The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 7)

[kayess]

On FMVP - He's already average like a counting stat shy for a triple double. When his minutes go up as the going gets tough, and when ye olde LeBron stat padding™ kicks in, 27-10-10, all around play and the strength of the narrative on his side will hopefully carry him to it, IF they're fortunate enough to win everything (I say this because they have to still dodge a lot of bull that title teams have to dodge)

Anyone worried about the injury though? I mean he's LeBron and ankle injuries are basically nothing, but he ain't no spring chicken either

[LikeABosh]

Lol I was thinking if Heat make it LeBron will win fmvp and if Boston makes it AD will

Dont like looking beyond teams but if Lakers make the finals and if they face and beat the Heat, I think AD will be FMVP. They run a zone defence AD is the key to beating.

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Even if they stick to man D they have some good individual wing defenders. I dont think they will stick to man D because their roster is loaded with guys Lebron can abuse on switches. They know this and play zone to hide those guys

On an unrelated note i find it funny throughout this whole postseason Lebron still hasn't faced any defence tough enough to force him matchup hunting. So much for struggling in the west

Yeah, I don't think LeBron or Rondo are gonna have much trouble dissecting that gimmicky defense

[MisterHibachi]

Read on Twitter

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Hopefully Mike Malone listens to this advice.

[Heej]

I don't think Bron is the type of shooter anymore that you hope and pray will take wide open 3s lol. He can dust you from out there. Lol they would just get AD to screen him anyway and burn Jokic on the roll or pop

[dcstanley]

What a ridiculous suggestion

[Fadeaway_J]

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?s=19

Hopefully Mike Malone listens to this advice.

As if Jokic is going to provide any resistance at the rim when LeBron decides to attack that space. What a bizarre idea.

[dontcalltimeout]

LeBron quite ahead of the pack by Elgee's metric

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[MisterHibachi]

Not sure why Elgee went with BPM as the acronym for his stat. I always get confused whether he's referring to his own stat or to Box Score Plus Minus

[Doctor MJ]

Not sure why Elgee went with BPM as the acronym for his stat. I always get confused whether he's referring to his own stat or to Box Score Plus Minus

It's a good point actually.

The thing is that what he's doing is BPM, just as much as bkref's is. As such calling it something fundamentally different would be confusing. What do you do when you're doing something in the same family of algorithm but you think your particular flourish is better? I ask not rhetorically, I think it's a hard thing to know.

Maybe he could call it BBPM. Do you think that would be better?

[Doctor MJ]

Has anyone felt this confident in a Lebron team winning the title at this point in the playoffs? Because I never felt quite this level of confidence with 7 wins to go. Not even in 2013 given Wades knee situation and how crappy he looked for much of those playoffs.

Completely agree. Now I'm not saying "Stop the playoffs now because only the Lakers can win this!", but that's really how it feels right now.

And if this holds out, man, there's going to be a sea change in the league in terms of seeing LeBron compared to how he was before. He was already the Man in the league, but people really thought that Kawhi or Giannis might just plain make LeBron look old. We'll never know what would have happened in 2020 had they not stumbled out early, but regardless, LeBron is about to get placed on a pedestal that people have never been ready to put him on before.

And of course, the Jordan vs LeBron debate is going to burn scorching hot like never before.

7 games tho.

[Heej]

Not sure why Elgee went with BPM as the acronym for his stat. I always get confused whether he's referring to his own stat or to Box Score Plus Minus

It's a good point actually.

The thing is that what he's doing is BPM, just as much as bkref's is. As such calling it something fundamentally different would be confusing. What do you do when you're doing something in the same family of algorithm but you think your particular flourish is better? I ask not rhetorically, I think it's a hard thing to know.

Maybe he could call it BBPM. Do you think that would be better?

Lolol it's so inconsequential but yes he really should call it BBPM or Elgee BPM. I got confused too.

@Jules, yea man this is weird I've never actually felt this confident except maybe 2011 (LOL). I don't remember feeling this calm at least, maybe it's the lack of fan intensity. Cuz even 2013 was a struggle to get through. And 2011 they cooked some great teams in 5 games back to back but those were series' that could've easily gone to 6 or maybe even 7 imo. None of the series these Lakers teams are in feel like 6 games should've been on the table.

How much do you guys think not having fan pressure has affected your viewership/watchability of these games? The intensity of each possession just isn't quite there for me. Nor is the anxiety factor that I usually feel during these runs. Not that I'm an anxious person, but usually those 2 months of LeBron runs every year do tend to stress me out a little

[Joey Wheeler]

Has anyone felt this confident in a Lebron team winning the title at this point in the playoffs? Because I never felt quite this level of confidence with 7 wins to go. Not even in 2013 given Wades knee situation and how crappy he looked for much of those playoffs.

