(LOCK THREAD) The LeBron James- 23-24 NBA Thread - 40K POINTS+(Part 1)(NO INSULTING)

[MyUniBroDavis]

The biggest problem is that AD can't do anything against Jokic on defense and on offense. At the end of the day, if your best player is helpless against the opponent it is what it is

I dont understand why he isn't better vs Jokic tbh, they should be hunting him more in the pick and roll

We may need another team to take them out in the west....but who?

The issue with this team is Lebron is older and AD isn't a #1 on offense

KD has the luxury of having Booker carry him on offense and playmake for himself and others (and Beal now).

Dlo isn't enough it feels like

AD will be fine on offense, he was moving better tonight just missing some layups, but even with that ended up with 10 points on his 10 drives vs Jokic, so not too bad

Jokic just **** owns him on the other end

[rk2023]

- Davis dropping a goose egg in the second half is a function of terrible tactics and execution (ergo missing the roll for guards / handlers, not countering Denver’s defense to take away rolls in the first place, so on).

- Davis needing the crutch of having teammate creation this often, in aggregate, is a function of his self-creation having declined a fair share.

Both are true here, I don’t think the sky is falling here ITO Davis’ play. He better be ready to get to work and force the issue on Nurkic / Eubanks that LA couldn’t with Joker tonight (making him guard in space rather than keeping them more or less in the paint, their relative strength on this side ).

RE: LBJ. Looked amazing tonight. With less on-ball zap, he’s amazing as a connector and a supercomputer in transition. As Preseason showed, Phoenix should be a matchup where he’s able to punish their front-lines of defense

[dcstanley]

DLO/Rui/JHS trade at the deadline please

This is what I was talking about some days ago guys, we likely need another move to really compete

If we want a gamechanger to add to our firepower, need an upgrade from Dlo

Offensive options: Lavine or Harden

If we want to keep the core but add something then its a guy like Gary Trent Jr or Hield (especially if we aren;t giving Christie a chance)

Or we have to go the defensive route:
Caruso, Myles Turner, OG (yes I know he is likely not attainable, but his value is lower than Jrue's and that would make him attainable)

I missed most of the game, but seemed like AD was pretty bad in the 2nd half

Prince looked solid fromw hat I watched as well

Did Vincent just miss open looks?

They need more shot creation and/or perimeter defense. A DLO/Reaves backcourt isn't viable versus Denver or Phoenix. I prefer swinging for Lavine or OG depending on what they prioritize. Jrue would have been ideal.

[eminence]

Looks like the plan is to limit LeBron to under 30 minutes a night, good for LeBron and getting to the playoffs healthy, but I'd expect it to bleed a few RS wins.

[Ian Scuffling]

As of 10.25.2023, age 38 in his 21st year in the NBA Lebron is still the best player on his team. Bizzare, incredible and frustrating all in one. AD isn't as bad as he looked last night, but Joker absolutely owns his ass. He just does. It's kind of embbarrasing, but oh well. DLO should never get meaningful minutes...EVER.

[Heej]

The Nuggets feel like the team that's the most in LeBron's head since the Warriors. I'm not sure he'll be able to climb this final hurdle at this point in his career. AD just doesn't have the ability to punish doubles, and the Lakers offense does a great job generating advantage situations, but it doesn't really matter if the role players just Chuck semi-open shots instead of driving vs the closeout and generating an even better look

First pass out of the paint ideally shouldn't just lead to a 3. These guys need to put the ball on the deck and pull in the help. AD and late career Bron aren't the type to be able to just score consistently vs a setup defense. They need the role players to widen the cracks they originally create so they can slip in and finish.

And imo Murray and Jokic PnR is currently the best pick and roll combo we've ever seen in NBA history. Draymond and Curry come close but the way both Murray and Joker can shoot or punish mismatches is something I've never truly seen as far as the lack of real counters I can think of other than camping in the paint and praying nuggets players miss wide open 3s all night (they won't).

Unless this team completely levels up throughout the course of this season and something bad happens to the Nuggets, I don't actually think they have the firepower to win a series vs Denver. Denver has the best homecourt advantage in sports history, and this is the first time that franchise has had a generational player putting up a near GOAT caliber peak along with a great all around team.

[letskissbro]

Read on Twitter

I'm glad LeBron is willing to call it out this early. Ever since the trades Ham has been using him like a 6th man. It was annoying but understandable given the injury last playoffs but it seems to be continuing into this season and it's **** disrespectful.

[Heej]

Read on Twitter

I'm glad LeBron is willing to call it out this early. Ever since the trades Ham has been using him like a 6th man. It was annoying but understandable given the injury last playoffs but it seems to be continuing into this season and it's **** disrespectful.

Luke Walton vibes. I get what they're thinking in making sure other players are more comfortable creating but the problem with this team is that they can just get blown up by teams that switch everything and double LeBron or AD when they drive. The supporting cast is being forced to make plays and it's just not that easy

I would trade AD for Embiid to be completely honest.

[nzahir]

The biggest problem is that AD can't do anything against Jokic on defense and on offense. At the end of the day, if your best player is helpless against the opponent it is what it is

I dont understand why he isn't better vs Jokic tbh, they should be hunting him more in the pick and roll

We may need another team to take them out in the west....but who?

