The Lebron Thread (2015-16 Pt. 3)

[RSCD3_]

Never in his career have I seen lebron react and and get into it with someone like this.

It could have had something to do with the swing at his balls. Maybe.

Lebrons been targeted countless times and never reacted

Green tried to punch him in the nuts

https://mobile.twitter.com/CampSanderson/status/741474466283163649/video/1

[GSP]

I cant believe Frye hasnt made a field goal in this series. Really thought he could be an X factor in this series...........guess not. Talk about falling off a cliff after an insane eastern conference run shooting the ball.

[PaulieWal]

It could have had something to do with the swing at his balls. Maybe.

Lebrons been targeted countless times and never reacted

Green tried to punch him in the nuts

https://mobile.twitter.com/CampSanderson/status/741474466283163649/video/1

Clearly Green wasn't going for the nuts. That's only a part of his natural getting up from the floor motion. Green doesn't even try to hide his dirtyness anymore.

[Dr Positivity]

I cant believe Frye hasnt made a field goal in this series. Really thought he could be an X factor in this series...........guess not. Talk about falling off a cliff after an insane eastern conference run shooting the ball.

I am also disappointed in Dellavedova

[Heej]

I agree this is the first finals since 2011 that is on Lebron. The back 9 of his career began tonight. Kyrie has to be the first option offensively from now on.

LeBron has to accept his role as a PF now. If he wants to win one for the land now is the time to make his final and greatest sacrifice and give up the perimeter to fulfill guess destiny as the GOAT small ball 4. He has to become Super Draymond and Kyrie has to become a knock off Curry for them to reach their final form.

Cavs have to trade away Love for another 2 way perimeter player. The league is trending towards multiple ballhandlers that can zone up and help and recover on defense. The cavs leave people on islands when they switch to defend post ups, the warriors are able to dig in no matter who it is. Maybe Jimmy Butler, but his knee is balky. Paul George is the ultimate Lebron sidekick but that's not happening. I predicted the cavs will trade for Melo but I hope to god that doesn't happen.

Finally, screw the Olympics. Re tool that jumper and only that jumper. If his legs dying are the reason why its failing he has to learn how to become a one motion shooter that shoots on the way up with minimal hops. It's not like anyone in their right mind would D him up close enough to block that.

[PaulieWal]

I agree this is the first finals since 2011 is on Lebron. The back 9 of his career began tonight. Kyrie has to be the first option offensive from now on.

LeBron has to accept his role as a PF now. If he wants to win one for the land now is the time to make his final and greatest sacrifice and give up the perimeter to fulfill guess destiny as the GOAT small ball 4. He has to become Super Draymond and Kyrie has to become a knock off Curry for them to reach their final form. Cavs have to trade away Love for another 2 way perimeter player. Maybe Jimmy Butler, but his knee is balky. Paul George is the ultimate Lebron sidekick but that's not happening. I predicted the cavs will trade for Melo but I hope to god that doesn't happen.

Finally, screw the Olympics. Re tool that jumper and only that jumper. If his legs dying are the reason why its failing he has to learn how to become a one motion shooter that shoots on the way up with minimal hops. It's not like anyone in their right mind would D him up close enough to block that.

Not really on-board with giving Kyrie the keys and making him the #1 option unless he shows a commitment to becoming a playmaker for the entire team. If you are just going to make Kyrie the #1 option you are opening yourself up to a stagnant offense.

Edit: Also, how are these Finals on LeBron like 2011? He was easily the best Cavs player the first 3 games and struggled badly in game 4.

[GSP]

I cant believe Frye hasnt made a field goal in this series. Really thought he could be an X factor in this series...........guess not. Talk about falling off a cliff after an insane eastern conference run shooting the ball.

I am also disappointed in Dellavedova

True. He looked like an Mip candidate for alot of the season then tapered off. I dunno if its his body just not being able to handle the Nba grind or if Blatt just made much better use of him, id imagine it has to do with both.

Also whats everyones thoughts on Blatt at this point and how Lebron and the team clearly didnt respond well to him? Really goes to show how far liking ur coach goes in keeping him employed as opposed to whats actually best for the team.

[Heej]

I agree this is the first finals since 2011 is on Lebron. The back 9 of his career began tonight. Kyrie has to be the first option offensive from now on.

LeBron has to accept his role as a PF now. If he wants to win one for the land now is the time to make his final and greatest sacrifice and give up the perimeter to fulfill guess destiny as the GOAT small ball 4. He has to become Super Draymond and Kyrie has to become a knock off Curry for them to reach their final form. Cavs have to trade away Love for another 2 way perimeter player. Maybe Jimmy Butler, but his knee is balky. Paul George is the ultimate Lebron sidekick but that's not happening. I predicted the cavs will trade for Melo but I hope to god that doesn't happen.

Finally, screw the Olympics. Re tool that jumper and only that jumper. If his legs dying are the reason why its failing he has to learn how to become a one motion shooter that shoots on the way up with minimal hops. It's not like anyone in their right mind would D him up close enough to block that.

