(LOCK THREAD) The LeBron James- 23-24 NBA Thread - 40K POINTS+(Part 1)(NO INSULTING)

[nzahir]

Barely beat the Raps, but a win is a win

Bad game from Reaves, but I still trust him down the stretch

I hope we make a trade this month, cant keep losing games and its going to be hard to avoid the play in without going on a decent run soon

[rk2023]

What a game by Davis

[PistolPeteJR]

LePassiveaggressive

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What’s passive aggressive here? Answering a question and crediting the coach? Or giving flowers to a coach that was on the bench helping lead the way for two of his chips?

How long have you been following Brons career

You dont think him mentioning Lue who specifically wasnt named by the interviewer and praising Spo which hes done but only when hes asked really not in this manner isnt related to Ham situation?

You haven’t answered my question. What’d “passive aggressive” about this?

[PistolPeteJR]

If Smart goes anywhere it’ll be Milwaukee given how desperate they are right now. Don’t know their asset situation but given the outburst from Giannis they’ll probably be making a couple of moves.

Any way they can swing for both Lavine and Terry Rozier? These two additions will get them back in the race, but alas I’m not the best at trades

It’ll really be interesting to see what the Bucks do. Who’s even available that’ll help? Caruso? What assets do the Bucks have to net him or any other legit POA defender? Because that’s what they need right now.

As for the Lakers, honestly what they need are players that can shoot. More than anything. I’m watching this Raptors game and it’s the same thing, game in, game out: LeBron draws the double, role player can’t make the shot, rinse and repeat. He’s made a living in his career doing this, GMs have somewhat understood this, some better than others, as of coaches, and yet Rob can’t figure it out. It’s unbelievable.

They don't have neither picks nor young players for guys like Caruso or Smart

Smart, no.
Caruso though I think can be had. Don’t the Bucks have swap deals with the Pels that they can trade? So basically 1sts, plus the Pels 2027?

[PistolPeteJR]

The rioting in the GB is hilarious right now lol

[nzahir]

i actually do think this team could win some **** but can they get enough competent pieces? this team is utterly AWFUL as i outlined in my previous posting of impact metrics.Im really confused because how much of it is poor players and how much is down to situation? a mix i guess but guys like cam n vando are unfortunate evils the lakers have to play.

However i dont really think any one team is completely unstoppable in todays league. Even Denver last year; if the lakers had paid the tax for caruso maybe murray doesn't go off for 35 ppg on 65 ts and a 130 off rating (better then jokic): actually its very funny to me the media unanimously gave wcf mvp to jokic because numbers wise it was murray who was playing at a higher lvl if not the same lvl and it was in part no doubt due to outlier shooting variance but id of given him the magic johnson mvp. Nvm if we saw the version of lebron we saw this year or pre bone spur AD. This year jokic been hunted quite a few times : i seen the magic relentlessly cook that man, and his impact metrics n shooting from 3 have regressed a fair bit making me think last year maybe the nuggets peak. They could repeat or more likely never win again unless they repeat that lvl.

the celtics have what i consider a perfectly built team but the jays are so mid as a core duo that i think they leave a lot on the table vs other stars. The way AD had been shooting lately n Bron earlier this year made me think they can be the best duo. The team failing has a lot to do with basically every player but prince under performing their expectations massively. I wonder what the price for Dejounte murray is ? And if the price remains very low on lavine it does open up a lot of potential. But they need moves and moves fast , cos this team just aint it. AS much as i want to blame them for the last loss smart hitting 9 threes n JJJ hitting 5 with ja hitting 3-4 is just nonsense **** modern nba stuff that i dislike. But they now are in real danger of missing playoffs and outside ADs hip have had ok star luck. The biggest issue is the volume of threes, he amount generated, amount taken and ofc the %, combined with the perimeter defence of the more offensive leaning guys. Lakers are weirdly near top of league last i looked in 2pt % and attempts there.

if they could swing a move for both 'klutch' clients in murray n lavine i think that top 4 even with murray n lavines flaws enough to compete. More realistically one of lavine or murray and a defensive stud big guard/wing (caruso lvl) might be enough but bulls want to hold on to him. This team is bad... but i cant help but feel the tiny glimmer of hope is both lebron n AD are better then they were last playoffs if the playoffs were to begin: is any duo really better then them in two way impact? Certainly not by much, and can lavine/murray/ actual top 100 3nD player make it interesting, But even in the best case itll be down to luck unless we get 2021 version of lavine n murray lol, and i dont know if we can get one. Murray might be a bit over rated but he maybe cheaper as a result of his flame out n not taking the leap in atlanta though he appears to finally expanded his midrange to the 3. I think the best you can do is get this team a chance to do something i hope: o dont think anyone has a surefire way to a ring the tleague is too stacked n the lakers are too quality player poor.

