LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

Given how the opposite of what you said happened before, i think there's a good chance the opposite of what you're saying here happens now.

 

Hi, Mr. President of the Sixers Fan Club. If you could, please take a breath and relax a little bit.

First off, free agency is a crapshoot, period. If you weren’t already aware of that, this whole PG debacle was a harsh reminder of that. Nothing is done in free agency until it is. Don’t hang your hat on anyone coming to the Lakers until they commit. On the flip side, all it takes is ONE to say yes and the dominos start falling from there.

We’ve heard a ton of chatter that LeBron is placing the most value this time around in free agency on where his family wants to be. By all accounts, they want to be in LA or Akron. It’s quite doubtful he uproots them to Philadelphia.

Now, let’s actually look at this from a pure basketball decision: Philly has plenty of young talent, no doubt. But how does that actually look on the court? Most glaringly, hitching your wagon to Embiid’s health is an EXTREMELY dicey proposition at best. Their other marquee player is Simmons, and he’s legitimately afraid to shoot from beyond 10 feet. LeBron has always thrived with a spread court surrounded by shooters. You’re begging for a logjam with him & Simmons in a half-court set.

Next, your little hypothetical about simply snapping their fingers and trading for Kawhi sounds nice & all, but if it were that easy, why haven’t they done it yet? There’s literally no evidence that package interests the Spurs enough to pull that trigger. If there was, they should have already made that trade, LeBron or no LeBron.

I’m not going to belabor the point about all the reasons the Lakers are appealing, so to be concise, we have the market, the area his family wants to be in, a ton of cap flexibility and you g assets that are either going quickly grow into contributors to help on the court right away or are chips to also quickly improve this team.

No option is a Miami Heat in 2010 slam dunk, but one can easily make the case that the Lakers are his most appealing option.

To summarize: Please. Chill.

 

^^^ nice perspective JSJ. I needed it because I'm getting frustrated. Your voice of reason is appreciated.

 

I was NOT sold on George coming on board given how he finds his situation in OKC appealing... Having said that, I am not frustrated. Now all this James hoopla which sounds more believable and does not pan out? Then I'm with you.

 

Totally understand. That PG thing threw me through a HELL of a loop, too.

Here’s a little more perspective for all of us (myself included): Even if LeBron doesn’t come here, we’re FINE. LeBron is great, but he’s also my age (34), so his window is closing quickly.

Our young guys are still babies and have shown plenty of signs. Also, Kawhi’s still out there. And we still have financial flexibility.

We’re good either way, even though visions of Bron/PG//Kawhi danced through our heads for a few weeks there and missing out on that is a bummer for sure.

 

You guys can’t have seriously expected LeBron James to announce a decision July 1st. That is not what he does, it will take days. I don’t know why anyone wound expect any different. Even if he’s made his choice it will take days because that’s how he works.

 

Sounds like a great threat though.

If they get Kawhi, that's a massive threat and the Lakers could very well be left with nothing. Not the end of the world, but would be embarrassing and difficult to swallow.

 

Even without a Leonard possibility and what looks like a clunky fit, James would still give them a look. What nags on me is that it is still the East where the path is easier.

Now, James signs with us and brings us to relevance? Then, that would be a prominent feather in his cap. Expected as of now but still surprising to most.

 

Oh I think he's mostly made up his mind and Philly is making their best offer to see if they can get in the door. It's just a really solid offer if they say they'll go get Kawhi. It puts tremendous pressure on the Lakers to move now.