Im happy with our record but but

[mighty_duck]

I find myself struggling with how much faith I should have with LeBron, given he's an all time great and still playing at or near best in NBA levels right now...
But a little part of me dies watching him slow dribble the ball up the court and sit at the 3pt line yoyoing the ball until the clock's down to 7 or 8 and then trying to go 1 on 4... Even if most of the time, he's dishing to a shooter, those guys usually have like a second to get the shot off and most of the time, they have someone just waiting for the pass.
And this isn't just happening with a few min left in a game we're leading by 10+, but in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of tight games, sometimes with us trailing.

I also die a bit when I see off ball guys trot to their 'spots' at the 3 pt line in the first couple seconds of the possession and just stand their like they're glued to the spot.

This.
I call it massage ball. Lebron driving is a really effective strategy, but there is no reason to massage the ball for 17 seconds before starting the drive. Do it when you have 12 seconds on the shot clock, and you have second or third options.

And like I've seen others point out... AD really needs to limit his 3pt looks. He's really good at it for his size, but still, he's a dominant force from the Elbow in. Why not have some off ball movement with him and McGee/Howard, to get him some nice open looks inside.

I don't mind the 3 pointers as much. He nails them at over 34% , or effectively 51%. Not great, but enough to keep defenses honest and open up other plays .

What I hate are the isos inside the 3 point line. Defenses are goading AD to shoot it, and he is complying, He takes a whopping 30% of his shots between 10 feet and the 3 point point line (usually semi-contested), and only making them at 30%. That is horrible. If he got rid of most of those shots, his efficiency would rise to MVP level. It looks to be improving the last couple of games, so I'm hopeful.

[Landsberger]

Davis should not take many 3 pointers at all. The fake statistical measure of effective shooting % is highly misleading and Davis is a perfect example why.

A guy who can score at a rate above almost all other players on the team in and around the paint shouldn't be shooting 3's. One out of 3 is still one out of 3. Davis shoots well over 50% in and around the paint. He draws a lot of fouls...which puts defensive pressure on teams, he's a threat a lot of the time to follow any misses with a tip or offensive board. None of that is there if he's shooting a prescribed number of 3's a game. Not having a guy like him in the position where he can do all of those things and having him basically becoming another Daniels chucking from the perimeter is not great coaching from a true total offensive game perspective.

The preoccupation with the 3 is really odd to me. Only one team in the history of the game has made shooting that shot as a priority work(by work I mean championships). You can merge points per shot into a hybrid shooting % number all you want to try and overcome that a team can hit 1 out of 3 and that's accounting for streaks on both sides of that number. Sure you have guys who can spread the floor and shoot 3's but just because one of the best low box and in the paint players in the NBA can shoot the 3 at a decent rate doesn't mean it's smart to having him doing it by design.

Everyone gets caught up in the difference between 35% and 38%. One's considered good one just average.

If a player is taking 6 3's a game and shoots at 35% vs 38% the difference is about 14 made 3's A YEAR! .... it's 0.18 more made shots a game... meaning you have to wait 18 games at that difference to get 1 more made 3.

Expand that to 40% and that moves to .3 more 3's made per game or 24 more made 3's a year based on 82 games. Just not enough to warrant the endless discussions of who we should have when it's based on a few % points on a shot no one we're talking about who shoots more than 6 of these a game.

If the argument is that a guy shooting 3's opens up the floor then the difference in shooting % doesn't matter much. .18 or .3 a game doesn't matter because opening the floor only counts when you don't shoot

Davis shoots 82.7% of his shots from 2 point range and hits them at a 52% clip. He creates fouls that can put teams in foul trouble creating mismatches elsewhere. He draws double teams in the paint further enhancing others chances. All we get from him shooting 3's is the same we get from KCP and Daniels. They should be shooting the 3's because they bring very little elsewhere. It's a team sport.

[danfantastk32]

Everyone gets caught up in the difference between 35% and 38%. One's considered good one just average.

If a player is taking 6 3's a game and shoots at 35% vs 38% the difference is about 14 made 3's A YEAR! .... it's 0.18 more made shots a game... meaning you have to wait 18 games at that difference to get 1 more made 3.

