The Lebron Thread (2017 - 18 Pt. 1)

[ppedro123]

Lebron looks extremely rusty.

He should

[toodles23]

Yeah, this starting lineup is not going to work. Rose actually looks like he's going to be useful on this team, but starting him with Wade isn't going to work (shocker!). I'm not sure Wade has much utility at this point - he can't shoot threes, he's not a good defender anymore, and his drives look like they're in slow motion. The Cavs have tried to get him the ball in the post, but all he's been able to get are fadeaways which every team in the league would be thrilled to see him take.

Love is 0-9 but I'm not sure his poor shooting is entirely a fluke, playing center has to wear out his legs a lot faster than playing the 4 does. The good news is that the 2nd unit looks much better than last season.

Lebron looked bad, but it's to be expected after missing two weeks. I'm not worried about him individually.

[GSP]

Crowder looked amazing. Might be the first high impact glue guy type player he had in a long time if ever. Never really had the Odoms, prime Battier, Nick Collison, Iggy, Nene, Otto etc. Lebron is usually the glue guy on his teams that helps maximize tons of different lineups

[JordansBulls]

Weird how the Bulls always beat up on the Cavs.

[yoyoboy]

Weird how the Bulls always beat up on the Cavs.

We will forever lose in the RS to the Bulls and the Heat. Doesn't matter who they have, I always expect the loss.

[Dupp]

That's enough of that experiment. Back to the bench wade.

[IG2]

LeBron looked like someone playing his first game in a long time. 0 wind, 0 athleticism, turnovers galore.....YIKES, hopefully just rust.

Wade looks done. Has no business being a starter.

Rose still has the athleticism. Should be a decent addition as long as he makes good decisions (a big IF with him). Crowder is the ideal 3 & D guy. Bench looks to be revelation after last year's disaster.

Season starts in a week. LeBron needs to get past his rust fast.

[JordansBulls]

LeBron looked like someone playing his first game in a long time. 0 wind, 0 athleticism, turnovers galore.....YIKES, hopefully just rust.

Wade looks done. Has no business being a starter.

Rose still has the athleticism. Should be a decent addition as long as he makes good decisions (a big IF with him). Crowder is the ideal 3 & D guy. Bench looks to be revelation after last year's disaster.

Season starts in a week. LeBron needs to get past his rust fast.

Why does Wade look done? He knows it is preseason, he ain't going to go all out.

[Dupp]

Wade is crap, has been for a long time.

[TheGOATRises007]

The decision to start Wade from Lue: Completely idiotic.

Wade is 1000% done. Rose for his regression does offer something AT times.

But a Rose-Wade backcourt? It isn't 2011 Lue. Get off 2k.

[LivingLegend]

Crowder looked amazing. Might be the first high impact glue guy type player he had in a long time if ever. Never really had the Odoms, prime Battier, Nick Collison, Iggy, Nene, Otto etc. Lebron is usually the glue guy on his teams that helps maximize tons of different lineups

Excuse me?

[LivingLegend]

LeBron looked like someone playing his first game in a long time. 0 wind, 0 athleticism, turnovers galore.....YIKES, hopefully just rust.

Wade looks done. Has no business being a starter.

Rose still has the athleticism. Should be a decent addition as long as he makes good decisions (a big IF with him). Crowder is the ideal 3 & D guy. Bench looks to be revelation after last year's disaster.

Season starts in a week. LeBron needs to get past his rust fast.

Why does Wade look done? He knows it is preseason, he ain't going to go all out.

Wade had 20pts in 22mins on 10-14 shooting in the last preseason game he played against the Pacers. He just had a bad game much like LeBron and Love did.

However, its evident that not having JR on the court with LeBron and Rose is going to hurt them a lot when Crowder and Love are your only 2 floor spacers. I dont know what they can do about it without hurting any egos but I will just hope they go to the bench midwa through the 1st and keep switching lineups to get JR and Korver on the floor more often. That or just sit patiently until IT comes back after New Years to give the team a legit 3pt scorer.

