Larry Brown: Great players aren't teammates

[SHAQisGOAT]

Great players are also not given ten feet of room and dared to shoot...for 3 out of 4 finals

Seriously though, this is all bullshit. No one knows how Magic, Bird, MJ would've reacted and how their careers would've played out if they weren't in such good situations.

Bird and MJ didn't "arrive" into what you call good situations. And Bird turned it around instantly.

[Da_Realist]

So it's an issue of how it's formed, not that it exists.

Yeah, because the issue is his take on Lebron's mentality, not on his team's ability to win championships.

I don't think MJ or Magic would every join up together except for the Dream Team. And even that was a front because they went at it in practice. MJ admitted that he went to see how the other guy's competed. We would have never seen the best of those guys had they played together. It was the competition against each other (and others like Bird, Domininique, Drexler, Olajuwon, etc) that drove them to be the best.

As far as whether or not it taints Lebron's championships...I don't think it does at all. I just see it as a different mentality.

[Da_Realist]

As far as whether or not it taints Lebron's championships...I don't think it does at all. I just see it as a different mentality.

Let me clarify this. I don't blame Lebron because I think the whole culture is different today. Today's basketball is about comparing numbers and collecting titles. The journey doesn't mean so much. We're in a stat- and legacy-obsessed culture. One 50 point game validates someone to HOF status until the next time he shoots 35% and is called a bum. There is no patience whatsoever.

There was pride involved in the process when I first started watching basketball in the mid-80's. Listen to how Isiah described the work it took to climb that Green Monster in Boston. They obsessed over the Celtics the whole offseason. Isiah would have NEVER taken DJ's place just to win a title. It was either win in Detroit or not at all.

Same arc with Chicago vs Detroit. There was some pride involved in knocking on Detroit's door and having it slammed in their faces for 3 straight years. Joining a team that just took your lunch money to win a title like Ray Allen did would have been heresy. That title would never have counted by fans. MJ would have been hated by Bulls fans and never fully trusted by Pistons fans.

I think it started to change a little bit in the mid 90's with Shaq moving to LA, Rodman going from Detroit to SA to Chicago, Drexler going to Houston and Barkley moving from Phoenix to Houston. Shaq wasn't really moving to an established championship team but he was going to a very talented one. Rodman had already won titles. Drexler and Barkley were on the downside of their careers and definitely not in their primes. (Barkley did move from Philly to Phoenix in his prime but taking them to the Finals actually gave him more respect. It validated his talent.)

It's not exactly the same as today but those moves planted the seed. If the old versions of Hakeem, Barkley and Drexler can play well, what could they look like in their primes? Fans weren't as nauseated by the thought of superstars playing together anymore. The game had changed. It just needed someone to blaze the trail. Then Shaq left LA to play with DWade. Garnett and Ray Allen headed to Boston and won a title with Paul Pierce. Soon after Pau Gasol moves to play with Kobe. Then eventually Lebron moves down to Miami to partner with DWade. The culture had changed by the point. All Lebron did was take advantage of it.