LABron James Discussion: 21st Season - Setting New Standards

Discussion in 'Lakers Discussion' started by therealdeal, Jun 8, 2017.

  1. gcclaker

    gcclaker Moderator Staff Member

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    James will fit into our "pace" philosophy... He can run with our young players and he'd find them for easy scores both on the open floor or half court. My question is how much will James defer to Ball or Ingram so that the latter two can stay engaged...further develop? With James on the floor, will Ball or Ingram become too passive?

    It is a good problem to have... Currently constructed, our young core is so much better than what Cleveland has (no offense to Clarkson and Nance).
     
  2. shoe

    shoe - Rookie -

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    Dude, Durant joined the greatest regular season team of all time. The Dubs offense is still dependent on how much attention Curry gets which allows Durant to be insanely efficient.

    And the only thing i'm comparing between Kobe and LeBron is how they play the game. Kobe is my favorite player of all time, but he played selfish - he just had the highest level of confidence in himself which I loved about him, but how many times did we see him force bad shot after bad shot with 2-3 guys draped all over him. You send a double team at LeBron, he's finding the open guy every single time. When LeBron starts to slow down, that won't change. It's just different ways of playing the game - both highly effective.
     
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  3. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    That's absolutely a fair point and one compounded when you consider Paul George coming with him. There's certain to be less opportunities around, but as long as everyone is pulling in a championship direction, then I don't honestly care. Their development will continue and when they need to step up, they will. They're all so young that they could play with LeBron for four years and STILL not be in their prime.

    The way I view it honestly is like a young Kobe playing with Shaq or a young Magic playing with Kareem. The youth of the former is going to push the talent, skill, and steadiness of the latter. As the latter fades, the former will rise and be more dominant for their patience.
     
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  4. Kenzo

    Kenzo - Lakers All Star -

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    Empty stats, just stats, stats that does not translate to winning but
    35.2/8.2/5.4 vs. 33.6/12/10 is not a total domination.
     
  5. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    I must have missed Lebron dominating.
    I thought he looked lazy and disinterested. He was settling for jumpers and not being aggressive the entire game.

    I think you are underrating our team. Our record since the New Years is 19-12, which is on pace for 50-32 in an entire season. I'm quite certain we'll comfortably get to 50 wins with just the addition of George next season.
     
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  6. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    Dominated...

    Durant played a wonderful Finals and could score when he wanted to. Sure.

    LeBron averaged a triple double. He went for 33.6/12/10/1.4/1 in the Finals. You know who else has done that? Nobody. Nobody has done that. That's 4 years past his prime according to you too, which is all the more impressive.

    It seems clear no amount of arguing is going to change your mind. You've even shrugged off all statistical evidence so far.
     
  7. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I think you're overrating our team. We're playing fabulous basketball right now. This is still not a championship level team and it's unlikely to be one next year with just George (Just George doesn't get us past the Warriors, maybe not the Rockets- and that's assuming George is willing to come alone). Maybe the year after that, but probably not (win a lot of games, but come up short due to inexperience). Perhaps by year four we'll be a true and legitimate contender after the Warriors have fallen apart.

    Or we can just skip those chapters and head right to contention. I'd rather do that.
     
  8. wcsoldier81

    wcsoldier81 - Lakers All Star -

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    Lebron impact is slowing down ( his team has been outscored when he's on the floor this season , minus 26 or something like that) but as the realdeal said it's a no brainer , if he wants to come here , you sign him without thinking twice .

    I enjoy this team development too but the NBA is all about having elite talent and the two only numbers which matters to me are 17 and 16 .

    The sooner the "16" will go up , the better we , as Lakers fans, will feel .
     
  9. gcclaker

    gcclaker Moderator Staff Member

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    I was about to add the question is who will be our go-to-option when a score is needed? Who will have make that key initial stop or help in one? My answer is George if we get him. James is a great set-up man but will impose his will in key moments. I juuust don't trust his offense even if the numbers say to the contrary. We do need to find a way to retain Randle. That physical, relentless presence is hard to find.

    I don't think Ball or Ingram will care too much but will buy into the winning and learn. Kuzma? Oh, he'll thrive and do what he does best...be a scorer, not worry about the other things.
     
