Bringin' down the House

BRINGIN’ DOWN THE HOUSE
BY: Stephen Jared House



WHY KEVIN DURANT’S CAREER WILL BE GREATER THAN LEBRON’S





WHAT?!?!?!?! Did I just lose my mind you may be thinking? Blaspheme! Heresy! Lunacy! Sacrilege! LeBron James’ career is supposed to play out like a movie that you’ve seen awhile back. You know what is supposed to happen but you can’t remember how the events unfold. LeBron’s script is set to unfold and when the credits roll at the end you are to walk away saying, “Wow! I just watched the greatest player to play the game.” I think that when the lights come on it will be more like the end of Jurassic Park. A great movie, but no Gone with the Wind. (Gone with the Wind being his Airness) Let me state my case before you start dialing the Lexington Psychiatric Center and try to get me a reservation and detail my case for Kevin Durant to steal the spotlight.
LOCATION- Cleveland and Oklahoma City. Okay neither is a sexy location. But economically Oklahoma City is light years ahead of Cleveland. With that being the case Oklahoma City is a better position to sign free agents and not have to worry about finical woes. Also the Oklahoma City fans are like the couple who just got back from their honeymoon. They are still have a great time and haven’t got tired of the same monotony yet. Now Cleveland is the poster child for a great marriage but how long will they be able to sell –out Quicken Loans Arena? I’m not saying they have bad fans; they just made not be able to root on the Cavs from the Q.
TEAMMATES- The Kings holds court with a cast of Jesters. Mo Williams was nobody until he came to the King’s court. Shaq is old and can’t play the style of basketball that accentuates the skills of LeBron, Delonte West is crazy and may be put in jail, Big Z is too old, Anderson Varejao is just hustle, no skill and Daniel Gibson is a one dimensional role player at best. Durant on the other hand has good young talent around him. Jeff Green is going to a great player in the league. He is the perfect compliment to Durant. Russell Westbrook, is going to turn into a big physical point guard that will create huge match up problems. James Harden, only a rookie but I love his upside. The BEST team he could have gone too.
FRONT OFFICE- Cleveland General Manager Danny Ferry has done a criminal job of surrounding LeBron James with pieces that will help him bring a title to the Mistake by the Lake er ,City by the Lake. Mike Brown should be fired, he can’t coach and rumors have it that James isn’t the biggest fan of Brown. The Thunder GM Sam Presti saw that P.J. Carlesimo wasn’t the best fit for his young team so he fired him last season and installed Scott Brooks as the head coach. Brooks will tweak the offense and defense so that Durant’s fortes will maximized, Brown refuses to.
STYLE OF PLAY- As I mentioned in the previous paragraph the style of play that Cleveland plays is terrible. Charles Barkley has been saying this on TNT’s Inside the NBA till he is blue in the face; the Cavs need to run the ball! LeBron is playing one-on-five basketball and it is draining him. He should score 10-12 points on fast break dunks alone. Physically he is superior to anyone in the league, but nobody, NOBODY can win when you have to bring the ball up the court, and then try to score while your teammates stand around and watch you. The Thunder know clearly that Durant is the star, but the offense is spread around and they work to get Durant into his sweat spots, something the Cavs and Mike Brown seem clueless to.
CONFERENCES- The West is now the better conference, but their teams are getting old. The Spurs look old this year; the Suns are old, as with the Mavs. The Blazers are younger, but still the Thunder are the youngest team that is doing anything productive. The East on the other hand is getting better, and younger.
NEW YORK- What ever LeBron James may say, he is going to New York. He wants to be am icon and as the saying goes, “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere”. James wants to be the King of the Big Apple. He wants to rule the court of the Mecca of basketball at Madison Square Garden, he wants to be a fashion icon on 5th Avenue. Ofcourse he will, but the Knicks are further away from a championship than Cleveland. Hell New York may never will one even with LeBron. Why? Mike D’Antoni is the only coach to not employee a defensive coach. He just believes in outscoring you. Well look at his Suns’ teams. Great in the regular, but flamed out in a seven game series when the games went to the half court offenses and defense is stepped up. Durant on the other hand isn’t the star that James is and there is no desire that we know of yet that he wants to leave. He seems to know that he can win in Oklahoma City and winning is what it all comes down too.

-SJH