LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

This seems like the best strategy to beat the Lakers and I expect it to be the focus in the playoffs. Wear down LeBron and make the outside shooters beat you. That’s why Kuz getting on track is critical, we need young legs to help get through the season, and we need better 3pt shooting from our specialists.

 

These are the games that make me mad about Lebron. He know we was with out AD, he should have been ready to come out and get 40. I'm happy he likes to get the team involved, but damn man be more aggressive. And dude you ain't Ray Allen man, use your strengths, especially when we are down a few guys. And the free throws? Dont get me started. We should have won this game. Hopefully it's a wake up because we got a hell of a test tomorrow and there going to be gunning for us after their loss. Ok on to the next game, I'm done venting

 

He's 35.

17 seasons in, and lots of miles on those legs; I thought we would be getting those types of performances more frequently because of his age, but he's been great all year...

At some point, we need to get him some rest.

 

If we are smart, we’re keeping him to about 30 minutes a game for the long-haul.

 

Or just take games off completely.

 

We should have just sat LeBron last night - I know LeBron wants to play, but you need to save him from himself.

I want to actually see this team play without LeBron - for some reason, I feel like they can still win even without LeBron and AD.

Our DEFENSE keeps us in most games and I feel we can hang with other teams without our stars.

 

His first step is fading as the season is progressed so he's settling more for the long 3's
Coach has to get on him to get in the post more as the PnR game is going to be an issue going forward without some rest to get his legs back

 

I have pretty much given up on him having a post game. The reality is he’s a very large and strong athlete, and lacks touch around the basket and is not very nimble with his handle.

with a full head of steam, he is difficult to stop, but there is no denying his limitations. he backed a guy down in the post yesterday, it looked like it took extreme effort, and much more than you should have with somebody who had good footwork and technique.

he is essentially limited to bully ball, with flashes of some finesse and three-point touch. His size and strength covers over a bunch of his weaknesses, as does his ability to see the floor and be a threat to get others involved.

I accept these limitations, and understand his positives outweigh any of the negatives. It’s just still hard to see who our closer is if LeBron‘s best move is to drive and dish in crunch time. We still lack a player who can create his own shot and get to the hoop and finish consistently.

we see flashes from LeBron and Anthony Davis, but I don’t think it’s enough. good defense of teams will take away our first couple of options, and if the three ball is not falling, we’re in Danger of being exposed.

 

Actually the opposite on many nights I think. Last night twer'nt one of them.

 

That is the modern NBA though: I think your underrating Lebron's post game a bit here as he definitely was able to operate well out of the mid post area particularly where he can face up as an option (the Miami/SAS are great examples of this). But with AD in there that means AD has to be at the 3 point line. Luckily this is what makes him unique as he can do it. It still comes down to being able to hit the 3 though: The Cavs/Warriors in Durant's first year was actually an underrated series as the Games 3 and 4 basically came down to Durant hitting a 3 while Korver missed a wide-open 3 to seal the game.

No different than when Phil Jackson traded away Elden Campbell to move Horry a lifelong 3 to the 4 so that the lakers could have the spacing around Shaq. Luckily for the Lakers Horry never seemed to miss when it counted the most from 3. Last night Caruso played well but but unlike Horry he didn't hit that open 3 so game over

 

And yet with all of these limitations, Bron took down the mighty Warriors with a bunch of role players. He's older now but he also got better at some of his weaknesses. We also have a better player in AD than he's ever played with. AD doesn't have to create IMO, just draw a play where he gets the ball in or near the post and it's game over for the other team. He's been very effective down there and he's also one of the best FT shooters in the league. Barring injuries, I'm not worried about our options in crunch time.

 

i wouldn't call kyrie and kevin love role players

he did take the 07 cavs to the finals all by himself though

 

I agree that all of his positives outweigh the negatives, so going forward I don’t even think they are worth bringing up that much. Free throws maybe lol

And I agree that the offensive threat between the two of them (AD) is substantial, but I do hope that we have that third option that consistently emerges.

how ridiculously high has the Bar been set when fans are complaining about a near triple double though? He is carrying a pretty incredible load at his age and mileage

 

i've said it before, but i think lebron probably weighed the options of developing a high and low post game--which he could do and would age well--against developing the stepback three and realized that with the way the league is set up, jacking up 30 footers is the right move. the league should fix that, but they haven't, so why should he spend his time working on olajuwon footwork when he can lazy harden it like everyone else and be better at it than most of them. it will probably lengthen his career more than the alternative, too.

i'm just glad he decided to play defense again. last year was not good in that regard.

 

Spoiler: NSFW reference material

 

Chunky GP is in his feelings

 

Liked GP, I’ve always.

 

Nice to see some C Bags getting some blowback

 

Skip is soooo unfair