Completely agree. Now I'm not saying "Stop the playoffs now because only the Lakers can win this!", but that's really how it feels right now.

And if this holds out, man, there's going to be a sea change in the league in terms of seeing LeBron compared to how he was before. He was already the Man in the league, but people really thought that Kawhi or Giannis might just plain make LeBron look old. We'll never know what would have happened in 2020 had they not stumbled out early, but regardless, LeBron is about to get placed on a pedestal that people have never been ready to put him on before.

And of course, the Jordan vs LeBron debate is going to burn scorching hot like never before.

7 games tho.

This makes no sense. Why would Lebron be viewed on a better light for winning this year? It was absolutely never in doubt that he would once he was paired with Davis + he'd have won at any point in the past decade if he was playing with Davis anyway.

I mean, Lebron is still superior to Kawhi and Giannis, but not because of winning the title this year. Not to mention AD is superior himself. Jordan vs Lebron, Lebron has been in the league for 17 years, we know who he is by now, he's the same guy he's always been. If you didn't think he was the GOAT or better than Jordan before, no reason to think he is now for winning under circumstances where he'd have won at any other point in his career anyway.

[PaulieWal]

This makes no sense. Why would Lebron be viewed on a better light for winning this year? It was absolutely never in doubt that he would once he was paired with Davis + he'd have won at any point in the past decade if he was playing with Davis anyway.

What are you talking about? Before the season started most analysts and fans had Clippers and Bucks in the Finals. And then again, before the bubble started, most NBA analysts including respected ones like Lowe had Clippers as the favorites.

Maybe you personally had the Lakers as the favorites but that doesn't change the fact that most people were expecting the Clippers to come out of the West.

But you can't act like that there was never a "doubt" that the Lakers were going to win. Hell, I remember the survey on RGM before the season started had the Lakers as a 4th or 5th seed.

[Heej]

Has anyone felt this confident in a Lebron team winning the title at this point in the playoffs? Because I never felt quite this level of confidence with 7 wins to go. Not even in 2013 given Wades knee situation and how crappy he looked for much of those playoffs.

Completely agree. Now I'm not saying "Stop the playoffs now because only the Lakers can win this!", but that's really how it feels right now.

And if this holds out, man, there's going to be a sea change in the league in terms of seeing LeBron compared to how he was before. He was already the Man in the league, but people really thought that Kawhi or Giannis might just plain make LeBron look old. We'll never know what would have happened in 2020 had they not stumbled out early, but regardless, LeBron is about to get placed on a pedestal that people have never been ready to put him on before.

And of course, the Jordan vs LeBron debate is going to burn scorching hot like never before.

7 games tho.

This makes no sense. Why would Lebron be viewed on a better light for winning this year? It was absolutely never in doubt that he would once he was paired with Davis + he'd have won at any point in the past decade if he was playing with Davis anyway.

I mean, Lebron is still superior to Kawhi and Giannis, but not because of winning the title this year. Not to mention AD is superior himself. Jordan vs Lebron, Lebron has been in the league for 17 years, we know who he is by now, he's the same guy he's always been. If you didn't think he was the GOAT or better than Jordan before, no reason to think he is now for winning under circumstances where he'd have won at any other point in his career anyway.

Respectfully, all of that is just your opinion Joey. There's plenty of people that will have opinions on LeBron changed by this for a variety of reasons.

[JulesWinnfield]

This makes no sense. Why would Lebron be viewed on a better light for winning this year? It was absolutely never in doubt that he would once he was paired with Davis + he'd have won at any point in the past decade if he was playing with Davis anyway.

What are you talking about? Before the season started most analysts and fans had Clippers and Bucks in the Finals. And then again, before the bubble started, most NBA analysts including respected ones like Lowe had Clippers as the favorites.

Maybe you personally had the Lakers as the favorites but that doesn't change the fact that most people were expecting the Clippers to come out of the West.

But you can't act like that there was never a "doubt" that the Lakers were going to win. Hell, I remember the survey on RGM before the season started had the Lakers as a 4th or 5th seed.

Vegas pre season over/under wins for western teams (per basketball reference)

Rockets 54.0
Clippers 53.5
Utah 53.5
Nuggets 53.0
Lakers 50.5

[MisterHibachi]

Not sure why Elgee went with BPM as the acronym for his stat. I always get confused whether he's referring to his own stat or to Box Score Plus Minus

It's a good point actually.

