LEGACY TALK
A.J. Hoffman: It's time to appreciate what you have in Lebron James
May 18, 2018, 7:25 am
Lebron James is the best of his generation. Gregory Shamus
It seems we get to this point every year in the NBA playoffs. The point where we all start asking the same question.
“How far can LeBron James carry the Cavaliers this season?”
It’s not surprising that we ask it. Whatever you think of his standing on the “all-time” list of NBA greats, he has been almost unquestionably the best player of his era. Thus, just like we did with Magic and Jordan and Kobe, we dissect his every move almost to the point of absurdity.
2010 was the last time we had an NBA finals without LeBron. That 7-year streak is the longest of any player in history that didn’t play for the Celtics in the late-50’s to early 60’s (when there were four teams in each conference).
The fact that he is currently down in the Eastern Conference Finals is only surprising because, well, he is LeBron.
So far in these playoffs, James has been magnificent. He leads all playoff scorers with 33.1 PPG. He has averaged both 9.2 assists and rebounds in these playoffs. He had a 42 point, 10 rebound, 12 assist showing in Game 2 against Boston, in a game where he took a nasty shoulder to the jaw from Jayson Tatum.
This Cavaliers team, should they find a way to make it to the Finals, is probably the weakest James-led playoff roster since his first finals appearance back in 2007 when the Cavs were swept by San Antonio. The 2015 team that lost to the Warriors was injured (Kevin Love in the first round of the playoffs and Kyrie Irving in Game 1 of the finals) but still more talented than this team. They finished the regular season fourth in the Eastern Conference, the lowest a James-led team has finished since 2008 when the Cavaliers were a 4 seed.
The offseason went horrifically wrong for Cleveland, as Irving forced his way out and the Cavs got Isaiah Thomas back in return. Thomas never fit with the Cavs, and his style of play and lack of production made Cleveland look downright bad at times. It never quite rounded into the shape they had hoped, and at midseason Thomas and several other Cavaliers were sent packing, undoubtably at the behest of LeBron.
Does this mean he is personally accountable for how they perform? That is hard to say. While he has a lot of clout, more than any other player in the league, he isn’t a GM and he isn’t an owner. If the Cavaliers decided it was in the team’s best interest to make the moves that James wanted, is that on him or the organization? Cleveland is already in a precarious situation because they have to balance trying to win another championship while LeBron is still in town with trying to keep him happy enough to keep him around for the foreseeable future.
If the Cavs end up losing to the Celtics, it seems like there would not be much reason for LeBron to stay in Cleveland beyond this season. It would also, once again, subject him to the scrutiny of not only his detractors, but also the fans in Cleveland (let’s not forget how quickly they turned on him after “The Decision.” We will see the inevitable “LeBum” memes and there will be 29 fanbases calling him a sellout and a ring chaser. There will also be one fanbase who loves and adores him and realize that his mere presence makes them a favorite to contend for a title immediately.
What if he does find a way to pull this off against the Celtics? What if he carries a team where no other player is averaging six made baskets per night all the way to the Finals? With the modern NBA built on “super teams” and “Big 3s,” the truth is James will have dragged a pack of B and C-level players to yet another NBA Finals, where the nitpicking starts all over.
If the Cavaliers lose to either the Warriors or the Rockets, it will be another example for people to point to for the purpose of detracting from his legacy. It won’t matter if he is great in a losing effort. Look no further than the aforementioned 2015 Finals, where LeBron averaged 36 points per game and stretched the series with the Warriors to six games despite playing without Irving and Love.
If the Cavaliers were to win the championship, it wouldn’t matter because Michael Jordan never lost one and didn’t have to join up with Kevin Love to win his rings. Look no further than the 2016 Finals where he averaged 30 points per game and beat a team that had the best regular season in the history of the NBA.
The greatest player of this generation is still on the floor, and still fighting hard for another ring, and you have two choices. You can either appreciate his greatness and effort regardless of the outcome, or you can sit back and stubbornly pretend that he isn’t nearly as good as the media makes him out to be. Whatever happens in this series and beyond, try to put aside nicknames and all-time rankings and Player A vs. Player B comparisons, even if only for a little while. Just soak it in, and try to appreciate one of the best who has ever touched a ball go all out to add to his legacy.
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The Astros have already been swept in four series this season. They were swept in four series all of last season. As Mexico City says bienvenidos to the Astros this weekend, there are certainly more than a few folks fretting that the Astros are already close to saying adios to playoff hopes. The Astros are not at the point of no return, though one can see it out there on the horizon. It wouldn’t take another month of their garbage level 7-19 performance for the season to be essentially down the drain.