I used to bring this up in the "Jordan was such a better shooter than Kobe" discussion.

.47 vs .43....I was like "you know that's like a bucket every 4 or 5 games, right?"

People and their numbers

[Landsberger]

Everyone gets caught up in the difference between 35% and 38%. One's considered good one just average.

If a player is taking 6 3's a game and shoots at 35% vs 38% the difference is about 14 made 3's A YEAR! .... it's 0.18 more made shots a game... meaning you have to wait 18 games at that difference to get 1 more made 3.

I used to bring this up in the "Jordan was such a better shooter than Kobe" discussion.

.47 vs .43....I was like "you know that's like a bucket every 4 or 5 games, right?"

People and their numbers

Yup.... and your comparison is with guys shooting 25 shots a game..... not 4-6.

[Beethoven]

^ at that point, the small difference may be due to scenario of the shot made, perhaps it was during a clutch moment during an important game or just a unimportant one during some non important game.

on a tangent,
i always said this, shaq's FT avg has always been pretty bad, but if you get the avgs during important times at near end of games Im sure his FT avg is very high. Lot of those free throws missed were during casual times in the first or 2 nd quarter of nov/dec games i think.

[Cavsfansince84]

Everyone gets caught up in the difference between 35% and 38%. One's considered good one just average.

If a player is taking 6 3's a game and shoots at 35% vs 38% the difference is about 14 made 3's A YEAR! .... it's 0.18 more made shots a game... meaning you have to wait 18 games at that difference to get 1 more made 3.

I used to bring this up in the "Jordan was such a better shooter than Kobe" discussion.

.47 vs .43....I was like "you know that's like a bucket every 4 or 5 games, right?"

People and their numbers

That's more like a bucket per game. 47 out of every 100 shots compared to 43 out of every 100. Let's say they shoot 25 shots per game. That's 11.8 makes compared to 10.8.

[Beethoven]

I'm happy w our record but...

We haven't beaten any good teams yet.

[danfantastk32]

Everyone gets caught up in the difference between 35% and 38%. One's considered good one just average.

If a player is taking 6 3's a game and shoots at 35% vs 38% the difference is about 14 made 3's A YEAR! .... it's 0.18 more made shots a game... meaning you have to wait 18 games at that difference to get 1 more made 3.

I used to bring this up in the "Jordan was such a better shooter than Kobe" discussion.

.47 vs .43....I was like "you know that's like a bucket every 4 or 5 games, right?"

People and their numbers

That's more like a bucket per game. 47 out of every 100 shots compared to 43 out of every 100. Let's say they shoot 25 shots per game. That's 11.8 makes compared to 10.8.

Thanks math.

[Dupp]

I find myself struggling with how much faith I should have with LeBron, given he's an all time great and still playing at or near best in NBA levels right now...
But a little part of me dies watching him slow dribble the ball up the court and sit at the 3pt line yoyoing the ball until the clock's down to 7 or 8 and then trying to go 1 on 4... Even if most of the time, he's dishing to a shooter, those guys usually have like a second to get the shot off and most of the time, they have someone just waiting for the pass.
And this isn't just happening with a few min left in a game we're leading by 10+, but in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of tight games, sometimes with us trailing.

I also die a bit when I see off ball guys trot to their 'spots' at the 3 pt line in the first couple seconds of the possession and just stand their like they're glued to the spot.

We need more off ball screens and movement. KCP is decent at it, but Green doesn't seem to attack screens, and Kuz really doesn't seem to move that much. Caruso and Rondo aren't legit threats from 3 yet.

And like I've seen others point out... AD really needs to limit his 3pt looks. He's really good at it for his size, but still, he's a dominant force from the Elbow in. Why not have some off ball movement with him and McGee/Howard, to get him some nice open looks inside.

Basically, our offense looks like it was designed by a 12yo playing NBA Live...

I think that might have a lot to do with LeBron, because on every team he's led, he seems to take dynamic offensive players and diminish them into 1 dimensional accessories to his game. Kyrie, Love, Bosh... Only Wade avoided it to an extent. He took dominant guys and made them predictable and stoppable. And they all got relatively disgruntled in the process.
I think Davis may be the best ever, but to me, he already looks like he's getting a little fed up with his role.