for nzahir lavines EPM:

23: +2.8 epm
22: +3.3 epm
21:+4.2 epm

defensive epm ( you can work out his offense only im lazy) :
23: 0.2
22: -0.8
21: -0.5
Ranging from 41st to 68th percentile in defensive epm, offensive ranges from 92nd to 97th percentile. His on ball defence vs fast guards is decent enough his off ball maybe helped by lebron n co, his passing weakness on offence can be offset by change of role and mostly having him make passes to feed AD , where hes been decent at feeding vuc. Hes a much more lethal scorer off the catch or in an advantage, hes very good off ball. Lebron has been on ball as pg a lot more since Dlo flopping. Also Cp3 is out 4-6weeks which adds an interesting wrinkle as klay is playing better , if warriors move cp3 maybe lakers get him on buyout. even now a washed cp3 to share pg duties will help.

It also interests me how different the suns have looked with beal alone and i think lavine could possibly be a turbo charged version of that addition to Lebron n AD. However id want lavine +( caruso/murray/ smart?) or a 3nd wing who is an upgrade on prince but i think thats less worthwhile as the guard spot has the most talent.unfortunately i believe the bulls are stupid enough to not want to part with a 30 year old defence only guard whos injured a fair bit n cant start. Lavine alone isnt enough but i think if hes healthy it at least will not be a slog watching this team. also theyll have up to three picks this summer so they should spend Jhs, christie , 29 , swaps whoever. I think the gap of replacing two of Las worst impact guys with +3 ish in lavine and +1-2 in someone else is probably rather signficant. But who knows maybe i''m crazy, hover between pessisim n hope. But if you cant build a contender around 2 top 10 guys by every metric that you know raise their lvl in crucial game; then you cant build around anyone. especially as that star guard creator spot is the most stacked one n the one this team lacks.

apologies for all the spelling errors im too lazy to correct. ive lowered my expectations a bit and will try not to be too salty but i do hope a move is coming and one that can atleast make this team competitive, failing to do that with two top ten guys is an impressive feat.

Looking at Lavine's EPM makes me comfortable in pushing for him

But we need to get some sort of SF back and a bigger C for specific situations

Lavine, Prince, ???, Bron, AD
Reaves, Christie, Cam/Vando (only 1 can really play and situational min), Wood, Sit

Rui, Dlo, JHS, and Vincent are 46m in salary

Not sure if we can still bring in 1.25x of the salaries or not, but if so, got around 57m in salary

THe issue is getting into the 2nd apron next year

Lebron should take less next year if we want to make this move. Some sort of compromise makes sense here or I dont see Jeanie shelling out the $$

[Slava]

The offense is genuinely concerning now. Last season during the late season push and in the playoffs, they were driving more, getting free throws and that was helping a mediocre offense stay afloat. This season, there isn’t a single bright spot other than both Lebron and Davis staying healthy, playing at a ridiculous level and still struggling to stay mediocre. The spacing is still poor, there is no offensive rebounding and size to revert to like in 2020, injuries to role players aren’t helping and the schemes look more slapped together than well designed.

[Slava]

Reaves’ 3 point shot crashing back to mediocrity is an underdiscussed subplot to Davis completely losing his jump shot.

[Mos_Heat]

It’ll really be interesting to see what the Bucks do. Who’s even available that’ll help? Caruso? What assets do the Bucks have to net him or any other legit POA defender? Because that’s what they need right now.

As for the Lakers, honestly what they need are players that can shoot. More than anything. I’m watching this Raptors game and it’s the same thing, game in, game out: LeBron draws the double, role player can’t make the shot, rinse and repeat. He’s made a living in his career doing this, GMs have somewhat understood this, some better than others, as of coaches, and yet Rob can’t figure it out. It’s unbelievable.

They don't have neither picks nor young players for guys like Caruso or Smart

Smart, no.
Caruso though I think can be had. Don’t the Bucks have swap deals with the Pels that they can trade? So basically 1sts, plus the Pels 2027?

They traded 1st round picks in 25, 27, 29 and swaps in 24, 26, 28 and 30. So they can only trade a pick during the draft

[MyUniBroDavis]

Reaves’ 3 point shot crashing back to mediocrity is an underdiscussed subplot to Davis completely losing his jump shot.

ADs shot fine after a horrible start, Reaves will be fine he’s taking more pullups and deeper ones now

[AEnigma]

The rioting in the GB is hilarious right now lol

Torn because that fourth quarter home court whistle was bull, but it is also so transparent how many people could not care less until the second Lebron happens to benefit from bad refereeing.

