LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

yup. let him play the draymond role

 

People assume he’s willing to accept a lesser role. I don’t see it.

 

i mean, it's not exactly the draymond role that i'm imagining, but yeah, it's a tough sell.

 

I don't like a Draymond role for him because he's a better play finisher than that. I want him cutting/rolling to the basket, attacking closeouts if the ball swings to him, etc., not just doing DHOs and directing traffic at the top of the key like Draymond. I'm thinking more of a Suns Shawn Marion role (at least offensively). Attack the basket off hit aheads and close outs, work out of the post some and run in transition.

Defensively, too, I don't think Draymond is the right comp for him because I don't want LeBron playing at the 5. Do I want LeBron as a helper and defensive QB like Draymond? Yeah, absolutely. But Draymond's always been unique because in addition to that stuff, he has an extremely long wingspan and can actually defend the rim, hence why the Warriors have always been so good with him at the 5. I don't think LeBron has that. LeBron can contest shots at the rim coming from the weak side, but he's not a rim protector. Guys like Draymond and Horford have been undersized 5s their entire careers, LeBron has not. You can't just have LeBron do the same thing because they're all roughly the same size. It's the same reason why folks have been saying KD should play some 5 for a few years now, but it never really works. That's just not what he does.

 

Just rebound and play defense

 

i'm not sure i agree that lebron can't learn new tricks defensively. he may not want to, but those guys probably didn't want to play center, either, but it's what made them more valuable. same here. and again--lebron basically was a horford/green for team usa. he guarded jokic! this is what we need.