LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

And you too, my post above. All the greatness and good in his game you have convenient amnesia as well. Just a big difference of opinion at what your emphasis was on of late. And don't start with the LeBron butt kissing slander.

 

Yeah the jumper getting worse for AD was a big problem. Almost feel he should have never worked on the 3 ball? Because he never got great from 3 point range and his mid range jumper slipped.

AD.great 2 way player but since he wasn't a great playmaker and he lost that sweet midrange jumper made him being the engine of an offense much harder. Too bad as during the bubble and post bubble year he looked like the unicorn he was foretold to be but we didn't see that AD after (still a great player but we're talking the difference between all NBA and an MVP type).

 

LT that was really meant as a joke and if it was offensive I very humbly apologize, wasn't my intent. We have been agreeing and disagreeing and going back and forth for years now. I very much respect your knowledge and dedication to making LB better and keeping it a respectful place. I admit to being a stubborn sarcastic a$$ at times (much of the time) but it is meant in good fun. I also acknowledge all the good things LeBron has done. I'm hoping we can enjoy this championship together as Laker fans. We have put up with a lot to get here!!

 

That was nice Nanook of the North .... agreed!

 

Alaskan Amber!

 

I want you both to back into your respective corners and say gosh, I'm sorry!! Eat pie and come back smiling!

 

Nope. As you have seen in many of my posts, I give flowers when they are due. I’m not “fixated” on anything. I just point out what I witness with my eyes.
I think this version that we saw in his first game back is the best version to optimize the rest of the team’s strengths. I don’t see how that is so hard to understand.
As for Kobe, when he had a great player in the post, like Pau, he passed to him all the time and it resulted in two Championships.
When he was surrounded with very low talent, after Shaq was shipped out, yeah, he shot the ball a lot. Our FO failed so badly, for years, at surrounding Kobe with Chip Level talent that he wanted out.
LeBron’s tenure has been much different. We traded for a top three center and filled in the rest and were good enough to win a Chip. LeBron decided to blow it up soon after by trading for Brick. He closed the door on any chance of leading a team to a Championship by playing GM. The Kobe and LeBron situations were completely different.
I couldn’t care less what local, or national, media shows say about my team. It’s their job to flame up controversy and blow everything out of proportion.

 

It's not like I or others didn't also witness the ball pounding when it would occur or were trying to defend it. As I stated it just got so blown out of proportion in the last couple weeks in comparison to the totality of the rest of his game.

 

For me though, the ball pounding wasn't even close to the worst of it. This is what turned me off on LeBron: This I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears. LeBron would pump AD as"The Man" "His Team". This took the pressure off LeBron and dumped it on AD. Then during the games, as I have previously stated, LeBron would look AD off when he had primo position and would get him the ball in less than advantageous positions such as doubles which AD struggled with or late clock situations. IMO LeBron was purposefully setting AD up to fail. Which in my eyes, is what makes him a despicable teammate. Others have recognized and acknowledged this in the past. With our good start and the spotlight being on LeBron playing "the good teammate role" I don't expect a replay of this with Luka bc LeBron couldn't pull that off. LeBron will once again bring the spotlight to himself by saying things such as he can do it all on the court and fit in with any team. It is true that he has that talent level and this type of play elevates our team to a legitimate contender. It does not excuse his past despicable deeds and selfish tendencies. IMO these actions were too obvious and clear to not be seen. So while I hope we come together as a team to win a championship, I will never be a LeBron fan as I see him as a self-serving rat that would/has sold out his teammates, that doesn't mean I want give him his due when he plays team ball now. With LeBron's high basketball IQ none of what I saw can be written off as he just didn't see what was going on. His court vision and passing against Utah, illustrates that. I have tried to make my points without being offensive, hopefully I was successful.

 

i feel like you're overstating the lebron/AD thing, but i totally agree (and said so back then) that he paid lip service to it being AD's team and did absolutely nothing to facilitate that. zero. their friendship is probably the main reason that didn't turn into a thing. AD got to be the whipping boy during his entire tenure here when he was probably our most important player, stats be damned.

anyway, that's water under the bridge now. AD's injuries returned; he got fat, and it looks like he's going to be leaving relevance when lebron does.

my other gripe with lebron was related--which was just that he was always ready to put pressure on the front office to screw up the team for his momentary whims. and i get why he'd do that, but the franchise doesn't have to comply. when we stopped complying, he threw some tantrums that i think were potentially damaging to us. like, if we hadn't started the season well, what would be happening right now? who'd be on the block and for what? how likely would another westbrook type thing be?

anyway, since we started off well, he's said and done the right things, and his return to the fold looked nice. it's possible an understanding has been reached, and we can at least get a good solid run for both parties (team and lebron) this year. i fear this summer could end up weird/ugly, though. i hope not, but i can definitely see something messy going down. i half wonder if walter's keeping rob on to bear the brunt of it and use it as a reason to fire him, lol.

 

I have a real hard time going with this Lebron was trying to screw AD thing. You have a player who is known to wax in intensity and a jumper that comes and goes. I mean in the Bubble and post Bubble year AD that was close to a 50/50 focus.

Another way to look at this Lebron didn't want to make it AD's team but he was ok to defer to all people Reaves and let Reaves run the offense in the 4th quarter of playoff games. That clearly happened. Considering that no Laker beat writer, ex-teammate mentioned this was a thing that Lebron was freezing out AD, and AD and Lebron by all accounts are good friends this frankly seems a lot more let's find things to gripe about Lebron then an actual thing.

AD regressed as an offensive player from the Bubble year and went from a guy who outplayed Jokic to a tier below. While he got better handling double teams he was never a great playmaker and the jumper not being automatic particularly from mid range is a much better explanation of what happened

 

Good point.

 

If Lebron decided to play like the last game, keep his minutes reasonable, and play off ball, he could actually play quite a bit longer an put some records further out of reach and likely add a few. But he needs to take a pay cut to do so. Should be interesting to see how that all plays out.

 

This right here

His best bet to accept a minimized role and do what it takes for the team to win

He can extend his career and still get to play

I do agree that he needs to take a pay cut for the diminished role so the team can build around him

 

not what i was saying. i was saying he didn't do things that would have helped make AD's life easier (like play more center on defense or set screens to free AD to operate off the move in the mid post). and he's been pretty much immune to criticism while AD was just an absolute pinata for fans and the media. lebron not boxing out or closing out: he's old, he can't do EVERYTHING! AD not being able to operate effectively against five guys in the paint because nobody on the team could shoot: he's soft and weak!

you're not allowed to suggest such things.

 

Hmm I think Lebron not boxing out against Denver was critical in one one game against Denver. I don't think there is a question he could have done better but him and AR led the charge back on if I'm remembering the game correctly. But this argument of Lebron screwing AD essentially in the court of public opinion isn't a strong one IMO

I mean this basically goes back to the Lakers losing to Denver last few runs and in that series Lebron did guard Jokic for large chunks of time. Jokic besting AD like Hakeem besting Drob is the bigger deal for ADs perception amongst fans and Id be surprised that could be put on James. He did a credible job on Jokic and AD getting beat down court by Joker and I hate to say it getting hurt on a rather innocuous play (Lakers were playing well and he hurts his shoulder on a box out) were frustrating to fans.

 

we played like, 300 other games during this time frame. lebron had a super long leash; AD didn't. they both routinely didn't run back on defense. routinely. only one is getting called out above. almost my point exactly.