The LeBron Thread 2021 Off-Season Edition

LikeABosh · Post #1101 » by **LikeABosh** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:56 am

nzahir wrote:

Watch on YouTube
;ab_channel=JeanSports

Hope this doesnt happen in the playoffs

There is no going back though, this is now a reality and we must now just hope and even lie to ourselves lol

I'm coping right now so I'm only looking at the positives :lol:

dcstanley · Post #1102 » by **dcstanley** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:03 am

LikeABosh wrote:
nzahir wrote:

Watch on YouTube
;ab_channel=JeanSports

Hope this doesnt happen in the playoffs

There is no going back though, this is now a reality and we must now just hope and even lie to ourselves lol

I'm coping right now so I'm only looking at the positives

The Lakers won 2 playoff games against the eventual Western champs with Andre Drummond starting. Can't be much worse than that :dontknow:

nzahir · Post #1103 » by **nzahir** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:07 am

dcstanley wrote:
LikeABosh wrote:
nzahir wrote:

Watch on YouTube
;ab_channel=JeanSports

Hope this doesnt happen in the playoffs

There is no going back though, this is now a reality and we must now just hope and even lie to ourselves lol

I'm coping right now so I'm only looking at the positives

The Lakers won 2 playoff games against the eventual Western champs with Andre Drummond starting. Can't be much worse than that

For sure better than Bummond’s trash ass

At least now we get more Bron and AD at the 4/5

If we can keep AC and THT (or move for better shooter),get Buddy, OPJ/Batum and or Gay....that would be crazy

Should be on par with BKN tbh, but opposite play style/strengths

LikeABosh · Post #1104 » by **LikeABosh** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:28 am

dcstanley wrote:
LikeABosh wrote:
nzahir wrote:

Watch on YouTube
;ab_channel=JeanSports

Hope this doesnt happen in the playoffs

There is no going back though, this is now a reality and we must now just hope and even lie to ourselves lol

I'm coping right now so I'm only looking at the positives

The Lakers won 2 playoff games against the eventual Western champs with Andre Drummond starting. Can't be much worse than that

That's how I feel. As long as they don't have 2 blackholes like Schroder and Drummond in the lineup then it should be better

kayess · Post #1105 » by **kayess** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 12:27 pm

falcolombardi wrote:i cannot wait for all the people who have been calling westbrook trash for years since the dursnt days even to suddendly criticize lebron for his unfair super team

that is low key my least favorite part of the trade, even if it works out, people will be revisionist and pretend they always said westbrook was a superstar to downolay lebron, and if it crashes 37 year old lebron will be criticized for "not winning with a superteam"

because super team in the basketball mainstream basically means "franchise/player i dont like, doesnt count"

Tbf, this was going to happen regardless of who he played with (and the level at which they played).

dcstanley · Post #1106 » by **dcstanley** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:19 pm

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2946614-sources-free-agency-spotlight-on-cp3-the-lowry-domino-emerging-pg-carousel

With Westbrook now headed to Los Angeles, multiple league personnel contacted by B/R expect there to be significant interest from several veterans, including DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and Carmelo Anthony, to forgo higher salary opportunities elsewhere and join the Lakers in pursuit of a championship.

CKRT · Post #1107 » by **CKRT** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 2:31 pm

I know people are going to be upset about Westbrook and the dude can be incredibly frustrating but he's only that frustrating because if he would just play within himself, he can be absolutely amazing. Even playing Worstbrook ball he's still a net positive on most teams.

That said, they gotta get Gay or Melo and really knock the vet min signings out of the park to make this work right. I don't think Hield is super likely at this point.

trickshot · Post #1108 » by **trickshot** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:18 pm

CKRT wrote:I know people are going to be upset about Westbrook and the dude can be incredibly frustrating but he's only that frustrating because if he would just play within himself, he can be absolutely amazing. Even playing Worstbrook ball he's still a net positive on most teams.

That said, they gotta get Gay or Melo and really knock the vet min signings out of the park to make this work right. I don't think Hield is super likely at this point.

As much as I hate his game I'm a fan of his motor. If he accepted his scoring sucked and played like Rondo he'd easily be on pace to be among the all time assist leaders. By the end of last season where he stopped trying to score 20ppg he was racking 20 assist nights for fun. Unfortunately he loves scoring.

Also has the most overrated competitive drive of all time, ballwatching on defense in the playoffs but when he's playing Curry or Dame's team in regular season games is the only time he becomes hyper-engaged-Jordan-like on defense, as if winning an individual regular season matchup matters more than winning a ring. Way to have misplaced priorities. I'll be curious to see what version of Westbrook the Lakers get on defense. You can't fix years of ballwatching so don't expect too much. The only silver lining is Laker fans don't suck up to players stinking up the jont, they're ahead of others in that regard, this will be his first franchise that won't coddle his bad habits.

LikeABosh · Post #1109 » by **LikeABosh** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:25 pm

Read on Twitter

Post #1110 » by **Slava** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:43 pm

Lakers need to pick back up on pace next season to relieve a lot of the pressure on the half court offense. They were 3 possessions per 100 slower in 2020-21 than they were in 2019-20. Wizards played at the highest pace last season. A team with WB leading the break and LeBron/AD filling the wings should be brutally efficient in that area.

Dupp · Post #1111 » by **Dupp** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:16 pm

LikeABosh wrote:

Read on Twitter

I thought a sign and trade just had to be a straight swap with no other moving parts. I’m sure I wrong that’s just what I thought.

