The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 5)

[limbo]

If Kuzma and Waiters continue to play defense like this I'm very excited about the future. LeBron has been phenomenal all year, especially on the power wings like Kawhi and Giannis. Brons just one of those guys that's reading your moves before you do, and you just gotta beat him with pure speed over guile. Cuz you'll never be more wily than LeBron.

The problem with guys that can beat LeBron off the dribble with superior speed/explosiveness is that they are usually smaller and weaker than him (in terms of strength), so they just end up getting overwhelmed by the size disparity, and even when they do end up be getting past him, he's always a shot-blocking/ball-poking threat from behind.

LeBron just has a cheating combination of athletic gifts.

[JLei]

It took him about 55-60 games to start looking good before the pandemic halted the season. A 4.5 month layoff basically means we are at the beginning of a new season. This is not going to be pretty.

OTOH the focus level will be there once the playoffs ramp up and the level of intensity (and stamina) he showed on the defensive end was pretty encouraging. Doing that in a playoff game when he's playing 38-42 minutes instead of 30-34 adds a lot of value.

I agree overall though, late Feb/March was when he started almost looking like 2018 Lebron again. That's as deep into the season as the finals will be now. We'll see what effects this contained environment and considerable rest have I guess.

He'll have ~20 games to get ready for the Clips/ Bucks again.

He looked like crap (pretty much exactly like this game) on opening night too and he eventually worked his way in.

[Homer38]

Watch on YouTube

[MisterHibachi]

Lakers vs Clippers after 3 quarters:
Oct: 85-85
Dec: 86-86
Mar: 85-81
July: 77-76

It literally all comes down to the 4th and LeBron is the best close-game game manager in the league, and I think he has a better chance of pulling it out over 7 games than Kawhi. A 7 game series would be incredible between these two teams.

[nzahir]

You guys think this is the last year Lebron can be the 1a/1b on a team without another star?

Can he do this again next yr or will there be some slight slippage?

[Dupp]

He can do it again. But we really don’t know. At this stage there’s nothing to say he can’t though.

[O_6]

LeBron's defense on Giannis and Kawhi in recent games has really been eye opening. I think LeBron has a chance to change the narrative around his defense if he leads the Lakers past the Clips and Bucks while playing the kind of defense on Kawhi he did last night + the kind of D he played on Giannis the last time they faced off.

The defense on Kawhi/PG to end the game was obviously the biggest moment, but the individual defense vs. Kawhi on the last play of the 1st half was unbelievable. I believe Reggie Miller called it a "statement" and it really was. IMO that moment is what led Kawhi to be so passive against LeBron late in the game on multiple possessions.

LeBron vs. Kawhi, Lakers vs. Clippers. I NEED this series.

[nzahir]

LeBron's defense on Giannis and Kawhi in recent games has really been eye opening. I think LeBron has a chance to change the narrative around his defense if he leads the Lakers past the Clips and Bucks while playing the kind of defense on Kawhi he did last night + the kind of D he played on Giannis the last time they faced off.

The defense on Kawhi/PG to end the game was obviously the biggest moment, but the individual defense vs. Kawhi on the last play of the 1st half was unbelievable. I believe Reggie Miller called it a "statement" and it really was. IMO that moment is what led Kawhi to be so passive against LeBron late in the game on multiple possessions.

LeBron vs. Kawhi, Lakers vs. Clippers. I NEED this series.

I rather just have the easier way and hope LAC gets knocked out earlier

I could care less who we beat, just want to win it all

Hoping its LAC vs HOU rd 1

[MyUniBroDavis]

What has Waitress done in his career to not raise concern over? Dude is a 49%TS, .036 WS/48 career player in 7 seasons... And that's without mentioning his antics off court.

But that doesnt really change the fact that hes far better than anyone on the team outside of the superstars at creating their own offense, the main problem is he starts taking dumb shots and going hero mode at times but i doubt he'll do that as much now, but its still a prerty big deal that we now have an actual secondary creator

Now, if there's anyone that can keep his game/head in check is LeBron, but i wouldn't be putting my savings on it, especially when it comes to playing against the best teams in the league where you really can not afford to play headless. I've been here long enough to remember people getting (overly) excited about the prospect of several players kick-starting their careers just by playing alongside LeBron only to be proven completely useless along the road, sometimes, before even reaching the Playoffs... Guys like Beasley, IT, Derrick Rose, Deron and Derrick Williams come to mind... People were excited about Bron and Wade reuniting a couple of years ago, didn't work out that well either. JR Smith turned from reliable to unreliable in one year.
I'm not saying Waitress can't be of assistance, i'm just not putting the horse before the cart, sort to say. He hasn't done anything in his career to make me feel optimistic about him being a reliable contributor on a championship team. That said, this might be his best (and only) chance yet. We'll see.