The thing is that what he's doing is BPM, just as much as bkref's is. As such calling it something fundamentally different would be confusing. What do you do when you're doing something in the same family of algorithm but you think your particular flourish is better? I ask not rhetorically, I think it's a hard thing to know.

Maybe he could call it BBPM. Do you think that would be better?

I didn't know it was meant as an improvement on old BPM, but even if it's meant to be an improvement on old BPM, it still results in a different stat. Perhaps he should call it BPMx or BBPM or something. Either would be fine, just to differentiate it. FG% and eFG% are both measuring made shots, but they're different stats and are named differently.

[MisterHibachi]

Has anyone felt this confident in a Lebron team winning the title at this point in the playoffs? Because I never felt quite this level of confidence with 7 wins to go. Not even in 2013 given Wades knee situation and how crappy he looked for much of those playoffs.

I think I felt pretty confident in a Cavs title in 2015 before Love's injury. But I always stress, and was never this sure any year this deep in the playoffs, not even 2012 or 13.

[kayess]

Not sure why Elgee went with BPM as the acronym for his stat. I always get confused whether he's referring to his own stat or to Box Score Plus Minus

It's a good point actually.

The thing is that what he's doing is BPM, just as much as bkref's is. As such calling it something fundamentally different would be confusing. What do you do when you're doing something in the same family of algorithm but you think your particular flourish is better? I ask not rhetorically, I think it's a hard thing to know.

Maybe he could call it BBPM. Do you think that would be better?

Lolol it's so inconsequential but yes he really should call it BBPM or Elgee BPM. I got confused too.

@Jules, yea man this is weird I've never actually felt this confident except maybe 2011 (LOL). I don't remember feeling this calm at least, maybe it's the lack of fan intensity. Cuz even 2013 was a struggle to get through. And 2011 they cooked some great teams in 5 games back to back but those were series' that could've easily gone to 6 or maybe even 7 imo. None of the series these Lakers teams are in feel like 6 games should've been on the table.

How much do you guys think not having fan pressure has affected your viewership/watchability of these games? The intensity of each possession just isn't quite there for me. Nor is the anxiety factor that I usually feel during these runs. Not that I'm an anxious person, but usually those 2 months of LeBron runs every year do tend to stress me out a little

Yes it does feel like a foregone conclusion, but that hasn't affected the viewership at all. I always think they're one stroke of bad luck - a ridiculous hot streak, a ridiculous cold streak etc. - away from blowing it, and always manage to take a break from watching right when they decide to clamp down and go on one of those Miami-esque runs

[parapooper]

If you didn't think he was the GOAT or better than Jordan before, no reason to think he is now for winning under circumstances where he'd have won at any other point in his career anyway.

If he makes the finals it will be 10 finals as the man spread over 14 years and on 4 vastly different teams.
If they win he will have won with 3 completely different teams, coaches and systems while playing 3 different positions.
Compared to that MJ would look even more like a one-trick pony who won only with the same coach, same role/position, same #2, same system, same conference, same diluted league + similar 50ish-win supporting cast (and outside of that won only a single playoff game [barely]).

[Doctor MJ]

Has anyone felt this confident in a Lebron team winning the title at this point in the playoffs? Because I never felt quite this level of confidence with 7 wins to go. Not even in 2013 given Wades knee situation and how crappy he looked for much of those playoffs.

Completely agree. Now I'm not saying "Stop the playoffs now because only the Lakers can win this!", but that's really how it feels right now.

And if this holds out, man, there's going to be a sea change in the league in terms of seeing LeBron compared to how he was before. He was already the Man in the league, but people really thought that Kawhi or Giannis might just plain make LeBron look old. We'll never know what would have happened in 2020 had they not stumbled out early, but regardless, LeBron is about to get placed on a pedestal that people have never been ready to put him on before.

And of course, the Jordan vs LeBron debate is going to burn scorching hot like never before.

7 games tho.

This makes no sense. Why would Lebron be viewed on a better light for winning this year? It was absolutely never in doubt that he would once he was paired with Davis + he'd have won at any point in the past decade if he was playing with Davis anyway.

I mean, Lebron is still superior to Kawhi and Giannis, but not because of winning the title this year. Not to mention AD is superior himself. Jordan vs Lebron, Lebron has been in the league for 17 years, we know who he is by now, he's the same guy he's always been. If you didn't think he was the GOAT or better than Jordan before, no reason to think he is now for winning under circumstances where he'd have won at any other point in his career anyway.

If what I said makes no sense, then you need to get your head out of the ground. The favorite going into the year was the Clippers. Full stop. That's not my opinion, that's what the consensus was.