Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  91 responses

LeBron James Now Knows What ‘Contraction’ Means

LBJ touched off a firestorm when he told the press that contraction would be good for the NBA. He then touched off another firestorm by basically lying that he didn’t know what the word meant. Awesome. From ESPN: “That’s crazy, because I had no idea what the word ‘contraction’ meant before I saw it on the Internet,’ James said after the Miami Heat’s practice Monday. ‘I never even mentioned that. That word never even came out of my mouth. I was just saying how the league was back in the ’80s and how it could be good again. I never said, ‘Let’s take some of the teams out.’ … James said he was only trying to show support for a time in the 1980s when teams such as the Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, 76ers and Celtics were dominant with star-studded rosters. James said he did not speak with Fisher, nor anyone else from the players’ association, about his comments on the Heat’s trip to Los Angeles, where they defeated the Lakers on Saturday. ‘I’m with the players, and the players know that,’ James said Monday. ‘I’ve been with the players. It’s not about getting guys out of the league or knocking teams out. I didn’t mean to upset nobody. I didn’t tell Avery Johnson to leave either. I didn’t say let’s abandon the Nets, and not let them move to Brooklyn or let’s tear down the Target Center in Minnesota. I never said that.’”

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  • robb

    The king of ignorants

  • 80

    Cut the guy some slack, he thought that contraction meant science of making contracts :P

  • Epic Win

    LeIdiot?

  • http://www.twitter.com/AllBall247 AllBall247

    For 1, his initial comments were defendable. 2, since when were the Cavs perennial losers?? For the last 3 years they have been 50-60 wins, always past the 1st round of post season. 3, it was less than 10 years ago that the Nets made consecutive finals. Going by winning is too cyclic.

    Why are people justifying comments that if followed through would lose people thousands, maybe tens of thousands of jobs. There is a reason Bron changed his stance on this.

  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    I saw that too mikec.

  • http://sdfjklfl.com Jukai

    MikeC: Well I… Yep, I got nothing.

  • T-Money

    The ridicule is always ok – clowning people is fun. The hate and anger toward ANY athlete is weird and pathetic to me.

  • http://sdfjklfl.com Jukai

    T-Money: Unless you’re Bryan Crawford.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Co-sign AllBall. Contraction is just bad from a social standpoint. It’s not even about fans being selfish and wanting to watch better basketball, either. Just ask Seattle how it felt to lose their home team…

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    uh, oh.
    Another “e” war on the horizon at the Great SLAM? The legendary Jukai throws down the proverbial “gauntlet?”

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Nets are anything but perennial losers. They went to the finals twice this (well, last) decade. Every team sucks @ss from time to time. If it’s not about profits, why not shut the Bulls down for being pretty sh!tty the first half of this (well, last) decade?

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    There will always be losing teams in the NBA… If you get rid of the crappy teams now, some of the mid-level to good teams will fall, and hey, why don’t we get rid of them too? Let’s just have Celtics vs. Lakers, period. Yeah!

  • http://www.twitter.com/AllBall247 AllBall247

    Co-sign back at ya Teddy. What was it Eboy, 3 years ago the Heat had know one in stands (sounds familiar) and won 15 games? I know you haven’t commented, but I can count on you for an honest answer.

  • PaulT

    @JTaylor: It wasn’t that long ago that the Nets made it to the finals.

  • http://www.twitter.com/AllBall247 AllBall247

    Talking Lakers, they have only beat 2 plus 500 teams this year. Contract and their going to be 7th or 8th seed!

  • vtrobot

    “going to college doesn’t make you any smarter.” that’s awesome. i guess it depends partly on which college and mostly on the person.

  • http://sdfjklfl.com Jukai

    Philo: Man, you love to dork out, don’t ya buddy?

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    “Dork out?”
    What does that mean? I have an idea, but I have to be sure.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Speaking of BC I was wondering why the Post Up has been really quiet the last few days. And I think it’s a result of four things –
    1) Holidays, therefore…
    2) No BC
    3) Little to no Eboy
    4) Little to no AllenP

  • http://slamonline.com Ugh

    neaorin – two thumbs up.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    Jtaylor: dude you have no idea what you’re talkin about. We both heart Lebron. But you don’t have to defend him at all times especially when he makes wrong/lying statements like these. The league is fine. Would you rather see it contract and loose thousands of jobs for people? It is about the financial aspect. Bron made a wrong stance in his statement.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    The economic impact of nba teams is greatly exagerrated according go mostnindepenxent studies. Just ask the people of minneapolis and seattle. That is why those teams struggled to get those cities to pay for new.stadiums. same problem in sactown. I understand players would lose jobs andbi am okay with that. They aren’t entitled to those jobs even if I don’t begrudge them their jobs. Besides there are more basketball jobs all over.the.world these days.

