The LeBron James All-NBA (2nd) and Luka Doncic - 24-25 Thread

[Mos_Heat]

The hardest part of improving this thing in the summer is deciding which or how many of the players making over 10m likely gets sacrificed for defensive improvement. Don't think there's any outright FA signing good enough to fill the C hole. Leaving it to so long has created this ugly situation where you have to re-sign Hayes to a bigger deal while also trying to upgrade the same position.

I don't see any C on the market who's worth given up a 1st rounder. Maybe Claxton, but it would be quite an overpay imo. Hayes/Capela rotation would be decent if they can find better perimeter defenders

Who are we replacing with better defenders?

We just traded for DFS and hes Luka's buddy

Vando? Hes a pretty good defender, but he isn't at the same level his 1st season with us currently

Gabe? Hes pretty solid defensively for a guard. I wish he was taller sure, but who is a realistic upgrade here?

Rui? Hes been super solid for us and a very good 3 point shooter now. But maybe the right guy I can see

Dalton can be upgraded. Not a good enough shooter currently to offset his poor defense

Lebron was playing great D pre injury, need him to get healthy again and give effort on defense

I don't think we are moving AR

Solid guys but non of them is a difference maker

[Jurassic_Park]

Big game tonight vs hou.

1. If lakers want any chance at 2 seed this is a must win
2. If they want to avoid okc round 2 also a big game as they would need a 2/3 seed to avoid them

Lets see how they come out. Hou on a b2b and lakers at home.

[PistolPeteJR]

Hopefully LeBron's actually just working out the kinks off of his injury and is as close to 100% as possible. And this team's effort on D really needs to ramp up, though if I'm honest, they can't sustain that from now all the way through their postseason run, however long that may last. So them focusing on developing chemistry and improving upon sets on O is definitely vital right now. I also want to see less ISO Luka-ball. It has its moments of effectiveness, but the ball moving with those three creators is definitely what they ought to prioritize.

[TroubleS0me]

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[Ian Scuffling]

So true. That particular Cavs team had no business being in the Finals. Other than him, all middling to below middling talent on that team. It's kind of a counter to the Dallas loss in the Finals.

[ball_takes23]

So true. That particular Cavs team had no business being in the Finals. Other than him, all middling to below middling talent on that team. It's kind of a counter to the Dallas loss in the Finals.

"Losing in the finals is a counter to losing in the finals"

- actual Lebron fan argument

[nzahir]

I don't see any C on the market who's worth given up a 1st rounder. Maybe Claxton, but it would be quite an overpay imo. Hayes/Capela rotation would be decent if they can find better perimeter defenders

Who are we replacing with better defenders?

We just traded for DFS and hes Luka's buddy

Vando? Hes a pretty good defender, but he isn't at the same level his 1st season with us currently

Gabe? Hes pretty solid defensively for a guard. I wish he was taller sure, but who is a realistic upgrade here?

Rui? Hes been super solid for us and a very good 3 point shooter now. But maybe the right guy I can see

Dalton can be upgraded. Not a good enough shooter currently to offset his poor defense

Lebron was playing great D pre injury, need him to get healthy again and give effort on defense

I don't think we are moving AR

Solid guys but non of them is a difference maker

Who are realistic targets?

We have a 2031 1st and some swaps right?

Would love for Bron to take a huge paycut and let us use the max mle if possible and sign a guy like NaW

Could then move Gabe+Kleber+1st for Claxton

[thebigbird]

Bron’s groin looks cooked. Once he hits 65 games he should sit out until the end of the season to heal up.

[tone wone]

Great win. Hated the offense (way too much Vincent/DFS) not enough of the stars being able to attack.

LA's closing schedule is tough. Hopefully the load-managment gods shine on them against OKC. Them being such a great home team; really want the 2 seed but it's gonna be tough. That Chicago loss was brutal.

[TheGOATRises007]

Bron’s groin looks cooked. Once he hits 65 games he should sit out until the end of the season to heal up.

His groin is probably fine.

It's just tough with the amount of mileage he has that he missed time and has to rev back up.

He'll look better physically again in 2 weeks.

