The LeBron Thread 2021 Off-Season Edition

[nzahir]

it's early but it doesn't look like it'll be a problem. He switches off but still has the footspeed to make recovery plays. Granted Curry isn't playing so Warriors offense is a lot less dynamic. Having said that there's one or two guys who give up an open 3 on every other possession. That type of defense won't work against Phoenix or Warriors when splash brothers are healthy.

edit yeah the rate at which Warriors are creating high percentage opportunities with only roleplayers is something else. Their movement is doing a lot of damage. Westbrook isn't the problem btw.

Just got burned by Poole for an and 1 and then gets lost and an entry pass happens over his head for a layup....

We could have had Pope, AC, Hield, and our 1st instead of Russ....

He better step it up

If the project is a failure, by Dec/Jan, trade him

I saw that. He really lost focus in that quarter. That was ugly.

He has missed 3 layups in limited time this game, looks really really ugly

[letskissbro]

how is westbrook defense looking ?

it's early but it doesn't look like it'll be a problem. He switches off but still has the footspeed to make recovery plays. Granted Curry isn't playing so Warriors offense is a lot less dynamic. Having said that there's one or two guys who give up an open 3 on every other possession. That type of defense won't work against Phoenix or Warriors when splash brothers are healthy.

edit yeah the rate at which Warriors are creating high percentage opportunities with only roleplayers is something else. Their movement is doing a lot of damage. Westbrook isn't the problem btw.

Just got burned by Poole for an and 1 and then gets lost and an entry pass happens over his head for a layup....

We could have had Pope, AC, Hield, and our 1st instead of Russ....

He better step it up

If the project is a failure, by Dec/Jan, trade him

This is going to be the fourth team in a row he's embarrassed himself on. The Lakers are gonna be stuck with him and his 40 million dollar contract for these next two years.

[trickshot]

it's early but it doesn't look like it'll be a problem. He switches off but still has the footspeed to make recovery plays. Granted Curry isn't playing so Warriors offense is a lot less dynamic. Having said that there's one or two guys who give up an open 3 on every other possession. That type of defense won't work against Phoenix or Warriors when splash brothers are healthy.

edit yeah the rate at which Warriors are creating high percentage opportunities with only roleplayers is something else. Their movement is doing a lot of damage. Westbrook isn't the problem btw.

Just got burned by Poole for an and 1 and then gets lost and an entry pass happens over his head for a layup....

We could have had Pope, AC, Hield, and our 1st instead of Russ....

He better step it up

If the project is a failure, by Dec/Jan, trade him

This is going to be the fourth team in a row he's embarrassed himself on. The Lakers are gonna be stuck with him and his 40 million dollar contract for these next two years.

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amateurish.

[nzahir]

Just got burned by Poole for an and 1 and then gets lost and an entry pass happens over his head for a layup....

We could have had Pope, AC, Hield, and our 1st instead of Russ....

He better step it up

If the project is a failure, by Dec/Jan, trade him

This is going to be the fourth team in a row he's embarrassed himself on. The Lakers are gonna be stuck with him and his 40 million dollar contract for these next two years.

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amatteurish.

Rondo looks like prime Rondo when compared to this guy

I can already tell how a lot of the first 1-2 months will be...sigh

[trickshot]

This is going to be the fourth team in a row he's embarrassed himself on. The Lakers are gonna be stuck with him and his 40 million dollar contract for these next two years.

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amatteurish.

Rondo looks like prime Rondo when compared to this guy

I can already tell how a lot of the first 1-2 months will be...sigh

He's your player now. Can't be too harsh on him. The postivie is yout starters look like they can beat anyone. The negative is it's a couple empty possessions or a couple subs from losing. Warriors were 2/19 from 3 when the game was 43-40. They were creating points on the inside for fun. I also feel like Melo gives up a lot of 3s. He must have given up 30 points worth of 3s in the last 2 games alone. Exaggeration aside it's a lot.

Overall there's a winning formula somewhere in there. You can still improve your team to bring it out, I'm just not sure how well it will fare against the Nets. The garbage perimeter defense and wing depth doesn't fare well against KD, Giannis or the Suns as a whole.

[MisterHibachi]

Damn, role players actually hitting 3s?

[homecourtloss]

This is going to be the fourth team in a row he's embarrassed himself on. The Lakers are gonna be stuck with him and his 40 million dollar contract for these next two years.

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amatteurish.

Rondo looks like prime Rondo when compared to this guy

I can already tell how a lot of the first 1-2 months will be...sigh

It’s pretty damn ugly when this is the truth. Sad times.

[nzahir]

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amatteurish.

Rondo looks like prime Rondo when compared to this guy

I can already tell how a lot of the first 1-2 months will be...sigh

He's your player now. Can't be too harsh on him. The postivie is yout starters look like they can beat anyone. The negative is it's a couple empty possessions or a couple subs from losing. Warriors were 2/19 from 3 when the game was 43-40. They were creating points on the inside for fun. I also feel like Melo gives up a lot of 3s. He must have given up 30 points worth of 3s in the last 2 games alone. Exaggeration aside it's a lot.

Overall there's a winning formula somewhere in there. You can still improve your team to bring it out, I'm just not sure how well it will fare against the Nets. The garbage perimeter defense and wing depth doesn't fare well against KD, Giannis or the Suns as a whole.

Melo's defense is really bad, but we don't have many options on the wing

Ariza and THT injuries really hurt

Going to hope we make a move or 2 by the deadline

We got spoiled having really smart and capable defenders the past few years in DG, KCP, and AC. Even Avery was decent in his role

[trickshot]

Those horrible stretches seem to come when he's moved to primary initiator. It's going to be another Westbrook season where he spends the first 3 months figuring out the most basic stuff. Except playing beside 2 guys with 50% scoring really makes his offense look worse and rondo makes his game management look amatteurish.

