Was LeBron Snubbed?

[pup]

Sound off, I think this will contain some interesting opinions....

[Kuiper]

LeBron was hurt by a period of what was perceived nationally as "going through the motions." It's a question of baselines. His going through the motions period was better than 90% of the NBA, but only 75% of what we've come to expect from LeBron. Amare, on the other hand, exceeded expectations, even though his performance would have been called "wind-aided" if it was track because he had an all-star MVP PG feeding him the rock. Moreover, LBJ's stats dominate Amare's, but the latter is probably excused because he has better talent around him whereas LBJ got baskets because the perception was that everything was designed for him.

[swerb]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

Led by the Suns, the Western Conference grabbed all the limelight of the All-NBA team on Thursday.

Phoenix point guard Steve Nash was an unanimous selection to the team and was joined by Suns teammate Amare Stoudemire on a squad made up entirely of Western Conference players.

Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki, San Antonio forward Tim Duncan and Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, the league's leading scorer, rounded out the first team.

"It's a tough conference," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Nash, the league's two-time defending MVP, received 129 first-place votes and 645 total points from the panel of 129 media members.

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Cleveland's LeBron James, the top vote-getter for last year's All-NBA team, dropped to the second team this season. He was joined by Washington's Gilbert Arenas, Houston's Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, and Toronto's Chris Bosh.

The third team was: Miami's Dwyane Wade, Detroit's Chauncey Billups, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Orlando's Dwight Howard.

Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas did a double-take when told James wasn't selected to the first team.

"For us, he's our MVP and that's all that matters," he said. "There are not a lot of guys better than him, if any, period. There's nobody I would rather have."

[swerb]

Lets be honest, LeBron sat out some games he could have played this year, and also was a noticably different player in nationally televised games than he was when playing against teams like the Bobcats and the Bucks.

But its hard to sit here and criticize him for it with the Cavs 6-0 in the playoffs, and the team on a month long winning streak when it counts most. Would Jordan, Magic, or Bird have sat those games out? No. Did they settle for jumpers and play the "lurk and lunge" defense against weak teams ... drawing the ire of national columnists? No.

But there's a couple things to remember here. One, LeBron is 22.

Two, LeBron knows his body best ... and in hindsight, how he played this season out looks genius. The team got the two seed. He was not used and abused as badly as last regular season. And if the second half of game Two against the Nets is any indication, he is 100% and has fresh legs for what figures to be a grueling 2-3 weeks against the Nets and Pistons.

Still, as Kuiper said, LeBron's coast mode is still better than 99% of the NBA. And if you take LeBron off the Cavs, they are legitimately 20 games worse in the W-L column, the greatest impact of any player in the league IMO.

Being completely objective, he would have gotten my 1st team All-NBA vote over Amare. But he would have been the 5th guy on my 1st team.

[FUDU]

Not only was LeBron snubbed but the EC was as well.

They made this All NBA team as if this was 1968 and there were just 14 teams in existence.

What an absolute joke.

You know when you root for teams that just never seem to win, the awards and things like this are all you got, so in the end I hope we get the last laugh and LeBron gets his ring THIS year.

That is all that matters to me, and I think LeBron would agree with me.

[Dozen]

Rack Swerb, I have the same exact feelings on this, but just couldnt put it into words. That was one of the finest posts to date.

[swerb]

Really, this is great news and great timing for Cavs fans.

I guarantee LeBron is taking this very hard, if not publically. Maybe he's even brushing it off to his inner circle.

But LeBron is clearly a guy that reads everything out there about him, and is very cognizant of the media's coverage of him. Nearly every single time someone writes something ill about him, he brings it up in some way in the post game pressers. He's still making comments, every time the Cavs have a good night at the line and its brought up, about the medias riding of the Cavs due to their poor foul shooting.

Three days rest? Snubbed from the All-NBA first team?

Cavs +4.5 and LeBron over 29 points sure look like good bets tomorrow night.

[comish]

I was thinking the exact same thing, Swerb. This couldn't have come at a worse time a Nets team trying to get back into the series. It wouldn't surprise me to see LBJ go completely postal Saturday Thank you voters

[swerb]

comish ... LOCK AND LOAD ... LeBron >29 points tomorrow

[leadpipe]

The NBA and it's nonsense, hell they pick the wrong MVP at least every other year. Who would expect them to get 5 guys correct?

[Hoover]

It's actually the writers & media making the picks, isn't it?

I agree with Swerb, LeBron is gonna go off tomorrow. 30+ pts, maybe a triple-double. I can't wait to see it!

[consigliere]

Heard Windhorst on WTAM talk about this....

Said that Lebron actually had a considerably larger vote count than Stoudamire, but Stoudamire was voted as a "center" and was the #1 voted center. Also, the problem stems from Duncan being voted as a center and forward, but even still Duncan had more votes at forward than LeBron. Said that Duncan should have been voted as a center, and that he voted for Leborn (obviously).

[jb]

Rack Swerb, I have the same exact feelings on this, but just couldnt put it into words. That was one of the finest posts to date.

Yeah. I agree.

[leadpipe]

It's actually the writers & media making the picks, isn't it?

I agree with Swerb, LeBron is gonna go off tomorrow. 30+ pts, maybe a triple-double. I can't wait to see it!

It is the writers and the media, unfortunately, it shows you just how many unknowledgable sheep have those jobs. A few writers start pimping Karl Malone and the rest follow. Next thing you know he's stealing it from Jordan. Barkley....... it was Nowitzski's turn this year etc.

[pup]

I guess that answers that question. Way to respond LBJ!

[consigliere]

Whelp, maybe the writers have a clue afterall. Today's performance by the team and Lebron is exactly why Lebron and the team lack a lot of respect in the media.

[jb]

Whelp, maybe the writers have a clue afterall. Today's performance by the team and Lebron is exactly why Lebron and the team lack a lot of respect in the media.

AD me to the list of those who support this.

Being the most talented BB player in the world doesn't make you one of the 5 best.

[swerb]

Games like yesterday frustrate me watching LeBron.

Three days off. I counted four times LeBron took the ball to the hole. And he had probably 20-25 opportunities to do so.

And hes unstoppable when he does so. Its very frustrating. Antoine Wright guarded him for all of his 16 minutes on the floor. LeBrons acting like this kid is Bruce Bowen on HGH. Take him to the fucking hole!

Mike Brown deserves a little blame as well. The Cavs just aren't setting as many picks for LBJ at the top of the key. Varejao is the only one, and it almost looks like hes freelancing it. They need to be more creative in getting him freed up, especially when the big physical Richard Jefferson is on him.

Also ... its just mind boggling that Roker, in two years here, has still not figured out a way to get LBJ the ball on the block. The Nets had Kidd on LBJ the whole 2nd half of game 2 ... just daring us to post LBJ up.

[mswerb]

Homeboy needs to drop at least 30 on Monday, take frickin' charge and serve up a beatdown on the Nets.