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  10. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    I'm not talking about the Dubs vs Cavs in the Finals. I'm talking about the individual matchup of Lebron vs Durant. I don't need to look at numbers to know that Durant annihiated Lebron, especially down the stretch with the game on the line. Lebron doesn't have that killer in him.
     
  11. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    It'll probably depend on match-ups, but I'd say George or LeBron. Probably you put the ball in LeBron's hands and run some screen actions for George. If we've got one shot to win, I would probably trust George over LeBron, but it's a good problem to have.
     
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  12. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    Well that's just the inflation of stats these past few seasons. Westbrook and Harden with triple-double averages, breaking records as well. What does that mean in the big picture? Not much, really.
     
  13. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    I feel like you're trolling at this point.
     
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  14. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    Lebron will just get b**** slapped again by Durant in the Conference Finals :D Durant is his Kryptonite, it's so damn obvious.

    So you think we're only winning 40 games next year if we don't sign a star? That's quite pessimistic.
     
  15. gcclaker

    gcclaker Moderator Staff Member

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    Open floor on the dead run? James. No contest. Those scenarios will happen more given how much we push the ball. Half court off screens or on transitions after a catch? George.
     
  16. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    That's rude. Why would you say that? Inflation of stats is factual.
     
  17. abeer3

    abeer3 - Lakers Legend -

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    hard to say, he spanked him and sent him home in 2012, and then durant couldn't get a date with him until he joined the team that already won a title without him, so...

    inconclusive?

    realistic. just using our record since february or something is fun and all, but our record is 30-37. we can't just pretend the first three months of the season didn't happen and couldn't possibly happen again (on the contrary--it just keeps happening!).

    if we just returned the squad with some new one-year vets while we wait to chase more FAs, you're looking at a .500 team. look at the history of record jumps in the league. you'd be asking ingram and ball to have allstar-type breakout seasons to make this a 50-win team for 82 games. 10-win improvements without significant FA additions are exceedingly rare. hell, 10-win improvements when adding an allstar aren't even that common, i'd wager. particularly if you're starting from 30-40 wins (as opposed to 20).
     
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  18. therealdeal

    therealdeal Moderator Staff Member

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    It's not rude man. You're just flippantly knocking away legitimate arguments with "so what" and "who cares" and "it doesn't matter".

    We've given you statistical evidence that' he's not declining and all you can say is "inflated stats". If that's true, then what Julius did last night isn't that important because stats are inflated (that's not what I believe at all).

    We've proven to you that LeBron didn't get "b**** slapped" by Durant, but no "inflated stats" again.

    You are unwilling to even entertain an opposing view while continuing to spout your own as fact when it's clearly not. If you don't want LeBron, that's fine. I've more than conceded an understanding to that point. When you try to flippantly dismiss all arguments as insignificant just because they don't line up with your predetermined biases, that's not a good way to discuss something. I've conceded that LeBron is a jerk. I've already told you (as well as everyone else) that I don't even really like LeBron.

    That doesn't mean I'm going to sit here and jump through hoops to try to justify my hatred. The guy is one of the all time greats and shrugging off his accomplishments doesn't help your argument, it hurts it. The best arguments against LeBron are the ones that accept he's great, but don't lean on it or don't trust it. Trying to throw around this shade like LeBron got "dominated" by Durant when he clearly didn't just makes your position look worse.
     
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  19. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    That's fair, but Durant has time on his side.

    I'd agree if this were a team constructed mostly with vets, but the wins have come mostly from the development of our kids, which makes the 2nd half of the season a better indicator of where we are as a team.

    The Warriors and Thunder made 24 and 27 win jumps, to 47 and 50 wins, respectively. Now, we may not have the same level of talent, but we certainly have more (quantity) talent, so a 10+ win jump is entirely realistic.
     
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  20. tada

    tada - Lakers All Star -

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    So if I don't agree with your posts I'm trolling? OK then, I partially agree that I'm trolling so you won't think I'm trolling :D

    Lebron WAS unquestionably the "greatest player in world" from around 2011 to 2016, when he started showing signs of slowing down. And in the 2017 Finals, Durant took the reigns from him. In my opinion, Durant won that match up by a landslide. And I think Lebron will keep regressing at a faster pace than most think.

    You're free to disagree of course ;)
     

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