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

[homecourtloss]

What is the 2023-24 LA Lakers Identity?

What’s absolutely wild about the Lakers is that ham is playing five out, and they can’t generate any three-point shots

I don’t think our shot quality from three has been particularly bad, well shoot better there as the year goes on

We probably take more midrange shots than the average team but generally I’ve liked the shots we’ve gotten, a lot of it is from bron and AD but we’re the most effecient team in the paint so far behind the Nuggets right?

Our shooting is annoying to gauge but at the end of the day I’m not too worried about Reaves and Dlos jump shots, hopefully ruis sustains though.

The problem is that if you are giving up about eight more FG attempts per 100 possessions, how do you make up for those extra points allowed? The only way to do it is if you are going to be making a bunch more free throws than your opponents, and/or that your field-goal efficacy is going to be really high. This is why it has been so hard for the Lakers to win and not a single one of their wins looked even remotely replicable in the way that they won. Even in their four wins they have trailed and haven’t had a solid four-quarter game—I’m not sure there’s any other team with even play-in aspirations in the NBA that hasn’t had least have one solid game that displayed foundational core competencies that are replicable from game to game. On the other hand, with these types of issues, they probably shouldn’t even have four wins, so that’s a good sign.

Lakers rank 29th in three point attempts per 100 possessions WHILE playing 5 out lol.

Lakers take 29.4 3PA/100 possessions and shoot 31% (28th in the NBA) and give up 35 3PA/100 possessions allowing 37.6% (7th worst in the NBA)

Now, I think it’s highly likely that the Lakers’ three-point percentage goes up as the season continues, and that the opponents’ three point shooting comes down a little bit as Lakers have experience, some good, shooting luck by their opponents, but fundamentally there are foundation issues that are impossible to overcome really

—Give up 7.9 FGA per 100 more than you attempt
—Give up 5.6 3PA per 100 more than you attempt (opponents shoot 37% on threes and you shoot 31%)
—Take 5 FTA per 100 more than you give up (BTW, Lakers have had great FT luck with opponents shooting FTs like trash)

I doubt this continues, but there are some foundational issues at play here. It’s pretty hard to win more than like 30 games playing like this.

[homecourtloss]

He’s so strong and he’s utilizing it even more now. He’s going through people like it’s nothing.

What a performance. It’s incredible how he looks.

FGM at the Rim
Giannis: 7.1 FGM — 77.0 FG%
Zion: 6.7 FGM — 64.4 FG%
LeBron: 6.3 FGM — 80.3 FG%

That’s the top 3, the only guys making more than 6 shots in the area per game.

LeBron is 236 minutes from becoming the man who has played the most in NBA history, and he’s still doing this. I am really starting to get just confused by him because it’s making no sense.

I’m glad you posted this — the old narrative used to be that he’s just athletically superior to everyone and that’s why he finishes at the rim so well. Now, he’s still athletic, but nowhere near even late prime 2020 athleticism, and obviously nowhere near as explosive, but has ameliorated for the decline in explosiveness and athleticism by improving his foot work and finishing around the rim using below the rim tactics.

Starting in 2015, look at the way that he has utilized the eurostep, especially the eurostep that leads to contact, but he just somehow absorbs that contact while in movement and immediately picks the correct hand to shoot with in difficult below the rim situations. You saw that in this game yesterday were he can shoot equally well with the right hand, or the left hand right off of contact and seemingly almost always pick the right angle, right pace, right touch.

According to BKREF after last night’s gameJames is:

—shooting 84.7% at the rim, the highest of his career.
—66.4% from 2-point, highest of his career
—41.7% from 16ft—23 ft., 5th highest of his career

[Heej]

Games like this show that DLO has no place on this team

DLo has no place on any non-tanking team in this league.

I can't imagine him being a Laker past the deadline, but having to put up with him for 3 more months is almost unbearable to think about. You know his mins will always stay high because Ham is borderline braindead.

