The LeBron James - 21-22 Regular Season Thread - New Thread Soon Part 2

[O_6]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

[trickshot]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

it's not a total complete mega failure of a disaster but it's only a success if the aim is the regular season scoring title, low seed and low playoff expectations. Although there were other things at play it's a huge mark they went 0-5 in Lebron's best scoring stretch. Hugely worrying omen that even Lebron can't rescue the team on his best days, previously thought impossible. Another one is losing games where Lebron and AD play well, yet another feat previously thought impossible. These things point to a lower ceiling and the Lakers can ignore it and act like everything is fine or get real about what Westbrook means to their contention chances. It's not like they'd be betting on a stellar playoff resume to keep the doubts at bay.

It's a foundation built on sawdust because Lebron is just going to end up seeing two bodies every playoff possession when radical gameplanning really takes effect. Meanwhile Westbrook will somehow struggle to capitalise, everyone will post worse scoring numbers and then there goes that.

[tone wone]

LA legitimately set 2 roster spots on fire with the Rondo-Jordan signings. Jordan started 18 games!!!!

Every roster spot matters. You'd think a team that is as cash-strapped as the Lakers would understand this. But nope. Just imagine if they had took a flyer on a couple of flawed wings instead (ala Stanley Johnson)....how many headaches would've been avoided with this weird guard heavy roster.

[nzahir]

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-3pt/?sort=FG3_PCT&dir=-1&CF=GP*GE*15:PLAYER_NAME*E*&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

Nba 3 point defense....Reaves near the top, Avery near the bottom

Reaves deserves even more min when his body gets used to it

[trickshot]

Watching Kyrie on the Nets feels like everyone needs to shut it down and pray for injuries. Ridiculous. There's no stopping that, and the Lakers thought they were going to beat them with ellington guarding kyrie and carmelo under the rim. You always gotta build your roster with the best team in mind man. The number 1 defensive team might have even had a better chance under the new rules than having all these one way players trying to outshoot iso gang. Westbrook already got shut down by claxton, Nets will feel good about that potential matchup.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Read on Twitter

Don't think we can ask for much more from Lebron, no matter how much we wish he were a bit more active as a rebounder or rim-protector at times. He has completely upped his play since AD has been out, and he already all-nba level impact before AD went out. I don't mind him settling for jumpers during the RS, as I'm sure he can't be consistently in attack mode.

Nice to see Cousins rising

Lol maybe he can rise with us?

Read on Twitter

[zimpy27]

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-3pt/?sort=FG3_PCT&dir=-1&CF=GP*GE*15:PLAYER_NAME*E*&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

Nba 3 point defense....Reaves near the top, Avery near the bottom

Reaves deserves even more min when his body gets used to it

Cousins up there in the list too. Worth giving him a shot you think?

[trickshot]

Don't do it. Bucks are the most athletic team and have legs. They more than made up for his shortcomings, it was a match made in heaven. Cousins ticks the box of good scoring and floorspacing 5 but is less nimble and active than Carmelo on the other end. They were most likely sure he wasn't going to make it in their playoff rotation. With Ariza, carmelo looking old, lebron coasting and DJ being a corpse Lakers need more stanley johnsons than cousins.

They already have what he brings. I'd replace Jordan with an athletic lob catching 5 that can play closing lineups or a true smallball 5. If none then you have to pass. They already have a Boogie at 4 other positions. Loaded with low motor scoring talent.

[zimpy27]

Don't do it. Bucks are the most athletic team and have legs. They more than made up for his shortcomings, it was a match made in heaven. Cousins ticks the box of good scoring and floorspacing 5 but is less nimble and active than Carmelo on the other end. They were most likely sure he wasn't going to make it in their playoff rotation. With Ariza, carmelo looking old, lebron coasting and DJ being a corpse Lakers need more stanley johnsons than cousins.

They already have what he brings. I'd replace Jordan with an athletic lob catching 5 that can play closing lineups or a true smallball 5. If none then you have to pass. They already have a Boogie at 4 other positions. Loaded with low motor scoring talent.

Stanley's offense could be a problem, it could work or he could be a huge liability. Can he shoot well enough for opponents to run to him on the perimeter?

I think LeBron, Westbrook, Davis likely play around 115 mpg in the playoffs. It leaves about 125 mpg for the supporting cast.

Lakers need to start thinking about who gets that 125 mpg..

