LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

I think Bron realized that AD has a ceiling as a player and it was reached. He's going to give you 28/12 and elite defense but he isn't going to carry your team consistently. If we're talking about consistency, you know what you're getting from AD every game so he's more consistent than Luka. Luka has that upper ceiling where he can give you 28/8/8 or he might just go for 38/10/12 and carry the game by himself. In order for the Lakers to maximize their chances, Luka has to be the primary ballhandler and LeBron has to be the Draymond Green type guy who vocally gets everyone into their spots, cuts to the post, good defense, and just fill in where he can.

As much as I like AD, he's not a 1st option type player. Even on the Mavs, I think we all know the offense would have ran strictly on Kyrie as the first option. He's better suited as the guy who gets what he can and others do their own thing. It's tough to give him the ball and just expect him to carry you.

 

i'll die on this hill, but i think had we centered on AD when we traded for him, he could be a #1. we'll never know, imo. we got a ring despite not really building to his strengths, but i thought we squandered some of the benefit of the AD trade by not really committing to him as a centerpiece.

part of that was lebron's fault, part of that was AD and lebron bringing westbrook in, part of it was management not feeling confident enough to move away from lebron as the engine earlier.

whatever, it's over now and lebron has given up the reins to luka. i just think had he done so earlier, things might be different the past few years. then again, AD's health was a serious issue for two years of it, so maybe it's a wash that the luka trade just erases from the discourse.

 

Here's a role i didn't forsee Bron transitioning to



Another he's being doing what!?... for how long?! stat

 

We'll see some variant of that on Dallas.

 

Don't really blame the team here. AD frailty and the inconsistent jump shot doomed this.

In the bubble and the year after they're did appear to be a pathway where he just looked unguardable but it didn't materialize. And it was not just the 3 point jumper IMO (or maybe the drive to add the 3 hurt here) but the face up and pull up jumper. At his best he was unstoppable as a face up guys from 20 feet in. Almost like Amare before the knee injuries but that jumper just wasn't reliable enough

 

Insane level of game day dedication




Here's why... no fat on the schedule.



Full ep

 

Undoubtedly he learned a LOT from Kobe that first Olympics together (not to say he wasn't already on that path .... but just how maniacal Kobe was about his regimen)

 

Different times, but I always wondered if Kobe got enough sleep to let his body recover. Because recovery is more important than training as you get older.

 

3 ball wasn't falling but he was awesome second half. He's going to be well rested if they get that 3 spot. Moving on defense like he did before the injury

Fully healthy and rested James plus Luka and AR man could be something to see

 

Guy might be a good player one day. 4th quarter attacking was vintage LBJ.

 

Attacked the rim in the 4th like no other. Like 4-5 straight possessions of attacks at the rim, loved it. He was a huge part of why we came back in this game to win after going down 2 in the 4th with around 6 mins to go or so. Nicely done LeBron

 

13 4th Q points.

Watching the past few games, it's really loud he's transitioning to feel it out mode for the first half and then start shifting gears in the second half. Curious to see if that's just to close out the season or if he'll try to extend that into the postseason until he has to flip the switch earlier. Having the energy and pop for tonight's 4th Q after last night is impressive.

No trampoline needed

 

This was the play that impressed me the most - just totally blew up every Dallas action for a whole possession.

Need that rest and hoping the Lakers can have some games where they can keep his minutes down so he has the energy to do this stuff on defense

 

I said this in the GD chat....

Seeing Bron D up Davis shows how big

You can tell it meant a lot to his teammates to make sure they won for him. And when Luka lost it a bit in the second half Bron took over.

 

This guy Timmy!