He's +100 to team chemistry tho and a mini assistant coach off the floor. Unfortunately his in-game IQ isn't quite as high

[MyUniBroDavis]

What’s absolutely wild about the Lakers is that ham is playing five out, and they can’t generate any three-point shots

I don’t think our shot quality from three has been particularly bad, well shoot better there as the year goes on

We probably take more midrange shots than the average team but generally I’ve liked the shots we’ve gotten, a lot of it is from bron and AD but we’re the most effecient team in the paint so far behind the Nuggets right?

Our shooting is annoying to gauge but at the end of the day I’m not too worried about Reaves and Dlos jump shots, hopefully ruis sustains though.

The problem is that if you are giving up about eight more FG attempts per 100 possessions, how do you make up for those extra points allowed? The only way to do it is if you are going to be making a bunch more free throws than your opponents, and/or that your field-goal efficacy is going to be really high. This is why it has been so hard for the Lakers to win and not a single one of their wins looked even remotely replicable in the way that they won. Even in their four wins they have trailed and haven’t had a solid four-quarter game—I’m not sure there’s any other team with even play-in aspirations in the NBA that hasn’t had least have one solid game that displayed foundational core competencies that are replicable from game to game. On the other hand, with these types of issues, they probably shouldn’t even have four wins, so that’s a good sign.

Lakers rank 29th in three point attempts per 100 possessions WHILE playing 5 out lol.

Lakers take 29.4 3PA/100 possessions and shoot 31% (28th in the NBA) and give up 35 3PA/100 possessions allowing 37.6% (7th worst in the NBA)

Now, I think it’s highly likely that the Lakers’ three-point percentage goes up as the season continues, and that the opponents’ three point shooting comes down a little bit as Lakers have experience, some good, shooting luck by their opponents, but fundamentally there are foundation issues that are impossible to overcome really

—Give up 7.9 FGA per 100 more than you attempt
—Give up 5.6 3PA per 100 more than you attempt (opponents shoot 37% on threes and you shoot 31%)
—Take 5 FTA per 100 more than you give up (BTW, Lakers have had great FT luck with opponents shooting FTs like trash)

I doubt this continues, but there are some foundational issues at play here. It’s pretty hard to win more than like 30 games playing like this.

Wait till you see we can’t grab an offensive rebound despite AD being in the floor after going for it after every possession lol

[Heej]

I don’t think our shot quality from three has been particularly bad, well shoot better there as the year goes on

We probably take more midrange shots than the average team but generally I’ve liked the shots we’ve gotten, a lot of it is from bron and AD but we’re the most effecient team in the paint so far behind the Nuggets right?

Our shooting is annoying to gauge but at the end of the day I’m not too worried about Reaves and Dlos jump shots, hopefully ruis sustains though.

The problem is that if you are giving up about eight more FG attempts per 100 possessions, how do you make up for those extra points allowed? The only way to do it is if you are going to be making a bunch more free throws than your opponents, and/or that your field-goal efficacy is going to be really high. This is why it has been so hard for the Lakers to win and not a single one of their wins looked even remotely replicable in the way that they won. Even in their four wins they have trailed and haven’t had a solid four-quarter game—I’m not sure there’s any other team with even play-in aspirations in the NBA that hasn’t had least have one solid game that displayed foundational core competencies that are replicable from game to game. On the other hand, with these types of issues, they probably shouldn’t even have four wins, so that’s a good sign.

Lakers rank 29th in three point attempts per 100 possessions WHILE playing 5 out lol.

Lakers take 29.4 3PA/100 possessions and shoot 31% (28th in the NBA) and give up 35 3PA/100 possessions allowing 37.6% (7th worst in the NBA)

Now, I think it’s highly likely that the Lakers’ three-point percentage goes up as the season continues, and that the opponents’ three point shooting comes down a little bit as Lakers have experience, some good, shooting luck by their opponents, but fundamentally there are foundation issues that are impossible to overcome really

—Give up 7.9 FGA per 100 more than you attempt
—Give up 5.6 3PA per 100 more than you attempt (opponents shoot 37% on threes and you shoot 31%)
—Take 5 FTA per 100 more than you give up (BTW, Lakers have had great FT luck with opponents shooting FTs like trash)

I doubt this continues, but there are some foundational issues at play here. It’s pretty hard to win more than like 30 games playing like this.