[GSP]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

Beal, Harden and Pg had their best scoring seasons with Russ too......it has to be the way his drives create pressure at the rim and mess up defenses b/c it cant be his passing alone and its def not any shooting or offball gravity

[trickshot]

Don't do it. Bucks are the most athletic team and have legs. They more than made up for his shortcomings, it was a match made in heaven. Cousins ticks the box of good scoring and floorspacing 5 but is less nimble and active than Carmelo on the other end. They were most likely sure he wasn't going to make it in their playoff rotation. With Ariza, carmelo looking old, lebron coasting and DJ being a corpse Lakers need more stanley johnsons than cousins.

They already have what he brings. I'd replace Jordan with an athletic lob catching 5 that can play closing lineups or a true smallball 5. If none then you have to pass. They already have a Boogie at 4 other positions. Loaded with low motor scoring talent.

Stanley's offense could be a problem, it could work or he could be a huge liability. Can he shoot well enough for opponents to run to him on the perimeter?

It will be a problem especially when Westbrook's shot is off but that's the price for not doing due diligence and signing a 3 and D wing while they were on the market. They need legs and dirty work more than they need offense. To his credit he's a net positive player in that setup. There are ways to generate positive net impact without being an offensive spacer. Lakers are in this roster situation because they overrated shotmaking. So so many scorers with no intangibles.

[zimpy27]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

Beal, Harden and Pg had their best scoring seasons with Russ too......it has to be the way his drives create pressure at the rim and mess up defenses b/c it cant be his passing alone and its def not any shooting or offball gravity

It's the eye gravity on and off ball. You don't have to rush him on the perimeter but you do need to watch him as he is very aggressive with drives and passes, keeps eyes off the other players.

[zimpy27]

Don't do it. Bucks are the most athletic team and have legs. They more than made up for his shortcomings, it was a match made in heaven. Cousins ticks the box of good scoring and floorspacing 5 but is less nimble and active than Carmelo on the other end. They were most likely sure he wasn't going to make it in their playoff rotation. With Ariza, carmelo looking old, lebron coasting and DJ being a corpse Lakers need more stanley johnsons than cousins.

They already have what he brings. I'd replace Jordan with an athletic lob catching 5 that can play closing lineups or a true smallball 5. If none then you have to pass. They already have a Boogie at 4 other positions. Loaded with low motor scoring talent.

Stanley's offense could be a problem, it could work or he could be a huge liability. Can he shoot well enough for opponents to run to him on the perimeter?

It will be a problem especially when Westbrook's shot is off but that's the price for not doing due diligence and signing a 3 and D wing while they were on the market. They need legs and dirty work more than they need offense. To his credit he's a net positive player in that setup. There are ways to generate positive net impact without being an offensive spacer. Lakers are in this roster situation because they overrated shotmaking. So so many scorers with no intangibles.

Who you got for the 125mpg that the big 3 don't play in the playoffs? Something like this?

Monk 25mpg
Melo 25mpg
Stanley 20mpg
Reaves 20mpg
Ariza 20 mpg
Howard 15mpg

[trickshot]

Stanley's offense could be a problem, it could work or he could be a huge liability. Can he shoot well enough for opponents to run to him on the perimeter?

It will be a problem especially when Westbrook's shot is off but that's the price for not doing due diligence and signing a 3 and D wing while they were on the market. They need legs and dirty work more than they need offense. To his credit he's a net positive player in that setup. There are ways to generate positive net impact without being an offensive spacer. Lakers are in this roster situation because they overrated shotmaking. So so many scorers with no intangibles.

Who you got for the 125mpg that the big 3 don't play in the playoffs? Something like this?

Monk 25mpg
Melo 25mpg
Stanley 20mpg
Reaves 20mpg
Ariza 20 mpg
Howard 15mpg

Reposted with less platitudes and more team specifics.

Dunno, depends on the matchup but I guess you gave a decent guideline. Against a perimeter oriented, pnr spammy team with guards that can shoot and attack switches some of the less mobile 4/5s can't be hidden. Warriors and suns specifically. The booker or cp3/ayton pnr isn't really stoppable without a switchable and atheltic big. If it's a team with elite interior defense you can't afford to have too many poor shooters out together. 5 out against utah is a must. A guy like carmelo will be very useful for 25mins. Against the Nets well placed crowbar to anyone's kneecap. structural damage minimum 2 weeks. I just don't see those guys losing without. It's a bit depressing after the last 2 years of relative parity. Monk might have been difficult to matchup against the clippers if Kawhi were healthy. Two big wings with crafty face up games. He seemed to struggle in the earlier matchup, PG kept hunting him and it was a major nuisance. Otherwise he's way too important to be left out.

