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

[parsnips33]

Lol becoming LeBron's teammate might be the single worst thing that can happen to a player's reputation

Depends

Kyrie is quite possibly the most overrated player in NBA history because he played alongside LeBron

He got out early

[eminence]

Kevin Love, not so great for him.

Every other star I'd say it's worked out great or at least neutral for. Wade/Bosh/Kyrie/AD.

He/Luka have been together for a couple of months, got to give it some time.

[jalengreen]

Lol becoming LeBron's teammate might be the single worst thing that can happen to a player's reputation

Depends

Kyrie is quite possibly the most overrated player in NBA history because he played alongside LeBron

He got out early

And with how his Celtics/Nets stints went, getting out did nothing but harm his reputation lmao

Stick with LeBron and they'd be talkin bout him like Kobe

[Mos_Heat]

You can't have Rui, Reaves and Doncic starting. That's just not enough quickness. Lebron isn't a speedster either

Wiggins for Rui, Knecht and one of Vincent/Kleber works. You get a guy like him and go from there. I don't really see a big that's worth trading 1st rounder

[PistolPeteJR]

Yeah I don’t like having Reaves starting on this team. I’m convinced for them to hit their stride he needs to come off the bench. They need a 3&D POA defender next to Luka at SG.

[thebigbird]

Lol becoming LeBron's teammate might be the single worst thing that can happen to a player's reputation

Luka has ruined his reputation all on his own. No matter how much people clown him, Nico didn’t trade Luka for s***s and giggles. His only mistake was not getting a better haul.

LeBron’s not the one who told Luka to exclusively lift hookah pens and modelos. Showing up fat and out of shape to the playoffs and being less useful than a traffic cone defensively as a 26 year old “superstar” will ruin your reputation regardless of who your teammates are. But I guess that’s LeBron’s fault too.

[Jurassic_Park]

If Jokic wins the title this year beating clips okc gs and then bos. Would it be the greatest playoff run ever?

[OhayoKD]

Lol becoming LeBron's teammate might be the single worst thing that can happen to a player's reputation

Depends

Kyrie is quite possibly the most overrated player in NBA history because he played alongside LeBron

He got out early

Would say it generally goes second bananas get overrated and third bananas get underrated. 12-14 Wade got overrated (paticularly as a playoff performer), 15-17 Kyrie got massively overrated, Mo-Williams got overrated, Davis slightly overrated. Love got significantly underrated, bosh got slightly underrated, caruso and varejoa (?) were underrated.

The script flipped with Luka/Reaves though. And honestly that's mainly because a center-less defense was unable to hide the two defensively the way AD/Mavs bigs did. People are probably overstating how impossible it is to win with Luka's defense while they were understating it as a limit in the rs.

That said I do not think any Lebron teammate has ever been underrated to "you're a glue guy after klay thompson" the way peak draymond was lmao. If it wasn't for 2022 I feel the warriors being boiled down to steph+klay would still be a thing.

[parsnips33]

Depends

Kyrie is quite possibly the most overrated player in NBA history because he played alongside LeBron

He got out early

Would say it generally goes second bananas get overrated and third bananas get underrated. 12-14 Wade got overrated (paticularly as a playoff performer), 15-17 Kyrie got massively overrated, Mo-Williams got overrated, Davis slightly overrated. Love got significantly underrated, bosh got slightly underrated, caruso and varejoa (?) were underrated.

The script flipped with Luka/Reaves though. And honestly that's mainly because a center-less defense was unable to hide the two defensively the way AD/Mavs bigs did. People are probably overstating how impossible it is to win with Luka's defense while they were understating it as a limit in the rs.

That said I do not think any Lebron teammate has ever been underrated to "you're a glue guy after klay thompson" the way peak draymond was lmao. If it wasn't for 2022 I feel the warriors being boiled down to steph+klay would still be a thing.

You know I agree on Draymond but I think that has more to do with where his impact comes from (defense vs scoring) and of course all the not strictly basketball behavior

[parsnips33]

Lol becoming LeBron's teammate might be the single worst thing that can happen to a player's reputation

That's not really Lebron's fault. His teammates are put on the same irrational magnifying glass he is put under. Having said that Luka and Lebron are my two favourite players so the pairing is a dream come true as a fan BUT now that he's here I'm shocked with how much Luka has been allowed to get away with. Having followed Lebron so long I thought it was normal to be irrationally scrutinized, then Luka comes along and the stuff he is defended for is a massive culture shock of sorts. eg Gaining weight before the playoffs, drinking beers after the conference finals while he's injured and his body is already struggling enough as is, zero defensive effort leading to foul trouble in an elimination game. He had less offensive burden and still couldn't be bothered. After losing the finals he brought all the same issues back this year. Like bruh, HOWWW does that happen?

