LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

Bronny and the king go at it in different uniforms. That would be an epic battle.

 

They are going to all play out of their minds. Theiro does need minutes and that will be on JJ for sure. Bad coaching can always wreck the train. The thing is, LeBron is healthy and has been playing so he is in playing shape. We haven't seen this LeBron since the bubble in the playoffs. He was either playing his way into shape or dragging a leg. The entire script of this series is written for us to win. Plus, I heard the fat lady has bronchitis, so there is that.

 

Worth the read.

Here's some of the highlights

 

Sigh. Yeah, the stretch followed by getting waxed against OKC. Season sweep, actually. And even with a healthy James, Reaves, & Luka, we likely lose in 5 to them this season, but let's try it again. Unreal.

 

F****** Lakers front office and Jeanie ownership. Oh wow we got Mark Walter now! Winning time do it right ownership! Will trust Mark the fab Dodgers proven owner running this train wreck going forward. Oh wait top 3 guys “may” be back. Dumb Mark Walter can just tell the rest of the roster he’s going to f*** up too. Championship or bust …. give me “another” new owner who’s going to see things like I do so we can win. No time for waiting to see what actually happens this off season. I lied about about being good with whatever Mark does. Doesn’t know ball like me … Baseball guy! Weeee!

 

more than one quote like this, hinting that lebron thought someone was me-firsting. who was it? gotta be luka, right? doesn't seem like him, really.

 

If Lebron cared so much for winning, he should accept less money, because his play doesn't match his salary

 

I mean, watching the team prior to that was pretty tough too. I was ready to sim to the off season. A lot of individual play, your turn/my turn from our 3... if they were even on the court together. It was more heliocentric Luka play, less team ball. Team seemed disconnected at that time as well. Now the real shift came when Bron returned from his injury and fully embraced the DrayBron role, so I'm sure the anti Bron contingent will solely put that all on him. But really it's the collective injuries, lack of camp together, not getting those reps and time to figure it out, then sure there's some blame to go around to JJ, Bron and Luka as well.

Pre-March I think there was a legit chance he wasn't going to be a Laker next year (although much smaller than the majority thought). Post-March I'm fairly confident it's Lakers or retirement, 80/20.

 

This may be the last we see LeBron as a Laker. I'm going to enjoy watching this series and see the arguable goat deliver. It's a long shot, but we'll see what happens.

 

He took the midrange Js in the 1st quarter , that's the name of game in the playoffs .

Might need 35+ from him in Game 2

 

I saw a tweet that said:

"For 4 mins Bron just pushed a 117 ORTG with a lineup that had 2000s double big spacing and 1 non nba player"

This game was super impressive from Lebron, he dominated from the center of the court. It also just kind of broke any chance they had of playing the zone with Rui and Kennard spotting up and Lebron play making from the elbow - you either collapse the paint so he can't score on a post up, or you let him kick it out to the tune of 13 assists.

Going to be interesting what happens in game 2. I don't think our guys can shoot that well again, but Lebron can also explode for 40 if he needs too. Is it too much to ask for to go up 2-0?

 

Karl Malone esque in the post

 

F*** Karl Malone

 

Malone and Stockton combined? Basically that what he did

I still stand by my endurance concerns despite his game on both ends of the court - he was excellent on defense again. Him and Smart can really do a number on opponents offensive plans. Jason Timpf pointed out this whole Lebron at the elbow playing off Kenard and Smart starting the offense is a way to keep his leg from falling off. Lot more energy breaking down the defense off the dribble from the top of the key

Unreal he finished in the top 50 in net points - this is crazy because he was barely positive when he came back.

 

Commanded the game and did what he had to do. Game 1s are usually feel out games for him. If we can win shorthanded and he doesn't have to score all the points, that's going to go a long way in him able to pace himself.


Making it look easy against one of the best perimeter defenders out there



Just ridiculous


Some optimism



10 assists in 15 minutes is something you don't see often. Someone doing things they've never done or have one done 1 or 2 other times in their career when they're 41 years old and have played a billion games is special.

 

just insane that he's still playing at this level