Lebron isnt his dad lol, waiters just fills a need we need to be filled, i dont think bron has anything to do with that. Hes not a super mega star at it but hes clearly shown he has the ability to create for himself and others more than any non superstar on the team. Hes also not trash on D if he tries so thats helpful

[MyUniBroDavis]

LeBron's defense on Giannis and Kawhi in recent games has really been eye opening. I think LeBron has a chance to change the narrative around his defense if he leads the Lakers past the Clips and Bucks while playing the kind of defense on Kawhi he did last night + the kind of D he played on Giannis the last time they faced off.

The defense on Kawhi/PG to end the game was obviously the biggest moment, but the individual defense vs. Kawhi on the last play of the 1st half was unbelievable. I believe Reggie Miller called it a "statement" and it really was. IMO that moment is what led Kawhi to be so passive against LeBron late in the game on multiple possessions.

LeBron vs. Kawhi, Lakers vs. Clippers. I NEED this series.

I rather just have the easier way and hope LAC gets knocked out earlier

I could care less who we beat, just want to win it all

Hoping its LAC vs HOU rd 1

Im hoping it goes

Lal vs Nop
Lal vs hou
Lal vs clippers
Lal vs celtics

Would be sooo epic (obv bucks prolly make it out but hey thatd be pretty wild, lebron ties the ring count)

[MyUniBroDavis]

If Kuzma and Waiters continue to play defense like this I'm very excited about the future. LeBron has been phenomenal all year, especially on the power wings like Kawhi and Giannis. Brons just one of those guys that's reading your moves before you do, and you just gotta beat him with pure speed over guile. Cuz you'll never be more wily than LeBron.

I wasnt watching waiters on D alot, did he do well on that end, and can he guard quick lil guys too?

If he can that changes everything about us defensively cuz rn thats our one weakness (although very few teams can exploit it)

Man i still wish we had gentry as our offensive coordinator or something yall dont understand how beastly davis would be then lmao, the amount of pure schmoovement that would be occuring

[thebigbird]

I agree the sample is too small and kuz might brick again, but i dont see what the concern is about waiters? Assuming hes gonna be passable on D he directly feels a need we had, even if he isnt gonna be super great at it, hes literally leagues better than anyone else on the team at creation and playmaking outside of lebron and davis, and i doubt he'll hog it too much when those two are on the floor

What has Waitress done in his career to not raise concern over? Dude is a 49%TS, .036 WS/48 career player in 7 seasons... And that's without mentioning his antics off court.

Now, if there's anyone that can keep his game/head in check is LeBron, but i wouldn't be putting my savings on it, especially when it comes to playing against the best teams in the league where you really can not afford to play headless.

I've been here long enough to remember people getting (overly) excited about the prospect of several players kick-starting their careers just by playing alongside LeBron only to be proven completely useless along the road, sometimes, before even reaching the Playoffs... Guys like Beasley, IT, Derrick Rose, Deron and Derrick Williams come to mind... People were excited about Bron and Wade reuniting a couple of years ago, didn't work out that well either. JR Smith turned from reliable to unreliable in one year.

I'm not saying Waitress can't be of assistance, i'm just not putting the horse before the cart, sort to say. He hasn't done anything in his career to make me feel optimistic about him being a reliable contributor on a championship team. That said, this might be his best (and only) chance yet. We'll see.

This is a different season, though. No clubs, no girls, no distractions. Just ball. And the thing is, he doesn’t need to be great. He just needs to not be as bad as Rondo, and I think he’ll be able to do that.

[Joey Wheeler]

LeBron's defense on Giannis and Kawhi in recent games has really been eye opening. I think LeBron has a chance to change the narrative around his defense if he leads the Lakers past the Clips and Bucks while playing the kind of defense on Kawhi he did last night + the kind of D he played on Giannis the last time they faced off.

The defense on Kawhi/PG to end the game was obviously the biggest moment, but the individual defense vs. Kawhi on the last play of the 1st half was unbelievable. I believe Reggie Miller called it a "statement" and it really was. IMO that moment is what led Kawhi to be so passive against LeBron late in the game on multiple possessions.

LeBron vs. Kawhi, Lakers vs. Clippers. I NEED this series.

I rather just have the easier way and hope LAC gets knocked out earlier

I could care less who we beat, just want to win it all

Hoping its LAC vs HOU rd 1

These are contradictory wishes, Houston would have a better chance of upsetting the Lakers than the Clippers would.

[Homer38]

In a week or so,the lakers will face the Rockets and I would not be surprised if LBJ want to take the challenge against Harden or Westbrook in key moment of the game!

[Homer38]

He was good on offense,but his defense was even better!

