The LeBron Thread 2021 Off-Season Edition

[Homer38]

Be prepare to see at lot of 3 guards lineup this year with LBJ and AD at the 4 and 5.

[thebigbird]

Oh **** me, Rondo is back

WTF IS WRONG WITH PELINKA!!!!!

We need wing depth, not more guards, especially not Rondope

Rather would have had Wes or Ennis

Honestly he just isn’t a good gm. He only has the job because of the Kobe connection. Building a good team around a top two as good as LeBron and AD is easy. You or I could do it. But he seems to lack any understanding of 2021 basketball. Oh I have LeBron and he kills it with great floor spacers? Let’s add Westbrook and Rondo. Rondo fills zero need that this team has.

Would much rather have Wes or Ennis, BUT I will say this as an inveterate Rondo hater from day 1 with thebigbird: Rondo had an extraordinarily good connection with AD in the 2020 playoffs and for the first time in his career, LeBron could sit and the offense hummed along, and Rondo had a lot to do with it.Now, it’s also true that Rondo had an exceptionally hot shooting stretch of games which ameliorated it for is garbage defense and you can’t really count on that but the two main game that he had with AD was exceptionally good.

2020 playoffs

AD + Rondo ON, LeBron OFF
124.0 ORTg, 121.0 DRtg

Lakers’ defense was trash as per usual with LeBron off court but the offense was wildly good.

LeBron’s shooting with Rondo in the playoffs: 58.6% eFG, 64.4% TS.

They have too many players, though. Nunn, THT, Monk, Bazemore, Rondo, Ellington...seems crowded.

I do begrudgingly have to admit that he didn’t suck in the 2020 playoffs and was actually pretty good, but I think the Lakers are foolish if they’re expecting to catch lightning in a bottle twice when it comes to Rondo. Adding both Rondo and Westbrook doesn’t make any sense to me. Both would be playing the 2nd unit pg role when LeBron is on the bench. But having both is redundant. Just really doesn’t make much sense to me unless AD demanded they sign rondo or something. He’ll be 36 next playoffs and he was really bad in the playoffs this past year.

[thebigbird]

Well at least Rondo saved the Lakers from IT. I swear Pelinka does hard drugs before he makes his roster decisions.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[Fadeaway_J]

Well at least Rondo saved the Lakers from IT. I swear Pelinka does hard drugs before he makes his roster decisions.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

He operates like he has a secret time machine that can magically restore former stars to their primes. It's just weird.

[donnieme]

Like to chuckle at how Lebron made it to the pace and space era just to play with awkward spacing. Lakers have shown they don't exactly 'need' it but in this era it's very hard to win if you run into an elite offense that specializes at it, like a handicap even (20 Blazers weren't elite, don't even try it). Speedrunning awkward shooting pointguards. Actually a pretty impressive list. Probably won't matter if Lebron and AD are healthy.

[TheGOATRises007]

Pelinka is sabotaging the Lakers at this point.

Rondo was fairly decent in the 2020 playoffs, but he was so bad for the Clippers just a few months ago.

[donnieme]

Pelinka is sabotaging the Lakers at this point.

Rondo was fairly decent in the 2020 playoffs, but he was so bad for the Clippers just a few months ago.

he wasn't that bad but lost his rotational priority to reggie jackson in the end. I think they also learnt his poor spacing was a liability in late games. In the bubble there's a reason Lakers settled for Caruso in their closing lineups.

He isn't needed by the Lakers though. Would have been a good move if they still had the old roster. KCP played really well off Rondo, Matthews would also have thrived beside him. Gasol as well assuming he'd stop playing submissive and actually shoot when open.

Overall I wouldn't be surprised to see tweaks before February. Think their defense is going to be more ass than they realise. Vogel won't turn water to wine. Need to keep expectations realistic so he isn't blamed if the likely happens. The first ranked defense from last season had Gasol, Wes, Schroder, Caruso, it wasn't a matter of coaching drawing up schemes that turned a cast of poor defenders into a top ranked defense. Then Imo the offense will depend on how well their halfcourt offense clicks. I don't have that as a sure thing but noticed a lot of people predicting a top ranked offense so guess we'll see.

[PistolPeteJR]

Rondo isn’t going to play much when it matters. I’d be shocked if he did.