All the nuances to the various matchups is why everyone needs roster versatility and why I thought it was a mistake to originally sign guys of the same mould in every position but it looks like theyre trying to patch that up. A two way wing would have been better in stanley johnson's place but that's what they have to deal with. Can you really close a team like the bucks with Westbrook and Johnson in the playoffs? Those guys are massive and atheltic. That's Giannis on Lebron with portis or whoever camping in the paint. it's unfortunate it was left till late.

edit; damn I just realised why the suns suck against the warriors. Trust CP3 to end up on a league best team that just happens to match up poorly against all of the Warriors strengths. That guy has to be the most unlucky man on planet earth.

[zimpy27]

It will be a problem especially when Westbrook's shot is off but that's the price for not doing due diligence and signing a 3 and D wing while they were on the market. They need legs and dirty work more than they need offense. To his credit he's a net positive player in that setup. There are ways to generate positive net impact without being an offensive spacer. Lakers are in this roster situation because they overrated shotmaking. So so many scorers with no intangibles.

Who you got for the 125mpg that the big 3 don't play in the playoffs? Something like this?

Monk 25mpg
Melo 25mpg
Stanley 20mpg
Reaves 20mpg
Ariza 20 mpg
Howard 15mpg

Reposted with less platitudes and more team specifics.

Dunno, depends on the matchup but I guess you gave a decent guideline. Against a perimeter oriented, pnr spammy team with guards that can shoot and attack switches some of the less mobile 4/5s can't be hidden. Warriors and suns specifically. The booker or cp3/ayton pnr isn't really stoppable without a switchable and atheltic big. If it's a team with elite interior defense you can't afford to have too many poor shooters out together. 5 out against utah is a must. A guy like carmelo will be very useful for 25mins. Against the Nets well placed crowbar to anyone's kneecap. structural damage minimum 2 weeks. I just don't see those guys losing without. It's a bit depressing after the last 2 years of relative parity. Monk might have been difficult to matchup against the clippers if Kawhi were healthy. Two big wings with crafty face up games. He seemed to struggle in the earlier matchup, PG kept hunting him and it was a major nuisance. Otherwise he's way too important to be left out.

All the nuances to the various matchups is why everyone needs roster versatility and why I thought it was a mistake to originally sign guys of the same mould in every position but it looks like theyre trying to patch that up. A two way wing would have been better in stanley johnson's place but that's what they have to deal with. Can you really close a team like the bucks with Westbrook and Johnson in the playoffs? Those guys are massive and atheltic. That's Giannis on Lebron with portis or whoever camping in the paint. it's unfortunate it was left till late.

edit; damn I just realised why the suns suck against the warriors. Trust CP3 to end up on a league best team that just happens to match up poorly against all of the Warriors strengths. That guy has to be the most unlucky man on planet earth.

I forgot to add Nunn and THT in.

So Lakers may have 8 guys: Nunn, Monk, THT, Reaves, Johnson, Ariza, Melo, Howard

I mean you want versatile but you also want a reduced rotation of reliable guys so that everyone can get used to each other.

From the above 8, which do you think are mainstays regardless of matchup?

[Slava]

I don't think Melo should be getting more run time than what Chief Keef did in 2020, which was around 18. Keef is a much better defender, albeit without the ability to unclog dead offensive possessions like Melo.

[zimpy27]

I don't think Melo should be getting more run time than what Chief Keef did in 2020, which was around 18. Keef is a much better defender, albeit without the ability to unclog dead offensive possessions like Melo.

I think he's a good guy to get in a game early to see if he's on fire for a game and then pull if he isn't

[Slava]

I don't think Melo should be getting more run time than what Chief Keef did in 2020, which was around 18. Keef is a much better defender, albeit without the ability to unclog dead offensive possessions like Melo.

I think he's a good guy to get in a game early to see if he's on fire for a game and then pull if he isn't

He might even provide some better effort in the competitive heat of the playoffs if his minutes and usage are reduced. He's also a much better passer when he wants to be, he has that vision.

[Heej]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

Beal, Harden and Pg had their best scoring seasons with Russ too......it has to be the way his drives create pressure at the rim and mess up defenses b/c it cant be his passing alone and its def not any shooting or offball gravity

It's the eye gravity on and off ball. You don't have to rush him on the perimeter but you do need to watch him as he is very aggressive with drives and passes, keeps eyes off the other players.

