LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

OKC has influenced everyone into believing that depth is critical. Knicks just won with Brunson, Hart, Bridges, OG and KAT, their bench was really only Robinson and Shamet, with a guard sprinkled here or there for 10 mins.

Spurs likewise had Wemby, Castle, Vassell, Fox, Champagnie and Harper playing the bulk of the minutes with Keldon Johnson.

Both of these teams relied on 6 guys, with a 7th playing around 15-20 mins and another 1 guy at 10 mins.

We need Luka, Lebron, Reaves, Center, SF and then Smart and one more player which could be Rui if he stays to make the bulk of our minutes.

Love and Bronny as 13th and 14th men are going to have zero impact on the playoffs. Heck they’ll have a pretty small impact on the regular season too.

Love is still a decent player though, he can rebound and shoot. He is better than Kleber, I think people are just mad because he is old and they associate it with Lebron exerting influence and everyone wants Lebron gone.

 

i was saying that you can't cut or trade guys you sign as friends/favors. this is where the bronny signing has already hurt us. if bronny was a just a regular end of bench guy, he'd have been cut for goodwin and re-signed to the g-league team or a two-way or whatever. if love has the same protected status, now you have two of those. that's not good business, imo.

 

Yeah I think you're missing the biggest point.

You need depth for 2 reasons, but mainly the first one:
1. Withstand the looong regular season without overloading your stars that leads to injuries late season (ring a bell? ). Not only to have a larger 11-12 man rotation but also keep the team winning when your stars miss a game. This is huge to keep a good locker room vibe, take some pressure off of stars to return from injuries or play heavier minutes to keep a certain seed

2. Have different options in the playoffs for different matchups. We saw McCain lighting it up in a game and then Wiggins in the other one, Sochan playing in the finals, Carter taking minutes off of the 6th man of the year, etc

You win a title with a strong 6-man rotation, no doubt. All finals will be like that.
But the difference of an 8 deep or 12 deep roster is how you reach those final games.


Regarding Bronny/Love it's less about the actual impact but more the messaging, imo

Btw, another angle I'm getting from this Love thing is that Kessler may be coming. Love was in Utah and can help being a bridge for Walker as he settles in LA. I don't mind that and it actually makes sense from a roster building perspective

 

What happened with all of the development talk over the past two seasons?
This is where I have the biggest issue with KLove. I want the last three spots to go to project players, not washed buddies who are only there to waive their Pom poms.

 

Also, when you have had your top THREE players injured at the end of various seasons, you need a deep team throughout the regular season so they aren’t over worked by the time playoffs roll around.

 

explain/warn about Kardashians?

 

If Love wants to come be Dudley, that is extremely valuable on a championship team.

But Bron needs to sign at the amount that allows us to maximize our off season: $20m(ish) and Rob has to have 4-13 locked down for significant upgrades.

Based on the recent Cavs team vacation, Bron seems to be having a case of the reflection feels. Coming when you see the end. If he needs Love but is willing to play ball, fine.

When dusted off, Love was still putting up 7/6 last year. If you get that in 15 mpg for 35% of the season + bench/ locker room leadership that's more valuable than whatever else you're doing at the 15th spot. Unless you really are going to miss Nick Smith Jr and his endless contributions.

 

not to be overly repetitive, but i'd miss the ability to cut or trade nick smith as necessary.

 

Fair, but in a GM for you life season if the 14th/15th man determines anything then Rob should already be boxing up his office.

 

I agree with you, what I’m saying is, if you’re relying on your 13th and 14th roster spots to be meaningful rotation players at anytime during the season, you’ve had a disaster injury wise and they aren’t saving you. I think our top 12 guys should be passable for sure:

Luka
Lebron
Reaves
Center
SF
Smart
7th
8th
9th
Hayes
Jake
Adou
Bronny
Vet Min

I see value in having a Kleber or Love as your 14th guy. Someone who can provide veteran leadership, knowledge and balance to the locker room. If Love pulls Lebron in, he’ll listen to him because of the earned respect, no one else but Smart can do that on our roster.

And who else are you getting better than love at the 14? I see it as much Adou about nothing.

 

LeMax will look good In Miami

 

How much do we actually believe that neither have been in contact with each other?

Either someone knows something, ie retirement, OR they are playing it quiet like when he came to the Lakers in the first place, but the news wants more clicks and what not like they are getting from Austin's contract, so they are spouting anything they can because it has to do with the Lakers.

 

Another Lemax trade rumor

Pincus full trade proposal would send LeBron James, Bronny James, Bez Mbeng, and a $10.2 million trade exception to the Miami Heat, Wiggins, Walker Kessler, and a $6 million trade exception to the Lakers, and Deandre Ayton, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia, Dalton Knecht, a 2031 first-round pick, and a 2033 first-round pick to the Jazz.

 

Sign me up

 

yeah, i'm in on that.

don't see lebron going back to miami, though. if he's anywhere but here, cleveland, or gs, i'll be shocked.

 

On second thought, I'm not sure. We'd probably sign Rui and have a starting 5 of Luka, AR, Wiggins, Rui and Kessler/Duren with Smart as your 6th man, without picks. Not exciting

Now, I rather give up Wiggins and Rui and throw a massive offer for Watson. That would get us a long term core of Luka, AR, Watson and Kessler/Duren. Then you plug random wings through the years for the 5th guy. Smart, Jones, Thybulle while giving development minutes to Thiero and Carr. Now with that I'd get excited