Not really on-board with giving Kyrie the keys and making him the #1 option unless he shows a commitment to becoming a playmaker for the entire team. If you are just going to make Kyrie the #1 option you are opening yourself up to a stagnant offense.

I think losing a Finals irrevocably changes you as a player. Kyrie learned the hard way this year what it'll take as the offense stalled out at the end. If there's one thing I have faith in more than Lebron getting his jumper back it's the pain of losing jolting Kyrie to his senses. Magic became the first option after the Tragic Johnson finals. LeBron became the first option after 2011. I think this will happen organically.

[PaulieWal]

I agree this is the first finals since 2011 is on Lebron. The back 9 of his career began tonight. Kyrie has to be the first option offensive from now on.

LeBron has to accept his role as a PF now. If he wants to win one for the land now is the time to make his final and greatest sacrifice and give up the perimeter to fulfill guess destiny as the GOAT small ball 4. He has to become Super Draymond and Kyrie has to become a knock off Curry for them to reach their final form. Cavs have to trade away Love for another 2 way perimeter player. Maybe Jimmy Butler, but his knee is balky. Paul George is the ultimate Lebron sidekick but that's not happening. I predicted the cavs will trade for Melo but I hope to god that doesn't happen.

Finally, screw the Olympics. Re tool that jumper and only that jumper. If his legs dying are the reason why its failing he has to learn how to become a one motion shooter that shoots on the way up with minimal hops. It's not like anyone in their right mind would D him up close enough to block that.

Not really on-board with giving Kyrie the keys and making him the #1 option unless he shows a commitment to becoming a playmaker for the entire team. If you are just going to make Kyrie the #1 option you are opening yourself up to a stagnant offense.

I think losing a Finals irrevocably changes you as a player. Kyrie learned the hard way this year what it'll take as the offense stalled out at the end. If there's one thing I have faith in more than Lebron getting his jumper back it's the pain of losing jolting Kyrie to his senses. Magic became the first option after the Tragic Johnson finals. LeBron became the first option after 2011. I think this will happen organically.

LeBron was already 1a in 2011. He didn't become the first option after 2011. Wade just took a very clear backseat after 2011. Even if Kyrie is given more offensive freedom going forward I don't think the Cavs can win with LeBron taking a clear backseat like that to become the 2nd option on this team.

Kyrie is young, sure but he'd have to show me more in terms of playmaking and moving the ball more before I tell him to be the #1 option.

[ceiling raiser]

If I'm David Griffin, first day after the Finals I call up Doc and get the wheels in motion for an Irving-for-CP3 trade. Do whatever it takes to get the deal done. I think he's the only player LeBron will trust with the ball to play PG, and the transformation to full-time PF can begin. He'll probably also get on LeBron's ass about rebuilding that jumper.

I don't know what they can get for Love, but if need be, they might have to sell low, just get back a 3-and-D wing. Not so much about getting equal value, but to open up the position so LeBron will have to play there.

[bondom34]

Doc may be the GM dumb enough to do it.

[OnlyOneWay2Play]

I agree this is the first finals since 2011 that is on Lebron. The back 9 of his career began tonight. Kyrie has to be the first option offensively from now on.

LeBron has to accept his role as a PF now. If he wants to win one for the land now is the time to make his final and greatest sacrifice and give up the perimeter to fulfill guess destiny as the GOAT small ball 4. He has to become Super Draymond and Kyrie has to become a knock off Curry for them to reach their final form.

Cavs have to trade away Love for another 2 way perimeter player. The league is trending towards multiple ballhandlers that can zone up and help and recover on defense. The cavs leave people on islands when they switch to defend post ups, the warriors are able to dig in no matter who it is. Maybe Jimmy Butler, but his knee is balky. Paul George is the ultimate Lebron sidekick but that's not happening. I predicted the cavs will trade for Melo but I hope to god that doesn't happen.

Finally, screw the Olympics. Re tool that jumper and only that jumper. If his legs dying are the reason why its failing he has to learn how to become a one motion shooter that shoots on the way up with minimal hops. It's not like anyone in their right mind would D him up close enough to block that.

+1000. This post is the EXACT blueprint that LeBron and the Cavs must follow if they want ANY chance to win it all. I literally agree with everything Heej said!

The only things I would add are:

- Fire Lue and hire JVG. Lue either wasn't smart enough or not brave enough to bench Love in this series; either way, that disqualifies him as a good coach. He also failed to utilize Frye nearly enough in this series and earlier in the playoffs (Detroit series). JVG, while not perfect, will enforce defensive discipline and he's a very smart coach who has now seen the evolution of the league as a broadcaster. He's been harping on the same points as us all series long; LeBron needing to shoot, poor defensive execution, Love's weak rebounding tonight.