The issue with this team is Lebron is older and AD isn't a #1 on offense

KD has the luxury of having Booker carry him on offense and playmake for himself and others (and Beal now).

Dlo isn't enough it feels like

Hunt with who? LA doesn't have elite P'n'R guards, and while Lebron vs Jokic at the top of the key is still a mismatch, it's not super devastating like 5 years ago, Denver can live with that

I feel like Dlo or Reaves should be able to attack him more tbh

Young Lebron or 2nd stint Cavs would obviously help

We will need to make a trade for a guy or two this season it looks like

Even if we dont go with the big move and want to keep the core the same, we still need to make an upgrade

[nzahir]

Read on Twitter

I'm glad LeBron is willing to call it out this early. Ever since the trades Ham has been using him like a 6th man. It was annoying but understandable given the injury last playoffs but it seems to be continuing into this season and it's **** disrespectful.

Luke Walton vibes. I get what they're thinking in making sure other players are more comfortable creating but the problem with this team is that they can just get blown up by teams that switch everything and double LeBron or AD when they drive. The supporting cast is being forced to make plays and it's just not that easy

I would trade AD for Embiid to be completely honest.

AD for Embiid probably makes sense for us since he can be more of a #1 on offense, but wouldn't make sense for PHI

Would need a 3rd team like Chi or NY

[MyUniBroDavis]

- Davis dropping a goose egg in the second half is a function of terrible tactics and execution (ergo missing the roll for guards / handlers, not countering Denver’s defense to take away rolls in the first place, so on).

- Davis needing the crutch of having teammate creation this often, in aggregate, is a function of his self-creation having declined a fair share.

Both are true here, I don’t think the sky is falling here ITO Davis’ play. He better be ready to get to work and force the issue on Nurkic / Eubanks that LA couldn’t with Joker tonight (making him guard in space rather than keeping them more or less in the paint, their relative strength on this side ).

RE: LBJ. Looked amazing tonight. With less on-ball zap, he’s amazing as a connector and a supercomputer in transition. As Preseason showed, Phoenix should be a matchup where he’s able to punish their front-lines of defense

Honestly AD was getting good shots off his drives, he just wasn’t hitting them, he ended up going 10 points on 10 drives vs Jokic but missing 3-4 open layups on those drives makes it feel worse (along with all those misses coming in the second hakf lol

[Mos_Heat]

I dont understand why he isn't better vs Jokic tbh, they should be hunting him more in the pick and roll

We may need another team to take them out in the west....but who?

The issue with this team is Lebron is older and AD isn't a #1 on offense

KD has the luxury of having Booker carry him on offense and playmake for himself and others (and Beal now).

Dlo isn't enough it feels like

Hunt with who? LA doesn't have elite P'n'R guards, and while Lebron vs Jokic at the top of the key is still a mismatch, it's not super devastating like 5 years ago, Denver can live with that

I feel like Dlo or Reaves should be able to attack him more tbh

Young Lebron or 2nd stint Cavs would obviously help

We will need to make a trade for a guy or two this season it looks like

Even if we dont go with the big move and want to keep the core the same, we still need to make an upgrade

Don't think so, their pull up jumpshooting isn't elite enough to force a switch constantly and even then feels like Jokic can hang with them in iso

[nzahir]

Hunt with who? LA doesn't have elite P'n'R guards, and while Lebron vs Jokic at the top of the key is still a mismatch, it's not super devastating like 5 years ago, Denver can live with that

I feel like Dlo or Reaves should be able to attack him more tbh

Young Lebron or 2nd stint Cavs would obviously help

We will need to make a trade for a guy or two this season it looks like

Even if we dont go with the big move and want to keep the core the same, we still need to make an upgrade

Don't think so, their pull up jumpshooting isn't elite enough to force a switch constantly and even then feels like Jokic can hang with them in iso

Dlo has some volume, but meh efficiency. Reaves is more efficient, less volume
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/pullup?Season=2022-23&dir=D&sort=PULL_UP_FGM

Derozan is a very solid guy, but he would hurt our spacing. Not as bad as Russ since Demar is a very good midrange shooter, but unsure of the fit

[rk2023]

I would be very damn disappointed if a trade for Demar were to happen.

[RRR3]

I haven't watched, is Ham honestly still not running the offense through LeBron?

[IG2]

I haven't watched, is Ham honestly still not running the offense through LeBron?

I honestly don't think Ham dictates much of anything about what LeBron does on the floor. LeBron just had a double digit 2nd qtr simply by being more aggressive in trying to get the ball. He can do that any time on the court.

I'm more intrigued by Reaves being so uninvolved in the offense so far. Taking it slow after a short offseason due to the Team USA stint? He's easily the team's 2nd best player off the dribble. I'd rather see the ball in his hands than DLo.

[RRR3]

Two straight games with the team collapsing when LeBron is off the court. Not a good sign if they plan to play him 30 MPG lol

[Mos_Heat]

Hmmm, this team can actually be just average

[IG2]

KD has been untouchable in the regular season for years now. Single handedly beating LA tonight.

[IG2]

Great to see him healthy. He wasn't able to make any of those drives in the playoffs last season. So far this season he has looked very comfortable creating.