LABron James Discussion: 21st Season - Setting New Standards

The way salaries work is such a cluster f*** because of stupid owners and stupid collective bargaining. In any industry, Lebron taking less money would mean allowing that money he doesn't take to go elsewhere. Not in the NBA. Bird Rights screw that up. If he had taken less, it wouldn't matter. For it to work, a hard cap or an open system would work according to that teams budget. But because their stupid socialistic horse**** rules, this is the result.

 

this is my stance. yes, it's amazing, but i expect it.

if he'd taken less, we'd have more salary slots for trade under the hard cap. beasley and bamba's expiring contracts were worth 25 million. you can get rotation-quality players for that. again, as long as lebron keeps being a superstar, then great, take the big check.

 

LeBron is underpaid

 

possibly. right now. as with AD, though, the big issue is will he play more than 50 games.

yeah, i definitely won't forget this. it's part of why if lebron asked for a trade to keep in contention next year, i'd happily oblige and probably let him have a lot of influence on destination. he bailed the franchise out, completely.

 

Simply amazing numbers and efficiency so far this season at 39 almost. Mind bottling. Keep it up. May the s*** happens injury "devils" stay the hell away. Soft tissue stuff you're on your own with your preparation and battle against @TIME ..... ooops .... errrr .... Father Time.

*** There's about 6 short illustrative for the copy videos in here that were here when I copied the whole article, on this page. Then posted it and POOF they went away. Went back in an edit and copied the copy and video individually on each one. Same thing .... there in front of my eyeballs and then POOF. Here's the link to the article for anyone who has a subscription:

https://theathletic.com/5079133/202...ers-career/?access_token=8156210&redirected=1

How LeBron James keeps raising the bar in his 21st season: ‘It’s me vs. Father Time’
By Jovan Buha
3h ago



Father Time remains undefeated, but LeBron James has him hanging on the ropes.

The moment the 2023-24 NBA season tipped off in Denver, James was already playing at a higher level than any player in league history had after their 20th season. But James has taken that distinction to another level this season.

For starters, he’s averaging more points (26.4 points per game) than the other five players who played a 21st season combined (24.0). But what’s been most impressive about this 21st season is that James, who has already established an unprecedented level of efficiency and longevity throughout his GOAT-level career, has somehow become even more efficient in 2023-24.

Through 13 games, James is posting career-highs in field-goal percentage (58.6 percent), 2-point percentage (68.0 percent), effective field-goal percentage (65.2 percent) and true shooting percentage (67.1 percent). More specifically, he’s logging career-best shooting percentages on shots at the rim (82 percent), long mid-range jumpers (47 percent) and non-corner 3s (40 percent), according to Cleaning the Glass. His 39.7 mark from 3-point range has nearly matched his career-best 40.6 percent from the 2012-13 season.

How is James pulling off his career-best efficiency at his age while dealing with a left calf contusion?

“I don’t know,” James told reporters after the Los Angeles Lakers’ 105-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday. “Show up. Show up, put the work in and then go out and trust it.”

James is showing up and playing at an MVP level for the surging Lakers, who have won five of their past six games largely because of his play. Without his nightly heroics, the Lakers’ slow start could easily have been disastrous. Instead, the Lakers are 8-6 and trending upward.
James remains elite by most advanced metrics. He’s fifth in the NBA in Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM), fifth in Estimated Wins (EW), fourth in Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), sixth in Box Plus-Mins (BPM), eighth in Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and 13th in Win Shares. He currently projects as an All-NBA second-team forward at a minimum, if not a first-team selection. He’s still easily a top-10 player, a remarkable feat.

James has had his cape on in clutch moments, when the score margin is within five points in the final five minutes of a game. He’s tied for second in the league in clutch points (38), first in clutch field goals made (14) and third in clutch field-goal percentage among the 54 players who have attempted at least 10 shots in such situations (70.0 percent). The Lakers are 5-2 in the seven games that James has played that have featured clutch minutes.

