The Lebron Thread (2017 - 18 Pt. 1)

[Heej]

Offense looked pretty clunky to me. Lue preaches the right stuff like body movement but the Cavs don't do it. One positive note I saw is Wade's lob to LeBron in the 4th. Just use him as an elbow facilitator and let him face up. Otherwise he does nothing on offense. I liked his rim protection. Can't undervalue the trust and chemistry he has with LeBron on that end. LeBron always rotates harder knowing Wade is backing him up.

He can be a PF on offense. Otherwise the Cavs are doomed with him. LeBron showed the full repertoire to close the game. Played Brown and Kyrie on one help rotation purposely slow rolling it and then darting in for the deflection/TO after he dished to Love for a 3. And that hop step into an up and under spin to basically seal it was crisp. He even went straight Shaq and scored on 4 people. In my mind if he's truly the GOAT he had to son Kyrie tonight and forever be in his head. Which he has in my mind. Kyrie played a much smarter game on offense. He will be a problem in the future. This one game tells me enough that he's buying into the offense. Glad this can be an anecdote in any LeBron GOAT argument. As I foresee him beating Irving and Hayward in the playoffs for a few years. Tatum looks really good too btw.

But the Cavs can't rely on LeGOAT vs the Warriors. Hope Isaiah can add some dynamism. Rose and Jeff Green had flashes tho.

Random side note re: Jeff Green

https://youtu.be/dLxYCcGVlME

On this night Jeff Green had the greatest game of his life. And LeBron still outplayed him. This was low key a random epic regular season duel to keep the 27 win streak alive. If anyone's seen his best it's LeBron and they both know it. So LeBron is literally the only man on earth capable of bringing it out of him

[MisterHibachi]

Random side note re: Jeff Green

https://youtu.be/dLxYCcGVlME

On this night Jeff Green had the greatest game of his life. And LeBron still outplayed him. This was low key a random epic regular season duel to keep the 27 win streak alive. If anyone's seen his best it's LeBron and they both know it. So LeBron is literally the only man on earth capable of bringing it out of him

Green was super trash tonight I thought. He's gonna be streaky, but I don't see him being useful against the Warriors.

[LikeABosh]

I have no idea what Wade was doing on the floor that JR wasn't doing better. Terrible coaching decision by Lue

Rose was okay. He'll be more useful off the bench

Team definitely needs an elite 2nd scorer like IT. No way Cavs wanna depend on Wade and Rose in the playoffs

[LikeABosh]

JR needs more minutes. Having him off the bench is such a dumb decision. Starting lineup doesn't benefit from his spacing, and he's forced to create for the second unit which isn't his strength. Lue needs to smarten up.

JR is a great 6th man, but it just so happens he's their best SG and should be starting

God, I just hate watching Wade. So lazy and just takes fadeaway jumpers

[Joao Saraiva]

I have no idea what Wade was doing on the floor that JR wasn't doing better. Terrible coaching decision by Lue

Rose was okay. He'll be more useful off the bench

Team definitely needs an elite 2nd scorer like IT. No way Cavs wanna depend on Wade and Rose in the playoffs

Wade is a better defender than JR. A lot smarter on that end.

On offense obviously JR brings things Wade doesn't.

Neither is a perfect solution... but Wade + Rose definitely can't be the solution. With IT it can be different.

[datstockton]

First thing LeBron says in the post-game is that he's out of shape. Not surprising given the circumstances. Thought he looked a bit slow, but was awesome nonetheless. That pass to Love in the corner at the end of the game was beautiful.

[chrispak982]

Great game by LeBron given the circumstances. 29/16/9 comes easy to him, somehow.

Also, great to see LeBron and Kyrie showing respect after the game. Their game 5 in 2016 against the Warriors was legendary and will be remembered for a long time.

[Joao Saraiva]

Great game by LeBron given the circumstances. 29/16/9 comes easy to him, somehow.

Also, great to see LeBron and Kyrie showing respect after the game. Their game 5 in 2016 against the Warriors was legendary and will be remembered for a long time.

Well LeBron left Cleveland too in the past... so it would be kind of an idiot thing to do if he didn't understand a guy that wants to go a different way in the FA.

[LikeABosh]

Wade is a better defender than JR. A lot smarter on that end.

Also a lot lazier

Nobody is asking for a perfect situation. We all know JR is just better and deserves to be in the starting lineup

[Joao Saraiva]

Wade is a better defender than JR. A lot smarter on that end.

Also a lot lazier

Nobody is asking for a perfect situation. We all know JR is just better and deserves to be in the starting lineup

Well that will either show up or not depending on a couple of things...

Does Wade understand that now his offensive touches are reduced and he has to spend a lot more energy on D to be useful to the Cavs?

Will the coaching staff make decisions based on his defense about his minutes and starting possibilities?

If both are a yes then I expect a good defensive season from Wade. Let's see how it goes.

About the starting lineup... it's kind of irrelevant. It's more about the lineups each one of them plays with as the game goes. They bring diferent things to the table so it's up to Lue to find the lineups that play to their strenghts.

[Arman_tanzarian]

Why does shumpert play? Its like his sole job is to give the other team free points.

[JLei]

Read on Twitter

Well and he has a bum ankle. He looked every bit as slow and unwilling to jump as you all saw. Still did ok.

He will be fine once his ankle heals and he gets in shape. Skill wise off the charts. As long as his jumper doesn't disappear again (his mechanics look great still) he will be fine regardless. Old Bron is gonna average 20-8-8 easily.

Also Versa Climber and Assault Bike. Those 2 are **** bitches. Doesn't matter how good a shape you are in, you will feel like death trying to sprint on those for even 30 seconds.

[yoyoboy]

Yeah he didn't look athletic at all. Still managed to put up a 29/16/9 though despite that and going 1/5 behind the arc, so it's hard to be too worried.

I do think we'll see some athletic decline this season, even though I have no doubt the ankle is limiting him right now. I wouldn't be surprised if athletically he's more like 2015 LeBron this season. His skills are obviously as polished as ever though. Some of those passes tonight were just mind blowing.

[Heej]

I think his FTs may level up this season

[Jboogz23]

I think his FTs may level up this season

You jinxed it

[J Shuttlesworth]

I see the Cavs are still giving up leads

[homecourtloss]

LeBron is going to make sure his boy Wade stays in the starting lineup even though it’s a stupid move. Wade might be marginally better on defense but thst diesnt make up for how much better JR’s shooting makes the team.

The Shumpert-Smith-Crowder-James-TT lineup looked really stout on defense by switching everything.

[apeezus]

I gotta remind myself not to trip about lineups until IT gets fully re-established because the only really matters until then is gathering information on different players/lineups, developing some kind of coherent offensive approach, and hopefully finding a bench unit that isn't completely useless when LeBron sits.

[J Shuttlesworth]

12/19 FG but 41 minutes... Man Lue really needs to manage those minutes better. It's the regular season... give Shump/Korver/Green some more minutes and take it easy on LeBron/Wade

[Clyde Frazier]

Rose and wade starting together is an embarrassing decision. LeBron is super human, knock on wood. Still dominating in year 15.