The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread

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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1081 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 6:25 am

Baski wrote:To those who watched, what's going on with their 3pt shooting? Has it been good defense against them? Are they panicking on closeouts? Like others here, the consistent poor shooting from 3 is extremely worrying to me.
Seems like they should be a top 10, maybe top 5 offense if not for the 3pt shooting. 8 games is relatively small but this doesn't seem all that unsustainable the way it's going. They might actually be one of the worst 3pt shooting teams in the league



They have good look by Vogel...If it continue,this is likely it will be only a matter of time,at least I hope!

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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1082 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 6:27 am

The defense was also crazy good tonight once again

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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1083 » by yoyoboy » Sat Nov 9, 2019 7:00 am

GSP wrote:
yoyoboy wrote:
MisterHibachi wrote:
Why would the Heat be favored on the second night of a back to back, on the road, playing a team with the best defense in the league and on a 6 game win streak?

I'm not saying the Heat should be favored in Vegas. I'm saying 8 points seems pretty extreme when Miami is currently a 10+ SRS team despite missing Butler for 3 games. And while being on the tail end of a back to back does play a role, I think Miami is better equipped to deal with that than any other team in the association given their depth and their dedication to being in top physical shape.

I could see it going either way but personally I would pick Miami ever so slightly to win tonight just because it feels like the type of game where the Lakers will get punched in the mouth early and struggle to claw back into it. This Heat team is really tough and LA still has some kinks to iron out. I really am not convinced at all that the Lakers can sustain McGee in the starting lineup going forward.


Well they covered. Not sure why youre so pessimistic about this team. Its the best defensive team hes ever played on and Ad is arguably over 11 Wade as best teammate too

Yeah I was wrong. Tired legs definitely played much more of a factor than I thought it would.

And I'm not saying the Lakers aren't a great team. I just don't think as currently constructed they can beat LAC, Milwaukee, or Philly. They're winning despite some glaring issues like the awful 3 point shooting and poor defensive rebounding. And it's because in spite of the mediocre defensive rebounding, the defense has been insane - unsustainably good in fact. After tonight, LA is at about a 95.6 DRTG for the season. That's -10.9 points better than league average. To give a comparison of the #1 defenses of the past 3 years:

2017: SAS - 103.5 DRTG (-5.3)
2018: BOS - 103.9 DRTG (-4.7)
2019: MIL - 105.2 DRTG (-5.2)

Scoring is currently down league wide compared to prior seasons (possibly due to the focus on calling more travels and players having to adjust to that) but even if it stays as low as it is right now it's very unlikely that LA will be able to post a DRTG on the season below 100 and they probably won't end up below 102 to be honest. And so once the defense reaches a more sustainable point, the Lakers would need more offense to compensate for that loss. The three point shooting will probably rebound and not stay at 30.8%. But I don't think it's extreme to say this team will probably finish in the bottom third of the league in shooting from range based on what we've seen (LA was 29th last year by the way). And that would probably be a mark of around 34-35%. That improvement is going to lead to a much smaller boost in LA's offense than the defensive regression that will likely happen. And I haven't even mentioned the lack of perimeter creators beyond LeBron, which is the second biggest concern for the team right now. I'm sure if the shooting improves it'll lead to better inside scoring opportunities and thus give more of a boost to the offense than just the raw percentage increase would suggest, but I'm still not convinced the offense will be where it needs to be without some kind of trade.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1084 » by toodles23 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 7:07 am

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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1085 » by yoyoboy » Sat Nov 9, 2019 7:22 am

toodles23 wrote:
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No wonder this man has to sit down for the post game interview.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1086 » by TheGOATRises007 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 8:32 am

Lebron's athleticism defensively looks great.

Though I think he's definitely lost some hops to be expected at his age and mileage.

I just wonder how long he can keep this up though(the defensive intensity).
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1087 » by nbhadja » Sat Nov 9, 2019 8:41 am

yoyoboy wrote:
toodles23 wrote:
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No wonder this man has to sit down for the post game interview.


It's time that Lebron wins a DPOY. He was robbed in 2013.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1088 » by Joao Saraiva » Sat Nov 9, 2019 8:55 am

nbhadja wrote:
yoyoboy wrote:
toodles23 wrote:
Read on Twitter

No wonder this man has to sit down for the post game interview.


It's time that Lebron wins a DPOY. He was robbed in 2013.


