LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

Yeah but that's a small bump in the road. The payoff is going from eeking out wins, to blowing folks out with regularity.

 

When LeBron is watching us play, the gears are turning. It isn't disinterest. He now knows what he needs to bring to make us even better. I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm but I believe we are getting ready to become the best team the league has seen in a long time. A little speed bump isn't going to stop us. I'm not even sure it is going to happen.

 

jj went away from playing a center entirely in the playoffs, and we've gone centerless for stretches this year, too.

my preference would still be to find an athletic POA defender as pioneer just mentioned, but we need old lebron closer to the hoop on both ends as often as possible, imo. we'll still play most minutes with a center, though, i imagine.

the source: um...pob relinka.

 

LeBron was the best off ball scorer in the league last season, by FG% on Cuts and eFG% on Catch & Shoot 3's. (From Reddit)

 

Nonsense! Sooner he’s gone we can really get this team cooking.



Am I doing it right?

 

yeah, i should have qualified my comments a bit--catch and shoot threes are fine by me. threes of the dribble (he was 33% there last year vs. 42% on c&s), rolled up newspaper.

btw, one reason his pullups bother me more than luka's (other than luka shooting 37% on those last year) is that it really felt like teams were baiting us into those, whereas teams actively try to prevent luka from taking them, which helps the offense in other ways.

 

The LeBron dribble for 20 seconds and then step back to the left three at every end of game or quarter situation was sooo annoying.

I get it… he couldn’t beat his man and the help anymore. But it hardly ever worked and teams were happy we took that shot. But to be fair, those pretty well disappeared when the fat boy arrived.

 

This is a really solid point, does LeBron at the four help sure up our defense more than Rui? He’s certainly a better defender and rebounder.

We’d then have two high quality screening options on the floor (Ayton and Lebron) and two high quality initiators (Reaves and Luka). If we can get those four guys playing together really well with high chemistry, I think we’ll be a dangerous team.

So I’m really excited for that and I’d then probably prefer Smart to round out our starting unit. Rui gives us shooting and cutting - but most likely his mid range game will be minimised with the starters. While smart lowers our offensive ceiling, his defense could be crucial. We’d then have three positive defenders in the starting 5 in Smart, Lebron and Ayton.

 

I'm confident we'll see less of the LeBron step back threes after holding the ball the whole possession. He does that to help preserve his legs down the stretch of a game because he only has so many blow-by's per game left in him at this point. But if he's playing more off-ball generally, I don't think it will be as much of an issue.

 

He's getting close.


Great reaction too

 

Preparing to come off of the bench. This is good.

 

LeBron cleared for 5 on 5

 

We play tonight @OKC, back-to-back Friday @Pelicans and Saturday @Bucks. Then its home for the Jazz on Tuesday and then @Jazz the following Sunday.

We're going to hear the "well if you hold him out one more game on Tuesday he gets 5 extra days" argument, but if he's fine I hope he plays on Tuesday. It's going to take a second to integrate him into things, we need the game reps to do so. Plus I'm sure he'd like to hit 65 games and stay eligible for awards if possible.

 

No, you got to get your heart into it. I can help you in the off-season...lol.

 

This would be good. LeBron playing against second units would be entertaining, still get time with Luka and Austin, less minutes played leaves him with more in the tank for the playoffs, could still close games, LeBron could win that elusive 6th man of the year award if he plays enough games. The list goes on. We are winning the championship either way, this team is too good to be denied.

 

I'm actually excited to see how good we are going to be. All stay healthy we will be the best team in the league by a wide margin.

 

OKC and Denver are tough and they have some pieces the Lakers don't have. More POA defenders and bench scoring. Lakers aren't far off but right now we have no idea how old Lebron will play like (pre or post injury Lebron last year was big) and whether they can fill those gaps.

 

The thing is, POA defenders don't bother Luka or Austin. Luka eats em up. Too big and strong for the midgets and too slick for the taller ones. LeBron moves back in as a starter and Rui comes off the bench, we have all the bench scoring we need. With some combination of AR, LeBron and Luka on the court most of the time bench scoring isn't as important. Jake fits in perfectly and the Ayton/Jax two headed monster is just what we need. Smart and Vando give us a tough defensive presence. LeBron was really slowed by injuries to end last season. Given a few games to get rolling, I'm expecting a better version, not worse. Our toughest opponent will be health.

Edit: And we have Victor Von Frankenstein as our coach. I fear no team.