Just as many times as I read Bill Simmons and say "Man, he's saying just what I'm thinking!", I am also quite sure that he is completely wrong. It's what made his book ultimately too exhausting for me to finish, and I think I've finally narrowed down the problem. When looking at NBA trends, shifts in basketball hoodoo and the way people are appearing on the grand stage, he's unmatched. When it comes to evaluating actual players and how teams work, he is more often so blinded (somewhat self-deprecatingly so) by his own prejudices, Celtics upbringing and skittering-instead-of-throrough thinking, that he is just out of the bounds of reality.
A great example is his recent article about Lebron James and Dwayne Wade and the new Heat. While making a great gut-feeling evaluation about the atmospherics on the floor, of the seeming joylessness of the team and their rough transition from beloved to hated, he makes an essential misjudgment about the actual basketball dynamics. He claims that the only way that team can win is if Wad realizes that Lebron is just better, and agrees to be his secondary player. It's stunning how quickly Simmons can pivot from the thoughtful to the completely inane. There are several levels at which this is completely off-base, the most obvious being what Wade did to prove him wrong in the 2nd and 3rd games of the season.
First error: Wade has a ring. He knows how to win it all. Period. Bosh and Lebron came to Miami because of this. Whatever tiny little wormhole you have to wriggle through to get that title, Wade has been there. Whatever supreme talent Lebron might have, he as a person or a mystical figure or a being of light and electricity, hasn't found a road to that final home.
Second Error: Lebron doesn't want to be that guy. If he wanted to be the guy that everyone agreed was the best player, he would've stayed in Cleveland or joined another talented team where he was the clear alpha dog. Or made Wade come meet him somewhere else. In the best version of this trend, Lebron wants to win and doesn't care about being the alpha dog. In the worst version, he is scared or tired of that responsibility, and has capitulated. Either way, he clearly chose the option to not be that guy, talent or no.
Third Error: Is Lebron really a better player than Wade? They play two different positions, and despite both being wing players who attack the basket, they are not the same guy. Is Dwight Howard better than Lebron? Is Chris Paul better than Scottie Pippen? Wade has won a title and led a team of castoffs to 47 wins last year. He is the best shooting guard in the NBA when he's healthy, period. Lebron is definitely not a better shooting guard. Is Wade a better small forward? No.
Fourth Error: This is the real clincher. In the Philadelphia and Orlando games, this team was clearly Wade's. And they crushed both teams. Wade was electric, impossible to guard, and moved his team in ways Lebron and Bosh could not. It reminded me that, with the exception of Larry Bird, it's hard to remember a great small forward who's won a lot of rings. Lebron, obviously, is not JUST a 3, but that is the position he mostly settles into. And in many ways, his skillset is classic small forward. He does a little (really, a lot) of everything. He can fill in all the spaces that are left over by a great guard or center. He's like Scottie Pippen on steroids. It was crystal clear against the Magic that Wade had to be the focal point of this offense. We've seen in the playoffs how people sag around Lebron and make the rest of the team standstill. This isn't possible with Wade, who's just too elusive and acrobatic. Now, this isn't to say that Lebron is going to fade into the background. No-one thought Pippen was expendable, and Lebron is going to make his stats as the second in command look ridiculous in comparison. But I think if you're Lebron, and you play an amped-up, hated Magic team that's knocked you out of the playoffs before, that's won all of its preseason games and the season opener by an average of 15 points, and you see what Wade did to them, do you start claiming "best player" status? I don't think so.
It was a reminder that with just a little bit of talent, Wade is a danger to win a title every year. Give him the talent he has now? Forget about it. Lebron, on the other hand, is an unfinished story. Can he win a title with the same level of talent and opposition that Wade did? We'll never know now. But we know that about Wade.