Honestly man I think it's all that, and just the simple thing that Russ makes them happy and energized. He literally brings starpower to the team, and eases the burden of producing it on Bron. And by starpower I mean A LOT of intangible s***

He's definitely one of the hardest workers on the team (99% of stars are because you can only be great by being consistent), easily one of the vocal members in almost everything, likely reduces strain as far as strategizing things and presenting ideas to the coaching staff, helps mentor younger players, on the court he's ALWAYS taking up for LeBron when a call doesn't go his way and he actually has the clout to get referees to listen to him, he ALWAYS sticks up for LeBron in any scrum, he's constantly a bundle of energy on the court, he's honestly a smart cutter and offensive rebounder, very good court vision and playmaking.

Honestly I see LeBron shaking his head in frustration at a lot of people but when Russ f***s up he never really gets mad, and that matters in an 82 game season. Idk what guys in this thread are really watching when they're keying in on Russ other than his mistakes but watching him night in and night out he just seems like an absolute joy to play with for LeBron all things considered. Maybe it will backfire in the end, but I don't see Bron and AD playing their best ball without him. As far as stars go, having Russ just makes the game easier on them. I think that's why DeRozan is thriving too. You can't really replace starpower

Edit: replace starpower in this post with 'franchise player energy' because starpower could be misinterpreted for what Melo and AD got but they don't have that alpha franchise player mindset that LeBron or Russ has and that's why stars love playing with him and do their best playing with him because he helps set the tone for the entire organization and very few players can replicate that. It's also why Jimmy did so well with embiid and now Lowry, it's a burden few players have actually been able to take and the ones that really got that energy love being on teams together.

[JN61]

Westbrook needs to step up his game but even with his obvious struggles this year fitting in, he has still been one of the key reasons why LeBron is having such an amazing scoring season. Not only that, but Westbrook/LeBron lineups are leading to very good team offensive results as well.

LeBron Stats + Lakers ORtg:
w/ Westbrook --- 39.2 PP/100 -- .643 TS% ---- 7.3 AST/100 --- 3.3 TO/100 --- 116.3 Tm ORtg -- 698 MP
w/o Westbrook -- 33.6 PP/100 -- .589 TS% --- 11.6 AST/100 -- 6.5 TO/100 --- 112.6 Tm ORtg -- 299 MP
*Source http://www.pbpstats.com/

For all the talk about Westbrook being a complete failure of a signing, that 116.30 ORtg with both him and LeBron on the court is pretty impressive. That's not even considering that AD has been hurt and wasn't even playing that well when he was healthy.

LeBron has never been more of a score-first player than he is with Westbrook on the floor. Those AST/TOV numbers are eye-opening, both of those numbers are significantly lower than his career numbers (10.0 AST / 4.7 TOV). Although LeBron is an all-time great passer, I've really enjoyed watching him play with a different offensive style this year focused more on scoring.

I'm far from a Westbrook fan, but I really appreciate how he's allowed LeBron to do his thing as a scorer this year. Not only is he helping LeBron put up amazing individual scoring numbers, the two of them on the court together is leading to strong offensive play.

It will be interesting to see how LeBron adapts again when AD is healthy and playing. The Russ/LeBron chemistry has been steadily improving over the season, if AD has been paying attention then I hope he realizes that he can take a slight backseat in scoring to LeBron while expending more of his energy into being an impact defender.

Very informative take. Their 2 man game has been great last 15 or so games. Even though Westbrook's last game drags the stat down a bit, the 2 man game of Westbrook creating for Lebron has been really good, hell by far the best in the league good it would seem. Last 15 games Westbrook to Lebron has 3.5 FGM per game. Last 10 it's up to 3.9 and last 5 massive 4.6. So he is definitely creating some great looks while allowing Lebron to save himself the playmaking load that has been almost entirely on him for several years now.

Also first time in his career I've seen Lebron take role where he actually doesn't stop the ball but is willing to play in the flow of offense at greater stretches of the game. Still he is capable of taking over some games (he ran out of juice few games back but last game came up on the clutch) but him not being so disruptive to the offense is in my opinion great when you need to sit him down. Other players are more comfortable to play offense when Lebron isn't as ball dominant.

Team defense still remains big issue but Lebron's play has been stellars as of late on the offensive side. Very weak defense but only Giannis really plays strong defense this year out of MVP candidates. Jokic and Durant are ok.