LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

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.

 

Also the video reaction of Luka's circus shot and Rui's charge.


He's seeing this team crush it and is getting excited. Rightfully so.

 

No, he wasn't? They had one of Embiid, AD or Bam out there pretty much all the time. They did the thing where LeBron guards him but Embiid sags off of their other frontcourt player to help at the rim, which we used to do when AD was here and teams do to the Nuggets all the time. But that's not really what Draymond does. Draymond has played the 5 in crunch time for the Warriors for 10 years. LeBron didn't do that in the Olympics and shouldn't do it with us.

 

pretty sure he was out there as the lone center at times.

anyway, he can play the 5. the idea that horford or green have some verticality advantage is pretty silly.

 

Let him be the Aaron Gordon for our team.

 

What exactly would the point of LeBron playing the 5 be?

I kind of get it offensively, so you can play a true 5-out and flood the court with skill, although in that case you can't have Vando out there for those lineups because it defeats the whole purpose. But defensively, the C Bags played Horford at the 5 and the Warriors played Green at the 5 so they can go switch heavy. The C Bags would have no holes with White/Holiday/Brown/Tatum/Horford, or even the earlier version with Smart/White/Brown/Tatum/Horford, and the Warriors would do it with 3 other plus defenders and Steph. We don't have the personnel to reap the benefits of LeBron at the 5 offensively and go that switch heavy.

We don't need to galaxy brain this - just play the best wing in league history and 2nd Team All-NBA forward last year on the wing. We have Ayton, who has played like a Top 10 center in the league, and Hayes who has played like a perfectly fine backup. What this team needs is athleticism on the perimeter and another defensive QB besides Smart, which LeBron can do.

 

I honestly don’t think working LeBron into the game plan is going to be a problem. He will make the right basketball play on offense and I think he’s got enough in the tank to be solid on defense.

 

Agree: Lebron is the most swiss army knife player of anyone in the mt rushmore of basketball conversation. He'll be fine.

My biggest concern is father time is going to catch up at him at some point. It already has in some many ways but the continued improvement in his 3 point shooting and the league changing has made the effectiveness still elite.

Just need an athletic POA defender which is the one thing Lebron could do but can't anymore to allow him to Lebron stuff. He's easily the most dangerous off ball player the Laker has even above Hayes, he sets better screens than Ayton. JJ should be creative to unlock most defenses even he's just standing in the corner - Rui can do two things either shoot or the pull up midrange. lebron can do both of those, pass, dunk, etc.

Hardest thing IMO is convincing to keep his minutes down - Lebron is going to go for another All NBA selection no matter what. I'm not worried about his game or how he'll fit. Honestly he's basically horford plus Draymond in one package but the tough part for JJ is to keep those minutes down so he can be kept healthy and fresh for the playoffs.

 

Take your sweet time LeBron. Don't hurry back so fast to ruin the chemistry.

 

Lebron is going to take this squad to the next level. He's the perfect 4 next to Ayton. He can score, facilitate and most importantly rebound the ball at a high level. No..he's not the defender he once was, but he's still more solid than Rui on D. He's also a great communicator, that's going be an asset for Ayton. To me, the James/Ayton chemistry dynamic, is what we need to develop more than anything, that unlocks this squad into a legit contender.

Lebron the leader, personality etc, he's rather MEH..IMO..Lebron the ball player though, he's still elite. Even at 40, the stamina is the main area of concern, but we have legit bodies now. I'm looking forward to his return myself.

 

When he comes back, we may experience a short losing streak. We are just squeaking out victories due to good chemistry and excellent team play, and it won’t take much to interrupt that.

if we do, people will overreact as usual, but it will all sort itself out I’m sure.

 

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