LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

Think he needs some time off before the playoffs - he missed some And 1s and drives. This was stuff he was making recently and more along how he looked when he just got back and was out of shape.

 

Next for LeBron? NBA insiders on Lakers

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48323320/next-lebron-nba-insiders-lakers-warriors-cavs-free-agency-options

 

you just don't want denver in round 1. you're going to be on the road in round 2 against a heavy favorite regardless. only reason 3/4 matters is if both us and denver upset the top seeds, you'd have home court in the conference finals. that's pretty unlikely, so the magic numbers in my head are to stay at 4. need to go 4-3 to ensure that. we have three games that we'll be favored in down the stretch. but if minny and houston each lose any game (they have one against each other, so there's one for one of them), we stay head even if we go 3-4.

i'm curious to see how okc and sas play it. i'm guessing both would prefer us to denver in round 2. will they adjust strategy if manipulating that becomes possible?

 

Yeah, that’s game over. When you got Lebron playing the Draymond / Gordon role, and he isn’t exhausted. He is putting so much pressure on the opposition as a screener that gets the pass. He’ll jam on you, shoot, kick out to an open 3 or set up a team mate cutting for an easy score.

We’ll have lots of plays like that in the playoffs. What makes it effective is when the primary ball handlers - Luka and AR have their 3 ball going and the other players on the floor can’t be helped off of.

That’s a thank you and good night.

 

Ppl keep talking about LeBron going back to Cleveland if he wants to win another ring it makes no sense. They’re not contenders even with him. He has a better chance of winning with us if he takes a pay cut.

 

Nuggets will be a tough team to beat for any team. They went 7 games against the Wolves and then 7 games against OKC.

The bracket the Lakers are in right now is pretty good. I'd like the Lakers to face the Wolves but Houston's lack of PG and KD looking visibly tired out there makes for an appealing matchup for the Lakers. Then you against the Spurs which will be tough but hopefully some inexperience comes into play here.

OKC will have a tough bracket if they're getting the Suns (hopefully) round 1 and then the Nuggets round 2. Should be a fun series. Hopefully they beat each other up for 7 games, the Lakers can beat the Spurs in 5-6 games, and then they get some rest to play the WCF.

I wouldn't rule out Nuggets making it to the WCF. I think they match up fairly well against them.

 

Yep!! Especially if we can sign one or two more 3D types. Frankly, we have a shot without him but I will concede that we would likely have a better shot with him.

 

LeBron leaving impacts mostly 2 areas that the team needs to address in the summer as we don't have in-house cover for that.

One is rebounding in the wings. If we get Ellis or Dort we would suffer in that regard. Eason or Watson can help on that, so something to consider.

Then is a ball handler. Luka and AR will carry the load but we don't have a 3rd guy. Kennard and Smart can do some, but basically any game Luka/AR miss, we're in bad shape. Plus, AR can have rough nights so having a 3rd guy that can take some of that pressure from the 2 main guys can be helpful.
Even someone like Jordan Clarkson could help

 

second star lebron can walk for all i care, but ledraymond needs to stay! i think he realized that as the season went on, too. i still think he had decided he was going to cleveland in august, but slowly realized that the situation was actually still better here.

speaking of, i'm officially on high alert re: C Bags. the way things have gone, they're basically a lock to go the finals, and whoever comes out of the west will probably have barely won a war of attrition. their chance to get another ring is excellent, unfortunately.