The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread

[nzahir]

Any trades LAL can realistically make past Dec 15?

[SeniorWalker]

Ah yes, it’s the customary preseason “Lebron is done” discussion.

Oit of curiosity, how long do you think most people have been saying that?

I mean he had that weird stretch in 2015 where he looked pretty human before that Miami trip. But other than that, it wasnt until really a year or so ago that people were seriously considering him not being at the top of the NBA. I know I wasnt.
I think curry had a better year minus the playoffs in 2016 but I think LeBron was pretty clearly the best overall player from 2009-2017.

Done is just another level altogether.
Carmelo is "done"....and probably was two years ago in OKC. I dont think LeBron will ever look like that in the NBA. So by that standard few people think that.

Maybe you mean done as the best player or as an elite level player or something. I do see people saying that now but I dont recall this kind of chatter before 2018 when he blatantly stopped playing regular defense.

[toodles23]

Ah yes, it’s the customary preseason “Lebron is done” discussion.

Oit of curiosity, how long do you think most people have been saying that?

I mean he had that weird stretch in 2015 where he looked pretty human before that Miami trip. But other than that, it wasnt until really a year or so ago that people were seriously considering him not being at the top of the NBA. I know I wasnt.
I think curry had a better year minus the playoffs in 2016 but I think LeBron was pretty clearly the best overall player from 2009-2017.

Done is just another level altogether.
Carmelo is "done"....and probably was two years ago in OKC. I dont think LeBron will ever look like that in the NBA. So by that standard few people think that.

Maybe you mean done as the best player or as an elite level player or something. I do see people saying that now but I dont recall this kind of chatter before 2018 when he blatantly stopped playing regular defense.

Well this is literally JVL's signature:

This may be a bit of a knee jerk, but James is done.

-5th of November 2014 after the 3rd regular season game.

[Jazz9]

Saying that James is done is obviously stupid.
He's just not the best player in the league like he was until the 17/18 season imo but still one of the very best.

[SeniorWalker]

Ah yes, it’s the customary preseason “Lebron is done” discussion.

Oit of curiosity, how long do you think most people have been saying that?

I mean he had that weird stretch in 2015 where he looked pretty human before that Miami trip. But other than that, it wasnt until really a year or so ago that people were seriously considering him not being at the top of the NBA. I know I wasnt.
I think curry had a better year minus the playoffs in 2016 but I think LeBron was pretty clearly the best overall player from 2009-2017.

Done is just another level altogether.
Carmelo is "done"....and probably was two years ago in OKC. I dont think LeBron will ever look like that in the NBA. So by that standard few people think that.

Maybe you mean done as the best player or as an elite level player or something. I do see people saying that now but I dont recall this kind of chatter before 2018 when he blatantly stopped playing regular defense.

Well this is literally JVL's signature:

This may be a bit of a knee jerk, but James is done.

-5th of November 2014 after the 3rd regular season game.

I think that's the weird stretch I was referring to. And it was knee jerk. Lebron was only 30-31 then so it would have been a surprise to see a significant decline.

[Basileus777]

LeBron declining isn't a debate, it already happened last year. It's just a question of how long it'll take to see even more of a decline.

[D.Brasco]

LeBron declining isn't a debate, it already happened last year. It's just a question of how long it'll take to see even more of a decline.

Every player declines it's just a question of how effective they still are.

2nd 3-peat Jordan was technically a declined version of 1st 3-peat Jordan but he was still pretty good.

[Arman_tanzarian]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

[ardee]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

His PR team probably told him to say it in the first place. They don't care about American PR because everyone has a short memory here. They care about Chinese PR because they need to suck up to the CCP to make sure Nike stays on the shelves and Space Jam 2 stays in theaters.

Sent from my SM-A505F using RealGM mobile app

[KTM_2813]

Love LeBron as a player but often dislike the crap he says in interviews and on social media. Wish he stayed quiet on this one.

[Gooner]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

They did, everything he says on topics like this is determined by NIKE. They were in lose-lose situation, and they just chose to side with the option with more money.

[Arman_tanzarian]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

They did, everything he says on topics like this is determined by NIKE. They were in lose-lose situation, and they just chose to side with the option with more money.

Are there any sauces on this? How much money does he/Nike make off China vs say US?

On a side note, this is why I never bat for any of these guys honor. I only follow the player and separate the individual. MJ still my fav player of all time and this is despite knowing some of the scummy things he did. You have to as most of these guys are opportunists like 99% of the people would be as well in that situation. Now, this doesn't excuse what LeBron said at all, just that I am not surprised about where his allegiances lie.

[Mazter]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

They did, everything he says on topics like this is determined by NIKE. They were in lose-lose situation, and they just chose to side with the option with more money.

Are there any sauces on this? How much money does he/Nike make off China vs say US?

On a side note, this is why I never bat for any of these guys honor. I only follow the player and separate the individual. MJ still my fav player of all time and this is despite knowing some of the scummy things he did. You have to as most of these guys are opportunists like 99% of the people would be as well in that situation. Now, this doesn't excuse what LeBron said at all, just that I am not surprised about where his allegiances lie.

From '09 to '19 Nike's revenues in Greater China are up from 1.7B to 6.2B.

[Dr Spaceman]

Bron getting obliterated for his China comments. No way anyone on his PR team okayed him saying this stuff

They did, everything he says on topics like this is determined by NIKE. They were in lose-lose situation, and they just chose to side with the option with more money.

Are there any sauces on this? How much money does he/Nike make off China vs say US?

