LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

they can bother jamal murray, though, who's used our lack thereof against us a lot.

i agree that at full strength we present unique challenges for the thunder with our giant wings. i'm not sure we can stop them on the other end, though.

i'd have denver and okc ahead of us right now. we'll see if we can turn those expirings into one more very nicely fitting rotation player for the playoff run.

 

Smart balances this out quite a bit, he bothers everyone. I'm all for cautiously improving, but even the way we are I'm pretty confident.

 

I was and remain very optimistic about this team: if you look at all 3 of the ayton, laravia, and smart I liked all 3 and I've been consistently the biggest booster of Ayton.
So that being said some of this stuff seems insane to me to count on

Vando has been played out of every single playoff series he's been in and he's been just as bad on offense this year or even worse. There is absolutely no indication based on eye test, stats, what so ever that he's playable now in the playoff

Victor Von Frankenstein literally s*** in his pants last playoffs

And with regards to the wings others like @abeer3 have pointed is that the Lakers have lack athleticism at the POA which makes the defense vulnerable. Atlanta was slicing up the Lakers with trash and even Charlotte by going to the 5 out offense to neutralize the Lakers size.

Lakers are very good and I'd put them solidly as a second tier contender but you if watch some of these other teams like Denver and OKC man you can see how they're just more complete. (Oddly I think the Lakers especially with Lebron and Luka together can really give OKC trouble as Dort/Caruso are too small for them). That's one of the reason I don't want to fall into the trap with thoughts like Vando and JJ are somehow expected to outperform their peers in the playoffs. The lakers are very close and if they can make 1 or 2 moves they can really cook and I can share your optimism.

 

I think OKC will remain the deepest team, regardless of what we trade for.
That being said, our top three players are better than their top three.
The biggest difference is their level of defense- it’s much better than where we currently are at.

 

True, and we'll never match their defense with Luka and AR on the roster. We need to play to our strength, which is our offense. The Nuggets were 5th on offense and 15th on defense in 2022-2023, their championship year. That needs be our blueprint. Surround Luka/AR with good enough defenders to hopefully be above average on defense.

 

Lakers missed LeBron young legs vs okc

 

yeah, denver's the blueprint for us, with the advantage that we should, in theory, not have to cover the center position on defense, which is one of the harder things to do, imo. it took denver a while to figure it out, but they did (though i'd argue okc still beat them by exploiting jokic on defense).

 

You need athletes around Luka and Austin ..

Not easy to find/get with the Lakers current assets/salary cap situation.

Luka style of play isn't great against the best defenses too . You need to move the ball and bodies and take quick decisions

 

P&R … P&R … P&R … P&R

 

This was a crap game we weren't ready for...lol. I'm just throwing it out as it really doesn't reflect our team or future performance. I do give OKC credit as they play a fun style of ball.

 

Lakers miss Lebron period - this road trip is making it glaring. Lakers have some athletic guys in Hayes and Vando but if rested Lebron is still the most athletic Laker, one of their better 3 point shooters, best passers, best off ball players, even defender

 

i actually disagree here. i think luka ball is MORE effective against better defenses, as evidenced by his teams in dallas often overperforming expectations in the playoffs. less ball and player movement = fewer turnovers. good defenses take away the low hanging fruit (dunks and corner threes) that great ball movement creates.

i don't enjoy watching it as much, but it's effective when you have a guy who can just be the whole engine. hell, okc basically just ran the SGA offense in the playoffs, imo.

 

Defense wins championships. Ask Nico

 

Magic had 4 good defenders around him. I don't know if Austin can coexist with luka.

 

It works if you are taking care of the ball and have a good defense and rebounding team on the other end .. 2020 Lakers ish

 

Don't sweat this too much. I reviewed it as much as I could stand. We played some lazy a$$ basketball on both ends. Sometimes a little embarrassment can go a long way.

 

The old man should be back, and fully up to speed, by the Christmas day games. Call me overly optimistic, but I believe LeBron takes this bunch into legit contender status. By mid January, we may be talking about, only needing a minor move pre playoffs.