Time to Debunk Another Myth About why the Hawks Can’t Make a Playoff Run

For one, today started with E!PN again proving they don’t require their employees to do any homework before talking as on Outside the Lines today both “contributors” referenced how no team had ever made the NBA finals after having never won a playoff series before. That’s probably true, and that’s good and fine. I just don’t know what relevance it has to the Atlanta Hawks though.

But enough of the ESPN nonsense, let’s just get straight to the meat and potatoes of this topic that both the mainstream media and the ignorant basketball fan alike point to. I think it goes without saying, there’s a correlation between the two.

So, the Hawks aren’t a viable contender to win the eastern conference because they’ve never been to the eastern conference finals before (I’m going to disregard the silliness spoken earlier on E!PN today) and thus, aren’t ready to make that jump. Okay, I might be willing to buy that. Despite having the second longest active playoff streak in the NBA, there’s been a sense of lack of accomplishment in the playoffs, and it’s warranted. Seven straight playoff trips have netted three playoff series victories and a 24-36 playoff mark. No, that’s nothing to write home about, so I can understand some of the playoff skeptics.

Of course, I’m assuming that means all the other eastern conference contenders though in fact boast a healthy playoff resume that indicates they’re clearly right there, ready to make the next step, right? Let’s go in order and take a look.

The number two team in the east is the Toronto Raptors, and I don’t hear much about how they can’t advance in the playoffs due to their lack of success, so I presume we’re going to find plenty of it.

Looking…..

Still looking………….

This is the 20th year of Toronto Raptor basketball. In their entire existence they have won a grand total of ONE playoff series. ONE. And that was fourteen years ago. In the subsequent thirteen seasons since then, they’ve won a total of EIGHT playoff games. Yes, GAMES. Eight playoff games in thirteen season. The Hawks have won three times as many in roughly half the time since then.

Again, nineteen completed NBA seasons. One playoff series victory. I’ll just leave it at that with Toronto.

So moving down the list we get to Chicago. One of the two media darlings. I’m sure they’ve got to have bevy of playoff success to prove how battle tested and ready they are.

Wait, you mean to tell me that since Jordan nailed a jumper over Byron Russell, the Chicago Bulls in the 16 years since have managed to win a grand total of FOUR playoff series. They win one playoff series every four years. See, I thought the Hawks weren’t a legit contender because they’ve haven’t proven themselves in the playoffs. I’m sorry, what exactly have the Bulls done?

Want to look more recently? Okay, sure. Let’s go back to when Noah and Horford were each drafted. They’re the longest tenured players on these two teams, and both entered the league together. Surely since then the Bulls have accomplished far more in the playoffs than the Hawks have. Hmmmmm, this is also puzzling….. seems since then the Bulls have won those four aforementioned playoff series. That would be one more than the Hawks have won in the same time frame, for those of you counting at home. Yes, the Bulls have a trip to the Eastern Conference finals, but they’ve also had the same number of seasons where they failed to reach the eastern conference quarterfinals. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I’m confused about where people are seeing this vast increase in playoff success from Chicago.

So, next one on the list is the Washington Wizards.

Oh, this one is fun.

Remember, the Hawks have made the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons. The Wizards have appeared in the playoffs six times……. Over the past twenty-six season. Yes, you read that correctly. Six playoff trips in 26 years. I’m guessing then certainly they must have recent success, perhaps some deep playoff runs that enables people to overlook their lack of playoff success and consider them a contender, right?

While the Hawks have been on their seven-year streak of making the playoffs, Washington has qualified for the postseason twice. And won one playoff series. So much for that.

In fact, over the past 35 years of NBA playoffs, the Washington Wizards have won three playoff series. You know, the same number Atlanta has won in the past six years.

Since 1988, Washington has won all of fourteen postseason basketball games. Clearly, far more successful postseason team than Atlanta.

So now we get to Cleveland, the team everyone thinks is the pick to win the conference, and on talent alone, they’re probably right. However, since people want to use the playoff argument so fast to dismiss the Hawks, we can’t pick and choose where to apply it.

So we’re talking about a team who has spent four consecutive years without even being IN the playoffs. Two of their three biggest stars on the team have NEVER been in the NBA playoffs, and one, hasn’t played a postseason game since he was in high school. And just to throw a little more gas on the fire, in the past six seasons, they’ve won as many playoff series as the Atlanta Hawks have. So, yeah, Cleveland is playoff tested alright.

And finally, due to their proximity to others listed as contenders in the standings, there’s an obligation to include the Bucks. Then you see that they haven’t won a single playoff series since 2001….

I take no issue with questioning the Hawks playoff credentials, and wondering if they have the mettle to take the next step in the post season. I have no qualms with that whatsoever. But it seems the Hawks are the only ones being questioned about that. Despite the fact that of the contenders in the eastern conference, no team has a playoff resume that reads much better than theirs, and a couple read significantly worse.

Karma Is A *****, One Day You’ll See LeBron

Is there anybody right now in the mainstream spotlight that is more out of touch with reality than LeBron James? It’s mind blowing. He might actually be more out of touch with reality than Vick ever was. It’s mind blowing. At least Vick wasn’t out in public making outlandish statements that reeked of ignorance and having no clue that a world exists outside of him (even if his actions at the time portrayed such a belief) and his universe.

Maybe it’s just that James has a horrible PR guy. Maybe his PR guy is also the same person who helped Cam Newton write his Heisman acceptance speech and prepare him for his post game speech Monday night.

