The LeBron Thread 2021 Off-Season Edition

[RCM88x]

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.

He was clearly playing hurt them, obviously it's two years later now and he's not the same athlete but I don't think that was a fair representation of his ability at that point.

[trickshot]

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.

He was clearly playing hurt them, obviously it's two years later now and he's not the same athlete but I don't think that was a fair representation of his ability at that point.

I don't think it was the injuries that limited him, it was the scheme that contained him. He beasted in game 1 , backing down and destroying the likes of caruso and kcp if they even managed to stay in front of him. Then Vogel came back with defensive adjustments that basically checkmated him. If game 1 hadn't happened I might have been swayed by the injury angle.

[LikeABosh]

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.

Well one thing's for sure, LeBron and AD can't play the way Harden did that series where he just gives up the ball in a double team and then concedes a Westbrook iso. Imagine if Curry did that with Draymond. If the defense isn't gonna put anyone one Westbrook, then you have to be able to punish them with high pick n roll action.

I hope "put our egos aside" doesn't mean "we'll take turns iso-ing"

[dcstanley]

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

Gordon would actually be a pretty awesome acquisition and he seems attainable.

[zimpy27]

If Lakers can't get a shooter from the Schroeder SnT and DeMar is willing to take the TaxMLE then Lakers should take him. I think they have to go all-in on the iso offense guys if they strike out on some quality 3+D guys. I don't think average 3+D guys are going to cut it.

Westbrook, THT, DeRozan, LeBron, Davis -- the all iso team

[Mos_Heat]

Absolutely not

[zimpy27]

Absolutely not

Sometimes it's best to lean into the skid, if you don't have spacing then you should at least have guys who can score off their own dribble in isolation.

[Slava]

According to Broderick Turner of LA times, who’s well sourced:

Howard
Ellington
Melo
Gay seem to be interested in vet minimum deals.

Patty Mills or Goran Dragic are candidates for the tax payer MLE.

[Mos_Heat]

Absolutely not

Sometimes it's best to lean into the skid, if you don't have spacing then you should at least have guys who can score off their own dribble in isolation.

Lebron, Westbrook and AD are mediocre ISO players.
Lebron 0.84ppp | in 19-20 0.9ppp
Westbrook 0.78ppp | in 19-20 0.87pp
AD 0.79ppp | in 19-20 0.96ppp
Average half court offense - 97pts/per 100

With the compressed spacing these numbers would be even worse. This isn't the Nets, these guys don't have sophisticated moves or elite shooting in their arsenal. They desperately need shooting

[McBubbles]

Even though I don't agree with all the Westbrook takes [I think LeBron will tame the Lion to some degree], its times like this where I quickly lace up my sneakers and run as fast as possible for as long as I can in the opposite direction of the General Board.

Huh? He's a 20/15 guy. He's worth closer to the max then the mle smh

Very rarely do I visit the General Board these days and when I do, I'm reminded why I don't in the first place. The takes in there are equivalent to the comment section on Instagram and will drive you mad if you try engaging in a conversation. If it wasn't for this board and specifically this thread I'd go nuts.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that the PC Board is the only reason I'm still engaged in basketball. It was so demoralising to see that I vehemently disagreed with every single thing everyone else said about literally anything. My basketball knowledge wasn't even very high myself but I knew that takes like "Melo is a better pure scorer than LeBron" and "Rings tell you who the best player is, pretty simple" were incorrect.

This place is the best place on the internet to discuss basketball bar none and I'm very grateful for all the knowledgable posters here.

[trickshot]

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.

Well one thing's for sure, LeBron and AD can't play the way Harden did that series where he just gives up the ball in a double team and then concedes a Westbrook iso. Imagine if Curry did that with Draymond. If the defense isn't gonna put anyone one Westbrook, then you have to be able to punish them with high pick n roll action.

I hope "put our egos aside" doesn't mean "we'll take turns iso-ing"

For sure some blame should actually go to D'antoni. I don't like to say it because Westbrook fans latch on to excuses but MDA should have had Westbrook setting more Picks in that situation. Westbrook is Westbrook, he isn't super advanced in figuring out schemes, coaching has to do that. Unfortunately Vogel isn't a super sophisticated result oriented coach on offense like he is on defense. The players will have a lot to figure out by themselves.

[Bergmaniac]

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.

He was clearly playing hurt them, obviously it's two years later now and he's not the same athlete but I don't think that was a fair representation of his ability at that point.

I don't think it was the injuries that limited him, it was the scheme that contained him. He beasted in game 1 , backing down and destroying the likes of caruso and kcp if they even managed to stay in front of him. Then Vogel came back with defensive adjustments that basically checkmated him. If game 1 hadn't happened I might have been swayed by the injury angle.

"Beasted in Game 1" is quite a stretch, he had 24 points on 24 shots (45% TS) and 5 turnovers. He scored more on much better efficiency in Game 3.

But he clearly wasn't anywhere near 100% in these playoffs. On some nights he looked a bit better physically, but at no point he was anywhere near his regular season shape.

[LikeABosh]

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.

Well one thing's for sure, LeBron and AD can't play the way Harden did that series where he just gives up the ball in a double team and then concedes a Westbrook iso. Imagine if Curry did that with Draymond. If the defense isn't gonna put anyone one Westbrook, then you have to be able to punish them with high pick n roll action.

