LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

I find it rather amusing, that after a few years of folks around here, screaming that James needed to take a paycut, in order for us to have some roster flexibility. That not one single person on this board, or any of the NBA insiders (experts) predicted, that the Lakers would have the full MLE, and BAE, with Lebron James, NOT....giving up a single dime!

I mean damn...how did everyone miss that possibility?

 

Because they didn’t expect to lose one of our 5 playoff rotation players we desperately needed to keep.

 

Yeah I think we are a tier above and like 10% better if we added Ayton and LaRavia WHILE keeping DFS.

At this point, if we include Rui or Vando in a trade, we need another wing to come in that trade

 

I think you are overrating Finney-Smith.

 

Ayton and Laravia made Finney-Smith irrelevant. He's not a perimeter defender, his niche was defending bigger post players. You don't really need that when you added size.

 

He's the best wing defender of all our wings. It's a loss.
We rebounded well and managed to improve in other areas, but DFS is still the best reliable defender of the wing group.

We would have too many wings then and definitely needed to trade at least one of them, but it would be a nice position where we could trade Rui or Vando and instantly upgrade the roster without losing wing depth.

 

No he was not. Vando was better on the perimeter IMO. Dorian was better than Rui, but he was getting overpowered by Minnesota down low, and he wasn't all that effective against Edwards or McDaniels on the wings. He was a decent player, but he's no Caruso. Kcp, or White..but then again...perimeter D, wasn't his strength.

Even he said, that he was looking forward to Vando coming back, Vando handles up top , while he's holding it down in the paint.

 

DFS was an excellent help and team defender, he just did so many of the little things well. There was so many possessions where he was off ball and would help precisely the right moment before recovering for a close out and then helping again in the paint and securing a rebound. There was two handful of plays every game defensively where he secured the ball, rotated to close out an open shot, helped out on penetration or contest without fouling that were defensive plays.

He isn’t a premier on ball defender though.

 

is that Larvilla guy pretty young?

 

23 birthday November3

 

Austin's adopted little brother

 

https://basketnews.com/news-227576-lebron-james-lakers-departure.html

 

Most disruptive Star ever to the organizations he’s played for. It gets old.

 

i agree. all the breathless stuff in the press about "what if lebron asks for a trade"...ok, do it. that's best case. worst case has always been he just retires, and we have to try to be really creative with cap space (or not even that!).

lebron thinks we can't win it all. i'm not sure he's wrong. our top three guys are minuses on defense (him included, and luka's the least of the minuses, btw!). it's hard to overcome that with how relentless, skilled, and sophisticated most nba offenses are these days.

the only way to build the roster you mention is by moving one of our top three guys.

 

Sorry abeer, don’t agree here.

Luka is not the least of the minuses. He set a record in the playoffs for blow bys in the first 3 games. In the elimination game he allowed 9 blow outs in 16 defensive sequences - that’s absolutely terrible.

You may not like Lebron, but since Luka got here he put more energy towards defence since his offensive load was diminished. In fact I would say Lebron was a significant positive on defense post Luka trading - both on the wing and in the post. Freeing up 36 mins a night of shot creation really helped him.

 

Well...Maybe Austin and Rui simply aren't good enough either? Value of contract doesn't necessarily equate, to the best options for the team to compete for a Championship.

This season should the one, to put this question, at the top of the list, of things that need to be examined. Both of those kids will be looking for a pay increase next season. Austin probably,(no definitely)more of a significant one than Rui.

 

Imagine a version of LeBron next season that's only at like 15ppg, but actually defends and rebounds consistently. An ultimate glue guy type. I think it would be a really cool last chapter for (IMO) the most well-rounder player of all time. Probably not happening, but if it did it would change the complexion of the team drastically.

 

a newly minted statistic that i'm not sure can be applied objectively and i believe was surpassed by noted defender SGA on his way to a ring and finals mvp this year.

D-LEBRON has luka ahead of lebron, and if you're curious, log your eye test and take it to that metric and see if you like it.

tbh, i take luka trying to guard a ballhandler in space over lebron at this point. why are we married to this idea? he's 40. he can't move laterally. don't care if he's thinner, he can't and doesn't do it.

this may be true. and if he commits to that, we'll be an outstanding team.

he doesn't want to, though.

and this isn't directed at you, but i'm tired of being accused of being a lebron hater. i was one of the few people who were pro-lebron at acquisition. that doesn't mean i have to turn a blind eye to his antics and declining play.

anyway, even if luka isn't the least of our defensive minuses (i maintain he is), doesn't matter. he's by far our best player, media voters be damned, and all decisions need to be made through that lens primarily.

 

The feeling is mutual for many of us Laker Faithful- especially since the Westbrick Debacle.