People at this point are almost enabling his weight problem and not letting them get 'fixed'. Even Luka has no reason to fix Luka because he is being told Nico Harrison is such a big bad man. Nico will never be justified for trading Luka but Luka sure as hell didn't do much to dispel his reasons. People are now trying to act like JJ scapegoated him for hinting everyone needed to get in championship shape. That's the same thing Kidd and the Mavs tried to emphasize to Luka. Two whole organizations can't be lying.

I think this is a compelling argument - there's just a lot more attention on you when you play with LeBron, for better or worse

To be clear, I don't think any of it is LeBron's fault per se. I do think there's a tendency among LeBron fans to highlight the deficiencies in his teammates, but I certainly don't think LeBron himself is orchestrating any of that

[Ian Scuffling]

That's certainly fair. I think that's natural of any player's fans, though. I saw it with Jordan. Kobe fanboys made a cottage industry of it. Even some Curry fans have done it. Just speaking for this year, though. I think the "problems" with Lebron's teammates are pretty glaring. Luka, as good as he is, offensivley is just as bad defensively. Same, goes for Reaves, just to a lesser degree. The bench? Terrible all year. And of course, this was punctuated by the obvious fact that Lebron isn't the Lebron of old. He can't hide the deficiencies of his help as he once did, due to his own.

In the past, I think, at least speaking for me, it wasn't so much pointing out the deficiencies in his teammates as it was reacting to the "he needs help" stupidity of the trolls. And there was, and still is, a lot of that. Never mind the fact that all superstars need help. This is a team game.

[OhayoKD]

He got out early

Would say it generally goes second bananas get overrated and third bananas get underrated. 12-14 Wade got overrated (paticularly as a playoff performer), 15-17 Kyrie got massively overrated, Mo-Williams got overrated, Davis slightly overrated. Love got significantly underrated, bosh got slightly underrated, caruso and varejoa (?) were underrated.

The script flipped with Luka/Reaves though. And honestly that's mainly because a center-less defense was unable to hide the two defensively the way AD/Mavs bigs did. People are probably overstating how impossible it is to win with Luka's defense while they were understating it as a limit in the rs.

That said I do not think any Lebron teammate has ever been underrated to "you're a glue guy after klay thompson" the way peak draymond was lmao. If it wasn't for 2022 I feel the warriors being boiled down to steph+klay would still be a thing.

You know I agree on Draymond but I think that has more to do with where his impact comes from (defense vs scoring) and of course all the not strictly basketball behavior

True. Though alot of Lebron's teammates avoid scrutiny or get excessive credit with the inverse of that. Outside of Miami and the 2016 finals every Lebron team is either "Lebron + other high scoring stars" or "Lebron + defenders".

[EmpireFalls]

Watching the Wolves play a real defense puts into perspective just how terrible LA’s is… Luka, Reaves, even LeBron were just too easy to go at.

[dcstanley]

Yeah, this is pretty embarrassing for the Lakers. This Minnesota team had no business dominating them.

[nzahir]

Well having no C killed us obviously

Thinking AR needs to come off the bench, get an athletic 2/3 next to Luka

And a C of course

[IG2]

Well having no C killed us obviously

GS have no size either

But unlike LA, they don't start 2 defensive sieves on the perimeter, don't have a 40 year old in the rotation, are actually athletic and have an ATG in Green. LA was completely outmatched physically in the 1st round. Minnesota's speed and power flat out clowned them. You didn't see any of that **** today though. Minnesota's offense was rushed all night because GS had the footspeed to hang with them.

Athleticism matters. LA has very little of it in likes of Rui, Luka, Reaves and dinosaur LeBron.

[trickshot]

Not shocked. Once it was established Rui and Lebron couldn't guard Ant and then Gobert series was over because Luka and Reaves were already a handful to cover for. Lakers were what you might call sneaky unathletic. Turned out to be one of the most mismatched iterations of smallball we had ever seen. Wolves went something like 7-47 so even when the POA defense did its job there was no one to rebound the misses. If you want to keep that lineup need a big like Kessler they can funnel opponents into and a rim running backup type big smarter than Hayes.

[Jaivl]

If Jokic wins the title this year beating clips okc gs and then bos. Would it be the greatest playoff run ever?

It depends. Does his supporting cast continue to overperform?

[Jurassic_Park]

If Jokic wins the title this year beating clips okc gs and then bos. Would it be the greatest playoff run ever?

It depends. Does his supporting cast continue to overperform?

well lets say it continues as its been going for the first 8 games plus Jokic's numbers will only get better as no one else is as good as zubac at guarding him. Even Draymond, should they meet Denver, Jokic always cooks him.

[Tracymcgoaty]

My god i thought Mamba Mentality was exaggerating when he said Lakersground were some of the most braindead posters in a forum. That place has become an absolute cesspool. There is literally no chance of any level headed talk when it comes to Lebron or Luka.

You legit got people thinking we could be getting Garland/Allen for a 41 year old Lebron.

You got people saying Reaves is better than Booker.

My **** goodness man.