The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 8)

[Slava]

What's the likelihood of him opting out and taking a paycut in 2021 if it meant a pursuit of Giannis? A Davis + Giannis frontcourt on defense might be simply unfair.

[Dupp]

What's the likelihood of him opting out and taking a paycut in 2021 if it meant a pursuit of Giannis? A Davis + Giannis frontcourt on defense might be simply unfair.

Close to zero. Lebrons been prone to some contradictions but he said he won’t take a pay cut again. While he’s still at this level he’s not taking less than the max.

Wouldn’t wanna see it anyway. Would be lame for the league.

[RoundMoundOfReb]

Wtf Kobe was already a legend in 2002?

Kobe was incredibly popular early in his career due to the Lakers' Brand. He had his own video game (see: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside for N64 -- First basketball game I owned) in 1998, during his second year. He wasn't even a starter and averaged 15 ppg.

[King Ken]

I definetly think LeBron is the greatest player to ever play this game. I could care less about GOAT, that's subjective and people will like what they like but Bron is the best player ever I've seen play this sport.

[Mos_Heat]

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They will probably use Early Bird rights for him. 4.55 mil is good enough for almost 35years old backup, especially on this market

[Mos_Heat]

What's the likelihood of him opting out and taking a paycut in 2021 if it meant a pursuit of Giannis? A Davis + Giannis frontcourt on defense might be simply unfair.

Close to zero. Lebrons been prone to some contradictions but he said he won’t take a pay cut again. While he’s still at this level he’s not taking less than the max.

Wouldn’t wanna see it anyway. Would be lame for the league.

I don't think Giannis wanna play with Lebron anyways

[JulesWinnfield]

Wtf Kobe was already a legend in 2002?

Kobe was incredibly popular early in his career due to the Lakers' Brand. He had his own video game (see: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside for N64 -- First basketball game I owned) in 1998, during his second year. He wasn't even a starter and averaged 15 ppg.

Yea maybe it’s tough to describe if people didn’t live through it, but in a time before Lebron came along it seemed completely destined that Kobe would take the Jordan torch and be the face of the league. Some might argue he did for a time, even if he was never clear cut the best player in a way MJ or later Lebron was

At this time he was 24, a multi time all nba player, a significant part of a 3-peat, walked like Jordan talked like Jordan and seemed like he was in central casting for the part. Everyone was looking for the next MJ and he just seemed like a natural evolution. He was also highly marketable, this was before he had become a polarizing figure with the Colorado rape accusations and he really had yet to accumulate any hatred from any segment of nba fans other than maybe just straight Laker haters. He had clearly separated himself from Vince Carter when just a couple of years earlier that was the debate... and it was only expected he would get better. So maybe there was some projection, but in 2002 people were already debating where Kobe could stack up historically

[Baski]

Wtf Kobe was already a legend in 2002?

Kobe was incredibly popular early in his career due to the Lakers' Brand. He had his own video game (see: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside for N64 -- First basketball game I owned) in 1998, during his second year. He wasn't even a starter and averaged 15 ppg.

Yea maybe it’s tough to describe if people didn’t live through it, but in a time before Lebron came along it seemed completely destined that Kobe would take the Jordan torch and be the face of the league. Some might argue he did for a time, even if he was never clear cut the best player in a way MJ or later Lebron was

At this time he was 24, a multi time all nba player, a significant part of a 3-peat, walked like Jordan talked like Jordan and seemed like he was in central casting for the part. Everyone was looking for the next MJ and he just seemed like a natural evolution. He was also highly marketable, this was before he had become a polarizing figure with the Colorado rape accusations and he really had yet to accumulate any hatred from any segment of nba fans other than maybe just straight Laker haters. He had clearly separated himself from Vince Carter when just a couple of years earlier that was the debate... and it was only expected he would get better. So maybe there was some projection, but in 2002 people were already debating where Kobe could stack up historically

Wow. Very eye opening. Explains a lot about Kobe's insane popularity.

[Baski]

Watch on YouTube

Maybe I miseed this because I thought I saw this posted earlier, but couldn't find it. Some interesting tidbits here and I'm only about 25 mins through it so far. Dudley is definitely going to be a quality media member after he retires.

Non-Lakers thing I found interesting... When Dudley was talking about "The Last Dance" wondering about who in the current league would be most likely to do a Dennis Rodman "Vegas Vacation", the first name that popped in his head was James Harden. I know Harden is known as a Strip Club legend and is a guy who is obviously living up the single life as an extremely rich young guy, but I still found it a little shocking that he was the first name out of Dudley's mouth.

Man this is a great listen. Dudley provides a really cool view into the players' interactions with one another. And he doesn't hold back either. Calls **** like it is for everybody.


But I gotta ask: does Simmons not hear himself when he makes all those jabs at Lebron? Or does he just not care how he comes across?


Also that part where he said the players are always on their phone and namedropped AD, i half-expected him to say he reads posts on realgm.

[Homer38]

His 2009 seasons

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[trickshot]

They should begrudgingly pay Rondo. This was somehow one of the few runs roleplayers on a Lebron team were dependable. Lebron teams have often made the mistake of paying for fool's gold to disappear in the postseason

Come to think of it this year's fool's gold was Danny green.

[Dupp]

His 2009 seasons

Watch on YouTube

2:10- 3:20 one of the goat spurts. Favourite regular season game

[kayess]

Watch on YouTube

Maybe I miseed this because I thought I saw this posted earlier, but couldn't find it. Some interesting tidbits here and I'm only about 25 mins through it so far. Dudley is definitely going to be a quality media member after he retires.

