The Lebron Thread | 2021 & Offseason

[Homer38]

Read on Twitter

[limbo]

Read on Twitter

But RealGM told me Gasol is washed and the Lakers should've kept McGee and Dwight!

[yoyoboy]

At the risk of sounding like a hater, last night still didn't do anything to convince me that Gasol will be more valuable when it matters than Dwight.

Minnesota's defensive performance was absolutely embarrassing. Once you combine that with AD being out (meaning increased touches for and movement around Gasol) it's a good situation for him to bust out his insane playmaking game. But I just think more games than not we'll see the Gasol from the first 2 games rather than last night, specifically against the contenders who aren't having multiple defensive breakdowns on every possession. The Wolves aren't an overwhelmingly athletic team with a stretch big (without KAT) that can take advantage of Gasol's defensive shortcomings either.

Still was awesome seeing those connections between him and Bron though, and in both directions. So I'm all for being proven wrong.

[mademan]

At the risk of sounding like a hater, last night still didn't do anything to convince me that Gasol will be more valuable when it matters than Dwight.

Minnesota's defensive performance was absolutely embarrassing. Once you combine that with AD being out (meaning increased touches for and movement around Gasol) it's a good situation for him to bust out his insane playmaking game. But I just think more games than not we'll see the Gasol from the first 2 games rather than last night, specifically against the contenders who aren't having multiple defensive breakdowns on every possession. The Wolves aren't an overwhelmingly athletic team with a stretch big (without KAT) that can take advantage of Gasol's defensive shortcomings either.

Still was awesome seeing those connections between him and Bron though, and in both directions. So I'm all for being proven wrong.

But Dwight wasnt important when it mattered. Gasol is a big body who's great defensively against post players like Jokic/Embiid. His job is to soak up minutes in the RS, guard the big guys in the playoffs and cheerlead from the bench when the Lakers go small. He's fully equipped to do that

[Freighttrain]

At the risk of sounding like a hater, last night still didn't do anything to convince me that Gasol will be more valuable when it matters than Dwight.

Minnesota's defensive performance was absolutely embarrassing. Once you combine that with AD being out (meaning increased touches for and movement around Gasol) it's a good situation for him to bust out his insane playmaking game. But I just think more games than not we'll see the Gasol from the first 2 games rather than last night, specifically against the contenders who aren't having multiple defensive breakdowns on every possession. The Wolves aren't an overwhelmingly athletic team with a stretch big (without KAT) that can take advantage of Gasol's defensive shortcomings either.

Still was awesome seeing those connections between him and Bron though, and in both directions. So I'm all for being proven wrong.

For me, it's not even about what Gasol brings individually offensively. He had a hot streak last night and made threes which were great, but that wasn't the key to the win. It's more about what he does for others and what Dwight or Javale couldn't do, and that discrepancy is huge. You can see the difference in cutting, playing the two-man game and coming off screens around Gasol for multiple players. Kuzma is the biggest beneficiary of Gasol's presence on the floor, but so were THT, Caruso and KCP. They got easy finishes around the paint because of Marc's passing ability. And what he lacks for the shot-blocking ability he makes up with his IQ by trying to be one step ahead, instead of making that spectacular block. I have more questions about Trez being able to finish out games when the times comes than Marc tbh.

[Joao Saraiva]

At the risk of sounding like a hater, last night still didn't do anything to convince me that Gasol will be more valuable when it matters than Dwight.

Minnesota's defensive performance was absolutely embarrassing. Once you combine that with AD being out (meaning increased touches for and movement around Gasol) it's a good situation for him to bust out his insane playmaking game. But I just think more games than not we'll see the Gasol from the first 2 games rather than last night, specifically against the contenders who aren't having multiple defensive breakdowns on every possession. The Wolves aren't an overwhelmingly athletic team with a stretch big (without KAT) that can take advantage of Gasol's defensive shortcomings either.

Still was awesome seeing those connections between him and Bron though, and in both directions. So I'm all for being proven wrong.

But Dwight wasnt important when it mattered. Gasol is a big body who's great defensively against post players like Jokic/Embiid. His job is to soak up minutes in the RS, guard the big guys in the playoffs and cheerlead from the bench when the Lakers go small. He's fully equipped to do that

Dwight wasn't important against Jokic? Ok then.

[mademan]

At the risk of sounding like a hater, last night still didn't do anything to convince me that Gasol will be more valuable when it matters than Dwight.

Minnesota's defensive performance was absolutely embarrassing. Once you combine that with AD being out (meaning increased touches for and movement around Gasol) it's a good situation for him to bust out his insane playmaking game. But I just think more games than not we'll see the Gasol from the first 2 games rather than last night, specifically against the contenders who aren't having multiple defensive breakdowns on every possession. The Wolves aren't an overwhelmingly athletic team with a stretch big (without KAT) that can take advantage of Gasol's defensive shortcomings either.

Still was awesome seeing those connections between him and Bron though, and in both directions. So I'm all for being proven wrong.

