A pissed off LeBron James might just be what the Cleveland Cavaliers need
As of today, LeBron James has a losing record in a calendar month for the first time since February of 2006 (first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers). LeBron is also the league leader in minutes played, and just passed MJ with 48,485 minutes logged. That’s a little over 808 hours of regular season and playoff basketball.
On top of all this, you can add the latest criticism from the Fat Blob of Rebound on TNT. It is easy to see why LeBron finally snapped on Charles Barkley.
On air during a TNT pre game show, Chuck had a mini roast session about LeBron and how he is “whiny” for wanting to make a move to better his team. He said what LeBron was doing was “inappropriate”, and that he “doesn’t want to compete.”
This isn’t the first time Barkley has hated on LeBron. When LeBron left Cleveland for Miami, Charles wanted to make it clear he hated his decision. He was quoted as saying “it was a punk move” and that LeBron has no shot of being as good as Jordan.
Right or wrong, Barkley has gone out of his way to make sure everyone hears him talk bad about LeBron. Hater is a perfect word for what Chuck represents in this drama.
The 18-30 Dallas Mavericks handed Cleveland an L last night, and that was the straw that broke the camels back. LeBron stood up for himself after playing it cool and taking the high road last week. He called Charles a “Hater” and said he has no idea how he is credible.
From last night: LeBron deftly destroys Charles Barkley in comments to @mcten pic.twitter.com/jfqv8daENK
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 31, 2017
(insert 20 flame emojis)
There was some fire behind LeBron’s words there. But he’s not wrong. On and off the court, LeBron has been nothing but an absolute class act. You’ve never head stories about him partying, hitting women, gambleing, using PEDs. Absolutely nothing. He is as proffesional as it gets.
None of this would bother me nearly as much if it wasn’t Charles Barkley. He says he doesnt believe that jump shooting teams can win an NBA title: look at the last 2 NBA champions. 2015 Golden State shot a league best 40 percent from three on their way to a title.
The year after that Cleveland won an NBA title with the 3rd best three point rating in the league and nine players on the roster shooting better than 35 percent from beyond the arc.
Chuck says the league is in the worst state it’s ever been.
Currently, we have two players that get a triple double almost every single night they take the court. Russell Westbrook literally averages one. James Harden has two 50 point triple-doubles this season! Besides Russ in October of this year, a 50 point triple-double hasn’t happened since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1973.
We have three already in half a season.
The NBA world was outraged when back to back MVP Steph Curry was named as an All-Star starter. Our first ever unanimous MVP shouldnt even be on the starting 5 of the Western Conference? That goes to show how insanely deep and talented the league is. The best shape its ever been.
Charles hates superteams and calls out Durant and LeBron for trying to win a ring that way.
In 1996, Barkley demanded a trade that sent him to the Houston Rockets to join Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Scottie Pippen. Three future Hall of Famers. Oh yeah and it just so happened to be the year after they won the title in 1995.
Might I add that signing Charles Barkley wasn’t enough and MJ returned to the league to win another title that year.
I think all of this beef somehow lights a fire under this mid-season skid the Cleveland Cavaliers have hit. LeBron can’t be leading the league in minutes that’s a crime. They do need to make a move to acquire a playmaker to rest Kyrie. Once they do that before the trade deadline, Charles will be sorry he poked the bear.
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It’s time to activate Zero Dark Thirty-23.