zimpy27 wrote:falcolombardi wrote:thebigbird wrote:That’s a good point. The whole “LeBron needs to play off ball more” thing from some people has never made much sense to me. LeBron is a goat-tier offensive player. We want to take the ball out of his hands and put it into a worse offensive player’s hands, why exactly? At this stage in his career it might only be a decent idea because he’s older and it won’t wear him down as much. But really for that role they just need a good ball handler who can bring the ball up the court and then give it to LeBron so he doesn’t have to exert energy doing that.
This team doesn’t need a third ‘star’ anyway. LeBron and AD pack enough offensive firepower together. Given their salary cap situation, moving a bunch of guys to try to acquire a third ‘star,’ especially when the player won’t be a superstar level guy, doesn’t make any sense to me. It’d be way better to go after shooters and wing defenders.
cause ar some point people saw the value of off ball play with curry and ben taylor and lowe made people realize the value of impacting the game without the ball
and like any trend some people went way overboard with it, i remember peopke unironically saying in 2016 saying that they prefered draymond to lebron
cause while lebron was a better floor raiser, the ceiling of a lebron team or "lebron ball" was "limited" (even in the player conparision board i think)compared to the portability and "ceiling raising"of curry or draymond according to many at the time
at some point i think people thought the future of basketball was all about off ball value and forgot that you still need someone to be on-ball
it got to the point where it felt people judged stars by how well they adapted to the benefit of their sidekicks instead of the other way around
The truth is that LeBron moves less than 99% of NBA players on the court per possession. He's elite but he isn't providing movement on offense. Davis isn't much better with movement either.
Another player that can provide scoring and playmaking to add to these guys is ideal for a more dynamic offense (since there's hardly any movement) and provides someone to lead offense while LeBron/AD rest.
LeBron should play off ball more in RS and move on ball in playoffs but still take turns with another scorer/playmaker. Worked very well with Irving in 16 and 17
The answer for how to use an old but great passer who moves less then “99% of NBA players” is not to move him off the ball.
The obvious common sense solution is to play him a bit less, but when he is in, you put the ball in his hands and surround him with individuals skilled at shooting and moving around him.
This idea of taking the ball out of LeBron’s hands and having him run, cut and hustle more (off the ball) is a bad call. That is actually a higher expenditure of energy for a lower potential of production.
He is an old player who’s high end motor is not coming back. His intelligence on the court, his ability to control tempo, and his ability to find his teammates are his best assets at this point in his career.
Those skills are best utilized with the ball in his hands.
You don’t need him to bring the ball up on every possession, but getting the ball up the court, then finding him to initiate the offense makes the most sense.
The Lakers won a championship that way. LeBron led the league in assists that way. It’s obviously the way to go.
Don't believe the hype...