On a side note, this is why I never bat for any of these guys honor. I only follow the player and separate the individual. MJ still my fav player of all time and this is despite knowing some of the scummy things he did. You have to as most of these guys are opportunists like 99% of the people would be as well in that situation. Now, this doesn't excuse what LeBron said at all, just that I am not surprised about where his allegiances lie.

As ardee mentioned I think he is betting essentially that he isn’t going to lose any money in the U.S. market because political scandals barely last a news cycle here but he stood to lose a lot in the Chinese market.

So essentially it’s a choice between losing approx $0 vs hundreds of millions.

[Basileus777]

I don't know why there was any choice to be made, all he had to do was avoid the question and he'd be fine in both markets. This doesn't really feel that calculated, he just had a bone to pick with Morey because he was in China when this broke and embarrassed by the whole situation and decided to talk about it.

[Dr Spaceman]

I don't know why there was any choice to be made, all he had to do was avoid the question and he'd be fine in both markets. This doesn't really feel that calculated, he just had a bone to pick with Morey because he was in China when this broke and embarrassed by the whole situation and decided to talk about it.

Are you sure about this? You don’t think that by “smoothing things over” with his comments he helped ensure the NBA keeps doing business in China?

Teams were already preparing for a 15% loss of revenue in the wake of this scandal as soon as it broke.

China just displayed an enormous amount of soft power, that’s what people are missing in all this. They’ve shown the government can essentially demand whatever it wants and get it due to the enormous amount of money to be made off their populace.

The mere threat of losing the Chinese cash cow was enough to get the entire NBA to panic.

[Basileus777]

I don't know why there was any choice to be made, all he had to do was avoid the question and he'd be fine in both markets. This doesn't really feel that calculated, he just had a bone to pick with Morey because he was in China when this broke and embarrassed by the whole situation and decided to talk about it.

Are you sure about this? You don’t think that by “smoothing things over” with his comments he helped ensure the NBA keeps doing business in China?

China just displayed an enormous amount of soft power, that’s what people are missing in all this. They’ve shown the government can essentially demand whatever it wants and get it due to the enormous amount of money to be made off their populace.

The mere threat of losing the Chinese cash cow was enough to get the entire NBA to panic.

I think the NBA would have rather this disappear from the news than get enflamed again because the biggest NBA star in the world decided to throw fuel on the fire right before the season is about to start. Like is anyone going to be surprised if a crowd chants Hong Kong when LeBron is on the line? Tencent will love that.

[Dr Spaceman]

I don't know why there was any choice to be made, all he had to do was avoid the question and he'd be fine in both markets. This doesn't really feel that calculated, he just had a bone to pick with Morey because he was in China when this broke and embarrassed by the whole situation and decided to talk about it.

Are you sure about this? You don’t think that by “smoothing things over” with his comments he helped ensure the NBA keeps doing business in China?

China just displayed an enormous amount of soft power, that’s what people are missing in all this. They’ve shown the government can essentially demand whatever it wants and get it due to the enormous amount of money to be made off their populace.

The mere threat of losing the Chinese cash cow was enough to get the entire NBA to panic.

I think the NBA would have rather this disappear from the news than get enflamed again because the biggest NBA star in the world decided to throw fuel on the fire right before the season is about to start. Like is anyone going to be surprised if a crowd chants Hong Kong when LeBron is on the line? Tencent will love that.

Lebron calling Morey “misinformed”, whether mistaken or not, is the exact opposite of throwing fuel on the fire, at least as far as China is concerned. They can now pretend and tell their people that this is the majority view of the U.S. and that Morey was condemned by his own colleagues for speaking against China (which is exactly what they’re doing).

Don’t forget that the media in China serves the government. They can block people from knowing that lebron “corrected” his statement.

Lebron essentially just played the role of chief diplomat, whether intentionally or not. He’s placated the Chinese government. The issue is wherher they should be placated.

[Basileus777]

Are you sure about this? You don’t think that by “smoothing things over” with his comments he helped ensure the NBA keeps doing business in China?

China just displayed an enormous amount of soft power, that’s what people are missing in all this. They’ve shown the government can essentially demand whatever it wants and get it due to the enormous amount of money to be made off their populace.

The mere threat of losing the Chinese cash cow was enough to get the entire NBA to panic.

I think the NBA would have rather this disappear from the news than get enflamed again because the biggest NBA star in the world decided to throw fuel on the fire right before the season is about to start. Like is anyone going to be surprised if a crowd chants Hong Kong when LeBron is on the line? Tencent will love that.

Lebron calling Morey “misinformed”, whether mistaken or not, is the exact opposite of throwing fuel on the fire, at least as far as China is concerned. They can now pretend and tell their people that this is the majority view of the U.S. and that Morey was condemned by his own colleagues for speaking against China (which is exactly what they’re doing).

Don’t forget that the media in China serves the government. They can block people from knowing that lebron “corrected” his statement.

Lebron essentially just played the role of chief diplomat, whether intentionally or not. He’s placated the Chinese government. The issue is wherher they should be placated.

Yeah, it does make for easy material to settle the matter on China's end. I just don't think the waves on this side of the ocean are over and those will still provoke further reaction. People are even less likely to forget this now that LeBron has associated himself with it. Hell, they'll keep it current just to antagonize him. James Harden kowtowing is one thing, people will forget about that. LeBron is just on a different level.

[PCProductions]

Bron is woke as long as it doesn't cut into his shoe revenue. I guess we know how badly he wants to be a billionaire.