LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

and let's not forget the Russell Westbrick experiment with LeGM....

I'm not even trying to forget about that.

 

i'll never understand lakers fans trashing lebron after he single handedly saved the franchise from hell and led them to a title a few years later

just shows how f***ing spoiled we are as lakers fans

 

i think it's possible to appreciate him saving the franchise while recognizing that he also causes some problems. honestly, if he didn't agitate for personnel moves every three months, i wouldn't have any problems with him.

 

We are definitely spoiled and entitled …. some much worse than others.

 

The hilarious part is that some think LeBron singlehandedly saved the franchise. There is a bron meme on x you guys might like...lol. Some might think AD and others played a role in that championship as well. Besides that championship what has LeBron done to save the franchise? Financially speaking, he is great, basketball wise, not so much. He is pretty much singlehandedly undoing any good that he did do by playing LeGM. If having a different opinion makes one spoiled and entitled, then guilty as charged...lol. Now back to your regularly scheduled LeBron Praise and Worship hour.

 

the championship is exactly how he saved the franchise.......

 

aside from the westbrick debacle, what moves has he been responsible for?

 

AD the obvious and biggest and best …. played a huge part in wooing and convincing him plus AD switched to clutch LeBron’s first season in LA didn’t he?

 

I had better begin working on my ode to basketball. The NBA will soon be a defunct league. When LeBron retires basketball as we know it will end, dreams will be crushed, kids everywhere will be turning to paddleball to fill the void. The Jones family must be told.

The level of LeBroninsanity is stunning...lol.

 

Wow you’ve kid of gone way overboard on the opposite direction. No LeBron, no AD. No? And if addressing my part in the “spoiled” fan me adding entitled …. many will disagree but I mean it for the group with the ring is the ONLY thing. They think the regular season is meaningless because we’re the Lakers and championships are all that matter … whereas some of us as well actually enjoy the 82 games … especially if some good basketball frequently gets played and we’re competitive so with the luck of health we may have a puncher’s chance at a ring come playoff time. James is still 1/2 of that punchers chance … like him or not.

 

I'm not sure if Lebron is gming anymore after that Westbrook debacle (AD, and the front office were also on board for that). According to Woj, he also has no say on the last 2 head coaching hires. The front office needs to start accepting responsibility for their own moves.

 

Look guys, here's our new 3 and D!

 

Nobody is guarding him, meh.

 

I think if anyone has saved the franchise, it's clearly Linda. or Kurt. Or Rob.

Lebron came here because it was good for him and his family. He only does things that are good for him - it's how he operates. So while we're glad he was part of a championship team, he's not infallable, and the tread is coming off the tires, and now we get the aging superstar act that is so fun to watch.

 

Weeeeeeee. Waiting for that 3 year deal.

Think it might be a 1+1.

Tread is coming off, but he's still good.

I might get in trouble for saying this, but we had to endure the last years of Kobe when he wasn't really performing at LBJ's level. Of course Kobe give us 5 chips and memories for a lifetime, but still, point is that if LBJ can continue playing at this level he did last season at his age, i'll take it.

 

Lebron has played great, but he's not homegrown and can never be in the same breath as Kobe for most Laker fans. He's a genetic marvel, and a great player.

He'll still be highly functioning for as long as he wants to play, but we have a few things to consider moving forward.

• He's going to play in the Olympics at nearly 40 after record minutes on his body. Father time is undefeated. There will be a price to pay this coming season for not taking time off.
• He will continue to decline, but perhaps it will be most glaring on defense and at the rim
• His tendency to throw shade at coaches or management becomes less tolerable when you are not the youthful #1 option a team builds around
• His contract will be an absolute noose if he can't play due to injury, and we basically have no option but to live with whatever he decides he wants to do because - box office. I wish he showed us some tendencies like a Tim Duncan who was willing to take less and a lighter load to get more help in his later playing years. I just don't see Lebron wired to do that, and it's a shame in some ways. I'd respect him more if he did. Pay should be in line with performance. So far I'd say he's earned his pay, but if he signs an extension after playing the Olympics, I'm just not seeing that play out like we'd like.
• Now we need to draft his son who isn't ready for the NBA yet
• Now we might get a coach with zero coaching experience of people over the age of 7 due to his influence
• But thank you for your contribution to getting rid of Ham. That was a disaster.
• Please keep your roster thoughts limited to when you are asked for input.

that is all, carry on.

 

That's all fair criticism. I don't think any of that is outlandish. None of those things will happen, though.

And despite all of that, we'd still be sitting here without a 17th banner with our fingers up our a** if he didn't decide to come here.

I'm glad he did and we have a chance to debate/complain about your aforementioned "wish list" that LeBron won't adhere to.

 

The Laker are a better team with him than without him.

But there is part of me that would still have really enjoyed watching home grown talent compete.

Zubac
Randle
Hart
BI
Ball
Caruso
Reaves
....others

Maybe they don't go anywhere, but there's something special about watching guys you picked and watched develop competing for a chip. Overall, our organization is crazy blessed, and we are for sure spoiled.

 

Sure, and I do like that, but I also like winning. I don't think the next star is coming through the draft in a long, long, time.

We should have kept Zubac & Caruso, though. .

Hopefully, we can add to the team this summer.

 

others have said it, but if lebron doesn't come, no AD. no chance. we couldn't land greg monroe in free agency with the same money milwaukee (or was it detroit) had to offer. we were dead in the water. just him choosing to come here was what saved us. the title was icing.

none. but that failure hasn't stopped him for publicly pushing for changes in ways that a) were unrealistic and b) undermined our attempts to actually make positive changes by weakening our negotiating position (i.e., lakers are desperate, lebron pressuring the front office).

i'm starting to wonder whether lebron's feeding woj stuff. lebron had zero say in the ham hire? i'm dubious. very dubious.

i guess this is to justify him completely undermining ham (again, not a ham fan, but your star players obviously and publicly tuning him out...didn't help). i'm sure he'll have say this time, but i don't have confidence that he won't turn on whomever we hire the moment things go south. he had all the say in bringing in russ and turned on russ and the front office at the first inkling of a problem. again, not a russ fan (at all) or a ham fan (at all), but the idea that if we just let lebron make decisions, things will be fine, is naive bordering on catastrophic.

and i've said to let him pick the coach. make it known that he did. that way at least we won't have to deal with this "i had no say" whispering to the media when we underperform as a team. wasn't ham who missed the open three that would have won the playoff game.

that's a 13th place team that you'd hate and be trashing left and right, sirron.