Wait till you see we can’t grab an offensive rebound despite AD being in the floor after going for it after every possession lol

AD gives up transition points over-crashing. DLo and Reaves give up OREBs by existing

[TroubleS0me]

Watch on YouTube

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[MyUniBroDavis]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=BBALLBREAKDOWN

I see Bball breakdown I don’t watch

[Gregoire]

Watch on YouTube

[Mazter]

It makes sense given how much time/money LeBron has put into keeping his body in shape over the years and being closer to fully healthy now compared to the second half of last season when he wasn't.

No it really does not make any sense. Averaging 6 FG's is not something done easy even in your prime, let alone at 39. This is downplaying what LeBron is doing by a mile.

Bret Favre was still running around and playing like an mvp at age 40 15 years ago.

Comparing a quarterback with an NBA players isn't even apple and oranges, its comparing a grape with a watermelon.

LeBron given his baseline genetics and how much effort plus nutrition(most likely including various peds which I don't have a real issue with) should still be great at age 39. It's not really surprising to me tbh.

Is he like the only one who has access to all of this. Are there a bunch of 39 year old's running around doing amazing stuff in the NBA?

[Cavsfansince84]

It makes sense given how much time/money LeBron has put into keeping his body in shape over the years and being closer to fully healthy now compared to the second half of last season when he wasn't.

No it really does not make any sense. Averaging 6 FG's is not something done easy even in your prime, let alone at 39. This is downplaying what LeBron is doing by a mile.

Bret Favre was still running around and playing like an mvp at age 40 15 years ago.

Comparing a quarterback with an NBA players isn't even apple and oranges, its comparing a grape with a watermelon.

LeBron given his baseline genetics and how much effort plus nutrition(most likely including various peds which I don't have a real issue with) should still be great at age 39. It's not really surprising to me tbh.

Is he like the only one who has access to all of this. Are there a bunch of 39 year old's running around doing amazing stuff in the NBA?

It's not downplaying what he is doing now anymore than it would be what he was doing when he was 24. I mean.. I've been high on LeBron since he was 14. That's how long I've known about him on top of being a Cavs fan and obviously wanting him to succeed as an nba player. Which is why I am saying that knowing the level of athlete he is to start with and the amount of work/time/money he's put into maintaining his physique for close to 20 years that I personally am not too surprised at what he is able to do at age 39. So all I'm really doing here is being honest. My point with Favre was that he was doing pretty much the same things at age 40 that he had at age 26 while playing a sport in which you take hits from 300lb def lineman and without having near the regiment that LeBron has held himself to for decades. He was almost league mvp at age 40 and I could also mention Reggie White being dpoy at age 37. Point being simply that other athletes have maintained a level of dominance within their sports as they approach 40 so it stands to reason that someone like LeBron could almost be expected to. Agree, disagree or whatever, it's not that deep to me.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[ty 4191]

LeBron James has sustained 27.4/7.8/7.3 across 1,712 games and 21 years. #3 all time in games played and #2 all time in seasons played.

Simply STAGGERING.

He did this all in a fully globalized game with 20-30% international talent and superstars, with zero expansion. During Jordan's career, it was 1-3% international players, expanding from 23-29 teams (added a ton of terrible teams and minor league talent).

Given all that? Ipso Facto?

LeBron has to be the greatest player in NBA history.

[ty 4191]

Is Lebron the best player in NBA history ages 35+?

[Cavsfansince84]

Is Lebron the best player in NBA history ages 35+?

Personally I'd have him as tied with MJ at 35(if you count that season for MJ) who I'd have as a quarter tier above Kareem at that age. Kareem maybe slightly ahead at 36 due to injuries with Karl also in there then LeBron as better in rs but Kareem was fmvp at age 38; LeBron clearly ahead at age 38 about to be 39 though. Kareem was 1st team all nba in his 38/39 season but he was mostly just a half court scoring machine by then. So if LeBron stays healthy it's clearly him from here on out.

[ty 4191]

Is Lebron the best player in NBA history ages 35+?