They need a Jared Dudley-type. Rondo fits that well for the stars on this team, including Russ.

[Mos_Heat]

Lebron teams hate wing players

[Mos_Heat]

Pelinka is sabotaging the Lakers at this point.

Rondo was fairly decent in the 2020 playoffs, but he was so bad for the Clippers just a few months ago.

he wasn't that bad but lost his rotational priority to reggie jackson in the end. I think they also learnt his poor spacing was a liability in late games. In the bubble there's a reason Lakers settled for Caruso in their closing lineups.

He isn't needed by the Lakers though. Would have been a good move if they still had the old roster. KCP played really well off Rondo, Matthews would also have thrived beside him. Gasol as well assuming he'd stop playing submissive and actually shoot when open.

Overall I wouldn't be surprised to see tweaks before February. Think their defense is going to be more ass than they realise. Vogel won't turn water to wine. Need to keep expectations realistic so he isn't blamed if the likely happens. The first ranked defense from last season had Gasol, Wes, Schroder, Caruso, it wasn't a matter of coaching drawing up schemes that turned a cast of poor defenders into a top ranked defense. Then Imo the offense will depend on how well their halfcourt offense clicks. I don't have that as a sure thing but noticed a lot of people predicting a top ranked offense so guess we'll see.

it's hard to do 3-1 type trades in season. Especially without picks

[donnieme]

Pelinka is sabotaging the Lakers at this point.

Rondo was fairly decent in the 2020 playoffs, but he was so bad for the Clippers just a few months ago.

he wasn't that bad but lost his rotational priority to reggie jackson in the end. I think they also learnt his poor spacing was a liability in late games. In the bubble there's a reason Lakers settled for Caruso in their closing lineups.

He isn't needed by the Lakers though. Would have been a good move if they still had the old roster. KCP played really well off Rondo, Matthews would also have thrived beside him. Gasol as well assuming he'd stop playing submissive and actually shoot when open.

Overall I wouldn't be surprised to see tweaks before February. Think their defense is going to be more ass than they realise. Vogel won't turn water to wine. Need to keep expectations realistic so he isn't blamed if the likely happens. The first ranked defense from last season had Gasol, Wes, Schroder, Caruso, it wasn't a matter of coaching drawing up schemes that turned a cast of poor defenders into a top ranked defense. Then Imo the offense will depend on how well their halfcourt offense clicks. I don't have that as a sure thing but noticed a lot of people predicting a top ranked offense so guess we'll see.

it's hard to do 3-1 type trades in season. Especially without picks

3-1? Nah I meant roleplayer swaps, buyout acquisitions, minor trades. Also let's get real if a good player wanted to join LA they'll get him if they're willing to put up the salary. Been constantly taken aback with how easy Lebron has had it getting these names to sign up since joining.

Playing in Cleveland really was playing on Extreme difficulty. Signings like Nunn and Monk would have needed 12-15m to consider. The rest would have needed to be traded for at a significant sum. Just a few weeks ago it looked like a "nowhere to go" situation with only minor trades possible and Schroder having their nuts in a vice grip.

[Mos_Heat]

he wasn't that bad but lost his rotational priority to reggie jackson in the end. I think they also learnt his poor spacing was a liability in late games. In the bubble there's a reason Lakers settled for Caruso in their closing lineups.

He isn't needed by the Lakers though. Would have been a good move if they still had the old roster. KCP played really well off Rondo, Matthews would also have thrived beside him. Gasol as well assuming he'd stop playing submissive and actually shoot when open.

Overall I wouldn't be surprised to see tweaks before February. Think their defense is going to be more ass than they realise. Vogel won't turn water to wine. Need to keep expectations realistic so he isn't blamed if the likely happens. The first ranked defense from last season had Gasol, Wes, Schroder, Caruso, it wasn't a matter of coaching drawing up schemes that turned a cast of poor defenders into a top ranked defense. Then Imo the offense will depend on how well their halfcourt offense clicks. I don't have that as a sure thing but noticed a lot of people predicting a top ranked offense so guess we'll see.

it's hard to do 3-1 type trades in season. Especially without picks

3-1? Nah I meant roleplayer swaps, buyout acquisitions, minor trades. Also let's get real if a good player wanted to join LA they'll get him if they're willing to put up the salary. Been constantly taken aback with how easy Lebron has had it getting these names to sign up since joining.

