Belichick’s soldiers sauntered into Houston, through screeching Falcons to the first Overtime victory in Super Bowl history. A fifth ring to the GOAT’s hand through the only 21 minutes and 8 seconds of a comeback is no small deed. LIGHTNING STRIKES AGAIN Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning was the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference and now they’re the best team in the entire league! This year, they have the best powerplay, most goals scored per game, the most points, most wins (and least losses), Nikita Kucherov leads the league in both goals and overall points, Anton Stralman has the best plus-minus, and Andrei Vasilevskiy has the most wins by a goaltender. This isn’t a jump from the absolute worst, but the irrelevant squadron from the 2016-2017 season is now the scariest phenom on the ice for the 2017-18 season. Now that I’ve exhausted my airing of grievances and feats of strength, it’s time to take out the festival pole. 2017 has been a good year for sports and let’s hope for an even better one in 2018, so this December 23rd can really prove to be a Festivus for the rest of us. Jesse A. Cook “Festivus” December 23, 2017 |
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