I thought his D was much more impressive in 12 than in 13 in the regular season. Until the middle of the season in 13 I felt he was coasting a bit. In the previous 2 years he was doing it all the way.

09, 10 and 11 were superb years on D too, but Dwight deserved the award.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1089 » by Dupp » Sat Nov 9, 2019 8:58 am

Yeah it was 2012 he deserved it and should have won. Oh well.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1090 » by Freighttrain » Sat Nov 9, 2019 9:31 am

I just realised how LeBron has been scoring at will without playing with his back against the basket in post-up play this season. All because of our frontcourt being huge and productive. That is big because the stress that it would take on LeBron's body would prevent him from playing the defense he's been playing thus far.

The game itself wasn't pretty on offense, but Vogel tried everyone, yet no one seemed to be capable of making one, besides LeBron.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1091 » by kayess » Sat Nov 9, 2019 9:51 am

yoyoboy wrote:
GSP wrote:
yoyoboy wrote:I'm not saying the Heat should be favored in Vegas. I'm saying 8 points seems pretty extreme when Miami is currently a 10+ SRS team despite missing Butler for 3 games. And while being on the tail end of a back to back does play a role, I think Miami is better equipped to deal with that than any other team in the association given their depth and their dedication to being in top physical shape.

I could see it going either way but personally I would pick Miami ever so slightly to win tonight just because it feels like the type of game where the Lakers will get punched in the mouth early and struggle to claw back into it. This Heat team is really tough and LA still has some kinks to iron out. I really am not convinced at all that the Lakers can sustain McGee in the starting lineup going forward.


Well they covered. Not sure why youre so pessimistic about this team. Its the best defensive team hes ever played on and Ad is arguably over 11 Wade as best teammate too

Yeah I was wrong. Tired legs definitely played much more of a factor than I thought it would.

And I'm not saying the Lakers aren't a great team. I just don't think as currently constructed they can beat LAC, Milwaukee, or Philly. They're winning despite some glaring issues like the awful 3 point shooting and poor defensive rebounding. And it's because in spite of the mediocre defensive rebounding, the defense has been insane - unsustainably good in fact. After tonight, LA is at about a 95.6 DRTG for the season. That's -10.9 points better than league average. To give a comparison of the #1 defenses of the past 3 years:

2017: SAS - 103.5 DRTG (-5.3)
2018: BOS - 103.9 DRTG (-4.7)
2019: MIL - 105.2 DRTG (-5.2)

Scoring is currently down league wide compared to prior seasons (possibly due to the focus on calling more travels and players having to adjust to that) but even if it stays as low as it is right now it's very unlikely that LA will be able to post a DRTG on the season below 100 and they probably won't end up below 102 to be honest. And so once the defense reaches a more sustainable point, the Lakers would need more offense to compensate for that loss. The three point shooting will probably rebound and not stay at 30.8%. But I don't think it's extreme to say this team will probably finish in the bottom third of the league in shooting from range based on what we've seen (LA was 29th last year by the way). And that would probably be a mark of around 34-35%. That improvement is going to lead to a much smaller boost in LA's offense than the defensive regression that will likely happen. And I haven't even mentioned the lack of perimeter creators beyond LeBron, which is the second biggest concern for the team right now. I'm sure if the shooting improves it'll lead to better inside scoring opportunities and thus give more of a boost to the offense than just the raw percentage increase would suggest, but I'm still not convinced the offense will be where it needs to be without some kind of trade.


Not sure what it is with your excessive pessimism.

It's fair to say that the defense is unsustainable (I would add that the quality of competition is also a factor here) and that the regression of 3p% isn't enough to make up for it - but you're also not accounting for these guys learning to play with each other better on offense (and defense too - which should help the regression somewhat, not that I think they'll continue to lead the league by a good margin, if at all) as the season progresses. That can't be discounted - only LBJ, Kuzma, and McGee got significant minutes from last year, Vogel is also new, etc...

To say that they CAN'T beat those teams is laughable. Are they better? Sure, I don't trust the early results enough (plus they'd have to stay healthy) to pick the Lakers as favorites over those teams in the playoffs. But to say they can't pull off an upset when they'll have at minimum, 2 of the 3 best players on the floor is absurd.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1092 » by Joey Wheeler » Sat Nov 9, 2019 12:36 pm

Lakers will beat all those teams. Lebron + AD is an unstoppable combination; Lebron is the best player ever with the ball in his hands, AD is the best player without the ball in his hands. They'll be crushing teams whenever they're on the floor together. Won't be beaten in a 7-game series.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1093 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 12:46 pm

Joey Wheeler wrote:Lakers will beat all those teams. Lebron + AD is an unstoppable combination; Lebron is the best player ever with the ball in his hands, AD is the best player without the ball in his hands. They'll be crushing teams whenever they're on the floor together. Won't be beaten in a 7-game series.