- Possible trades for Love (all for 3+D wings /combo forwards primarily, allowing LBJ to play PF and help him on D):
BOS: Crowder + Bradley
PHI: Covington + Noel
DEN: Wilson Chandler + one of Faried/Gallo/Will Barton
POR: Aminu + Crabbe
HOU: Ariza + KJ McDaniels + picks
ATL: Milsap (if they are afraid he'll leave next year; otherwise it's a joke, Love is much worse)
BRK: Thad Young (can't shoot 3's but can defend SF and PF and can board) + something else

...Others you guys can think of? My great fear is that the entire league realizes that Love doesn't play winning basketball and no one will give anything for him...

[JulesWinnfield]

The scary thing is that Golden State is the team with more room to improve, even though it's unlikely to ever manifest itself in 73 wins again. They are the team with more flexibility to upgrade the roster. Their best player isn't going to be 32 next postseason with unprecedented mileage on him. Klay and Draymond were born in the freaking 90s, not much older than Kyrie. History tells us that if we have seen the best of those two it probably means they got injured. They're basically a futuristic team ahead of their time who is set to run this league for the foreseeable future barring injury.

Heck they ARE gonna win this title with Steph playing injured and clearly not himself in the postseason, not to mention the 6 games he missed. Unless someone out West does the Cavs dirty work for them and knocks off the Warriors, this is setting up to be a perennial nightmare on loop given the Cavs figure to maintain their hold on the East. I don't know that OKC will ever have a better chance than they did this year and they couldn't get it done. They didn't even "blow it", as is the narrative many wish to push. To me that's just lazy analysis. Golden State took it back from them forcefully. They played like the champs they are in game 6 when the chips were on the table. Coming back the way they did showed an insane amount of mental toughness, a severely underrated part of their greatness when all anyone wishes to point to is the skill level. This is just an extraordinary basketball team. I'm in awe of them. And I've rooted against them every second of this series

[bondom34]

They're great, but beatable. Cleveland isn't a good matchup and tbh has been unimpressive.

[OnlyOneWay2Play]

The scary thing is that Golden State is the team with more room to improve, even though it's unlikely to ever manifest itself in 73 wins again. They are the team with more flexibility to upgrade the roster. Their best player isn't going to be 32 next postseason with unprecedented mileage on him. Klay and Draymond were born in the freaking 90s, not much older than Kyrie. History tells us that if we have seen their best it probably means they got injured. They're basically a futuristic team ahead of their time who is set to run this league for the foreseeable future barring injury.

Heck they ARE gonna win this title with Steph playing injured and clearly not himself in the postseason, not to mention the 6 games he missed. Unless someone out West does the Cavs dirty work for them and knocks off the Warriors, this is setting up to be a perennial nightmare on loop given the Cavs figure to maintain their hold on the East. I don't know that OKC will ever have a better chance than they did this year and they couldn't get it done. They didn't even blow it as is the narrative many wish to push, to me that's just lazy analysis. Golden State took it back from them forcefully. They played like the champs they are in game 6 when the chips were on the table. Coming back the way they did showed an insane amount of mental toughness, a severely underrated part of their greatness when all anyone wishes to point to is the skill level. This is just an extraordinary basketball team. I'm in awe of them. And I've rooted against them every second of this series

Completely agree, the Warriors deserve mad respect. And the bolded part above is so true; the future of high-level basketball is 5 athletic guys who can also shoot, defend, pass, and dribble. This is why guys like Love, Hibbert, etc. are going extinct; specialized / rigid skill-sets with glaring weaknesses (e.g. no defensive quickness, no shooting + spacing, etc.) are becoming simply unplayable.

All this said, imagine this series if the Cavs just had two other wings like a Jae Crowder and a Wilson Chandler. This would allow the Cavs to match up extremely well defensively against GSW, which in turn would allow LeBron to have more energy for offense. That plus LeBron fixing his jumper would give the Cavs a very solid chance, even against this GOAT Warriors team.

[RSCD3_]

They're great, but beatable. Cleveland isn't a good matchup and tbh has been unimpressive.

Yeah all you need is all defensive nba team talent players at 4 positions...

[bondom34]

They're great, but beatable. Cleveland isn't a good matchup and tbh has been unimpressive.

Yeah all you need is all defensive nba team talent players at 4 positions...

And some athletic defenders. R Jeff isn't gonna cut it, and Kyrie can't defend to save his life. OKC could keep up with length and ball movement. Cleveland can keep up with Lebron and a ton of shooting.

[bondom34]

I didn't even think Love was an issue, I'm really not buying that at this point. The problem is Lebron is aging, Kyrie still is just not good at running an offense, and outside those 3 they don't have anyone who's playing particularly well atm.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

Reminder, the only way to get LeBron to commit to playing the 4 full time is to pair him with a 3 that can slide between the 3 and 4, and guard 4's for him. That's how Miami did it via Battier (and Rashard Lewis in 2014). I don't think Shumpert or Smith fit that mold, so it probably has to come via a pickup or trade.

[Larry David]

I just don't think thats all he's got