Personally I'd have him as tied with MJ at 35(if you count that season for MJ) who I'd have as a quarter tier above Kareem at that age. Kareem maybe slightly ahead at 36 due to injuries with Karl also in there then LeBron as better in rs but Kareem was fmvp at age 38; LeBron clearly ahead at age 38 about to be 39 though. Kareem was 1st team all nba in his 38/39 season but he was mostly just a half court scoring machine by then. So if LeBron stays healthy it's clearly him from here on out.

To clarify: I meant overall. Most valuable after turning 35, not by individual year.

But, nice breakdown. Well done, Sir.

[Cavsfansince84]

To clarify: I meant overall. Most valuable after turning 35, not by individual year.

But, nice breakdown. Well done, Sir.

Then I'd say maybe but not by much over Kareem unless he stays healthy this year and has a strong playoffs. Kareem from age 35-39(counting the 86 season) was still really good. You might even take Kareem due to him playing 79+ games in all those years and putting up big scoring numbers in the 86 playoffs. So I think it depends on how LeBron does this season(vs Kareem's 87 season where he was still decent and part of a title team). Karl isn't far off either and also has the durability adv.

[homecourtloss]

Lakers should’ve picked up Bismack Biyombo to help with defense and rebounding. Not sure what sideshow bob does.

Also, it seems like the clippers have any player that they wanted without trading any of their players, and still wound up looking like trash. They need to move between Westbrook and Harden.

[Fadeaway_J]

Lakers should’ve picked up Bismack Biyombo to help with defense and rebounding. Not sure what sideshow bob does.

Also, it seems like the clippers have any player that they wanted without trading any of their players, and still wound up looking like trash. They need to move between Westbrook and Harden.

My response when I saw their new team was "looks like a mess", largely because I knew they'd be starting Harden and Westbrook for political reasons.

Also, I saw the last few minutes of their game today and Kawhi didn't look like himself at all.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Lakers should’ve picked up Bismack Biyombo to help with defense and rebounding. Not sure what sideshow bob does.

Also, it seems like the clippers have any player that they wanted without trading any of their players, and still wound up looking like trash. They need to move between Westbrook and Harden.

Huh?

[Heej]

It makes sense given how much time/money LeBron has put into keeping his body in shape over the years and being closer to fully healthy now compared to the second half of last season when he wasn't.

No it really does not make any sense. Averaging 6 FG's is not something done easy even in your prime, let alone at 39. This is downplaying what LeBron is doing by a mile.

Bret Favre was still running around and playing like an mvp at age 40 15 years ago.

Comparing a quarterback with an NBA players isn't even apple and oranges, its comparing a grape with a watermelon.

LeBron given his baseline genetics and how much effort plus nutrition(most likely including various peds which I don't have a real issue with) should still be great at age 39. It's not really surprising to me tbh.

Is he like the only one who has access to all of this. Are there a bunch of 39 year old's running around doing amazing stuff in the NBA?

It's not downplaying what he is doing now anymore than it would be what he was doing when he was 24. I mean.. I've been high on LeBron since he was 14. That's how long I've known about him on top of being a Cavs fan and obviously wanting him to succeed as an nba player. Which is why I am saying that knowing the level of athlete he is to start with and the amount of work/time/money he's put into maintaining his physique for close to 20 years that I personally am not too surprised at what he is able to do at age 39. So all I'm really doing here is being honest. My point with Favre was that he was doing pretty much the same things at age 40 that he had at age 26 while playing a sport in which you take hits from 300lb def lineman and without having near the regiment that LeBron has held himself to for decades. He was almost league mvp at age 40 and I could also mention Reggie White being dpoy at age 37. Point being simply that other athletes have maintained a level of dominance within their sports as they approach 40 so it stands to reason that someone like LeBron could almost be expected to. Agree, disagree or whatever, it's not that deep to me.

I think as far as being "surprised" it makes sense that it's actually not that surprising to you that he's doing something unprecedented because he's simply the GOAT. But i think some of your earlier posts smack of being unimpressed by it. And it's a bit ludicrous for anyone to be unimpressed by seeing someone play better than any other NBA player has this late in their career, and by an insurmountable margin