And it will be harder for their opponents if their teammates start to make their open 3 points.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1094 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 12:56 pm

The Lakers could be 14-2 or even 15-1 after November 23 because the schedule is very favorable in their next 8 games

The next 2 games are probably their 2 hardest game ... Raptors (which could be without Lowry and Ibaka, I do not know but it's possible) and the Suns, who play well right now but it would be a big surprise if they make the playoffs.

After that, it's very favorables with games like GSW, ATL, OKC (twice) etc ...
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1095 » by The Realist » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:26 pm

Lakers barely getting half the fts that Harden gets, at home no less, is pretty cool I guess.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1096 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:37 pm

The Realist wrote:Lakers barely getting half the fts that Harden gets, at home no less, is pretty cool I guess.


Only 8 free throw attempts in this game!

But we must mention that it's harder to be in the free throw line when the opponent play the zone(remember the 2011 finals for the heat against Dallas)...But at least when the opponent play the zone, the team has more offensive rebounds and even if they did not have them much offensive rebounds yesterday (10) they had a lot of second chance points on that (15 points)
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1097 » by Slava » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:46 pm

yoyoboy wrote:
GSP wrote:
yoyoboy wrote:I'm not saying the Heat should be favored in Vegas. I'm saying 8 points seems pretty extreme when Miami is currently a 10+ SRS team despite missing Butler for 3 games. And while being on the tail end of a back to back does play a role, I think Miami is better equipped to deal with that than any other team in the association given their depth and their dedication to being in top physical shape.

I could see it going either way but personally I would pick Miami ever so slightly to win tonight just because it feels like the type of game where the Lakers will get punched in the mouth early and struggle to claw back into it. This Heat team is really tough and LA still has some kinks to iron out. I really am not convinced at all that the Lakers can sustain McGee in the starting lineup going forward.


Well they covered. Not sure why youre so pessimistic about this team. Its the best defensive team hes ever played on and Ad is arguably over 11 Wade as best teammate too

Yeah I was wrong. Tired legs definitely played much more of a factor than I thought it would.

And I'm not saying the Lakers aren't a great team. I just don't think as currently constructed they can beat LAC, Milwaukee, or Philly. They're winning despite some glaring issues like the awful 3 point shooting and poor defensive rebounding. And it's because in spite of the mediocre defensive rebounding, the defense has been insane - unsustainably good in fact. After tonight, LA is at about a 95.6 DRTG for the season. That's -10.9 points better than league average. To give a comparison of the #1 defenses of the past 3 years:

2017: SAS - 103.5 DRTG (-5.3)
2018: BOS - 103.9 DRTG (-4.7)
2019: MIL - 105.2 DRTG (-5.2)

Scoring is currently down league wide compared to prior seasons (possibly due to the focus on calling more travels and players having to adjust to that) but even if it stays as low as it is right now it's very unlikely that LA will be able to post a DRTG on the season below 100 and they probably won't end up below 102 to be honest. And so once the defense reaches a more sustainable point, the Lakers would need more offense to compensate for that loss. The three point shooting will probably rebound and not stay at 30.8%. But I don't think it's extreme to say this team will probably finish in the bottom third of the league in shooting from range based on what we've seen (LA was 29th last year by the way). And that would probably be a mark of around 34-35%. That improvement is going to lead to a much smaller boost in LA's offense than the defensive regression that will likely happen. And I haven't even mentioned the lack of perimeter creators beyond LeBron, which is the second biggest concern for the team right now. I'm sure if the shooting improves it'll lead to better inside scoring opportunities and thus give more of a boost to the offense than just the raw percentage increase would suggest, but I'm still not convinced the offense will be where it needs to be without some kind of trade.


I'm not sure why you keep harping about rebounding as a continuing weakness. The Lakers are 13th in the league for the season for defensive rebounding percentage, 3rd in the last 3 games, 15th in total rebounding percentage and 9th in the last 3 games. They're 11th in defensive rebounding differential at +1.3, 12th in rebounding differential with +0.3. They basically beat the Heat last night by being +12 on the boards.

