"Old School Team Ball?"

I like Lebron James. Everybody wonders what would happen if Len Bias was alive? Well, you are looking at him. 6'8 and weighs 270 with ability off the charts. Everyone wants to destroy him because of the expectation of a championship and his bailing out on Cleveland. Hell, if you had a mother like his and you found her with, well ..... I felt cheated when Len died and everybody in public put the blame on Len. Now, this same public is doing the same thing to LeBron who has played to his potential and his money.

I don't care if he chokes in championships for the rest of his career. He doesn't cheat himself or the game. Skip Bayless needs to shut-up and me, the fan. Yes, I screamed for him taking outside shots and missing them early in the shot-clock. But I cheered when he made them against the Bulls. Give Rick Carlisle credit for the Mavs toughness; something Joe Dumars doubted when Carlisle coached the Pistons and lost in the conference finals to the New Jersey Nets in 2003. Now, with Rick, my issue is him talking about old-school team basketball bull. If you do look back, the game has always had stars that failed to win. Including him.

The 1969 Lakers with Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain. Jerry West got hurt and tried to play game 6 when he should have rested. Elgin didn't show up (he went to 7 Finals but wasn't the same after his knee injury in 1965), and Wilt clashed with Butch Van Breda Kolff and injured his knee in the last 7 minutes of Game 7.  The 1975 Washington Bullets with Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, and Kevin Porter. They were supposed to sweep the Golden State Warriors but they got swept. The Bullets got outplayed and outcoached. Rick Barry and his 12 bench buddies wore out the starting 5 of the Bullets. Phil Smith, Clifford Ray, Butch Beard, Jeff Mullins, Derek Dickey, Bill Bridges, and Jamal Wilkes (Keith then). Finally, you had the 1977 Philadelphia 76ers. Dr. J, World B. Free, George McGinnis, and Doug Collins. They lost to "team" Portland with Bill Walton's feet holding up long enough.  You can blame the Sixers coaching of Gene Shue, lack of ball movement on offense, and Darryl Dawkins accidentally punching out Doug Collins during a fight in Game 2. After leading the series 2-0, Doug stunk especially in the clutch, World B. was hurt and George McGinnis disappeared.  But Dr. J. scored 40 in a losing cause in Game 6 and made tough baskets as well as steals to bring cut the lead the two after Portland built a big lead. They had a chance to tie but George missed an open shot.

I don't know what Carlisle is talking about. You look at all those team that beat the stars, they didn't win the next year. Russell retired and Havlicek didn't like being the man, Barry didn't show up for Game in 7 in '76, and Bill Walton hurt his foot in the 78 playoffs, gone for good. But look at the Lakers, they won in 72 (minus Baylor) and went to another final in 73. The Bullets won in 1978 minus Porter, different coach, Dick Motta and a free agent in Bobby Dandridge. Like the Lakers, they went to another finals in 1979. Finally, the Sixers, let go of McGinnis, Shue, Dawkins and Free. Doug Collins retired due to injuries. But they went to Finals in 1980, 1982, and winning in 1983. My question is what did those so-called "old fashion teams" do. Boston had to get Dave Cowens and Larry Bird to win championships and had to wait 18 years before winning one with the stars of Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. Portland hasn't won past the first round and the Golden State Warriors are just happy to get to the playoffs.

In short, stars may not get you championship but you need them to contend for one, consistently. Nowitzki is one but putting pressure on one player maybe a bit too much to go to another final much less winning it. Give LeBron a chance. He will make the adjustments or will tell management to do so just like Elvin Hayes, Dr. J, and Wilt Chamberlain did. Joe Dumars did that by getting Rasheed Wallace in 2004 for coach Larry Brown who got rid of Rick Carlisle, the year before. "Star Carlisle?"

Elgin's fault as well

This 2007-2008 Celtics were like the Lakers of 1968-1969 except some things, all three Celtics were healthy and the bench stepped up as well the assistant coaches. The head coach made the right decision but didn't try to be the star. In short, it was a team effort which included the stars, role-players, and practice players working in unison with the coaches from day one.

The 2008 Celtics: Garnett, Allen, and Pierce. The 1969 Lakers: Chamberlain, Baylor, and West. The role players for the Celtics: Rondo, Posey, Perkins, Powe, T.Allen, Davis, House, Cassell, and P.J. Brown. P.J. Brown didn't play much during the regular season but played significant minutes in the championship series as well as the Detroit series. The role players for the Lakers: Counts, Erickson, Egan, Hawkins, Hewitt, and Crawford. In those days, you went 7 deep but all contributed but the loss of Gail Goodrich to the expansion draft really affected because the guys in the Lakers were slower and very vulnerable to a fast-break game of the Celtics. The Celtics guys were old but the Lakers though taller were generally slow particularly the guard position of Johnny Egan and Tommy Hawkins. Most of them were injury prone like West, Baylor, and Keith Erickson. So, player-coach, Bill Russell decided to run the Lakers to death. The strategy worked for 3 quarters but age caught up with the Celtics as well but they held on.

Elgin Baylor should have been at fault in this game 7 but nobody ever seems to mention that. Elgin was Butch Van Breda Kolff's favorite player but he took him out during that game 7 because he was ineffective against the running game of the Celtics for the 3 quarters. The injury from 1965 affected his consistency. Look at Youtube when they show the last quarter, you don't see Elgin much.

Butch was the first designer of the motion offense that NBA teams used throughout the 70's as well as college teams. However, he couldn't handle pressure moments or criticisms(he quit after 10 games in Detroit because of the fan heckling from Leon "The Barber"). Yet, he wanted to be the star and kept Wilt out in the last minute when Wilt was ready to come back. People forget that knee injury sidelined him for almost the whole 1969-1970 season.

Butch didn't like the signing of Wilt Chamberlain and got into a fight with him during that season in Seattle. Wilt didn't respect Van Breda Kolff as a man. Though a tireless worker and courageous, Butch was a bit of a bully towards players he didn't like (Wilt) and sissy with outsiders in that he didn't command a strong presence. On the other hand, Frank McGuire was strong, handsome and classy on and off the court. He handled losses but wasn't going to get pushed around by nobody like refs or coaches like Red Auerbach. Wilt played hard for Frank, Alex Hannum, and Bill Sharman because they were tough on him and outsiders.

Nobody wanted individual glory but team glory including the coaches. I don't like Red Auerbach because he was a hog that is why he is turn off for today's game but Phil Jackson used his assistants well in the past but in this 2008 series, he tried to be a star and looked what happened (defend the pick n roll, please). Doc Rivers maybe the first coach to win a championship without getting into the Hall of Fame but showed great leadership concerning his coaches and players.