  • http://www.twitter.com/AllBall247 AllBall247

    Well aslong as your ok with players losing their jobs.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    AllBall
    Why should their jobs be a protected item? Who else has that kind of guarantee in this world? I work in a field where nine are disappearing every day.
    I don’t wish bad things on players by I think that if there were fewer pro jobs maybe more kids would realize the futility of counting on the nba as a future career. Plus the overall product I pay for would improve. Contraction would mainly hurt veterans not younger players and shorten careers. I don’t want people to suffer but I think contraction would improve the product without a huge injustice.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    There will be teams that will suck every year. Would you guys suggest that the Nets should be taken out of the League if Lebron went there instead of Miami? Its not about the players losing their jobs. It’s the others like the statisticians, ticketing, security etc. Those guys sure aren’t making millions but the jobs they had are their livelihood. Instead of cutting down jobs to save money, they should create more jobs to gain more profit.

  • http://www.twitter.com/AllBall247 AllBall247

    co-sign J. Also, if players were to go over seas that would result in the uprooting of families. I just don’t think contracting is needed.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    Improve product Allen? The League is fine. Great IMO. I don’t have a problem with stars on a sucky team. Or teams that suck in general. That’s the game. It happens all the time. But it’s more than that. Livelihood are gonna be affected not the players, but the small ones that make a living.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Again most orbs jobs created by nba teams are not full time and do not pay a living wage. I think you all are greatly over estimating the economic impact of nba teams. I also think that if you have.to move around to find a job that is REAL LIFE. Most people on here know I am pro player but in this case I don’t see he big deal. And the league is nowhere near as good as it was with fewer teams.

  • http://www.slamonline.com J

    Regardless if it is a full time job or not that brings food to the table. That gives people a chance for a respectable living even for a short span of time. Why should we always go with the norm of what the economy dictates? They should find more ways (create more jobs) instead of cutting it down. If people want to move on to a better/other job that’s their choice. But part of real life is to give opportunity to people. The NBA is finding ways to gain more profit because of the economy and contraction is saving not profitting. If you want to gain more, expand, create.

  • http://sdfjklfl.com Jukai

    Yeah, I really don’t care about other people’s jobs right now. A bottom line is a bottom line, and the product has to improve. Right now, the product ISN’T good, and that’s why all these teams are losing money, and that’s why the NBA is in trouble and going into lockout.
    I’ve been reshuffled so many times in my job right now, and I’ve managed to adapt just fine. Those who lose their jobs will simply have to move.

  • Pugz

    LeDumass. Most arrogant, self-centered person in the world. I swear….

  • Jay Reyes

    when in doubt, ask again… remember that you’re a public figure… anything you say will certainly have an impact…

  • http://www.need4sheed.com Tarzan Cooper

    jukai, the nbas product isnt good? thats only why you talk about it everyday and are a big fan of a team. whatever

  • http://sdfjklfl.com Jukai

    Tarzan: Just cause one person likes it, doesn’t mean it’s a good product to the general populace. That’s not a very hard concept.

  • T-Money

    It’s true, just because we’re on SLAM, a basketball site, it doesn’t mean the NBA, as a product, appeals to casual sports fans unlike the NFL. I suppose we’re “inside-looking-out” for a lack of a better word to describe it.

  • bill breedley

    Sidekick is a dumbass who
    Shouldve at least attended one English class in high school. Even my leftnut knows what contraction is. Either the queen is a liar or one hell of a retard. I think he is more or the later. No ring and no brain

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    If the “powers that be” find a way to get kids to stay in school longer, learn the game, the overall product will be better, and the concept of contraction shall cease to exist.
    For a while, anyway.
    People (players and common gentiles, alike) will not have to have a “diaspora”, so to speak, and all shall be well in the wonderful world of basketball.
    And, the money shall be plentiful and good.
    Milk and honey.
    They have to get kids to buy into learning the game before they reach the professional level.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    *In my humble opinion*

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » LeBron James Offended the Nets With Contraction Talk

  • JD

    Imagine if if contraction goes ahead and the cavs get taken out cos of it, imagine the amount of hatred lebron will get in cleveland then

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » LeBron James Believes he Won’t be MVP

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