[RCM88x]

The decision to start Wade from Lue: Completely idiotic.

Wade is 1000% done. Rose for his regression does offer something AT times.

But a Rose-Wade backcourt? It isn't 2011 Lue. Get off 2k.

It's only October and the starting PG isn't even going to.play till January. These opening day lineups mean nothing.

[Dr Spaceman]

I like this move for us

At the very least don't you think Wade will get more opportunities to play his game coming off the bench? When IT comes back he's literally going to be the 4th option in the starting lineup. Plus you can argue Wade is a lot of things but he's clearly not an outside shooter at all, and so JR is a better fit there. In the second unit, Wade would get the chance to use his experience and veteran saavy to take advantage of opposing benches. He'd even be the main ballhandler and primary option off the bench, and he's a good playmaker still, so it'd help to have a guy with that ability leading Korver, Tristan, Frye, Shumpert, Green, etc, where there's a lack of shot creation ability.

People need to relax. He's a token starter. It's out of respect that he's a future hall of famer and took way less money to join a team that had no cap space.

He will be the primary initiator with the second unit just like his role was most of the preseason. Having him in the starting lineup doesn't hurt you because you put any 4 reasonably talented players with Lebron and the lineup will be GOATly on offense. The OMG spacing crowd needs to just chill. Wade actually knows how to play off Lebron. I bet he shoots 50% this year.

The respect and team chemistry stuff matters. Haslem should have never been the starter for the Heat all those years and they benched him for Miller/ Battier when it mattered. The Warriors don't start the death lineup because Pachulia took an insane discount.

Just relax people. Wade will play well with the starters and will mostly play as an initiator with the bench unit. Give Lue a little bit of credit here.

I don’t know, to be honest all of those moves just seem like saving wear and tear on the players. Benching Zaza means asking Green to play Center full time at 6 foot 5, asking KD to play PF full time at 180 pounds, and asking 30 something Iguodala to play starter minutes over a full season.

Likewise, in Miami LeBron was big enough, but I doubt he wanted the strain of having to guard bigger guys at PF every single night, and Battier was past the stage of his career where he could play 30 for 82.

The Wade move is solely to placate an ineffective veteran. The other ones served a purpose. Hell, even the Pelicans loaded up on front court depth so Davis wouldn’t have to play a position down.

[JLei]

We?

His 3 favourite players on one team. If he didn't hop on the bandwagon it would be more surprising.

I know he's a huge Rose fan and only used Wade to troll LeBron but who's the 3rd favorite guy here? Thomas or Crowder?

Lebron obviously. Isn't that right JB.

[JordansBulls]

His 3 favourite players on one team. If he didn't hop on the bandwagon it would be more surprising.

I know he's a huge Rose fan and only used Wade to troll LeBron but who's the 3rd favorite guy here? Thomas or Crowder?

Lebron obviously. Isn't that right JB.

All my favorite players are on the same team now.

[Dupp]

Dont forget j r swish, the greatest cav of all time

[RCM88x]

LeBron sitting out the opener vs. Kyrie would be the most LeBron thing ever haha.

[JLei]

Listening to JR on the Road Trippin podcast especially the end gives some insights into some of the season.

JR was hurt when he heard DWade got the starting job more so because he was told otherwise at first. The way they were talking pretty much sounded like it was part of the contract/ getting him for the minimum that DWade was not coming off the bench.

On a positive note. All 3 of them were extremely excited about Derrick Rose. Like how players talk about Kyrie is how they were talking about him. They seem mesmorized/ astonished by his speed/ finishing and mostly interestingly his passing ability. All the buzz around DRose, he might not be done and actually be a significant contributor this year. They are saying the spacing they have really helps him.

Also 8 sugar and 8 cream. Come on JR. That's disgusting.

Agreed on the Shox being a terrible basketball shoe. Insane how Vince was able to sell those actually having bounce lol.

[-jj-]

Going to miss RJ's personality on this team.