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

[Gooner]

Lakers play slow, predictable, they can't make shots and they are bad defensively. And on top of that, nobody is even interested in results, it's all about LBJ's record. There has never been a more individual player in a team sport.

[zimpy27]

Man you guys are so doom and gloom..

I thought Lakers played much faster and with better movement than last year. Defense was good in first half.

Yes they didn't hit shots but they are a better shooting team than last year. I think let's give them a month to see how shooting averages look

[Fadeaway_J]

It's no mystery why AD is always picking up injuries. I've never seen a big man fall down so frequently.

Embiid is EASILY clear there, other than that yeah, maybe.

Fair, I guess I was subconsciously ruling out players who fall down on purpose.

[IG2]

One positive I saw was LA's activity in trying to protect the paint. Last year was basically a layup line for opponents.

Besides that, they still have most of the same issues as last season:

- massive talent drop-off after LeBron/AD, who themselves aren't top 10 players anymore
- Westbrook is still on the roster ugh. Simply not possible to have any type of cohesiveness with him on the floor.
- can't shoot the 3, which is a death sentence for any team in 2022

On the LeBron front, he couldn't do anything in the half-court in this game (yeah, he's old). Couldn't drive, finish or shoot. It was ugly. But he's still dominant enough in transition to end up with a pretty stat line. Hopefully he can show a little more burst with more games. I really do not want to see AD and Westbrook as this team's primary creators off the dribble.

[thebigbird]

Man you guys are so doom and gloom..

I thought Lakers played much faster and with better movement than last year. Defense was good in first half.

Yes they didn't hit shots but they are a better shooting team than last year. I think let's give them a month to see how shooting averages look

I think the doom and gloom is fully warranted, honestly. They shot 25% from 3. That’ll improve, but they lack really any shooters at all. They’re still going to be toward the bottom from 3. LeBron isn’t good enough to carry a team full of bums, but he’s still better than AD, which is another problem. I struggle to see how the team as currently constructed even gets into the playoffs. It’s a lesser LeBron and AD and then a bunch of garbage after those 2.

[Greatness]

Two years ago I remember thinking if the Lakers even shot league average from 3 they're unstoppable. The difference then was their defense was elite. Now their defense sucks and they might even be worse from 3. Gonna be a long season.

[Joao Saraiva]

Well the Lakers did all the wrong decisions in their deals. They should have gone after Joe Ingles to add some shooting. They should have looked to trade Westbrook for any decent 3 PT shooter at the PG who isn't a bum on defense, because Westbrook pretends to defend.

Pelinka did a terrible job and the Lakers are going nowhere, unless they can actually bring some value for Westbrook now. Give him the ball and let him lead and stat pad or something xD

[Slava]

Davis can't buy a jump shot. I don't even know what to make of it. Its like he traded away all his jump shooting for the rest of his life for one God-like playoff run.

[thebigbird]

Well the Lakers did all the wrong decisions in their deals. They should have gone after Joe Ingles to add some shooting. They should have looked to trade Westbrook for any decent 3 PT shooter at the PG who isn't a bum on defense, because Westbrook pretends to defend.

Pelinka did a terrible job and the Lakers are going nowhere, unless they can actually bring some value for Westbrook now. Give him the ball and let him lead and stat pad or something xD

You mean to tell me that having a bunch of short guards who can’t shoot isn’t good roster construction???

[Statlanta]

Man you guys are so doom and gloom..

I thought Lakers played much faster and with better movement than last year. Defense was good in first half.

Yes they didn't hit shots but they are a better shooting team than last year. I think let's give them a month to see how shooting averages look

I think the team looks better but LeBron James and Davis look worse

[Joao Saraiva]

Well the Lakers did all the wrong decisions in their deals. They should have gone after Joe Ingles to add some shooting. They should have looked to trade Westbrook for any decent 3 PT shooter at the PG who isn't a bum on defense, because Westbrook pretends to defend.

Pelinka did a terrible job and the Lakers are going nowhere, unless they can actually bring some value for Westbrook now. Give him the ball and let him lead and stat pad or something xD

You mean to tell me that having a bunch of short guards who can’t shoot isn’t good roster construction???

If they at least could be a top defensive team it would be less of a problem. With that completely out of question, then it is a really big issue.

Lakers could force a more two point game oriented type of offense, but for that you need to be a damn good defensive team. (obviously still need some shooting)

[nzahir]

Two years ago I remember thinking if the Lakers even shot league average from 3 they're unstoppable. The difference then was their defense was elite. Now their defense sucks and they might even be worse from 3. Gonna be a long season.