Playing in Cleveland really was playing on Extreme difficulty. Signings like Nunn and Monk would have needed 12-15m to consider. The rest would have needed to be traded for at a significant sum. Just a few weeks ago it looked like a "nowhere to go" situation with only minor trades possible and Schroder having their nuts in a vice grip.

Don't have salaries to do roleplayer swaps. Trading one minimum player for another most likely won't change anything. And buyouts almost never work

[donnieme]

it's hard to do 3-1 type trades in season. Especially without picks

3-1? Nah I meant roleplayer swaps, buyout acquisitions, minor trades. Also let's get real if a good player wanted to join LA they'll get him if they're willing to put up the salary. Been constantly taken aback with how easy Lebron has had it getting these names to sign up since joining.

Playing in Cleveland really was playing on Extreme difficulty. Signings like Nunn and Monk would have needed 12-15m to consider. The rest would have needed to be traded for at a significant sum. Just a few weeks ago it looked like a "nowhere to go" situation with only minor trades possible and Schroder having their nuts in a vice grip.

Don't have salaries to do roleplayer swaps. Trading one minimum player for another most likely won't change anything. And buyouts almost never work

I thought Aldridge and Blake were great buyouts for the Nets. Anyway I don't understand what's being said here, are you taking issue with the part about saying Lakers may still be able to improve the roster midseason? That's like the weirdest thing to dispute over. They got Morris as a buyout player and he was just what the doctor ordered in the Rockets series. Every team can improve midseason, it's not even specific to them.

[nzahir]

You guys think we are signing so many guards because of a potential mid season move?

I don’t really see where THT fits here come playoff time if we’re healthy. Unless his jumper is closer to avg and his off ball d has improved

Feels like we could use a mobile 4/5 in that 2020 Kieff role

Or a 3/4

If blazers blow it up mid season, would love RoCo

I think all we have though to move with value is THT and 5 seconds (3 from the wiz)

[Greyhound]

Rondo isn’t going to play much when it matters. I’d be shocked if he did.

They need a Jared Dudley-type. Rondo fits that well for the stars on this team, including Russ.

Pencil Rondo in for 16 to 20 minutes a night (in the 40 or so games he is healthy to play). He is a sacred cow, and Vogel will play him.

Take that to the bank.

Nunn DNP-Apprenticeship program incoming.

*Hopefully, I am wrong.*

…

I bagged on Rondo as much as the next guy, but I will not do that this go around. Playoff Rondo is a made man as far as I’m concerned.

Welcome back Doe.

[Greyhound]

Looking at the way the roster is constructed, it would appear the Lakers are going to go small right out the box.

The out of nowhere rumblings about Marc Gasol not being sure whether he will return seems to fit that as well. He was probably informed that he will be a back up (third string) situational big man, and he did not like that:

Westbrook/ Nunn/ Rondo
Monk/ Bazemore/ Ellington
Ariza/ THT/ McKinnie
James/ Anthony
Davis/ Howard/ Gasol

That’s the only way to make sense of the amount of guards that have been compiled on this roster.

Davis 34
Westbrook 32-34
LeBron 30-34
THT 24
Ariza 22-24
Anthony 18-22
Monk 20
Bazemore 18-20
Nunn/Rondo 18-20
Howard 15-18

[falcolombardi]

anyone knows where to look for SRS stats of a player teams and playoff rivals?

i am curious because it was brought up in another thread that lebron has a losing record againsg great teams and kobe/shaq/jordan/etc the reverse (the threeshold being +5 SRS teams)

i am curious to see how often lebron team was a theorical favorite in losses (based just on SRS) compared to other players

[Homer38]

I would love to see the lakers go small this year

[Dupp]

Not a fan of the rondo signing

[donnieme]

Getting Rondo back would have been so good with some combination of the old team plus the new FA signings. Just seems redundant now. Till the season starts I'm honestly going to keep coming back to the thought "was trading for Westbrook really necessary?. Hope I'm forgiven for being repetitive on it but followed the Wizards all last season and barring a huge improvement season I won't be surprised to see a number of people join this thought process if he stays the same. Lakers now have plenty volume contributions, it's efficiency and fit that will determine their ceiling.