Most recently, James scored a then-season-high 35 points to help put away the Portland Trail Blazers in the fourth quarter in a hostile In-Season tournament setting last Friday. Two nights later, he dropped a season-high 37 points on Dillon Brooks and the Rockets, pouring in 23 points in the second half and icing the game with the go-ahead free throw with 1.9 seconds left after he swiveled past Brooks and attacked three Rockets defenders in the paint.

“He was outstanding,” head coach Darvin Ham said of James’ performance vs. Houston. “The LeBron we’ve all come to know and love over these 21 years.”

Only, James is playing differently than he normally has. With the Lakers entrusting the keys to the offense more to D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, James is operating more as a dangerous off-ball threat, where he can leverage his basketball IQ, strength and athleticism in space. James is creating his own offense less often than ever. The percentage of his 2-point (48.0 percent) and 3-point baskets (75.9 percent) that are assisted by others are career-highs, according to Basktball-Reference.com.

His play-type usage has also marginally increased in several notable categories: he’s being used more off screens (up from 1.9 percent last season to 3.6 percent this season), as the roller in pick-and-rolls (up from 4.5 percent last season to 5.9 percent this season), in hand-offs (up from 3.4 percent last season to 6.2 percent this season) and in spot-ups (up from 9.5 percent last season to 11.4 percent this season), according to NBA.com’s player tracking stats.

Though most of these percentages are teeny upticks, they add up to a different offensive approach for James.

No Laker has benefitted more from the Lakers’ increased spacing – at least when their new five-out offense is functioning properly – than James. Los Angeles has progressively used him in more creative ways, leveraging his ability to read his own defender, teammates and the rest of the defense at superspeed.

Here’s an example: Reaves passes the ball to Jaxson Hayes and cuts away to screen for James, who immediately flows into receiving a dribble hand-off from Hayes. With a head start from the initial action, James blasts past Sacramento Kings big man Domantas Sabonis to draw a shooting foul.





On this variation of a similar action, Russell is bringing the ball up the floor as Anthony Davis screens for James to flare out to the other side of the arc. Russell bounces an entry pass to Davis and then sets a screen for James, freeing James up to grab a hand-off from Davis, pump-fake as defender David Roddy recovers and then takes one dribble to finish at the rim. (Davis’ timely roll certainly helps, as it drags his defender, Bismack Biyombo, away from the fray.)


Sometimes, the Lakers will be even more direct in getting James downhill off a screen. This time, Reaves dribbles up the right side of the floor and Christian Wood screens for James on the opposite side, allowing him to either flare, cut or curl, depending on how the defender reacts to the screen. In this instance, James takes a wider approach before accelerating toward the basket, using one dribble and his shoulder to clear out Orlando Magic big man Goga Bitadze for the finger roll.



“He’s playing phenomenal right now,” Davis said Sunday. “His shot is falling. He’s attacking the paint, making the right reads, doing it on the defensive end. He’s doing it all for us and it’s our job to try to compliment him and help him out with our shot-making or playmaking.”

Forty-seven percent of James’ shot attempts this season have come at the rim, his highest share from that distance since 2018-19, his first season in Los Angeles, according to Cleaning the Glass. That includes dunking more — or at least trying to — with 7.3 percent of his field-goal attempts being dunks, also his highest percentage since the 2018-19 season (8.1 percent).

“(My teammates have) been joking about me, saying that I lay the ball up too much when I got an open lane,” James said.


But James has been just as lethal beyond the arc, which is an important development for the Lakers’ crunch-time and playoff offense.

This is a more deceptive set: Russell and Davis run a quick two-man game, diverting the Trail Blazers’ attention away from James, who’s positioning to curl behind a Davis screen into an open 3-pointer at the top of the arc. James’ defender, Jerami Grant, is a step behind and goes under the screen. Bang.



Opposing defenses have historically sagged their off-ball defenders in to load up the paint against the Lakers in the James-Davis era. When the Lakers run pick-and-rolls with Russell or Reaves as the ballhandler, they’ll often station James on the opposite wing, one pass away, where he’s ready to either catch and shoot, catch and drive or pump-fake and drive.

This is an easy look for James, who’s shooting 44.4 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s.