Rondo looks like prime Rondo when compared to this guy

I can already tell how a lot of the first 1-2 months will be...sigh

It’s pretty damn ugly when this is the truth. Sad times.

I'm not sure they'd have traded for Westbrook if they knew Rondo was coming back. Then again other things they did made little sense so it's hard to tell. They didn't have to ignore defense to pursue undersized guards and one way players. One scoring drought is now all it takes to lose any quarter. Last year's Lakers spent half the game on scoring droughts and still won. After watching Phoenix more and more I think it was actually amazing to have had them down 2-1 while posting those terrible shooting percentages. This year's team looks to be far more entertaining to watch though.

[loveandbeer]

Westbrook has been utter **** all three games. Honestly can't think of one redeeming quality...

[Mos_Heat]

I don't really care about pre season, It's just this roster sucks. I don't think they should be the favorites in the West, I would comfortably take the field against them

I don't totally disagree but I think this roster is only marginally worse than last season's. The Lakers were up 2-1 against the eventual Western champs despite sub-optimal performances from Lebron and AD (plus Drummond and Schroeder starting every game). With Kawhi out for most or all of the season, there isn't a single Western conference team I would favor over the Lakers provided Bron and AD are at full health.

I'm not sure that this roster is only marginally worse. If Westbrook plays like he usually plays, this roster won't work at all

[ShotCreator]

Westbrook will have like 1-2 good months leading up to the playoffs but he’ll be trash all year and absolutely kill them in the playoffs.

Lakers aren’t better than the Clippers or Jazz IMO

[thebigbird]

This team would’ve been so much better with Buddy Hield instead of Westbrook. LeBron + AD are all the star power you need to be a contender. Surround LeBron with shooters, not horribly inefficient ball dominant chuckers. I’ll never forget the life of me understand that love. I hated it then and I hate it now.

[MisterHibachi]

This thread has typically been pretty pessimistic over the last few years, especially since LeBron signed with the Lakers, but wow the negativity during this preseason is already like January 2018 levels.

[thebigbird]

This thread has typically been pretty pessimistic over the last few years, especially since LeBron signed with the Lakers, but wow the negativity during this preseason is already like January 2018 levels.

IMO it’s warranted this time. We know what we’re getting in Russell Westbrook, and I think that’s what’s driving most of the negativity. The problem with him was obvious before they played a game, and the preseason has already shown what many expected. He won’t be as bad as he’s shown in the preseason so far, but odds are he’s going to be pretty bad. With him on the roster I don’t have high hopes for this team as a contender. He’s posted a sub-50% TS% in each of the past four postseasons.

[Texas Chuck]

This thread has typically been pretty pessimistic over the last few years, especially since LeBron signed with the Lakers, but wow the negativity during this preseason is already like January 2018 levels.

Yeah its wild. If you have a healthy and motivated Lebron and AD, it really doesn't even much matter what else you have, you are a contender. Now them both being healthy is a concern which is the whole reason Russ is in LA to help do a ton of RS lifting to save wear and tear on Lebron. And I think we have to have some real concerns about how much AD cares now that he's in LA, gotten his championship, and his money. Last year was just really meh from him.

But assuming AD is engaged the Lakers are going to be a force come playoff time and with Lebron it really doesn't matter what their seeding even is.

[Greatness]

At the end of the day, we should be satisfied with the fact that LeBron is even still playing. This is all bonus as far as I'm concerned.

[MisterHibachi]

This thread has typically been pretty pessimistic over the last few years, especially since LeBron signed with the Lakers, but wow the negativity during this preseason is already like January 2018 levels.

Yeah its wild. If you have a healthy and motivated Lebron and AD, it really doesn't even much matter what else you have, you are a contender. Now them both being healthy is a concern which is the whole reason Russ is in LA to help do a ton of RS lifting to save wear and tear on Lebron. And I think we have to have some real concerns about how much AD cares now that he's in LA, gotten his championship, and his money. Last year was just really meh from him.

But assuming AD is engaged the Lakers are going to be a force come playoff time and with Lebron it really doesn't matter what their seeding even is.

I think LeBron fans are just traumatized by the Warriors years, when it seemed like if his team wasn't perfect and things didn't work out perfectly, he wasn't going to win the title. Anything less than a perfect team and might as well give up on the season in October.

Brooklyn is definitely the favorite, especially if Kyrie gets his head right, but they're not unbeatable like the Warriors were and the calibre of team needed to compete for a title is a bar lower than it was in 2016-18.

Basically all of 2020 people, even in this thread, had no faith in the Lakers, and kept picking the Clippers and Bucks over them, and now retroactively we can see that team had some really big advantages that other teams didn't have an answer for. I'm not saying the 2022 Lakers will be like that, but I think they deserve some benefit of the doubt and not the sky is falling reactions we've seen in this thread.

[trickshot]

This thread has typically been pretty pessimistic over the last few years, especially since LeBron signed with the Lakers, but wow the negativity during this preseason is already like January 2018 levels.

Laker fans all over the internet are currently pessimistic, talk less of neutrals and fans of other teams with no obligation to put up a brave front or any kind of faith in what they personally believe to be a rickety ship. I think Lakers will be fine, the starting 5 looked fine but they also aren't kidding when they say there are some major issues with that roster and the symptoms are starting to show, a number of which were predicted months ago. Some are also being consistent with the takes they held from the start.

[Mos_Heat]

3 stars don't fit together
Best player in his 19th season
3rd option hovers around 50% TS
Not enough shooting by modern standars
0 two way role players
0 wing depth

I think there are plenty of reasons for pessimism