You cite them being 29th last season in 3 point % as some kind of predictive stat when all but 5 players on the roster are new.

You clearly don't like them and that's understandable but you need to find other sources to vent.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1098 » by rich316 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 1:56 pm

I don't see why the defense would regress. The roster is full of good defensive players who win with size and instincts, and Vogel is a defense guy. It's not like a Heatles situation where they were only great defensively at max effort.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1099 » by eminence » Sat Nov 9, 2019 2:24 pm

Homer38 wrote:The Lakers could be 14-2 or even 15-1 after November 23 because the schedule is very favorable in their next 8 games

The next 2 games are probably their 2 hardest game ... Raptors (which could be without Lowry and Ibaka, I do not know but it's possible) and the Suns, who play well right now but it would be a big surprise if they make the playoffs.

After that, it's very favorables with games like GSW, ATL, OKC (twice) etc ...


The Thunder are actually a pretty decent squad, but yep, the Lakers are set up for a very very nice start to the season.
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Re: The 2019-2020 LeBron James thread 

Post#1100 » by Homer38 » Sat Nov 9, 2019 2:29 pm

Slava wrote:
yoyoboy wrote:
GSP wrote:
Well they covered. Not sure why youre so pessimistic about this team. Its the best defensive team hes ever played on and Ad is arguably over 11 Wade as best teammate too

Yeah I was wrong. Tired legs definitely played much more of a factor than I thought it would.

And I'm not saying the Lakers aren't a great team. I just don't think as currently constructed they can beat LAC, Milwaukee, or Philly. They're winning despite some glaring issues like the awful 3 point shooting and poor defensive rebounding. And it's because in spite of the mediocre defensive rebounding, the defense has been insane - unsustainably good in fact. After tonight, LA is at about a 95.6 DRTG for the season. That's -10.9 points better than league average. To give a comparison of the #1 defenses of the past 3 years:

2017: SAS - 103.5 DRTG (-5.3)
2018: BOS - 103.9 DRTG (-4.7)
2019: MIL - 105.2 DRTG (-5.2)

Scoring is currently down league wide compared to prior seasons (possibly due to the focus on calling more travels and players having to adjust to that) but even if it stays as low as it is right now it's very unlikely that LA will be able to post a DRTG on the season below 100 and they probably won't end up below 102 to be honest. And so once the defense reaches a more sustainable point, the Lakers would need more offense to compensate for that loss. The three point shooting will probably rebound and not stay at 30.8%. But I don't think it's extreme to say this team will probably finish in the bottom third of the league in shooting from range based on what we've seen (LA was 29th last year by the way). And that would probably be a mark of around 34-35%. That improvement is going to lead to a much smaller boost in LA's offense than the defensive regression that will likely happen. And I haven't even mentioned the lack of perimeter creators beyond LeBron, which is the second biggest concern for the team right now. I'm sure if the shooting improves it'll lead to better inside scoring opportunities and thus give more of a boost to the offense than just the raw percentage increase would suggest, but I'm still not convinced the offense will be where it needs to be without some kind of trade.


I'm not sure why you keep harping about rebounding as a continuing weakness. The Lakers are 13th in the league for the season for defensive rebounding percentage, 3rd in the last 3 games, 15th in total rebounding percentage and 9th in the last 3 games. They're 11th in defensive rebounding differential at +1.3, 12th in rebounding differential with +0.3. They basically beat the Heat last night by being +12 on the boards.

You cite them being 29th last season in 3 point % as some kind of predictive stat when all but 5 players on the roster are new.

You clearly don't like them and that's understandable but you need to find other sources to vent.


Yeah, the defensive rebounds have been a problem for the lakers on only 2 games (Clippers and mavs) ... The Lakers have a lot of good defender in this team and it also helps that they have great rim protector in Howard and Davis ( that LeBron has never had in his career, especially in this decade), which will help the Lakers to be great against the 3 pointer

The Lakers do not have to be historic good to be successful, but they are able to be one of the best defenses in the NBA .... And with the Warriors they are not longer dominant, I do not think that the nba have a team that they will have success (in offense and defense) by going small against the lakers

This team can win the title, no doubt and they will be even better if they are better in the 3 points but this team relie more on defense than in the 3 points, which is not a bad thing.

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