(LOCK THREAD) The LeBron James - 22-23 NBA Season Thread -NBA's All-Time Scoring Leader!

[nzahir]

This team should absolutely be better than they are, that has been the case all year even prior to the trade. Hambone Ham has actively sabotaged them with his stupidity.

We honestly are, but lost multiple games at the end due to missed fts or refs or awful coaching jobs

Legit 5-8 games

[RRR3]

This team should absolutely be better than they are, that has been the case all year even prior to the trade. Hambone Ham has actively sabotaged them with his stupidity.

We honestly are, but lost multiple games at the end due to missed fts or refs or awful coaching jobs

Legit 5-8 games

Ham has cost this team 8 games minimum. I can't believe how stupid he is, it's mind boggling. The roster he was given was absolutely not a good one around LeBron and AD but he still had LeBron and AD so he should have been able to make them decent at least.

[zimpy27]

Get used to this guys, Lakers have no perimeter defense and one decent guard defender.

I refuse to believe they cant be a very good defensive team tbh

AD should be all defense, but never healthy
Vando is a great defender, but should be in POA role or wing stopper
Bron (when locked in) can still be a very good defender
Reaves gives good effort and solid overall
Dennis is okay and can be a POA defender
Bamba has serious potential vs certain matchups
Troy Brown can be okay
Gabriel can be okay and gives effort

Beasley will be awful on D
Dlo likely wont be great either, but had some flashes in Minny

Ham is trash

DLo and Beasley are awful on perimeter. It's tough to have both. Wish Beasley was moved for Bamba tbh. Just head scratching because Minny had all 3 there, the data is clear. All the homework and practice tests were done and still the wrong decision was made

[dcstanley]

I'm still not out on Beasley because the Lakers desperately need someone with his skill-set but he can't play much with D-Lo. The Bev trade made zero sense, he proved his value leading up to the deadline with his defensive performances against Dame and Haliburton.

[LikeABosh]

Why are they leaving Thybulle wide open? He shoots 33% not 13%

He shoots 33% on 1.3 attempts per game. I have no problem with them leaving him open.

Yeah, and he'll shoot better than that and a lot more often if he's wide open with no one even trying to contest. You sag off, you don't do the Kornet contest. Lol terrible strategy

4-6 from 3. Wow, shocking

[RRR3]

AD has NOT been scoring well lately.

[zimpy27]

I'm still not out on Beasley because the Lakers desperately need someone with his skill-set but he can't play much with D-Lo. The Bev trade made zero sense, he proved his value leading up to the deadline with his defensive performances against Dame and Haliburton.

Yep it undid the trade prior. The improvement made was undone. Now Lakers gave an FRP for a team that won't be any better than what they had. Sad.

[RRR3]

If they kept Beverley Ham would start Beverley Schroder and D-Lo

[zimpy27]

If they kept Beverley Ham would start Beverley Schroder and D-Lo

Nah don't think so. Schroeder or Bev would split the PG defender spot.

Bev, DLo, LeBron, Rui, Davis
Schroeder, Beas/Lonnie, Reaves, Gabriel, Bamba

[RRR3]

How are they getting Bamba without trading Beverley?

And forgive me if I don't trust Ham and cheese not to do that.

[nzahir]

Get used to this guys, Lakers have no perimeter defense and one decent guard defender.

I refuse to believe they cant be a very good defensive team tbh

AD should be all defense, but never healthy
Vando is a great defender, but should be in POA role or wing stopper
Bron (when locked in) can still be a very good defender
Reaves gives good effort and solid overall
Dennis is okay and can be a POA defender
Bamba has serious potential vs certain matchups
Troy Brown can be okay
Gabriel can be okay and gives effort

Beasley will be awful on D
Dlo likely wont be great either, but had some flashes in Minny

Ham is trash

DLo and Beasley are awful on perimeter. It's tough to have both. Wish Beasley was moved for Bamba tbh. Just head scratching because Minny had all 3 there, the data is clear. All the homework and practice tests were done and still the wrong decision was made

You can't play both together and I think Beasley will need to be used limitedly if we make the playoffs (now or next year)

If we were to make playoffs, most minutes should go

Dlo, Reaves, Rui/Vando, Bron, AD
Dennis, Bamba/Gabriel

Can also have short shifts for Troy Brown/Christie and Beasley, but need to be limited

[zimpy27]

How are they getting Bamba without trading Beverley?

And forgive me if I don't trust Ham and cheese not to do that.

Using Beasley or Lonnie as salary

[nzahir]

How are they getting Bamba without trading Beverley?

And forgive me if I don't trust Ham and cheese not to do that.

