>Golden State - while a fine team - is not even in the same
>galaxy in terms of talent as this Cleveland team. Plus, they
>don't have the great anomaly: Lebron James. You put Lebron
>on *any* team, and they are instantly a contender to win
>their
>conference.

golden state is definitely in the same galaxy with iggy healthy. they got boned because they had no post presence, not because they didn't have talent. they aren't as good at the top of their talent (and we'll talk about bron in a bit) but their 2nd and 3rd players are as talented as cleveland's 2 and 3 and they start inching ahead at 4-8. the back end of their bench is kinda shit but we can't all draw vets in at the minimum.

lebron is a major talent, but we're talking about the finals. the teams i listed either have won as much as bron or have mvp candidates of their own.

>>they need a center. and i believe in not-so-young
>>tristan....but he doesn't see the floor much on a team with
>>bron and love.
>
>Sure - they do need a reliable center. But can you name
>the centers on Miami the past 4 years? Serviceable *at best*
>-
>and in reality, it was a largely vacant position throughout
>Bron's tenure in Miami.
>In fact, I'd take AV, Brenda, & Tristan in a second versus
>any Center combination that Miami boasted over the past 4
>years.
>
>-->


we're not talking about serviceable or patchwork. we're not talking about "oh it kinda sucks that chris anderson and chris bosh are only kind of centers and might be a little gimpy or unaggressive."

we're talking about the very likely scenario in which both Varejao and Haywood aren't able to play AT ALL in the playoffs. at. all. we're talking about them being greg oden status. we're talking about love (who also can't make it through 82 games) being in the position bron and bosh and haslem were in, and we all know he just isn't going to do that.

bron averages like 3700 minutes a season. love has only played more than 2200 twice. he's gonna have a hard ass time keeping up with games that matter. he's gonna have a hard as time defending HIS NATURAL position. ain't no way he's gonna be a viable backup plan in the paint.

you know how hard it was to make it work in miami. i don't know how you look at miami struggling, or the knicks struggling, or golden state struggling without bogut and think it's a good idea to put all this effort into a contender and then make it so likely they won't have an anchor in the paint come summer.

yes bron is amazing and he might win it all anyway. maybe he'll heal the brazilian's body.

but in the real world that sees even amazing bron is batting .400 in the finals....they need another center.