one more reason that ESPN is a complete joke.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=jackson-110615

I bet a lot of players would like a "Dissapointing Playoff Career" of averaging 25 and 10.

Staff: Subject should be "A must not read" please edit.
Thanks

I get his point, but he makes a tremendously horrible argument trying to prove it.

Haters gonna hate.

Reads like a bitter lebron groupie trying to put his thoughts together. I live how the narrative is shifting a little for lebron to one day redeem himself and be like Dirk. Forget about MJ. He is getting torn to shreds and broken down like Dirk in 2007. But nevermind that lebron already chose to play second banana to Wade. If Dirk had chosen to go to Chicago last year and rode Roses coattails to a title he would not have near the adulation.

And Wade continues to get a free pass. When is he going to lead his team to a title? He doesn't have Shaq, Zo, Payton and Riley around to be the team leaders anymore.

At the end of the day, you're remembered for what you did at the end. . . . I think that's the reason -- Everyone says Lebron gave them the championship, but he's the reason they lost the championship, because Wade wasn't the leader that he's supposed to be in the closing moments. That's because of great defense by the Mavs, but also he wasn't assertive enough as a leader's supposed to be.

[This message has been edited by InternetFan02 (edited 6/15/2011 5:10p).]

Look, he's making semi-valid point in my opinion (winning will erase past trials and failures), but his justification and the simplicity of his argument makes him come off like such an idiot.

For example: Dirk and Lebron are incomparable. Loyalty, hard-work, humbleness, finely-honed skill do not describe Lebron James. As a matter of fact, having the biggest icon in the NBA do exactly what he did made those traits in Nowitzki all that more visible, especially when the two faced off with the latter prevailing on the biggest stage in basketball.

The situations of these two athletes just don't compare. In his current situation, a ring for Lebron will never be as "pure". Some will disagree, and the first championship will definitely mitigate the back-lash from "The Decision", but the bravado surrounding the events of last summer make forgetting it so much harder.

Dirk is perceived as the guy who's been quietly busting his hump, tasted glory but failed, kept climbing the mountain and eventually returned stronger from his previous trials.

Lebron is perceived as the wunderkind who feels entitled to a championship, isn't living up to his full potential, and took the easy path to glory instead of the hard-working route. He certainly has time to change that perception, but it will be harder for him than it was for Dirk.

Which circles back to the point of the article and where the author swung and missed: for Dirk his past playoffs were more like adversity to overcome (where he has always been effective), and his eventual success is seen as an ends to a means. For Cleveland Lebron, his script was very similar. Now that he's Miami Lebron, until he wins multiple championships and is seen as living up to his potential, anything less than multiple championships in dominating fashion (read as: not carried by Wade) will be viewed in a different light.

read this boner's article from 5/18/11

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=jackson/110517

quote:

---

Because, although stats and facts don't lie, they rarely tell the whole story. And Nowitzki's moment right now, beginning with this series against the Thunder, is all about what he can do to prove that the already-finished chapters of his career aren't the whole story.

Some will read this column and say that for Dirk's career, it's not that serious. They'll say he doesn't need to prove anything more than he already has. They'll claim that regardless of what happens in this series or the next, regardless of those outcomes, Nowitzki will go down as one of the greatest players we will ever see play this game.

But I'll say what many of us know to be true for him at this moment: "That is simply not enough."

---

What an idiot.

How is Lebron going to erase that not 1, not 2, not 3, etc stuff?

Dirk is getting props now because he's a hardworking, humble guy that always gave it what he had, but found a little something more in himself this year.

Who could be bitter about that? There are some great players that never found that extra gear you need to win a title as the leader of a team.

Scoop is an idiot. Sounds like he was rooting for the heat and is pissed that they lost. Do we judge Jordan on his playoff failures his first 6 years? Of course winning a championship changes how we view guys. I doubt he would have written this article about lebron if the heat had won the title this year. ESPN is better when scoop is not around.

Dirk's playoff points per game prior to this season. Such fail.

2000-01 PPG 23.4
2001-02 PPG 28.4
2002-03 PPG 25.3
2003-04 PPG 26.6
2004-05 PPG 23.7
2005-06 PPG 27.0
2006-07 PPG 19.7
2007-08 PPG 26.8
2008-09 PPG 26.8

Totals PPG 25.5

>>Do we judge Jordan on his playoff failures his first 6 years?<<

While I agree with the point here, there IS a difference: Jordan's first few years were at the end of a dynamic period for the Celtics and the rise of a Pistons team in the east, as well as the end of a 5 title Lakers team in the West. The NBA is nowhere near that quality now.

The Mavs FINALLY had a team this year capable of winning it all because of decent guys in the middle. You try winning a title with Shawn Bradley and Eric Dampier patrolling the paint. Even the Heat couldn't overcome Damp, and he didn't play one minute! Chandler is a pretty legit big guy down low. Above average D and serviceable on offense. BH defintely has upside and even the Frog is pretty good. There have been times in Dirk's career that the Mavs counted on Wang Zsu Zsu for quality minutes in the paint. Incredible!