Non-Lakers thing I found interesting... When Dudley was talking about "The Last Dance" wondering about who in the current league would be most likely to do a Dennis Rodman "Vegas Vacation", the first name that popped in his head was James Harden. I know Harden is known as a Strip Club legend and is a guy who is obviously living up the single life as an extremely rich young guy, but I still found it a little shocking that he was the first name out of Dudley's mouth.

Man this is a great listen. Dudley provides a really cool view into the players' interactions with one another. And he doesn't hold back either. Calls **** like it is for everybody.


But I gotta ask: does Simmons not hear himself when he makes all those jabs at Lebron? Or does he just not care how he comes across?


Also that part where he said the players are always on their phone and namedropped AD, i half-expected him to say he reads posts on realgm.

Don't get me wrong - Simmons has definitely been on the wrong side of history re: LeBron, and has shilled for KD recently... But I think a lot of his jabs were super tongue-in-cheek.

JVG, Simmons - I think these guys are largely deferential and full of praise of what LeBron's done. Don't get too sensitive y'all

[yoyoboy]

Rewatched some of the 2016 Finals and unless my eyes are deceiving me LeBron looks significantly lighter there than he does now - probably like a 10 pound difference. I wonder if he same some extra explosiveness hiding under that extra weight. Or if it's better for his game to be a little heavier at this stage so he can more easily bully.

[SideshowBob]

Rewatched some of the 2016 Finals and unless my eyes are deceiving me LeBron looks significantly lighter there than he does now - probably like a 10 pound difference. I wonder if he same some extra explosiveness hiding under that extra weight. Or if it's better for his game to be a little heavier at this stage so he can more easily bully.

I said the same a few pages back after rewatching 2017 footage.

I hope he considers shedding the weight again; I think that's the biggest factor in holding back his explosivness/quickness from 16-18. Age seems to impact his game-to-game recovery and stamina more than his in-game top-end athleticism.

[Heej]

PJ Tucker deserves a spot on this list

That LeBron arm tattoo

Lmfaooo after all these years how have I never noticed that.

[King Ken]

Rewatched some of the 2016 Finals and unless my eyes are deceiving me LeBron looks significantly lighter there than he does now - probably like a 10 pound difference. I wonder if he same some extra explosiveness hiding under that extra weight. Or if it's better for his game to be a little heavier at this stage so he can more easily bully.

I said the same a few pages back after rewatching 2017 footage.

I hope he considers shedding the weight again; I think that's the biggest factor in holding back his explosivness/quickness from 16-18. Age seems to impact his game-to-game recovery and stamina more than his in-game top-end athleticism.

He needs to weight to guard bigs. AD has better lateral quickness at this stage.

[thebigbird]

Watch on YouTube

Maybe I miseed this because I thought I saw this posted earlier, but couldn't find it. Some interesting tidbits here and I'm only about 25 mins through it so far. Dudley is definitely going to be a quality media member after he retires.

Non-Lakers thing I found interesting... When Dudley was talking about "The Last Dance" wondering about who in the current league would be most likely to do a Dennis Rodman "Vegas Vacation", the first name that popped in his head was James Harden. I know Harden is known as a Strip Club legend and is a guy who is obviously living up the single life as an extremely rich young guy, but I still found it a little shocking that he was the first name out of Dudley's mouth.

Man this is a great listen. Dudley provides a really cool view into the players' interactions with one another. And he doesn't hold back either. Calls **** like it is for everybody.


But I gotta ask: does Simmons not hear himself when he makes all those jabs at Lebron? Or does he just not care how he comes across?


Also that part where he said the players are always on their phone and namedropped AD, i half-expected him to say he reads posts on realgm.

Don't get me wrong - Simmons has definitely been on the wrong side of history re: LeBron, and has shilled for KD recently... But I think a lot of his jabs were super tongue-in-cheek.

JVG, Simmons - I think these guys are largely deferential and full of praise of what LeBron's done. Don't get too sensitive y'all

JVG maybe, but Bill Simmons is a certified hater and has been for a while now.

[homecourtloss]

Noo damn man I should. I haven't subscribed to any if any it should be Elgee

Yeah it's the first I've subscribed to. But it'll be on Youtube in a week.

It's "three greatest games ever played by an individual" [consecutively] - Lebron G5-G7 of 16 finals. Just recaps the games, but he goes into Lebron's career-long trend (08-present) of playing much better in G5-7 vs G1-4 of a series. He's got the basic box-score data and BPM/GmSc data and compares to Kobe/MJ. Unfortuantely doesn't give hard numbers, just relative improvements of each. Lebron trends up, Kobe stays flat, Jordan trends down.

If you boil it down to simple analysis, it makes sense that it'd play out this way. Jordan's mostly relentless assault regardless of who's in front of him. This gives defenses opportunity to adjust the later a series goes on.

Kobe's similar to Jordan, but IMO has a wider bag of tricks and is better at crazy shot-making. He's probably not going to start at as high a level as Jordan, but is harder for defenses to adjust to.

Lebron we've talked about at length, he's clearly learning > adapting in G1-4 and adapting > circumventing in G5-7.

Woww that's absolutely fascinating. I feel like we kinda see that with other all time iso scorers like KD and Harden. It's just easier for the defense to adjust to you rather than vice versa. And we all know how LeBron does. Super interesting, and it all makes sense when you know what we know about all 3 of their games. Great stuff Bob, I'm gonna subscribe tonight haha.

Elgee needs to give Sideshow a cut of tat patreon for recruiting subscribers like this.

[Homer38]

Great news!

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