If the Astros were in the American League East, they’d already be ten games out of second place. But they’re not! If in the AL Central they’d be eleven and a half games back of Cleveland. But they’re not! Dozens of teams have rebounded to win divisions from larger deficits much later in the season than the Astros face presently. The Seattle Mariners lead the thus far weak AL West at 13-12. The Astros being six and a half games in arrears of the M’s and six back of the Texas Rangers in late April is far from optimal but nowhere near devastating.
Multiple media outlets have noted how few teams historically have started a season in as stumblebum a fashion as the 2024 Astros and wound up making the playoffs. What every outlet I have seen noting that failed to include: this is just the third season since Major League Baseball added a third Wild Card to each league’s postseason field. So, while 7-19 out of the gate is indisputably awful, it is not the death knell to the extent it has been over generations of MLB.
The issue isn’t where the Astros sit in the standings, it’s that they have played atrocious baseball and aren’t providing reason for optimism that a stark turnaround is imminent. The starting rotation is the best hope. Justin Verlander has made two starts. Framber Valdez rejoins the rotation Sunday. Cristian Javier should be a week or so away. Obviously, Ronel Blanco isn’t going to continue pitching as well as he has through his first four starts. But if he is a good number four starter, that’s fine if the top three coming into the season pitch to reasonably hoped for form.
Hunter Brown simply is not a good big league pitcher. Maybe he someday fulfills his potential, but the data at this point are clear. What can Brown do for you? Not much. Spencer Arrighetti needs better command to be a good big league starter. J.P. France was a revelation over his first 17 starts last season, but since has looked like the guy who posted underwhelming numbers when in the minor leagues. If the Astros wind up with 50-plus starts from Brown/Arrighetti/France their goose will probably be cooked.
The only MLB teams with worse staff earned run averages than the Astros’ horrific 5.07 are the Chicago White Sox (Wait! They have Martin Maldonado!) and Colorado Rockies. At 3-22 the White Sox are on an early pace to post the worst record in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies never have a chance to post good pitching stats because of the mile high offensive freak show environment in Denver.
Way to go, Joe
Props to Joe Espada for his conviction in making what he believed to be the right call in pulling Verlander after four and a third innings Thursday at Wrigley Field. Verlander allowed no runs but had reached 95 pitches in just the second outing of the injury-delayed start to his season. Not easy for a rookie manager skippering what has been a Titanic journey thus far to pull a surefire Hall of Famer who was two outs away from qualifying for a win. Many were no doubt poised to destroy Espada had Rafael Montero given up the lead in the fifth. Verlander was angry at being pulled from any chance at his 259th career win. Understood, but the manager’s job is to make the decisions he thinks are in the ballclub’s overall best interest. That Montero and Bryan Abreu combined to blow the lead in the sixth is immaterial.
Then there's the offense…
Six runs total the last four games. Scored more than four runs in just one of the last nine games. Timely hitting largely non-existent.
At last check Alex Bregman still hawks that “Breggy Bomb” salsa. At the plate, he’s been mostly stuck in “Breggy Bum” mode, including zero bombs (home runs). 23 games played without a homer is Bregman’s longest drought since 2017 when he had separate 35 and 27 game stretches between dingers. Bregman has a history of slow first months of the season, but never anything as inept as he’s posted thus far. A litany of lazy fly balls, infield pops, and routine grounders add up to a .216 batting average and feeble .566 OPS. Reference point: Martin Maldonado’s worst OPS season with the Astros was .573. If Bregman was a young guy handed a starting job coming out of spring training, if a viable alternative were available, there’s a chance he’d be a Sugar Land Space Cowboy right now. Bregman’s track record makes it a decent bet that he winds up with decent numbers, but nothing special. Certainly nothing remotely worth the 10 years 300 million dollars or whatever Bregman and agent Scott Boras intend(ed) to seek on the free agent market this coming offseason. Two hits Thursday did get Bregman to the 1000 hit plateau for his career.
Despite arriving south of the border with his batting average at .346, even Jose Altuve has his warts. With runners in scoring position, Altuve has one hit this season. One. In 16 at bats. Small sample size, but it counts. That’s .063. Yordan Alvarez has been no great shakes either, five for 24 (.208) with RISP.
One wonders what would happen if the Astros got a hold of and “lost” Jose Abreu’s passport/visa this weekend in Mexico City and Abreu couldn’t get back into the U.S. after the two-game set with the Rockies.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.