Has Lebron finally outsmarted himself with the lakers?

[Eric Bieniemy]

Does Pelinka have a mind of his own?

He let James decide between Westbrook and Hield, but which player did Pelinka prefer?

Would Jerry West let Magic decide who the Lakers should trade for, or would he maybe consult with his star player, make a decision, and do his job?

[Tottery]

With the amount of people saying the Lakers will fail, I kind of hope they win just so tons of people can eat crow lol.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

The Lion's lost his teeth due to age and is now differing to others to get his meal.

[bbalnation]

Well a few issues with this, but Lebron didn’t outsmart himself, basically Westbrook was the only guy the salary capped and asset poor Lakers team could trade for. He wasn’t top of their list I would bet but he was gettable. They know they needed more talent and Russ was available. Will it be a car crash? Very possibly. Where the Lakers blundered imho was not paying Caruso. Not that he is great but they have few options on the free market because of the cap to get players that aren’t vet minimum guys. They could sign AC if for nothing else p, just to trade him down the road. Still not sure why they didn’t. Not that he was going to make them a much better team but he is an asset and they are asset poor, unless they are trading AD.

They could have had Demar instead of Russ, which to me is the biggest gamble LeBron took this summer.

Russ brings out tenacity in teammates and thatll probably help AD/Bron in the regular season more. Spacing wise, I think Demar would have been a better fit, and its what this team needs more in the playoffs. I've already seen him hit a couple of threes in the preseason, so it seems like he's more willing to take them than he was before.

I still think they'll figure it out. The Lakers are loaded and deep, so age is less of a factor. I see enough speed, length, shooting, and defense on this team. Along with a core that has 2 years with Frank Vogel and his principles/vernacular.

Not sure the Spurs would be willing to help out the Lakers. Westbrook is still the better player but DDR is maybe a better fit. That being said he operates in a lot of the same space that Lebron does. So does Russ too I know.

Id have prioritized fit in this case because the gap in talent isn't significant enough (2021). But, it seems like your line of thinking reaches the same conclusion as one of the goats and a consensus basketball genius who has proven himself as a player-GM & winner.

The Lakers are one of several contenders without a clear favourite... the parity is an NBA fans dream. It'll be a fun year.

[levon]

I would take Caruso over Westbrook straight up.

aaand this is my cue to sign out from this site forever

[SpreeS]

I can’t imagine what kind of bright future could have this team:

C/PF Lopez/Zubac/Randle
Wings Lebron/Ingram/Hunter/Kuzma/Hart
Guards Pope/Caruso/Ball/Clarkson

[Coach Carter]

Russ should be an energy guy off the bench.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Hey OP ever heard of paragraphs?

[Warriorfan]

They couldn't have had DeMar for hard cap reasons (or at least it would have been difficult). They couldn't get Lillard, Beal or any other real star both because those players weren't on the market at all and because they didn't have anything meaningful to offer.

The options were really depth or Westbrook. IMO they choose poorly, both overrating Westbrook's actual value (as opposed to his fame) and overrating the amount of useful depth you can assemble on all min salary contracts.

All the vet min LA signed would have been still available to Lakers

[homecourtloss]

so first, lebron starts with the decision to join up with Dwade and bosh in south beach, which turned out to be a good decision right? they win a few titles, bron is 2x FMVP and things looking up. Then Dwade starts slowing down and bron realizes its over with the miami heat. meanwhile in cleveland kyrie irving was proving to be a all star caliber player and a top 5 pg in the nba and cleveland landing wiggins in the lottery was a opportunity lebron could not let go. So he leaves miami and joins up with cleveland and superteam #2 is built. They win a title (thanks to kyrie heroics) with cleveland and things are looking good. Until they run into the juggernaut GSW which lebron didnt see coming. So they end up losing and soon after kyrie requests a trade and rest is history. Next stop, the Lakeshow! bron and rich paul decide there assets in lakerland and another opportunity! with rich paul pullin strings behind the scenes and tampering they managed to trade for anthony davis. They even tried to sign kawhi but failed. With that said, they still manage to win a title and become champions! but after failing to repeat lebron decides to trade for russell westbrook! a player that has never won anywhere he goes. This is where i think lebron finally outsmarted himself. The lakers will not only fail to win a title with this current team, but will be the laughing stock of the nba. Lebron is not a good GM, and should never be involved in this sort of team personnel decisions. Its ok though, bron won 4 titles, has a great career to look back on. Looking forward to lebrons retirement after this collapse of incoming season.

100% agree. I don’t know how he’s considered top 3 all time when he took the route that he did to win rings, jumping from super team to super team.

He didn’t jump to any superteam—he WAS the reason these teams were so good.