Using Beasley or Lonnie as salary

Yup should have been Beasley and a 2nd

But Lakers FO heard all the criticsm about no shooting and went for Beasley....but they didn't realize Bev could also shoot (after the horroundous anamaly start to the year) and actually defend

[trickshot]

If they kept Beverley Ham would start Beverley Schroder and D-Lo

That's not really a good reason to trade Bev. This is the Western conference, Ja, Curry, Dame, Murray, CP3, Haliburton, Kyrie, Fox. Before the trade you're thinking maybe this Pelinka guy is actually a genius without players influencing his decisions then he goes and does something like that. It now just looks like his trades is just playing musical chairs with the roster until he lucks into something good. Also Ham needs to stop underperforming with his talent or be let go soon. Even Vogel did more with less talent.

[zimpy27]

If they kept Beverley Ham would start Beverley Schroder and D-Lo

That's not really a good reason to trade Bev. This is the Western conference, Ja, Curry, Dame, Murray, CP3, Haliburton, Kyrie, Fox. Before the trade you're thinking maybe this Pelinka guy is actually a genius without players influencing his decisions then he goes and does something like that. It now just looks like his trades is just playing musical chairs with the roster until he lucks into something good. Also Ham needs to stop underperforming with his talent or be let go soon. Even Vogel did more with less talent.

Agreed. First trade was great.

Don't even hate going for Bamba but Beasley needed to be part of that move. Bev was a very necessary piece and they can't replace it with buy outs.

[RRR3]

Beverly is a good piece IF you use him correctly which Ham has not done all year. Unless the front office is willing to force Ham to use players correctly they needed to get rid of some of the small guards.

[khaltheball]

Well that sucked but hard to take anything from it . Blazers shot 50% from three on 50 attempts . I’m not sure they actually played better . Matisse thybelle is a non factor on offence and basically a non shooter , all defensive player who doesn’t get played cos he’s that bad on offence. He shot 4/6. Only thing from this game is I wonder if we had bev on Dame to start it goes better . Blazers were 10/14 in first quarter and only scored 32 in that - think lakers were 14-5 before the threes. Dame was adjusted too in the second half but Matisse going 4/6 from 3 it’s hard to say much but it’s just a scheduled loss when a non shooter does that ( also the point difference conveniently is 12, blazers +20 from 3).

Good thing is Beasley shooting will be useful . Most worrying thing is I was really hoping for a big AD game euth no Nutkin. Ofc no Lebron means less playmaking for him but I’m worried he’s still not heskthy and won’t be this year . He was near a to 4 player pre injury in epm and the best player in the league for 2-3weejs pre injury . He’s fallen off into top 20 even when he had back to back 30 pt games the impact wasn’t there . AD scoring 18 on 18 shots with no murky is worrying . Pelicans game is close to a must win now but they’re better than the blazers. Team has potential I think , but impossible to reach that if AD isn’t back to where he was ( I think he’ll need surgery this off season I’d guess ). No Lebron this game really sucked too. Dame treats playing the lakers like his championship ring lol.

One good think is Beasley alone hugely impacts our 3pt shooting and soscing + DLo too , both better shooters thdn beyond previously. I wish we traded Lonnie and davon Reed for bev ; they waved bev but we can’t even resign him . Annoying . Davon Reed getting minutes gross

[khaltheball]

Why are they leaving Thybulle wide open? He shoots 33% not 13%

He shoots 33% on 1.3 attempts per game. I have no problem with them leaving him open.

Yeah, and he'll shoot better than that and a lot more often if he's wide open with no one even trying to contest. You sag off, you don't do the Kornet contest. Lol terrible strategy

4-6 from 3. Wow, shocking

He’s ignored on offence constantly though , hence why he got no play even with all defence . This was unfortunately just a flukey ass game from him unless he magically dramatically improved post trade.

Ham and losing bev , as well as AD health are my biggest concerns . He’s not looked right since being back even dropping 30: have to pray ASB at this very convenient time helps us a **** ton on Lebron and AD health

[khaltheball]

How are they getting Bamba without trading Beverley?

And forgive me if I don't trust Ham and cheese not to do that.

Lonnie , davon Reed , believe they got some trsde exceptions too , but those two should be enough with the 25% difference that’s allowed in salaries . But yeah that’s the one good thing , don’t trust ham not to play Schroeder and bev together. Still miss bev though but no idea how much he impacts today but it woukd be by a non zero %. He’s best when guarding small guards

[khaltheball]

One thing to note is Beverly been bought out but I think we can’t get him back unless he goes somewhere else and then gets waived/bought out again .