We all know the tale of the summer, with his decision and the manner in which he went out of his way to stab the city of Cleveland in the back. The discussion of whether or not he should have left Cleveland is rather irrelevant, but I think most agree the manner in which he left was pretty loathsome. At least it came across that way to normal human beings who haven’t placed people on such pedestals we can’t see their flaws, which ironically sounds like a lot Auburn fans right now, ha ha.

We saw the ridiculous commercial where we are supposed to feel some sort of empathy for James with his “What Should I Do?” ad that he uses to try and earn sympathy points with the public with. Thank you to South Park, and many other satirical works for appropriately handling this asinine commercial. James wants us to empathize with him? Really? So says the man who is so out of touch with reality, and what sort of world the rest of the planet lives, that he honestly believes HE is a victim.

We’ve heard James try and compare his basketball team to the “Heatles”, a comparison to the Beatles so absurd I can’t, and won’t, say anything more about it.

What’s really been the final straw however is how stupid LeBron really must think the rest of the planet is. Or perhaps, it’s how LeBron has been coddled for so long, and told for so long how great and awesome he is that he really believes the world is so in love with him that he can’t fathom them seeing him as doing or saying anything wrong. And to him, those that do, well they are just haters who are beneath him.

A few weeks ago he makes statements that the NBA should “shrink the league”. Obviously with labor unrest going on, the idea of contraction, and thusly the loss of jobs in the NBA, didn’t exactly sit well with a lot of people, other NBA players included.

LeBron’s response? That he didn’t mean the league should contract, and that he didn’t even know what contraction is. Seriously? I don’t think even 4th graders would pull that cop out.

Of course LeBron didn’t know that to shrink, and to contract, are the same thing. And if he didn’t know what contraction is, then perhaps he’s not quite as smart as some of these suckers felt he was. Or maybe he’s just incapable of saying what he means and then standing behind it.

If LeBron thinks the league should contract, find. That is his opinion and he has every right to it. If he wants to be candid and tell everyone his opinion, even better, more athletes being themselves is a good thing. Whether it makes them loved or hated, say what you mean.

But don’t come back the next day and do a complete retraction. That’s weak, very weak. He wants us to believe that he doesn’t know what contraction means, right. Good, he wants us to believe he’s not very articulate and intelligent. Okay, fine. We’ll believe you’re not very smart LeBron.

But wait, even if he doesn’t know what contraction is, doubtful, I’m pretty sure he knows what the word “shrink” means. So therefore he did say he wanted to have teams taken out of the league. Only hours later he’s saying that he doesn’t? Okay, got it. Some people didn’t like what he said, so he retracted it, unable to stand by his words.

And now we’ve arrived at the latest case of LeBron James again deciding the general public is either really stupid, or he’s just a coward.

Before addressing Tuesday night’s most controversial tweet, there was another, that in following the one that got all the buzz buzzing actually makes his excuses for the first all the more curious.

James apparently took notice of his former Coach Mike Brown on the set of NBA Fast Break on ESPN. He went so far as to tweet that he thought Mike Brown was looking good, calling him a great man and a great coach, telling the world he would be coaching again.

I guess James forgot that the reason Mike Brown isn’t coaching right would largely be looking right back at him should James go find a mirror. Lost on James is that one of the primary reasons Brown lost his job was that the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to do anything and everything they might keep their “Savior” in a Cavaliers uniform.

Other reasons perhaps included the inability to win a championship, which falls partially on James shoulders, and some would argue more than just partially. Perhaps had Mike Brown’s best player not quit on his team in the playoffs a little less than a year ago, Brown would still have a job.

Of course, expecting James to grasp any of this would be like expecting the Jamesless Cavaliers to make a playoff push.

The big story of last night was the tweet that came during the Cleveland Cavaliers record breaking beat down at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron tweeted, “Crazy. Karma is a b****. Gets you every time. It’s not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!”.

It doesn’t take a math genius to realize two plus two equals four. Well, unless you’re LeBron James.

Then come the typical James excuses, beginning by claiming that the tweet wasn’t from him. Supposedly it’s “just how he was feeling at the time”. And then he follows that up by saying he was just repeating, or in Twitter speak, retweeting, what someone had said to him. That’s rather humorous, generally when people repeat, or retweet, what someone else has said, they include RT (insert original author here) before repeating what was said. James tweet that night included no such thing.

So was that what James was feeling or not? First he says it was, and then he says he was just repeating what someone else said? Which one is it?

But it doesn’t stop here, as seems to be per the usual with James. First, he claims it was just how he was feeling at the time, but it was the words of someone else. Then he claims it wasn’t even about the Cavs. Never mind the fact that timing goes way above and beyond mere coincidence. But alas, he’s “The Chosen One”, so of course we are supposed to ignore that and believe him.

So once again, James makes a controversial statement, and when forced to face it, creates an excuse for it, and then backs down from it and retracts it. Should we have expected anything different? Well, most people didn’t. Immediately after the original tweet, throngs of responses waiting for his retraction or excuse popped up immediately. Predictably, the “King” proved his court right.

If James felt the Cavaliers were getting due karma for Dan Gilbert, and many of their fans wishing ill upon him after leaving their city, fine. I may not agree with that, but that doesn’t mean James can’t, or shouldn’t, feel that way.

But apparently that’s not how James feels. Or is it? If you’re going to say these things, stand by them, that simple. Don’t act like the rest of us are all stupid. Don’t treat the rest of us like the entourage that has hitched themselves to your coattails and been worshiping you since you could dunk a basketball.

They look at you and see dollar signs for themselves. The rest of us look at you and see a coward who can’t stand behind even his own words. If you can’t stand for your own words, just what can you stand for?