LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

They can hang his jersey up at the practice facility.
Thanks for the single Ring and all the bullsh!t we had to endure throughout it all.

 

Hey, Jeanie made a lot of money off of him selling jerseys, tickets, and then the team. We also got him to set some all time records while in our uniform. It would be nice to have him finish his run and do his final lap as a Laker in a cordial manner, but not if this is what we get to deal with. Nobody needs a 41 yr old malcontent former face of the NBA on their team taking pot shots at them about how they didn't put a good enough team around me while I pull down generational wealth in pay every year. That just falls on deaf ears.

He was never a true Laker in my eyes, and I doubt he chooses our jersey for the HOF. He will be wearing a "Lebron" jersey. Lebron is all about Lebron, and he always has been. Let him finish up his career in Cleveland for his storybook ending. The one where we sweep the CAVS in the Finals while he's on the bench in street clothes injured and Luka averages a triple double and points at him a lot after making big threes from deep.

 

i prefer to imagine a future when lebron has morphed into draymond horford, playing 25mpg for 60 regular season games, then becoming our second best player in the playoffs en route to his second title with us.

 

I'm not saying you don't like Lebron, it was more of a turn of phrase, even if you don't like him etc etc.

D-Lebron is only one stat. The eye test doesn't have Luka as a good defender - he is average at best. Here's a couple of other stats from the playoffs:

Lebron lead the league in holding opponent FG% during the playoffs at: 36.4%
He lead the playoffs in stocks through the first round, he was 4th in blocks (2.3) and 6th in steals (2.0)
He had 3 steals and a block in the final quarter of Game 4 against the Wolves.

I'd say Lebron was close to the best player in that series due to Luka's health and conditioning issues, Lebron was having an impact on both sides of the floor.

More so, he was our defensive leader in the second half of the season after the Luka trade and we went on a tear. I'm not sold he won't play more defence this season based on that half season snippet. So let's see.

 

That's not going to be the reality, when he is done as an All Star level contributor, he'll walk.

 

You have an excellent imagination, sir

and I don’t disagree, but I don’t see the signs pointing toward that resolution

 

Is Lebron Rafter Worthy?

This guys doesn't seem to think so. Is Lebron Rafter Worthy?

He makes some good points.

 

Maybe? I’m torn because I’d lean hard not if he doesn’t finish career here …. even though he LEGIT saved the franchise from possibly the Knicks kind of decades running irrelevance and delivered a ring.

 

Yeah he’ll make the rafters. He is a top 3 player that spent 8 years here.

 

he makes it in any case because of the brand. we want his name affiliated with the organization going forward.

 

it's a stat that matches your eye-based assessment of luka. but has lebron lower than your eye-based assessment of him. that's why i encouraged people to generate their own subjective defensive evaluations and compare them to the stat and see if it makes sense. i choose that one for a reason--of all those i've looked at, it best approximates what i would have said before, which is why i pay attention to it when it tells me something counter-intuitive as well. i am VERY skeptical of the "blow-by" stat, and i actually have a lot of expertise in attempting to quantify difficult things. for reasons related to this, i much prefer data based on a full season than on a few games. you're paid for full seasons.

i hope you're right, anyway, because we'll be better than i expect if lebron returns to being a plus-defender as he was almost every year until the last couple.

 

In my opinion, defense is a very specific and complex topic to discuss when it comes to RS.
Effort and commitment are the main topics, doing something more than necessary... something we probably can't expect from a player who's almost 42 years old.


Luka isn't an excellent defender, but very often he gives me the feeling that he doesn't apply himself very well.
I'm Italian and therefore I watch a lot of European basketball. I was watching Luka's Euroleague debut in Moscow against CSKA in TV.
He's a player I know quite well: in FIBA, I've seen him put a lot of effort into defense, and I've only seen that kind of effort in a few playoff games when he was with the Mavs.

My two cents: a player's desire to give it his all on defense is greatly encouraged by the tactical context he finds himself in.
Does having Anthony Davis alongside him leading the defense help you be a better defender?
Knowing that behind you is Jaxson Hayes or LeBron James, adapted as a C?

 

1 championship. Is it enough?

 

What if he taints that brand? Anything is possible with this guy.

 

he saved the brand. even if he demands out and trashes the franchise on the way out, i'm not sure it would undo much. he's won a ring and played 8 years here.

shaq badmouthed us both while he was here and after he left, and now he's part of the laker family, despite winning a ring elsewhere and playing for like, 11 teams after us.

 

Thought you meant the “Lebron” brand. Now thats taint!

 

I was not a fan of LBJ before he came here

In fact I didn't like him at all

When he became a Laker I accepted him because the team comes first

I still didn't like him

After he willed us to win a championship he earned my respect

Now in his later years he wants his cake and eat it too

Pay me, but build a team around me

As a player the priorities should always be

1) Win championships

Notice the plural

2) Make enough money to secure you and your family

3-10) See number 1

So if he's really about winning more championships then he needs to contribute and that means take a pay cut

@Slick2021 will call me out and ask me to name the players we could have signed

I'm not the FO nor am I Rob

That's his job and he's done a lot with very little. Both hands tied behind his back and still hit some good ones

So my message to LBJ

Contribute or don't complain about the team they tried to build around you

You can make the money back with endorsements by winning again

 

Meh..bunch of radom musings IMO..I see people jumping on part of a conversation and running with it. The same guy said, that he didn't think LeBron even wanted to be traded, in that very same podcast! For all the talk about what LeBron wants or is thinking, being bandied about, James opted in and has a no trade clause.

Nobody knows anything, because LeBron doesn't talk to media guys like that, there has really never been a LeBron whisperer in the media. The entire conversation is here...take what you will from it, I don't see anything but innuendo and speculation myself.

That's what these guys get paid to do though. It is interesting that they talked about Payton and Malone taking paycuts in order to chase a chip, but nobody ever talked about Kobe or Shaq, taking a paycut to accommodate them. Neither were All NBA caliber players either.


Kobe had to be talked out of going to the Flippers by Jerry West. Phil said that Kobe was "uncoachable ", Shaq acted a complete a** toward Dr. Buss on his way out the door. This s*** that LeBron supposedly does, is tame as hell in contrast IMO. Yet he's LeBron James and whatever happens, some folks are going to cast stones one way or another. If he took a vet minimum and won a chip. The gatekeepers in the Media, are going to say that he cheated the game and that ring is somehow diminished.

 

no question lebron's # will be retired

curious if AD's will though. i lean towards yes