{"id":11967,"date":"2018-01-28T22:19:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T22:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/?p=11967"},"modified":"2018-01-31T23:42:20","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T23:42:20","slug":"lebrons-championship-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/lebrons-championship-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron’s Championship Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Am I dreaming? I hope so and we aren\u2019t really getting bushwhacked by Oklahoma City and surrendering forty-three points in the first quarter to trail by nineteen. Despite shooting well we\u2019re down sixteen at halftime and twenty after three quarters and let the gathering Thunder hit fifty-eight percent while they hang a hundred forty-eight on us. That\u2019s ghastly anywhere, especially in our gym. Four opponents score twenty-three points or more, Paul George notching thirty-six and big Steve Adams nailing twelve of thirteen from the field. Where\u2019s our defense? I hope I wake up soon. Don\u2019t tell me we\u2019re giving up a hundred ten points a game and have also recently yielded a hundred thirty-three and twice a hundred twenty-seven. <\/p>\n

\tReally, I know we\u2019re not going to win the NBA championship this year, so I\u2019ll forget the present and turn this nightmare into a sweet dream as I envision playing next year for the Houston Rockets with all-pro guards James Harden and Chris Paul and great young center Clint Capela. They might beat the Golden State Warriors this season but probably not. With me next year we\u2019d not only win the NBA crown, we\u2019d have the greatest team ever. But how am I going to get to Houston. I suppose I could just roll into town. They\u2019d take me. But how much could they pay? I\u2019ve often played for less than the maximum and sacrificed to win titles. If the Rockets traded or bought out enough journeymen, it might work, and I wouldn\u2019t worry what critics say. I only joined two stars in Miami in 2010. Kevin Durant embraced three stalwarts last year in Golden State. I\u2019d be doing the same in Houston. I must do something.<\/p>\n

\tI can\u2019t join the Lakers. They have some fine young talent but aren\u2019t approaching championship or even winning play. Imagine if I went there and exposed myself to LaVar Ball\u2019s probable complaints that I\u2019m getting old and the the sole reason his errant-shooting son Lonzo isn\u2019t winning titles. No, I ain\u2019t listening to that smack, and you know it would come. I like Lonzo, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and some other promising players on the Lakers but they\u2019re at least two years shy of LeBron time.<\/p>\n

\tOkay, what about the other team in Staples Center, the Clippers? They\u2019ve got Blake Griffin, still a fine albeit injury-diminished player, rebounder par excellence DeAndre Jordan, and sweet Lou Williams, a scoring machine. We\u2019d be damn good but we\u2019d still be the Clippers and that scares me. Maybe it shouldn\u2019t, but it does. Donald Sterling might don disguises and start attending games. With the Clippers, something would happen. <\/p>\n

\tI know. I could join the second or third best team in the league. I\u2019d keep signing a secret, and the first day of practice there I\u2019d be, in Boston. Imagine Kyrie Irving\u2019s response. Mouth agape, tears forming in saucer eyes, knees knocking, he\u2019d howl what the hell\u2019s this and run out of the gym, moaning he won\u2019t play with that guy because he\u2019s gotta be the guy. That\u2019s a shame because Kyrie and I would lead the Celtics to glories unimagined since the era of Bill Russell. <\/p>\n

\tSince I don\u2019t lack money, only titles \u2013 three are historically insufficient \u2013 I might be willing to play for chickenfeed, the NBA minimum salary of about three million bucks. That\u2019s no misprint, I\u2019d concede more than thirty million a season in order to slide on, say, three more rings. That\u2019ll certainly happen if I join the Warriors. Can you envision a backcourt of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson firing over a front line of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and LeBron Raymone James? Who would play center, you might lament? Green would and so would I and even Durant. And we\u2019d still have big bodies coming off the bench to plug the middle. We\u2019d be even better than LeBron and the Rockets or King James and the Celtics. We\u2019d dwarf the Showtime Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar in the eighties. We\u2019d even overwhelm last year\u2019s Warriors who pummeled us in the NBA finals. <\/p>\n

\tDamn, I won\u2019t let a ringing phone ruin my fantasies. Who the hell is it? Dan Gilbert. He\u2019s demanding I sign long-term with Cleveland. Hell no I won\u2019t. He promises to bring in Paul George and DeAndre Jordan. What do I think of that? I don\u2019t think he can deliver those two and even if he did I\u2019d still be working for him and don\u2019t want to anymore. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m returning to my dreams. They may turn into nightmares, says Gilbert.<\/p>\n

(Review of \u201cBasketball and Football\u201d by the Sports Book Guy, Lance Smith) \u2013 \u201c\u2018Basketball and Football\u2019 is a very entertaining collection of essays and short stories about these two sports… There wasn’t a single story I did not like. Each one showcased the author’s writing talent, which is plentiful and beautiful to read… (The Book) is a page-turner that is hard to put down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball and Football\u201d on Amazon.com <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball and Football\u201d on Apple, Barnes & Nobles, Kobo, and Wherever Books Are Sold <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Am I dreaming? I hope so and we aren\u2019t really getting bushwhacked by Oklahoma City and surrendering forty-three points in the first quarter to trail by nineteen. Despite shooting well we\u2019re down sixteen at halftime and twenty after three quarters and let the gathering Thunder hit fifty-eight percent while they hang a hundred forty-eight on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,1661,153,353,1154,387,350,1141,1344,344,1068,1342],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeBron's Championship Dreams - George Thomas Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/georgethomasclark.com\/lebrons-championship-dreams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LeBron's Championship Dreams - George Thomas Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Am I dreaming? 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