Jeanie cheaping out on AC was a huge mistake

Obviosuly the Russ trade was a huge mistake since we lost two solid defenders in KCP and Kuzma

Dennis and Bryant getting hurt right away sucks too

Hopefully some team folds and accepts 1 1st and 2nds/a swap for Russ

[Colbinii]

You know what's sad? This roster has 2 players outside of LeBron and AD who are even considered rotation players on Playoff teams [Reeves and Beverley]. Nobody else on this team would you even PENCIL IN as a rotation player. They are playing rotation minutes to some random named MATT RYAN who only NBA skill is shooting--and he played 18 minutes.

I feel bad for Ham because I think he has potential as a coach but he has been given a can of cream corn, garbonzo beans and some deli sliced honey ham and is asked to feed the Queen of Englands funeral party.

[eminence]

Difference between playoff team rotation worthy and playoff rotation worthy - they have a couple of guys you'd be fine with for the RS rotation (JTA was at the back end of the Champs rotation, and Westbrook is certainly still RS rotation worthy, though in a difficult to fit in way) and I'd put Nunn in the playoff rotation worthy based off what I saw last night, though obviously he's been out for a long time so not very secure in that take.

[Colbinii]

Difference between playoff team rotation worthy and playoff rotation worthy - they have a couple of guys you'd be fine with for the RS rotation (JTA was at the back end of the Champs rotation, and Westbrook is certainly still RS rotation worthy, though in a difficult to fit in way) and I'd put Nunn in the playoff rotation worthy based off what I saw last night, though obviously he's been out for a long time so not very secure in that take.

I forgot Nunn.

[homecourtloss]

Two years ago I remember thinking if the Lakers even shot league average from 3 they're unstoppable. The difference then was their defense was elite. Now their defense sucks and they might even be worse from 3. Gonna be a long season.

Jeanie cheaping out on AC was a huge mistake

Obviosuly the Russ trade was a huge mistake since we lost two solid defenders in KCP and Kuzma

Dennis and Bryant getting hurt right away sucks too

Hopefully some team folds and accepts 1 1st and 2nds/a swap for Russ

You replace Lonnie Walker or even Nunn minutes with AC and you see quite a difference. Or replace with Walker or Nunn with Green and/or KCP.

[zimpy27]

Man you guys are so doom and gloom..

I thought Lakers played much faster and with better movement than last year. Defense was good in first half.

Yes they didn't hit shots but they are a better shooting team than last year. I think let's give them a month to see how shooting averages look

I think the doom and gloom is fully warranted, honestly. They shot 25% from 3. That’ll improve, but they lack really any shooters at all. They’re still going to be toward the bottom from 3. LeBron isn’t good enough to carry a team full of bums, but he’s still better than AD, which is another problem. I struggle to see how the team as currently constructed even gets into the playoffs. It’s a lesser LeBron and AD and then a bunch of garbage after those 2.

If the made 5 more 3s they would have shot 36% from 3 and won the game.

It was an off shooting night for sure. But it was promising. Mostly I thought Russ was fitting far better in this offense style.

[LukaTheGOAT]

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[thebigbird]

Man you guys are so doom and gloom..

I thought Lakers played much faster and with better movement than last year. Defense was good in first half.

Yes they didn't hit shots but they are a better shooting team than last year. I think let's give them a month to see how shooting averages look

I think the doom and gloom is fully warranted, honestly. They shot 25% from 3. That’ll improve, but they lack really any shooters at all. They’re still going to be toward the bottom from 3. LeBron isn’t good enough to carry a team full of bums, but he’s still better than AD, which is another problem. I struggle to see how the team as currently constructed even gets into the playoffs. It’s a lesser LeBron and AD and then a bunch of garbage after those 2.

If the made 5 more 3s they would have shot 36% from 3 and won the game.

It was an off shooting night for sure. But it was promising. Mostly I thought Russ was fitting far better in this offense style.

I mean, they only hit 10 threes all night so hitting 5 more would’ve been a 50% increase. Where’s the shooting coming from? LeBron’s the best shooter in the starting lineup. LeBron and AD are worse than they were in 2020, and the rest of the rotation is far, far worse. I’ve been doom and gloom since the day of the Westbrook trade. I didn’t see anything promising at all, though admittedly I could only stomach a quarter of last night’s game before I shut it off

[Greyhound]

Beverly 6’2”
Walker 6’4”
Westbrook 6’3”
James 6’8”
Davis 6’10”

That was a laughable lineup. This team is a bad team (admittedly), but that lineup was just cartoonish.

We killed Vogel (mid season) last season for putting out that type of rat ball lineup. Ham employed this day one.

———-

I hope Ham is not just a puppet coach that will happily roll out whatever goofy lineup the Rambii/ Palinka can cook up.

I almost fell out of my chair when they showed that starting five on the TNT pregame graphic.