LABron James Discussion: Olympics MVP

Yeah we're gonna be back to running Bron ball before we know it.. At his age it's just not gonna be sustainable. He's fresh right now cause its the beginning of the season but his body will wear down with all the additional movement handling the ball up top after a month or so.

 

Lakers won't win many (if any) away games against good teams with Bron playing 30 minutes or less .

Pulling him out with 8+ minutes left in the 4th only down 4 was the game here ...

 

imo, gordon looks good because he's surrounded by shooters. he struggled elsewhere because he's a bad shooter who needs a LOT of space to operate offensively. he is really important for them defensively, though, as basically is the one who allows jokic to just sit back in the paint on most possessions.

i still think their defense is greater than the sum of its parts, and that's often due to coaching. mpj isn't a good defender at all. murray's really not great, either. kcp is very good, as is gordon, and jokic can be exploited and was in the past. i'm pretty impressed that they're not a bad defensive team.

 

if we can't, we need to pack it up. because we can't play lebron ball for 82 games again. and honestly, lebron ball isn't winning basketball anymore. he's almost 40. if he can't take a smaller role on offense, we're in trouble.

good news is every night isn't the home opener for the fully healthy defending champs who think about us every moment of their existence.

 

It's just the reality we're in .. He's still our best offensive guy , there is enough evidence for me that AD isn't able to take this title/spot from him

We're not winning at SAC or even at home against the Suns with Lebron playing 29 minutes.

He can play less against the likes of Orlando , Blazers or Houston .

Playing 35-36 minutes doesn't mean he has to dominate the ball and jack up bad threes .

Using him more as a screener , cutter or even catch and shoot guy is the way to go

 

problem is that's exactly what he was asking for, i think. imo, it's a good sign that ham didn't cave there.

 

True it's one just game though ... I'm overreacting because as you said it was like watching Game 5 of the WCF .

but let's not put ourselves in an early hole ( which only will result in Lebron being obliged to play more minutes later in the season) by having a strict minutes restriction for Lebron to start the season.

If he needs to play 35-36 minutes to win tonight so be it

 

we have experience in letting an aging high mileage star shorten his career by not controlling his minutes

I don't think we do that again

and if we do, shame on us, and be prepared for the likely outcome.

 

i can see both sides; as i said earlier, i think the team didn't want this win as much as the fans did. there are 81 other games.

 

Yeah I think situationally there should be grounds for him to play above. But being extremely sensible with it.
Down by 4 with 8min left against one of our rivals for the West is one of those games. If the same happens against the Suns, I would play him more time too.
You can balance in the next game and play him 25min or so

We had no business winning that game though, we were outplayed all game.
I'm also fine in having LeBron-Reaves-Prince-Rui-center. Prince is already taking one of the guards and Rui can take the best forward so you can still hide him on defense.
I still don't trust Gabe at the moment to run our offense for 20min

 

i didn't see the entire game, but from what i did see, we weren't going to win under any circumstance.

and i don't think it's as easy as just playing him less the next game. you really going to play lebron 22 minutes to make up for when you play him 38? do you trust yourself as a coach to be able to do that?

i don't like the lineup you suggest for defensive purposes. we'll give up easy dribble penetration without the other team even having to run a set.

 

Yeah I don't know the ins and outs of the physical wear and tear of playing +30 or under 30. I just think that we get too attached to these numbers. It's literally 5 mins more or less, which is nothing. You may not even touch the ball. There may be some FTs and the pace is low. So many considerations.
I think the 30mins mark is just a precaution and the effect is more on the combination in multiple games than one game in isolation. If you want to manage him, you've to set a mark and they decided for 30. I don't think something bad happens if he plays 35 one night.

On the rotation, it's pretty much what we did with the starting lineup. Prince was on Murray, Dlo on KCP and Reaves on MPJ. Difference is you're getting Rui on MPJ and Reaves on KCP, doesn't bother me. If you use Prince at the 3 and make him defend a guard, LeBron is still guarding the 4.

 

yeah, i don't think you can guard murray with prince, nor mpj with rui (they run him off screens).

 

Slow start, but showed out to secure the W.

 

+22 in 35 minutes. Crazy how good he still is. Tuesday's game, he was +7. Lakers gotta find a way to not lose lose these leads when LeBron is out.

 

Ball looks way better in his hands. Other guards need to step up offensively

 

Guess he is still the face of this Franchise.

 

LeCoach took over in the fourth. Player coach not a bad idea.