[donnieme]

so first, lebron starts with the decision to join up with Dwade and bosh in south beach, which turned out to be a good decision right? they win a few titles, bron is 2x FMVP and things looking up. Then Dwade starts slowing down and bron realizes its over with the miami heat. meanwhile in cleveland kyrie irving was proving to be a all star caliber player and a top 5 pg in the nba and cleveland landing wiggins in the lottery was a opportunity lebron could not let go. So he leaves miami and joins up with cleveland and superteam #2 is built. They win a title (thanks to kyrie heroics) with cleveland and things are looking good. Until they run into the juggernaut GSW which lebron didnt see coming. So they end up losing and soon after kyrie requests a trade and rest is history. Next stop, the Lakeshow! bron and rich paul decide there assets in lakerland and another opportunity! with rich paul pullin strings behind the scenes and tampering they managed to trade for anthony davis. They even tried to sign kawhi but failed. With that said, they still manage to win a title and become champions! but after failing to repeat lebron decides to trade for russell westbrook! a player that has never won anywhere he goes. This is where i think lebron finally outsmarted himself. The lakers will not only fail to win a title with this current team, but will be the laughing stock of the nba. Lebron is not a good GM, and should never be involved in this sort of team personnel decisions. Its ok though, bron won 4 titles, has a great career to look back on. Looking forward to lebrons retirement after this collapse of incoming season.

100% agree. I don’t know how he’s considered top 3 all time when he took the route that he did to win rings, jumping from super team to super team.

He didn’t jump to any superteam—he WAS the reason these teams were so good.

It's a tired ol argument that relies on politics because there aren't enough shortcomings on the court to devalue the player. Those stacked superteams weren't even better than Birds Celtics, Jordan's Bulls or Russell Celtics, why don't we also penalise them for having the best teams of their decade? Especially as they came in a restrictive FA environment that kept them firmly ahead of the talent race for an entire decade. The truth is none of that politics crap matters. Even with the most fortuitous circumstances winning as the best player on 3 different teams is as rare as winning the lottery.

[God Squad]

I would take Caruso over Westbrook straight up.

aaand this is my cue to sign out from this site forever

I'd rather have Caruso also. I'd rather a player like Caruso follow a offensive/defensive scheme than have Westy gunning for low efficiency triple doubles while playing a$$ defense and chucking away. This isn't even including contract differences.

[MindState]

Old team with no 3 point shooting in 2021.

Cant see them getting through 82 games intact, every game will be a struggle with an old team dealing with injuries and age all season, not to mention the lack of shooting which will make every game harder.

When other teams go on 3 point barrages, does LeBron have to play 40 minutes at age 37 in order to carry the team back?

The Warriors look amazing because they ADDED shooting that they didnt have last year. Lakers traded all the shooters they had for old guys or question marks.

[Coeur]

Already won in 3 different places. Still headlining the biggest show in the nba. With a top 3 chance to win it this season. Maybe top 5 chance still the next season while he takes aim at Kareem and the top scorer ever title.



Lebron doing just fine. Maybe your premise checks out if he didn't win it 2 seasons ago. Or he'd be on the line and have to win this season

[donnieme]

I would take Caruso over Westbrook straight up.

aaand this is my cue to sign out from this site forever

I'd rather have Caruso also. I'd rather a player like Caruso follow a offensive/defensive scheme than have Westy gunning for low efficiency triple doubles while playing a$$ defense and chucking away. This isn't even including contract differences.

I'd take any positive impact player over Westbrook. Case in point Rondo, look how much better he looks in the same offense and with the benefit of eating no salary cap. Westbrook is pretty tricky to pick if the question isn't a list for great individual talents.

[DroseReturnChi]

I would take Caruso over Westbrook straight up. LAL is a mess. AD and LJ are going to have to drag them into the playoffs.

thats a blasphemous statement to brook fans. lebron is facing adversity for first time bc westbrook is type of star thats not going to give in to lebron like dwade just because he is an all time great. feel like lebron has to adjust more to westbrook than vice versa to work.

[HEAT33]

I think the Lakers are clear favorites, they got veterans who play big in the playoffs.
Westbrook is a former MVP and teaming up with Lebron and Davis. No excuses this year

[Statlanta]

They could have had Hield/KCP/Caruso or Caruso/DeRozan. Westbrook doesn't give them anything they didn't have at this stage in his career.

[dans1230]

I dont think we will see the Westbrook of the last few years this season playing alongside Lebron and Davis. Lebron will be the primary ball handler when hes on the floor and i suspect they will take turns resting so at least 1 of them is on the floor at all times. I think Westbrooks usage will be down considerably and will hold out on weather it will work or not, i need a 10 to 15 game sample to make that judgement. Even if it works though, i have the Lakers behind the Nets, Nuggets, and Bucks talent wise.

[JellosJigglin]

It's an odd team for sure. As a fan I feel nothing when I look at this roster. Or maybe it just feels like a synthetic team. Like a bunch of parts that make a rickety robot that seems like it should be hi tech, but with squeaky wheels and poor balance. Caruso was just a role player, but he was an authentic Laker. The underdog call-up on 10 day contracts who balled out. As a Laker fan he was someone you could say "that's my guy" when you watched him play. This roster just has a certain yuck factor. It's like a supermarket without any organic products. It's just a lot of stuff.