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[Ice Man]

LeBron likes to have his teammate role players be about his age. That was fine when he is 32, but now ... the Lakers are a team with two superstars and a dozen horses standing outside the glue factory.

[Grodoboldo]

That's half of it. The other part is that the NBA is currently in parity mode. There aren't any great teams and not many awful ones. The ESPN power rankings will therefore be based on noise. Sound and fury in reaction to game results that come and go, signifying nothing.

I agree with your general point. The Thunder and Rockets are truly awful, though.

Never really understood why so many people saw the Lakers as a top 3 team in the West. They have 2.5 good players, AD and Bron were never going to play 70+ games, they have completely lost the defensive identity that made them good and they’re ancient.

The reason why the Lakers are mentioned is the playoffs. If they get rolling in the playoffs they are tough to beat. If AD and LeBron are healthy and clicking it is real formidable. The likelihood of that happening though isn't great with they age and health of that team. They also lost a lot of good role players for old role players.

The thing is they have AD, LeBron and absolutely nothing else. I really don't recall the last team that had a real shot at the title with a similar roster construction.

(PS: I will not be engaging with Westbrook apologists at this moment, thank you very much)

[Dresden]

Both their losses to OKC were without Lebron, but still, OKC is just terrible. You'd think they'd be able to beat that team without him. I'm hoping we can have Lebron-free NBA finals again this year- they're so much more enjoyable without him.

[Jcool0]

And so it begins...

Read on Twitter

[Andi Obst]

Will be interesting to see how Simmons‘ camp reacts to that. This is going to get so much uglier than it has been already.

[kodo]

I agree with your general point. The Thunder and Rockets are truly awful, though.

Never really understood why so many people saw the Lakers as a top 3 team in the West. They have 2.5 good players, AD and Bron were never going to play 70+ games, they have completely lost the defensive identity that made them good and they’re ancient.

The reason why the Lakers are mentioned is the playoffs. If they get rolling in the playoffs they are tough to beat. If AD and LeBron are healthy and clicking it is real formidable. The likelihood of that happening though isn't great with they age and health of that team. They also lost a lot of good role players for old role players.

The thing is they have AD, LeBron and absolutely nothing else. I really don't recall the last team that had a real shot at the title with a similar roster construction.

(PS: I will not be engaging with Westbrook apologists at this moment, thank you very much)

The LeGM teams always relied on very good roleplayers willing to take a huge paycut for the distinguished honor of playing along Lebron. I think that magic is fading.

The Miami Heat teams had Ray Allen for $3M, Shane Battier for $3M, Rashard Lewis for $1M, Haslem for $4M (although Riley is still paying him now, incredible that this is legal), Chalmers was rookie scale.

The title Lebron LA team had some nice deals like Caruso for $2M, Rondo for $2M, Kuzma for $2M, Markieff for $1M, Dwight for $2M, etc.. LA let all those guys go once they asked to be paid a real salary. Caruso said he was willing to sign in LA even if they didn't match Chicago, but just got to around 80%. They wouldn't even do that.

[jc23]

lakers won that bubble title because lebron and ad were fully healthy and rested. Their pick n roll is still unguardable but their defense is worse and part of that is lebron getting older and losing guys like Caruso

[Michael Jackson]

lakers won that bubble title because lebron and ad were fully healthy and rested. Their pick n roll is still unguardable but their defense is worse and part of that is lebron getting older and losing guys like Caruso

AD is not playing defense this year and they need him to play D. He is a game changer on that side of the court for sure. So I was never a huge AD fan, not for lack of talent, I just never loved him. I don’t like him as the guy carrying a team, worked out terrible in NO. He is a perfect counter part to Lebron, but Lebron can’t carry as much as he used to. I think AD is similar to PG13, as he can be the best player on the court almost any night but he can’t be that guy every night.

[chifan1798]

It’s so hard to believe that a Thibs team has become a 3 point chucking team.

They’ve taken 15 three pointers, and like five two pointers.

[kodo]

Harden is so damn entertaining.

James Harden retires mid game

Watch on YouTube

[TheSuzerain]

It’s so hard to believe that a Thibs team has become a 3 point chucking team.

They’ve taken 15 three pointers, and like five two pointers.

Meh I feel like he's always been ambivalent about offensive style.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

James Harden is so unlikeable.

Knicks smashed the Bucks in the 2nd half. If the Bucks have a championship hangover, the Nets won’t see Kyrie, and the 76ers won’t see Simmons, the East is completely wide open, as is the league this year.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Otto Porter is playing well in GSW. Not getting major minutes, but his shooting numbers are good and some of his defensive metrics are good too.

Really could have used him for 20 MPG with Pat going down, moreso that WCJ or Lauri. But obviously they couldn’t bring him back with how little he played here. Tough, albeit minor break for the Bulls.