[Mos_Heat]

Who are we replacing with better defenders?

We just traded for DFS and hes Luka's buddy

Vando? Hes a pretty good defender, but he isn't at the same level his 1st season with us currently

Gabe? Hes pretty solid defensively for a guard. I wish he was taller sure, but who is a realistic upgrade here?

Rui? Hes been super solid for us and a very good 3 point shooter now. But maybe the right guy I can see

Dalton can be upgraded. Not a good enough shooter currently to offset his poor defense

Lebron was playing great D pre injury, need him to get healthy again and give effort on defense

I don't think we are moving AR

Solid guys but non of them is a difference maker

Who are realistic targets?

We have a 2031 1st and some swaps right?

Would love for Bron to take a huge paycut and let us use the max mle if possible and sign a guy like NaW

Could then move Gabe+Kleber+1st for Claxton

If they can get a real C without moving a 1st, then my target would be Wiggins. Other than him, NAW or Grimes on the FA market. But they are in the tough spot, don't have a lot to work on the trade market. Thank God Mark Williams trade got rescinded

[Mos_Heat]

Bron’s groin looks cooked. Once he hits 65 games he should sit out until the end of the season to heal up.

His groin is probably fine.

It's just tough with the amount of mileage he has that he missed time and has to rev back up.

He'll look better physically again in 2 weeks.

They need to stay out of the play in and have a HCA in the 1st round

[Ian Scuffling]

So true. That particular Cavs team had no business being in the Finals. Other than him, all middling to below middling talent on that team. It's kind of a counter to the Dallas loss in the Finals.

"Losing in the finals is a counter to losing in the finals"

- actual Lebron fan argument

Important context left out, "It's kind of", meaning "not exactly". And, congrats on missing the point.

[Ian Scuffling]

Actually, a very unlikely Lakers win. The bench won this one. Not sure how sustainable that bench play is, but at least for one game, it was great. The starters couldn't shoot straight, it seems.

[dcstanley]

Great win. Hated the offense (way too much Vincent/DFS) not enough of the stars being able to attack.

LA's closing schedule is tough. Hopefully the load-managment gods shine on them against OKC. Them being such a great home team; really want the 2 seed but it's gonna be tough. That Chicago loss was brutal.

Houston aggressively conceded those shots so I'm glad they didn't hesitate to take them. Houston did a great job not allowing the big three to get comfortable looks, their athleticism and physicality was overwhelming.

Bad omen for a potential series against OKC. I can see that series being a sweep tbh.

[Ainosterhaspie]

Updated my signature since LeBron recently crossed a career points threshold hitting 42,000. If we halve his career totals in points, rebound and assists, just seven other players in NBA history have managed to attain those numbers over the course of their career. This is absolutely mind boggling to me.

Players who have at least 21,000 points, 5,750 assists, and 5,750 rebounds other than LeBron: Kobe, Chris Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, Clyde Drexler, John Havlicek. That's it. Again, LeBron has twice that. Unbelievable.

LeBron is about 200 rebounds away from knocking Chris Paul off that list, but Paul is still adding to his numbers, so hard to say if that can happen.

He needs about 750 more assists to double up Drexler and Havlicek in assists, but will knock Drexler off this list with about 200 more points.

There's a decent chance that when he retires, only 4 players will remain who match at least half his totals in each of these three categories: Oscar, Kobe, Harden and Westbrook, though he will likely need to play two more years to get to that point.

[Jurassic_Park]

Big game tonight. Lets see if lebron looks better offensively

[Mos_Heat]

That's a bad match up for LA. Curry got anything he wanted

[Fadeaway_J]

That's a bad match up for LA. Curry got anything he wanted

With the new versions of these teams, they match up much better with Denver and much worse with Golden State. Too many points of failure on the perimeter, and the better defenders are all susceptible to nights like this where they can't throw it in the ocean.

[tone wone]

He looked nice offensively, but poor defensive game and was non-existent on the glass. Don't think they can survive low-activity games from him against good teams

GSW is a sneaky off-reb team. Them not being a heavy pick n roll team really breaks LA's heavy-overload/switchy defense. And highlights how much they struggle containing penetration.