You’re right his legacy is different. Google Kobe Colorado 2003 to learn more.
2023 NBA Playoffs Discussion Thread
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You’re right his legacy is different. Google Kobe Colorado 2003 to learn more.
LeBron is the goat….but he did change the way the NBA has been covered and I don’t think it’s been in a good way. Very early on in his career the NBA became about him an his pursuit of Jordan, specifically his rings count.
Everything became championship or bust, and not just for LeBron. LeBron has obviously had the most impossible standards set on him but so does everyone else. There is one winner and if you’re not the team winning the championship you are clowned on. Everything else that was accomplished is forgotten at best and might even be used against you. If a player wins the MVP or a team has a great season but they fail to win the title that is just seen as extra fuel to clown on them.
The league is all about the championship, but more specifically how that championship relates to legacy. Everything is about the bigger picture. The NBA is not a league that sells itself on the sport and competition being played on any given night. It is all about what this game means in a greater context.
As a result, the NBA regular season is basically just one long preseason that teams and players hardly care about. Without a competitive regular season there’s no opportunity for more interesting narratives to develop. It’s just championship or bust, and without a good buildup it often ends in an anticlimactic finish to the season.
I just can’t imagine growing up and watching basketball when I was growing up with the new narrative style. Guys like AI, McGrady, Carter, KG (on the the TWolves) etc would just repeatedly clowned on or made irrelevant because they created their legacy during the regular season by putting on a show in a day to day basis.
Everything became championship or bust, and not just for LeBron. LeBron has obviously had the most impossible standards set on him but so does everyone else. There is one winner and if you’re not the team winning the championship you are clowned on. Everything else that was accomplished is forgotten at best and might even be used against you. If a player wins the MVP or a team has a great season but they fail to win the title that is just seen as extra fuel to clown on them.
The league is all about the championship, but more specifically how that championship relates to legacy. Everything is about the bigger picture. The NBA is not a league that sells itself on the sport and competition being played on any given night. It is all about what this game means in a greater context.
As a result, the NBA regular season is basically just one long preseason that teams and players hardly care about. Without a competitive regular season there’s no opportunity for more interesting narratives to develop. It’s just championship or bust, and without a good buildup it often ends in an anticlimactic finish to the season.
I just can’t imagine growing up and watching basketball when I was growing up with the new narrative style. Guys like AI, McGrady, Carter, KG (on the the TWolves) etc would just repeatedly clowned on or made irrelevant because they created their legacy during the regular season by putting on a show in a day to day basis.
fishonjazz
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While i think your post has merit, this part is where I disagree to an extent:
I still love watching regular season jazz games. Hell even summer league and pre season. I still love great players who haven't won championships and dont clown on them. My number 1 player in the league right now is Jason Tatum and he has no rings and might get bounced from the playoffs by an 8th seed tonight.
So while you might be mostly correct, that stuff doesn't apply to me personally.
Oh I definitely still enjoy the basketball being played, that was more of a comment towards how the league is covered. I will always watch NBA basketball, it doesn't matter how they sell it to me, but Tatum will be raked over the coals if he loses. Same for Jimmy. In general, there's more talk about player failures because only one team can win at the end of the day. While the league is championship or bust, the narrative around the league is still dominated by the "bust" and not the championship.
What affects my personal viewing experience the most is that teams and players themselves don't really care about the regular season games. The regular season is at lower quality as the night to night competition levels have dropped. Yeah, I'm that guy....It does make the league worse when good teams sit out their best players because they are saving it for the playoffs and bad teams are also sitting out their good players to lose on purpose. I will always watch, but the regular season doesn't pack the same punch as it used to.
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Handlogten's Heros
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I’m aware… just explaining why his fans are so vigilant. Lebron would have the same thing if he stayed in Cleveland his whole career.
I don't think he would. Kobe fans are Kobe fans. He could have gone to Utah and he would still have had those fans. Kobe just represents a lot more than Lebron does.
I think him playing for the Lakers has a lot to do with it. Curry fans are almost on the same delusional level as Kobe fans. They have a lot of the same fans.
Yeah, without the Lakers it wouldn't have started, but once Kobe rebranded himself with Mamba Mentality he created a whole identity for people to cling onto.
That’s true.
Lebron is just for people who like basketball and playing it "the right way"
Liking Kobe is about being a killer who works harder than anyone and that translates to the rest of your life type vibe. Hustle/Grindset culture loves Kobe. People who aren't even all that invested in basketball liked Kobe because of that identity thing. I don't think LeBron has that.
Liking Kobe is about being a killer who works harder than anyone and that translates to the rest of your life type vibe. Hustle/Grindset culture loves Kobe. People who aren't even all that invested in basketball liked Kobe because of that identity thing. I don't think LeBron has that.
Yeah, sure. *jackoff motion*