[MyUniBroDavis]

What’s passive aggressive here? Answering a question and crediting the coach? Or giving flowers to a coach that was on the bench helping lead the way for two of his chips?

How long have you been following Brons career

You dont think him mentioning Lue who specifically wasnt named by the interviewer and praising Spo which hes done but only when hes asked really not in this manner isnt related to Ham situation?

You haven’t answered my question. What’d “passive aggressive” about this?

Dawg

[PistolPeteJR]

They don't have neither picks nor young players for guys like Caruso or Smart

Smart, no.
Caruso though I think can be had. Don’t the Bucks have swap deals with the Pels that they can trade? So basically 1sts, plus the Pels 2027?

They traded 1st round picks in 25, 27, 29 and swaps in 24, 26, 28 and 30. So they can only trade a pick during the draft

They can't trade that Pels 27 now? Can't recall the stipulations on draft picks when they aren't yours, if any tbh

[Ian Scuffling]

The rioting in the GB is hilarious right now lol

Torn because that fourth quarter home court whistle was bull, but it is also so transparent how many people could not care less until the second Lebron happens to benefit from bad refereeing.

I didn't see the game, but that was my first thought as well. Haters are so predictable.

[tsherkin]

The offense is genuinely concerning now. Last season during the late season push and in the playoffs, they were driving more, getting free throws and that was helping a mediocre offense stay afloat. This season, there isn’t a single bright spot other than both Lebron and Davis staying healthy, playing at a ridiculous level and still struggling to stay mediocre. The spacing is still poor, there is no offensive rebounding and size to revert to like in 2020, injuries to role players aren’t helping and the schemes look more slapped together than well designed.

Yeah, it's a little bleak on O, isn't it? AD and Lebron are both producing like +7.0 team ORTG when they're on the floor. Lebron's like +7 per100, AD's around +5, and they just... can't. Like, a half-decade ago, maybe Lebron could have done something about this, but they're the 2nd-worst 3pt shooting team in the league and it's just savaging them.

[PistolPeteJR]

The offense is genuinely concerning now. Last season during the late season push and in the playoffs, they were driving more, getting free throws and that was helping a mediocre offense stay afloat. This season, there isn’t a single bright spot other than both Lebron and Davis staying healthy, playing at a ridiculous level and still struggling to stay mediocre. The spacing is still poor, there is no offensive rebounding and size to revert to like in 2020, injuries to role players aren’t helping and the schemes look more slapped together than well designed.

Yeah, it's a little bleak on O, isn't it? AD and Lebron are both producing like +7.0 team ORTG when they're on the floor. Lebron's like +7 per100, AD's around +5, and they just... can't. Like, a half-decade ago, maybe Lebron could have done something about this, but they're the 2nd-worst 3pt shooting team in the league and it's just savaging them.

It just baffles my mind how Rob has repeatedly shown he doesn't understand a simple basketball scheme that LeBron-led teams have boasted for the bulk of his super-long career: surround him with shooters. Instead, "I like big wings that struggle to score at all and defensively are hit-and-miss but how about that physical build? Plenty of potential right?"

[tsherkin]

It just baffles my mind how Rob has repeatedly shown he doesn't understand a simple basketball scheme that LeBron-led teams have boasted for the bulk of his super-long career: surround him with shooters. Instead, "I like big wings that struggle to score at all and defensively are hit-and-miss but how about that physical build? Plenty of potential right?"

Yeah, the LA roster is pretty rough in that respect.

[Cavsfansince84]

Expecting much from this Lakers team is being a bit unrealistic imo. Just enjoy it for what it is. LeBron is just adding to his career totals at this point and redefining what people thought was possible for a 38-40 year old player to do.

[Ian Scuffling]

Yeah, it's not hard to see what makes a Lebron led team dangerous. Maybe, the fact they have a great center is throwing Pelinka off But, the recipe should still be surround Lebron with shooters. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand this.

[PistolPeteJR]

Expecting much from this Lakers team is being a bit unrealistic imo. Just enjoy it for what it is. LeBron is just adding to his career totals at this point and redefining what people thought was possible for a 38-40 year old player to do.

The disappointment is multi-faceted:

1) They just came off a WCF trip with the same roster and are struggling to win games because the supporting cast in general has taken a few steps back.
2) LeBron and AD have been very healthy thus far and despite that, the team is struggling.
3) Their biggest FA acquisition in Gabe Vincent that's supposed to be a starter and their dedicated POA defender hasn't played a lick basically.
4) Reaves especially is supposed to have taken a stride or two forward and instead of finally starting to resemble his form from last year on offense, but is even worse on defense.