Read on Twitter

[homecourtloss]

Waiters was a pretty solid rotation player for the Thunder in the 2016 playoffs, played under control, didn't take many dumb shots, really hustled on D and did a solid job as a secondary ballhandler. If LeBron and the coaches can keep him in line, he could help the Lakers quite a bit IMO.

Not saying he will have that same impact, BUT Dion was a big reason the Thunder was up 3-1 on the Warriors. He wound up the series +4.0 NET (+12 NEt through 4 games) and had the third lowest DRtg of regular players on the Thunder. Warriors shot 14.4% BELOW their normal averages when shots were contested by Dion https://stats.nba.com/player/203079/defense-dash/?Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Playoffs&OpponentTeamID=1610612744

He shot 46% from three over the first 4 games and Roberson 55%. Once those fell off a cliff the last three games (11% for Dion, 29% for Roberson) and their respective totals for the series regressed to the mean, OKC needed KD and Westbrook to play like superstars to close the series and they of course couldn’t.

You could see some maturity in Dion in that game last night. In the fourth quarter he has a fast break opportunity and draws the defender to himself and kicks to Green for a wide open three. See at 7:48

Watch on YouTube

Old Dion isn’t going to do that. Winning plays like that is what helps role players on very good teams win titles.

[limbo]

What has Waitress done in his career to not raise concern over? Dude is a 49%TS, .036 WS/48 career player in 7 seasons... And that's without mentioning his antics off court.

But that doesnt really change the fact that hes far better than anyone on the team outside of the superstars at creating their own offense, the main problem is he starts taking dumb shots and going hero mode at times but i doubt he'll do that as much now, but its still a prerty big deal that we now have an actual secondary creator

Yes, but Jamal Crawford was also much better than anyone else the Lob City Clippers had outside the superstars at creating their own offense and he was a detriment to the team offense in the postseason more times than not.

Cart before the horse, that's all i'm saying.

Lebron isnt his dad lol, waiters just fills a need we need to be filled, i dont think bron has anything to do with that. Hes not a super mega star at it but hes clearly shown he has the ability to create for himself and others more than any non superstar on the team. Hes also not trash on D if he tries so thats helpful

Rose, Deron Williams, Clarkson etc. were also 'filling a need we need to be filled'... They all failed to deliver against the best teams, despite a lot of people claiming their jobs would be really easy as secondary ball-handlers/playmakers behind LeBron...

Waitress doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt for me. This dude hasn't had an average NBA season in his career to show for and was on the waivers list until two weeks ago and would've stayed there if Rondo didn't get injured... Now i'm suppose to expect him to come in and give teams problems?

I'll believe it when i see it.

[limbo]

This is a different season, though. No clubs, no girls, no distractions. Just ball. And the thing is, he doesn’t need to be great. He just needs to not be as bad as Rondo, and I think he’ll be able to do that.

If i had a nickle every time i heard that about a player with a similar type of profile/history.

I'm not eliminating the possibility of him being a factor, i'm just saying i won't assume it automatically, until i see it in the games that actually count.

[Run DLC]

Bad shooting night, but a stellar defensive game by LeBron. I think he has figured the Clippers out. Great defensive strategy against Kawhi. That’s one of the keys to beating the Clippers in a seven games series. Kawhi will get his buckets regardless, but you have to be able to force him to pass the ball when he doesn’t want to and that’s what LeBron made him do in a lot of key possessions. PG13 shot the ball extremely well, but If I’m a Clipper fan, I wouldn’t trust him to be the first option in a playoffs series against the Lakers.

It took LeBron four games this season to download all their data, but comes playoffs time, he’s going to systematically exploit all of their weaknesses and pick them apart with pick-n-roll plays. I’m a bit concerned about his individual matchup against the Clippers in terms of how he’s going get into a rhythm to score easier and efficiently, but I think he’s going to try to be more aggressive playing in the post area and exploit the Clippers weak interior defense.

Again, it boils down to LeBron’s mental state of mind. He has to be willing to step up to the plate and do what’s needed to win even if it means sacrificing his individual offense to play stellar defense on both Kawhi and George, and he showed it last night. Physically, there are only a very few players who can match LeBron’s physical presence on the court and he has all the physical intangibles to disrupt Kawhi’s game. Kawhi’s is very underrated in terms of how strong he is and he tend to bully his way against a lot of defenders, but due to his lack of quickness and mechanical scoring ability, LeBron can anticipate a lot of his move and overpower him to force him to make sloppy plays.

[homecourtloss]

Clippers shot 3-10 against LeBron last night.

https://stats.nba.com/player/2544/defense-dash/?Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&LastNGames=1

4-11 vs. Kuzma and 6-16 against Davis (Davis contested more shots last than usual last night)