Dupp · Post #1112 » by **Dupp** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:20 pm

Slava wrote:Lakers need to pick back up on pace next season to relieve a lot of the pressure on the half court offense. They were 3 possessions per 100 slower in 2020-21 than they were in 2019-20. Wizards played at the highest pace last season. A team with WB leading the break and LeBron/AD filling the wings should be brutally efficient in that area.

Having Westbrook run a fast break compared to Schroeder will be night and day. Should be lethal.

Still, need some shooters and wing defenders. Which is a big ask. Losing green, kcp and even kuzma does hurt though defensively no matter how good Vogel is.

Mos_Heat · Post #1113 » by **Mos_Heat** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:46 pm

OPJ for 3/19 is too risky, should target Danny instead. I'm not sure they can do S'n'T for Hield, Eric Gordon is more plauseble.

Westbrook/Caruso
EG/THT
Green/Mathews
Lebron/Morris
AD/Gasol

Would be a very solid 10 man rotation, not sure how realistic tho

Dupp · Post #1114 » by **Dupp** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:57 pm

Goat role player Denny green is a free agent? Sure he’d be perfect. Wonder what teams will offer him. Don’t imagine Philly will be ok losing him.

JN61 · Post #1115 » by **JN61** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:01 pm

Slava wrote:Lakers need to pick back up on pace next season to relieve a lot of the pressure on the half court offense. They were 3 possessions per 100 slower in 2020-21 than they were in 2019-20. Wizards played at the highest pace last season. A team with WB leading the break and LeBron/AD filling the wings should be brutally efficient in that area.

Westbrook jumped Houston from 3rd slowest team in terms of pace to 2nd fastest as well. You want to surround him with athletes who can run because he makes you run.

Mos_Heat · Post #1116 » by **Mos_Heat** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:03 pm

Dupp wrote:Goat role player Denny green is a free agent? Sure he’d be perfect. Wonder what teams will offer him. Don’t imagine Philly will be ok losing him.

I'm sure Philla would love to keep him, but 20mil cap hold. He's probably closer to full MLE guy, probably not realistic for the Lakers. Batum should be their other option.

homecourtloss · Post #1117 » by **homecourtloss** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:14 pm

JN61 wrote:
Slava wrote:Lakers need to pick back up on pace next season to relieve a lot of the pressure on the half court offense. They were 3 possessions per 100 slower in 2020-21 than they were in 2019-20. Wizards played at the highest pace last season. A team with WB leading the break and LeBron/AD filling the wings should be brutally efficient in that area.

Westbrook jumped Houston from 3rd slowest team in terms of pace to 2nd fastest as well. You want to surround him with athletes who can run because he makes you run.

In transition, where he’d ostensibly have the most value, he’s always been a poor finisher who throws away points via wild drives to the basket, turnovers, and now missed FTs as a career 80%+ FT shooter can’t make them anymore.

2021: 6.0 transition possessions (2nd most), .94 points per possession, 20th percentile
2020: 7.3 transition possessions (most), 1.01 PPP, 29th percentile
2019: 7.0 transition possessions (most), .87 PPP, 12th percentile
2018: 6.7 transition possessions (most), 1.01 PPP, 34th percentile (notice how 2018 and 2020 have the same PPP but Westbrooks’s in a lower percentile in 2020 due to an increase of threes shot in transition and the efficacy of them league wide in addition to random variance from season to season)
2017: 6.8 transition possessions (most), .99 PPP, 31st percentile
2016: 5.9 transition possessions (2nd most), 1.15 PPP, 59th percentile

Now the Lakers have excelled in transition and most of all when James gets the rebounds and initiates transition.

Lakers’ regular season transition game

2021: 15th highest frequency of transition possession, tied for 4th highest PPP [top 10 in frequency of possessions in games James played, top 3 in PPP]
2020: 6th highest frequency of transition possessions, tied for 4th highest PPP

Lakers’ post-season transition game

2021: 2nd highest frequency of transition possessions, 4th lowest in PPP despite James’s 1.31 PPP; basically they missed just about every open transition three they got a chance at. Kuzma, 2 possessions per game, .17 PPP in transition, an all time low mark.

5.8 possessions per game for James, 1.31 PPP
Other 12.5 possessions per game for Lakers, .797 PPP
Total 18.3 possessions per game for Lakers, .96 PPP

2020: 2nd highest frequency of transition possessions, 3rd highest PPP

falcolombardi · Post #1118 » by **falcolombardi** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:19 pm

doesnt matter because he will carry himself as a superstar

PistolPeteJR · Post #1119 » by **PistolPeteJR** » Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:22 pm

Mos_Heat wrote:
Dupp wrote:Goat role player Denny green is a free agent? Sure he’d be perfect. Wonder what teams will offer him. Don’t imagine Philly will be ok losing him.

I'm sure Philla would love to keep him, but 20mil cap hold. He's probably closer to full MLE guy, probably not realistic for the Lakers. Batum should be their other option.

I have a feeling that the Mavs are going to throw some money at Batum, at least, more than other teams would. He’d fit in very well with Luka I think.

trickshot · Post #1120 » by **trickshot** » Sun Aug 1, 2021 3:34 am

it's still hard to fathom Lakers wanting him after seeing first hand how he was gameplanned in the 20 postseason. None of the Lakers roleplayers could stay in front of Harden in the first 2 games. That series went from being a legit headache to the easiest they had to defend and it all came about because they discovered they could ignore Westbrook.