The LeBron James and Luka Doncic - 24-25 Thread

TroubleS0me · Post #1 » by **TroubleS0me** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 3:01 pm

Year 22, He still has enough in the tank but time is going..
New Coach JJ Redick
and
LBJ is playing with his son Bronny

Post #2 » by **tsherkin** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 3:50 pm

Hard to envision them passing the first round just yet. Hopefully, Redick's coaching couples well with health and maybe a good rookie campaign from Knecht and creates some surprise.

RCM88x · Post #3 » by **RCM88x** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 5:08 pm

Winning play-in games to make the top 8 would be a big accomplishment for this team IMO. My guess is they finish 9th or 10th and fail to make the top 8.

AEnigma · Post #4 » by **AEnigma** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 6:19 pm

Sake of argument:

Thunder are better and should be the 1-seed.

Mavericks are probably better, although they seem temperamental.

Healthy Grizzlies should finish with a higher seed, but 2023 gives me faith in the postseason Lakers.

We expect the Nuggets to finish higher, but they keep getting worse, so would not feel terrible about that matchup.

Timberwolves are set up for better regular season success. Unclear how a matchup with the Lakers would go in the postseason.

No one else feels overly concerning or inherently likely to finish above the Lakers, so I could see a reasonable seed range of 5-9 with an outside shot to win a series.

Colbinii · Post #5 » by **Colbinii** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 6:37 pm

Unfortunately, they are worse than Sacramento and Phoenix in the Pacific and right next to the Warriors while being ahead of the Clippers.

Other teams out West include Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Denver [Regular Season, lower on their PS] while Dallas is another team who is better on paper during the Regular Season.

That puts the Lakers in the Play-In for me, 7-10 seed [competing with Golden State, New Orleans and Houston].

We all know this team will start around .500 and everyone will be clamouring for trades in this forum.

AEnigma · Post #6 » by **AEnigma** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 6:59 pm

Eh, they were better than Sacramento last season. Maybe Demar moves them ahead, but maybe going from Ham to JJ similarly elevates the Lakers.

And I will never respect this iteration of the Suns.

PistolPeteJR · Post #7 » by **PistolPeteJR** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:10 am

tsherkin wrote:Hard to envision them passing the first round just yet. Hopefully, Redick's coaching couples well with health and maybe a good rookie campaign from Knecht and creates some surprise.

It’s that + some sort of trade.

Post #8 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:31 am

PistolPeteJR wrote:
tsherkin wrote:Hard to envision them passing the first round just yet. Hopefully, Redick's coaching couples well with health and maybe a good rookie campaign from Knecht and creates some surprise.

It’s that + some sort of trade.

Yeah I mean there is a lot of time, right? So we shall see what, if anything, happens.

TheGOATRises007 · Post #9 » by **TheGOATRises007** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 1:10 am

If Lebron plays similar to last season, I see no way the Lakers aren't in the playoffs.

And I think they were very unlucky vs Denver in that 1st round.

rk2023 · Post #10 » by **rk2023** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 1:59 am

Been off this board on hiatus for a while, but we are back!

rk2023 · Post #11 » by **rk2023** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 2:02 am

As for this thread’s original topic, voted R1. I don’t think this team added any needle movers from a sheer talent standpoint. We’ll see how good the offense ends up being (heading into April, they certainly looked the part before tailing off against Denver) - but they’re still too over reliant on AD defensively.

Redick should help if he’s any semblance of a net neutral coach, but there’s nothing to move the needle against a team like Denver / Dallas (let alone a OKC or Wolves - which I think are harder matchups)

PistolPeteJR · Post #12 » by **PistolPeteJR** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 2:44 am

Jaxson and Rui have gotten CPU upgrades it seems so far lol.

1993Playoffs · Post #13 » by **1993Playoffs** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 2:46 am

Still looks like a 25 pt per game scorer , crazy

IG2 · Post #14 » by **IG2** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 3:05 am

He's moving well out there

rk2023 · Post #15 » by **rk2023** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 3:21 am

IG2 wrote:He's moving well out there

I’d say alright, but it’s half one of game 1/82

nzahir · Post #16 » by **nzahir** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 3:31 am

Dlo already in playoff form I can see smh....

Rui looking very solid so far....

I really like our activity crashing the glass, but I dont like the 3 point jacking up

3/21 from 3....missing some wide open ones thanks to Reaves and Dlo

Post #17 » by **Fadeaway_J** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 4:24 am

AD is outrageous.

nzahir · Post #18 » by **nzahir** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 4:26 am

Fadeaway_J wrote:AD is outrageous.

This seems like the year where AD clearly becomes our #1

We need this from him to be a contender/peak version of our team

So pissed off at our shooting tonight

Post #19 » by **Fadeaway_J** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 4:34 am

nzahir wrote:
Fadeaway_J wrote:AD is outrageous.

This seems like the year where AD clearly becomes our #1

We need this from him to be a contender/peak version of our team

So pissed off at our shooting tonight

I'm not bothered considering they won fairly comfortably despite shooting well below their usual levels.

Post #20 » by **zimpy27** » Wed Oct 23, 2024 4:41 am

Lakers are going to be dominant based off this one game.

Not many teams will beat them at this intensity with average shooting.

Hindsight: Would you trade Luka back to Dallas for Anthony Davis?