But Dwight wasnt important when it mattered. Gasol is a big body who's great defensively against post players like Jokic/Embiid. His job is to soak up minutes in the RS, guard the big guys in the playoffs and cheerlead from the bench when the Lakers go small. He's fully equipped to do that

Dwight wasn't important against Jokic? Ok then.

He had a good 2 games vs Jokic, until Jokic figured him out. And it crashed the Lakers offense allowing Jokic to just hang in the paint all day and use his size to rim protect. Gasol is every bit as a good post defender as Dwight, and he's capable of pulling Jokic away from the rim

[Homer38]

Under 29 minutes per game for LBJ after 3 games so far!...Only 26 minutes vs Minnesota

[Heej]

Under 29 minutes per game for LBJ after 3 games so far!...Only 26 minutes vs Minnesota

Gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers. Its icing on the cake at this point now that he's gone 3 for 3 with different franchises but man would I love to see him get his 5th MVP and chip. I don't even need to see him get FMVP again at this point. Or if it is I wouldn't want him to get more after this year because I firmly believe it's ADs time to shine as our Supreme Leader the Alpha Lebron Stan.

[Homer38]

Read on Twitter

[MyUniBroDavis]

But Dwight wasnt important when it mattered. Gasol is a big body who's great defensively against post players like Jokic/Embiid. His job is to soak up minutes in the RS, guard the big guys in the playoffs and cheerlead from the bench when the Lakers go small. He's fully equipped to do that

Dwight wasn't important against Jokic? Ok then.

He had a good 2 games vs Jokic, until Jokic figured him out. And it crashed the Lakers offense allowing Jokic to just hang in the paint all day and use his size to rim protect. Gasol is every bit as a good post defender as Dwight, and he's capable of pulling Jokic away from the rim

Jokic never really figured dwight out, and he got jokic into foul trouble a bunch of those games too, we didnt really match their minutes till g4 ish though

Jokic is also bottom tier at guarding the rim anyway


Otoh i do think gasol can do the same things with added benefits against Jokic

[MyUniBroDavis]

Read on Twitter

I want AD to play but idk about playing through calf injuries

[homecourtloss]

Under 29 minutes per game for LBJ after 3 games so far!...Only 26 minutes vs Minnesota

Gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers. Its icing on the cake at this point now that he's gone 3 for 3 with different franchises but man would I love to see him get his 5th MVP and chip. I don't even need to see him get FMVP again at this point. Or if it is I wouldn't want him to get more after this year because I firmly believe it's ADs time to shine as our Supreme Leader the Alpha Lebron Stan.

At some point he’ll start scoring more, but he genuinely looks happy he doesn’t have to do everything. He commented on his body language after they won the title, and you can see the disgust he has on every open shot given up, or missed assignment.

But last night, he showed a lot of enthusiasm for a regular season game (pump fist after a Gasol dime to Kuzma or KCap, csnt remember, and then a huge roundhouse pump fist after another Gasol dime in the second half.

With the rotations as they are, unless he actively pursues scoring, I can’t see him scoring more than 20-21 ppg at this rate.

[trickshot]

Read on Twitter

I want AD to play but idk about playing through calf injuries

Lol That's how you know it was just load management. Lakers also prefer to wrap Davis in cotton. Everyone knows to treat AD like a brand new sports car.

[Heej]

Under 29 minutes per game for LBJ after 3 games so far!...Only 26 minutes vs Minnesota

Gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers. Its icing on the cake at this point now that he's gone 3 for 3 with different franchises but man would I love to see him get his 5th MVP and chip. I don't even need to see him get FMVP again at this point. Or if it is I wouldn't want him to get more after this year because I firmly believe it's ADs time to shine as our Supreme Leader the Alpha Lebron Stan.

At some point he’ll start scoring more, but he genuinely looks happy he doesn’t have to do everything. He commented on his body language after they won the title, and you can see the disgust he has on every open shot given up, or missed assignment.

But last night, he showed a lot of enthusiasm for a regular season game (pump fist after a Gasol dime to Kuzma or KCap, csnt remember, and then a huge roundhouse pump fist after another Gasol dime in the second half.

With the rotations as they are, unless he actively pursues scoring, I can’t see him scoring more than 20-21 ppg at this rate.

There's a small part of me that's gonna die inside when he drops below 27ppg for his career. He's already there at 27.1 which sucks to see. I really hope he's above 26 when he retires

[NbaAllDay]

Any new word on him playing tonight? I'd kind of be surprised if he did.

[GSP]

Read on Twitter

I want AD to play but idk about playing through calf injuries

Seems like a fake injury TBH. I dont know why the Lakers arent as transparent as others about load managing

[BladeDaywalker]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Homer38]

Any new word on him playing tonight? I'd kind of be surprised if he did.

Read on Twitter

[Greyhound]

Did you guys really think LeBron was not going to play this game?

With his scoring output down, he is going to play every game possible.

Securing that legendary scoring record is a goal, as it should be. Almost two decades of work towards this is not going to be rested away now.