Chris Bosh and Kevin Love weren't diminished by LeBron. They both went from #1 options on lottery teams to 3rd options on championship teams. Kevin Love is the same player now without LeBron as he was with LeBron. And I don't see how Kyrie was at all diminished playing with LeBron, the two were an elite offensive duo with Kyrie iso-ing as much as he wanted.

Anthony Davis is taking 19 shots a game and averaging 26 ppg on the #1 team in the West. If he's getting fed up with his role then he needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. LeBron + shooters led to all-time great offenses in Cleveland. The Lakers tried fighting it last season and it was a massive flop. The offense is fine. They're the #6 offense in the NBA despite dealing with injuries and a bunch of new pieces.

Bosh definitely suffered offensively. He was behind wade also and didn’t fit as a third option offensively near as well as love. Bosh definitely should have been the second option in 13/14 though.


Love wasn’t diminished really at all. Especially the last two seasons. He’s still the exact same player now. His biggest offensive loss was his weight loss. Dude can’t score at the rim.

Not sure why Kyrie would even be listed at all.... That one is way off.

[Beethoven]

Would love to see us hold onto the 1 seed throughout
Have a Portland and a okc or sas come into the 7 and 8 seeds w Phoenix and Minn dropping off
And a certain hobo team end up as a mere 5th seed losing to a houston or Dallas beating their ass.

[LAKESHOW]

I agree with 1 assessment. This is the smartest and most savvy version of Bron. Previous he was out athlete everyone. Could u imagine this version, with past athletic ability? Im good with where we are at. We must however protect the body part, and rest him.

[Landsberger]

Would love to see us hold onto the 1 seed throughout
Have a Portland and a okc or sas come into the 7 and 8 seeds w Phoenix and Minn dropping off
And a certain hobo team end up as a mere 5th seed losing to a houston or Dallas beating their ass.

Don't sleep on PHX. Ayton will be back next week and he may be their best player.

[danfantastk32]

I understand the whole 'looking for flaws' thing. It's a chat board, and this is the Laker-nerds diving deep into the weeds. I get it. I'm into it just as much as the next guy. Not judging. I'd also admit that clearly this Laker team is far from perfect....there are definitely holes, and I understand some concerns.

But...

Anyone watching the Pelicans? Getting WORKED night in and night out. Our drafts were a pile of busts. Let's just call it what it is.
Randle is a slightly decent player on a barf-bag of a team. So is Russell. And so are our slew of 'talent' over in NO. Anyone hearing big things from Nance and ol' neck-tattoo over on the Cavs?

I was just as guilty as the next of thinking we had this pile of crazy talent. But watching this team now...it's not even funny. How thankful we aughta be that we have Lebron, and then AD from that. Holy hell....I'd trade every single one of our drafts from the last 6 years for AD.

We'd all be sitting here watching another ballz of a season if we hadn't got Lebron. Russell, Lonzo, Randle, Hart, Kuz, Ingram, Nance, Clarkson....the rest. <-------all sub-par. We'd have a garbage squad. We haven't drafted a player in a decade that even comes close to 6th man Lou Williams. And I mean it. I'd take Lou-Williams over any TWO of our drafts. Prob 3.

So so much for that crap. Good riddance. We are MILES better than we coulda been 'sticking it out'.

And people point at some dirt here....a smudge here. Whatever. For the first time in almost a decade we're not a pile of rubbish. And best of all.....come what may, we got out from the lie, that was our "youth". Empty calories.

I think our team is winning because the pieces are working together. It's been awesome to watch. Lebron and AD obviously produce the deadly 1-2 punch.....but it's been a team effort. Green and KCP getting it done. Caruso and Rondo holding the PG position as best they can....and doing an admirable job of it. Getting Dwight for peanuts, and getting a guy who's really buckled down.

I'm not sure we're a championship team...I think we need that 3rd guy....and I don't think Kuz is that. We'll see. But either way....man we aughta just be so, so, so, so happy we're watching Lebron and AD...and not the alternative.