LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

No.

 

Just don't understand these takes: yeah he had two lazy a** TO's in the second but he was awesome on the glass and D.
With Rui and Reaves going off, he played the corner outlet and drilled a 3 within the flow of offense.

Lebron in the 4th was on Tyus Jones which made the PnR mute as if JJJ, he went and defended him too. I thought AD and Lebron were awesome on defense. Ja got a little hot but when he cooled (prior to the injury) they had that team lockdown. Let JJJ get his and shut everyone else down

 

And Magic was called Tragic Johnson after he choked against the C Bags the first time they met up in the Finals. Magic is my favorite all time but these guys were all questioned - we just don't remember it because like all great player the great far outweighs the negatives

 

Oh for sure! I just finished Best of Enemies. I grew up in the 80s and then watching this docuseries just reminded me how gnarly things were back then. The bullying absolutely got to magic in 84. But then he redeemed himself. Maybe Lebron could too, or maybe not. I tend to think not.

 

Honestly don't understand this take. He lost to Dallas and rightfully was the heel of maybe the entire sports world. Left his hometown with the Decision, made a super team and fell flat on his face.

His Game 6 against Boston (the Lebron face) is an absolute testament to him redeeming himself

 

With the Grizz being small, especially if they're going to play JJJ with 2 SGs and 2 PGs like they did for a bit in the 2nd half I want Bron the big man in full display. That's just easy buckets.

Not a great offensive game, but we didn't need him to carry it with how well AR, Rui, and DLO performed. It looked like he was pacing himself a bit for a second half push and then was like "oh, nevermind" after the AR/Rui showcase.

Bron was big on the glass, blocks (and the threat of), and help side in the paint. Also noticed an active level of boxing out the Grizz players so AD or someone else could get to the rebound.


If we focus our tape on slowing down JJJ, Bron will have to be more involved there. But honestly if he cooks and they have nothing else, does it matter?

 

As was his coming back from 1-3 in the finals. He’s had redeeming moments against basketball pressure. I’m talking about his psychology as a person. I think he’s an overly sensitive narcissistic wuss who would not do well with thugs trying to hurt him.

 

Umm ok he went against guys Artest, Draymond, Igoudala, Bowen etc. And like Shaq he takes a huge amount of hits that other guys would be on the ground screaming they got shot.

Lot of things to criticize Lebron his toughness isn't one of them s/p that Dallas series

 

Sorry but have to disagree my dude. Lebron was crying on the floor acting like he got shot when chandler set that hard pick on him. Nothing Artest, Iggy, Bowen did was close to the outright thuggery that often happened in the 80s.

I don’t want to pull out the “I’m a therapist so I know emotional weakness when I see it”, but there’s just mountains of little incidents on and off the court for 20 years that emotionally secure people don’t do.

 

Hell of a career thus far in spite of such.

 

No doubt. I’m splitting incredibly petty hairs here.

 

great way to put it--possessional lebron. when he's not taking possessions off, we're so much better. can he do it for a long run on that foot, at his age? maybe not. but you can see what's possible when he's not pointing at other guys to box out like he often did during the regular season.

 

Stop talking about his foot. I want to forget about it and it doesn’t seem to be bothering him. The level of athleticism and vertical explosion he can still pull off at his age as evidenced by his vertical Sports Center worthy plays tonight is amazing. Equally wonderful is he didn’t play any LeBron Ball and let the game come to everyone and got his in the flow of the game. But damn!! Stop with the Westbrook level stupid passing turnovers. Other than that nice game from him.

 

I hate Boston more than almost anyone but this is just wrong.

 

For Panko

 

Absolutely insane to me that anyone would think Bird particularly before the back injuries wouldn't be doing exactly what Luka can do now and maybe even better.

Bird was huge 6'8 69 ish and could handle the ball just like Lebron and Luka, was strong, and was a way better shooter. In this era Bird would be throwing up 10 plus 3 games again and he was the best shooter I ever saw before Steph came around

 

Bird was the scariest player I ever watched. He was so good that it didn't matter how much better your team was. You could never feel safe. The guy could do it all and never gave an inch. Discounting Bird as one of the greatest to ever play is revealing. In my opinion Luka is not close to the Legend.

 

This is what I mean by overrated. People itt are discounting actual evidence with "I don't know why he sucked as a 3 pt shooter for 4-5 years, but trust me, he was the best I've ever seen." He made 1 three a game. I repeat. One 3-pt-er per game. His very best year...1.3 treys. "Oh, but nobody in his era shot that many...he would easily shoot 40%+ on 10+ 3PA now, just trust me." This is all pure unfounded speculation, and there is zero evidence to support it. Instead there is evidence to the contrary. Old guys massively overrate his shooting. I can't help it , it is what it is. He's a guy who made 1 three a game. You can imagine he would do otherwise, but that's all it is, imagination and guessing. Feel free to rebut this with evidence instead of wild unsupported speculation.

 

again, too hard to compare across eras. luka has looked like a magic/bird hybrid to me.

i also think shooting stats can be misleading in both directions. it's rare to have high volume, difficult shots at a high percentage. curry is basically one of one, imo. stats would say luka and harden are bad shooters, but...they're definitely not. nobody in their right mind would leave them open anywhere. same with bird. guys just didn't have the green light (not even bird!) to take so many threes back then. we can't know if he could. but i also agree that we can't just assume bird would master the stepback, etc.