This was supposed to be the season James took a step back and ceded more of the offense to Davis, Reaves and Russell. But while James’ usage percentage has decreased (from 33.3 percent last season to 30.2 percent this season), the Lakers have been as reliant on James as ever. They are 23.8 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor than on the bench, a gargantuan figure. They’re markedly worse without him on both ends, which signifies LA’s continued issues figuring out how to survive when he’s off the floor.

“It doesn’t even feel like he’s 38,” Davis said.

It doesn’t feel like James is 38 because of his production, but he’s actually five weeks away from turning 39. He’s missed time due to significant injuries in four of his five seasons in Los Angeles, and his long-term health remains of utmost importance for the Lakers’ championship aspirations.

The Lakers’ plan to keep James on a minutes restriction of roughly 28-to-30 minutes per game lasted all of one game. James’ remarkable play, and the Lakers’ early season struggles, have led to him playing more than 30 minutes in 10 of his 13 games. Moving forward, the Lakers will need to strategically find pockets of rest for James – be it in the form of fewer minutes or fewer games – as they did on Nov. 12 when they sat James in their 116-110 win over the Blazers.

“The way he takes care of himself on all levels, it relieves some of that stress and some of that worry,” Ham said before that game. “The biggest thing is being smart with his stretches. The overall minutes are going to be what it is depending on the nature of the game. The way we play him, the increments in which we play him, that’s the thing you have to be mindful of. And what you’re doing on non-gamedays as well. … That helps us – when he’s able to meet us halfway in that regard.”

In the grand scheme of things, the Lakers’ performance hasn’t matched their 8-6 record. They are just 22nd in net rating as of Tuesday morning, a mark more indicative of a low-end Play-In or lottery team than a contender. They’ve struggled shooting the ball, matching their opponents’ energy in first quarters, taking care of the ball and protecting the defensive glass. The rotation is unsettled. Key pieces remain out.

But more often than not, it hasn’t mattered because the Lakers have James on their side, the greatest player of his generation — and perhaps the greatest of all time.

Whether this stretch is merely a hot shooting stretch, a newfound efficiency because of the offense’s spacing, another level of mastery or some combination of the three, James continues to inexplicably defy the aging process and carry the Lakers on his broad shoulders, with no sign of slowing down as he approaches 39.

“Just trying to push the limit,” James said. “See how far I can take this thing. It’s me vs. Father Time.”

 

LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to reach 39,000 career points

 

Cruise control at a really efficient level tonight.

Should be well rested for the matchup against Luka

 

luka/lebron is always fun, imo. those guys like to play each other.

 

Former NBA player Rashad McCants, in Gilbert Arenas’ podcast, gave his take on the score between LeBron James and Kevin Durant:

“I think that real hoopers know that Kevin Durant is gonna go down as a better, I think, basketball player than LeBron [James] at the end of the road, not right now.
"When you look at LeBron, Steph [Curry] and KD [Durant], the promotion between Steph and LeBron, it’s here [wide]. KD’s here [narrow]. I don’t know if he’s presentable [and] marketable but they have more commercials.
And Arenas guest as stupid as he is.
P.S I don't even recall who the f*** is Mc cants

 

i'm beginning to think that any phrase following "real hoopers know" is bound to be crazy.

 

When was KD ever discussed in the same zip code or even county as a passer? I'm "guessing" there are other areas of the game he objectively comes up trailing James in comparison of both sides of the ball performance at their peak between the two of them?

 

KD's probably the better 1v1 player due to that pullup jumpshot. I mean basketball is a team game and I don't know anyway from that perspective that KD beats Lebron as Lebron is better at every other aspect of basketball including big ones like attacking the paint, passing and defending.

 

yeah, the difference is the passing, and that gap is MUCH larger than kd's scoring advantage (which is more of a shooting advantage, as lebron's been the better scorer in the paint). it's leadership and intangibles, too.

i honestly hadn't considered the question because i felt like they're on different tiers.

 

Waited until the fourth to play. Two missed fts and bad pass to AD to lose the game. Should have known better than to attempt that pass.

 

Real hoopers only ar Arenas podcast

 

This show has the worst takes by a good margin.. Kenyon Martin said Kyrie was better than Luka ..

 

He passed when he had a smaller guy on him and could’ve gone for the win. Typical