LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

i didn't feel like wading into "who's REALLY all nba?!". but slick went there because his argument sucked.

you can't just hand wave injuries away, nor can you dismiss the fact that we had no time to gel and players who were playing hurt.

this is a dumb argument.

if jj is fired after this year, he'll be third coach fired because lebron only tried on defense when he felt like it.

 

Meh..you are seriously yapping about the oldest man in the league, because we have to cover for two young guys, that are in their prime, on D? FOH with that nonsense man, that premise is what sucks.

Nobody was complaining about how injured we were going into that series. It's in the past now, don't trot out the gelling excuse either, we went to the Conference Finals after a midseason trade two seasons ago.

No excuses this time around, for JJ or Rob.

 

Lebron is "falling off" pretty gracefully BTW.

 

He's been really really good the last 3 games.
Unreal that he keeps going at this level - dare I say all-nba caliber lol. He's definitely moving a lot better I guess being in shape matters lol


Wonder if he plays tomorrow. No shade if he sits but it would have been fun to see the Lebron/Luka pNr against the SA wings

 

Not sure when we will see a 41 year old put up these kinds of stats again. Not sure anyone of the current generation’s bodies will even hold up like this.

 

He’s spontaneously doing fun stuff on the court, like Reaves does too …. with Luka after Luka’s done Luka magic stuff. It’s clear he’s not faking liking playing with him or resenting him taking his spotlight as number one star on the team. After Luka made that crazy bomb from the sideline LOL LeBron ran up and head butted his chest.

 

1 TO and 30 points. He can extend his career if he plays off ball like this. He no longer should be a main ball handler. Excellent adjustment King!

all that being said, Bron is a master manipulator and tells the press what he wants them to hear that presents him in the best light possible. He’s played them for over 20 years. If those are his legit feelings, good for him. But thankfully we have his agent court side to call audibles for us…

 

I loved hearing him say this.

 

to quit after this year would be silly if he still loves the game

to play longer will only help his cause and desire to be regarded as the greatest ever

even if it's not for his basketball prowess at his peak or as a closer or as the most dominant player that others feared, his longevity will be unmatched, as well as records like points and turnovers. nobody will touch those records for decades or possibly ever.

 

Did you miss all the time he did spend on ball as well, as he should now back in better game condition, when Luka sat and AR's still out? And the passing that went with it.

 

Well, s***, I have to give props where those are due. Very very nice. More.

 

Maybe I’m naive but I believe him. He seems happy having an all time great next to him, I’m sure he’s hungry to win still too.

It’s a shame we couldn’t get the right team around these guys, we weren’t too far off from:

Melton / Gabe / Bronny
Smart / Reaves / Goodwin
Luka / LaRavia / Vando
Lebron / Rui / Adou
Williams / Horford / Hayes

I think the additions of Melton, Goodwin, Horford and Williams on this team at the expense of Knecht, Ayton and Kleber would have been four two way players and maybe could have put us over the top surrounding Lebron and Luka.

 

strictly box score armchair quarterbacking

I hope he wins a title as Luka's sidekick. That would be cool to hear fans wrestle with that one.

 

it's interesting that you mention basically wanting GS's offseason, lol. they got to melton and horford first, unfortunately. though with both their and our other injuries, i'm not sure we didn't come out better.

that said, this thread is going to erupt next month when GS pulls a huge trade at the deadline (i think they will, and they'll get players we wanted).

some things to consider ahead of time:

kerr came out last week and admitted they're not really contenders and that it doesn't really make sense to trade a bunch of future firsts for an all-in move right now. i praised him for telling the truth and also not sowing internal discord (e.g., imagine how jimmy butler or draymond would react if he knew he were being peddled on the trade market).

immediately, kevin oconnor wrote an article about why gs is being cruel to steph curry by sitting on their hands. sound familiar?

one difference: neither curry nor any curry proxy is out there providing fuel to this fire.

gs has better assets than we do (control of all their firsts, kuminga, moody, and podziemski as guys with promise that they can afford to move nonetheless), and they're after the same types of players (athletic wings, mostly). in fact, i've seen ellis, murphy, and jones all listed as targets for them. if that's true, we're screwed, as we can't beat their offer without losing reaves, which would be stupid.

this is where the other difference matters: gs truly has no post-curry future. there's nothing there. moody and podz are not going to lead a new iteration of of a contending team.

we DO have a post-lebron future (luka and reaves CAN lead a new iteration of a contending team).

so what kerr said about them really applies more to us, but ironically, kerr saying it about them probably helps their leverage compared to rich paul saying we suck and need to trade everyone but lebron as a service to lebron.

thank you for coming to my ted tangent.

tl;dr: our situation and gs's aren't the same, and when they pull a move that uses assets we didn't have and that we shouldn't have competed with anyway, i won't be taking part in the furious fan aftermath.

 

Is Kimunga a dead weight contract now? Who really wants him other then teams who would wants assets and our willing to take on salary dumps like the Nets and Wizards

 

What’s to wrestle with … he’s 41 and still a major contributing force if it were to happen? Can’t without him being that, and Reaves.

 

It's all about the king..

 

You’d prefer in his last season here he not finally be able to be playing well. as he must for the team to do anything in the playoffs? Since you likely won’t get your wish of him dropping dead out there?