I hope "put our egos aside" doesn't mean "we'll take turns iso-ing"

For sure some blame should actually go to D'antoni. I don't like to say it because Westbrook fans latch on to excuses but MDA should have had Westbrook setting more Picks in that situation. Westbrook is Westbrook, he isn't super advanced in figuring out schemes, coaching has to do that. Unfortunately Vogel isn't a super sophisticated result oriented coach on offense like he is on defense. The players will have a lot to figure out by themselves.

Yeah, I don't think Vogel is the guy to figure out the best offense for this version of the Lakers. They need to replace some assistant coaches right? Wonder who they could get

[trickshot]

He was clearly playing hurt them, obviously it's two years later now and he's not the same athlete but I don't think that was a fair representation of his ability at that point.

I don't think it was the injuries that limited him, it was the scheme that contained him. He beasted in game 1 , backing down and destroying the likes of caruso and kcp if they even managed to stay in front of him. Then Vogel came back with defensive adjustments that basically checkmated him. If game 1 hadn't happened I might have been swayed by the injury angle.

"Beasted in Game 1" is quite a stretch, he had 24 points on 24 shots (45% TS) and 5 turnovers. He scored more on much better efficiency in Game 3.

But he clearly wasn't anywhere near 100% in these playoffs. On some nights he looked a bit better physically, but at no point he was anywhere near his regular season shape.

We're talking Westbrook here, 24 points on 10-24 and 6 assists with several gamebreaking buckets in only 32 minutes is his playoff standard of a good return. They don't show in the stats but he was also consistent with production most of the game rather than being a product of streaky explosions. His true shooting will always be poor as a crappy 3pt shooter (1-5) and average freethrow shooter. If you want to get behind Westbrook then you best lower your standard and get used to low true shooting percentages, especially in the playoffs. He was also pretty good in game 3 as you mentioned.

[Slava]

For what it’s worth, Russ seems unusually excited about this. Players usually don’t commit to any statements until the trade becomes official but he’s already plastered photoshopped pictures of himself in a Lakers jersey on his social media profiles.

A big indication of how happy he is might come with his introductory press conference. If he’s being an usual dick, that’s more of the same Russ but if he goes out of his way to be congenial, maybe it does mean a lot more to him.

Playing for the Lakers as an LA kid is something else though, Derozan was basically begging to find a way to make it happen as well.

I might be clutching onto straws but hope is eternal in August in the NBA fandom.

[kayess]

doesnt matter because he will carry himself as a superstar

Was this a parody of those delusional **** about Wade's level of play? LMAO

[nzahir]

I would have preferred Derozan instead of Russ, but if it wouldn't have hard capped us

But this means we BETTER keep AC and THT (or sign and trade him)

If we lose AC, I will lose my mind

Vogel and Bron better go to bat for him

What do you guys think of getting Dwight back?

Still feels like we need AD to start at the 5 or maybe Gasol if he would be more willing to shoot

Dwight would be a nice lob threat 5, but also wouldn't mind someone a bit more mobile

[Greyhound]

Well one thing's for sure, LeBron and AD can't play the way Harden did that series where he just gives up the ball in a double team and then concedes a Westbrook iso. Imagine if Curry did that with Draymond. If the defense isn't gonna put anyone one Westbrook, then you have to be able to punish them with high pick n roll action.

I hope "put our egos aside" doesn't mean "we'll take turns iso-ing"

For sure some blame should actually go to D'antoni. I don't like to say it because Westbrook fans latch on to excuses but MDA should have had Westbrook setting more Picks in that situation. Westbrook is Westbrook, he isn't super advanced in figuring out schemes, coaching has to do that. Unfortunately Vogel isn't a super sophisticated result oriented coach on offense like he is on defense. The players will have a lot to figure out by themselves.

Yeah, I don't think Vogel is the guy to figure out the best offense for this version of the Lakers. They need to replace some assistant coaches right? Wonder who they could get

They already have a small ball offensive mind in place, that they just hired.

David Fizdale.

[LikeABosh]

For sure some blame should actually go to D'antoni. I don't like to say it because Westbrook fans latch on to excuses but MDA should have had Westbrook setting more Picks in that situation. Westbrook is Westbrook, he isn't super advanced in figuring out schemes, coaching has to do that. Unfortunately Vogel isn't a super sophisticated result oriented coach on offense like he is on defense. The players will have a lot to figure out by themselves.

Yeah, I don't think Vogel is the guy to figure out the best offense for this version of the Lakers. They need to replace some assistant coaches right? Wonder who they could get

They already have a small ball offensive mind in place, that they just hired.

David Fizdale.

Ah, missed that

[Greyhound]

I like Patty Mills a lot, but I prefer Danny Green for the taxpayer exception. I also like Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, and Avery Bradley on veteran minimum deals.

I like retaining Alex Caruso, Horton-Tucker, Wesley Matthews, McLemore and Markieff Morris.

That leaves something like this:

Westbrook/ Caruso/ Bradley
Green/ THT/ Mathews
Ariza/ Anthony
James/ Morris
Davis/ Howard/ Gasol

McLemore/ McKinnie/ +2 two way contracts (already signed).

Trevor Ariza for a veteran minimum contract would probably be the hardest sell. If he decided to take a more lucrative offer elsewhere the alternative would be Rudy Gay:

Westbrook/ Caruso/ Bradley
Green/ THT/ Mathews
James/ Anthony
Morris/ Gay
Davis/ Howard/ Gasol

or…

Westbrook/ Caruso/ Bradley
Green/ THT/ Mathews
James/ Anthony
Davis/ Gay/ Morris
Gasol/ Howard