Not sure how you twist that game into another anti lebron article. He played an awesome game against Orlando, facilitating an offense that got everyone involved, and played ridiculous defense. And wade was an awesome offensive weapon. I'm amazed how quickly they've settled into something complementary, and totally stunned at how quickly Wade has gotten back on track, he was unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteThe dynamic from that game was not unlike what's developing between curry and Ellis. Ellis is the assassin and more skilled all around scorer, while curry runs the show and is probably the better all around talent. It's about identity, Wade is a scorer, its his nature. Multi-talented, but a scorer first. Lebron is more than that, but more than just Scottie on steroids, he's Scottie+Shaq+Magic. And I think you'll see all three this year.
Hey, it wasn't anti-Lebron! It was anti-Simmons! Did you read his piece? I mean, there's no question Lebron is an awesome player and affected that game in many ways, but Simmons was saying Wade has to just admit Lebron is better and concede to him for it to work. This was his quote:
ReplyDelete"Good God, LeBron is MUCH better than Dwyane. What do we do? How do we handle this? Do we wait for Dwyane to admit it? Do we ... wait, what do we do???"
And usually that means you're saying Wade should back down and be the complimentary player, not the attacking/scoring/initiator. Just look at the numbers...Lebron had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists. Dwayne had 26, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Philly game: Lebron-16, 6 Rb, 7 assists. Almost the same exact stats! Just imagine you didn't know who Lebron and Wade were, and just looked at the box score. Who is the pippen and who's the Jordan? I mean, what you said about what he did so well is almost exactly what you could say about Pippen at his height...facilitator, ridiculous defense, scorer when needed. There's nothing wrong with that! I actually think if Lebron could transform himself in that way, it would be a real testament to his greatness.
Great players don't exist in a vacuum. If you look at raw physical collections of talent, it's hard to pick someone else than Lebron. But by that measure, you could also say Wilt Chamberlain was "better" than Bill Russell.
And to just say Wade is an offensive weapon, as if it's all he does, isn't really fair either. Against Philly he had 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals. With 30 points. Again, couldn't you look at that box score and easily see Jordan and Pippen? And Lebron obviously isn't the Jordan. That's all I'm saying...Maybe I am a Lebron hater historically, but in this case it seems like the Heat themselves have actually made the case for their own dynamic. Wade said Lebron told him after game 1 to be himself, and not defer to Lebron. If they keep beating the elite teams by 20 points with Lebron at 15/6/7 and Wade at 27/6/4, I'm willing to bet that's how it'll be, Simmons or no. And they'll probably win 7 titles in a row. And Lebron would go down in my book as someone who wanted to win more than anything else, and that would be awesome. But it wouldn't mean he was "way better" than Wade.
One more thing I'll say, as an admittance of wrong-thinking, that Magic game was astonishing. Howard looked incredible, making jump shots, free throws, etc. And yet, they didn't have a chance. Watching THAT Miami team, rather than the dream one or the argued over one or whatever, it was clear to me that the Heat are terrifying. Mostly because I was surprised at this re-organization of the assumed innovations needed. It was actually fairly traditional, with maybe the most talented glue guy of all time (Lebron), a sweet shooting forward (Bosh) and Wade as the kill-instinct alpha dog. If they keep that dynamic, the rest of the East should just take the year off.
ReplyDeletethank you arne. as a wade fanboy since his rookie year (poster in my room, i wear his shoes... shh)i am glad that the actual games might stop some of this asinine rhetoric that simmons and really most of the NBA writers have been throwing around all summer as if wade hasn't been one of the maybe 4 most dominant players in this league when healthy. anyways, as a non-bandwagon heat fan i'm excited. i think last night was about as big of a message they could have sent to the rest of the league, and they can/will get better as the season continues. also, i am reminded of the "redeem team" and how we all were talking about how that team made us remember what great and terrifying defenders all these guys could be when they weren't required to spend so much energy being the #1 everything on their team. looks like this is manifesting in a scary way for miami as well. who wants to be guarded by lebron or wade or even bosh when they aren't required to score 30 for their team to win?
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