The LeBron James - 21-22 Regular Season Thread - New Thread Soon Part 2

trickshot · Post #2481 » by **trickshot** » Mon Dec 27, 2021 5:25 pm

Westbrook's misses against the Nets say a lot about his finishing and scoring in general. For some reason in the big games he can't finish over anyone with size or length. He had no trouble finishing over James Johnson and Mills so he wasn't just off on the night.

Whenever Claxton was in the vicinity to contest he missed every layup (except an uncontested putback). I'd call it a great gameplan but having someone sag off a bad shooter to shadow the paint has been shutting down Westbrook's scoring for half a decade already. His shooting wide open also disappears. He was 35% on the season but was 0%. He loses all his composure trying to play hard and this is why a guy who's left wide open in the playoffs constantly posts long shooting in the 20s.

Every year for a couple years now I keep thinking this is the year he finally beats his playoff demons but I'm sure it won't be 2022. If you're a Laker all hands have to be on deck to avoid the impending black hole of a situation. You need to even look at underhanded strategies to get him off before april, blackmail, bribery, "favours" at the owners meeting, get the new sponsor to launder dirty money, the jail time risk is nothing to lose a player whose game perfectly embodies the insanity mantra.

nzahir · Post #2482 » by **nzahir** » Mon Dec 27, 2021 5:41 pm

homecourtloss wrote:251 players have played 450+ minutes in the NBA this season.

Three different Lakers are in the bottom 30 players per 538 RAPTOR.

236. THT, -4.4, 531 minutes played
230. Bradley, -4.1, 599 minutes played
227. Westbrook, -3.9, 1,227 minutes played
222. Ellington, -3.3, 564 minutes played

@Greyhound, Avery isn't good

THT being worse than last year is a JOKE

homecourtloss · Post #2483 » by **homecourtloss** » Mon Dec 27, 2021 8:00 pm

nzahir wrote:
homecourtloss wrote:251 players have played 450+ minutes in the NBA this season.

Three different Lakers are in the bottom 30 players per 538 RAPTOR.

236. THT, -4.4, 531 minutes played
230. Bradley, -4.1, 599 minutes played
227. Westbrook, -3.9, 1,227 minutes played
222. Ellington, -3.3, 564 minutes played

@Greyhound, Avery isn't good

THT being worse than last year is a JOKE

Here’s a nice nugget about THT: he is taking 2.4 wide open threes per game and shooting 16.3% on them.

No hustle, no energy, can’t shoot, doesn’t defend all that well, but “is only 20 years old and can be a great scorer one day!”

Greyhound · Post #2484 » by **Greyhound** » Mon Dec 27, 2021 9:31 pm

nzahir wrote:
homecourtloss wrote:251 players have played 450+ minutes in the NBA this season.

Three different Lakers are in the bottom 30 players per 538 RAPTOR.

236. THT, -4.4, 531 minutes played
230. Bradley, -4.1, 599 minutes played
227. Westbrook, -3.9, 1,227 minutes played
222. Ellington, -3.3, 564 minutes played

@Greyhound, Avery isn't good

THT being worse than last year is a JOKE

Thanks for blowing my zen, guy.

I did not say he was good. I said he was useful, and that I trust him more then the others.

He was also trending upwards just before going down to protocols.

There are three guys amongst the riffraff acquired this offseason that I believe can hold situational postseason value. That’s Melo, Bradley and Monk. Reaves is a rookie, Nunn is an unknown health wise and Ariza is like big foot right now. Ellington, Jordan and Bazemore are dumpster bin.

…

There is no miracle coming, so any hope has to come from within this current roster.

Hopeful rotation (when it matters):

Westbrook
Bradley
Ariza
James
Davis

Nunn/ Monk
Reaves
Johnson
Anthony
Howard

Monk when a spark is needed, or if Nunn is damaged goods.

THT… Gatorade duty.

Ellington/ Jordan/ Bazemore… trash bin.

mikejames23 · Post #2485 » by **mikejames23** » Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:05 pm

Caruso, KCP, Harrell, Kuz. I wonder how good the Lakers would be with these 4 players. The Lakers veterans were supposed to have good chemistry but they have collectively compounded into a terrible team.

GSP · Post #2486 » by **GSP** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 5:18 am

Fundamentals21 wrote:Caruso, KCP, Harrell, Kuz. I wonder how good the Lakers would be with these 4 players. The Lakers veterans were supposed to have good chemistry but they have collectively compounded into a terrible team.

Were ppl expecting great chemistry with Russ tho? I think it was the exact opposite TBH

Tracymcgoaty · Post #2487 » by **Tracymcgoaty** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 7:22 am

Greyhound wrote:
nzahir wrote:
homecourtloss wrote:251 players have played 450+ minutes in the NBA this season.

Three different Lakers are in the bottom 30 players per 538 RAPTOR.

236. THT, -4.4, 531 minutes played
230. Bradley, -4.1, 599 minutes played
227. Westbrook, -3.9, 1,227 minutes played
222. Ellington, -3.3, 564 minutes played

@Greyhound, Avery isn't good

THT being worse than last year is a JOKE

Thanks for blowing my zen, guy.

I did not say he was good. I said he was useful, and that I trust him more then the others.

He was also trending upwards just before going down to protocols.

There are three guys amongst the riffraff acquired this offseason that I believe can hold situational postseason value. That’s Melo, Bradley and Monk. Reaves is a rookie, Nunn is an unknown health wise and Ariza is like big foot right now. Ellington, Jordan and Bazemore are dumpster bin.

…

There is no miracle coming, so any hope has to come from within this current roster.

Hopeful rotation (when it matters):

Westbrook
Bradley
Ariza
James
Davis

Nunn/ Monk
Reaves
Johnson
Anthony
Howard

Monk when a spark is needed, or if Nunn is damaged goods.

THT… Gatorade duty.

Ellington/ Jordan/ Bazemore… trash bin.

Im not putting Bradley in as a starter. In all honesty we have nothing to lose. Put Reaves in there let him get as much experience as he can. 6'5 plays really good defense, can handle the ball and distribute. Has shown that the moment isn't to big for him. Start him he'll be much better than Bradley.

Mos_Heat · Post #2488 » by **Mos_Heat** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:02 am

homecourtloss wrote:
TroubleS0me wrote:damn lakers ranked as the 4th worst offense

It’s actually pretty wild that they are considering that they have decent metrics in some areas that would usually mean that a team isn’t a bottom 4 offense.

17th in TS%, 15th in eFG%, 6th in free-throw rate (top 3 over the past 15 games though LeBron doesn’t get many of these), 20th in three-point attempt rate, 18th in three-point%, 10th in two-point%. Given all these, you’d think there’s ZERO chance the offense is as bad as it is, but then you have:

27th in TOV%, 25th in OReb%, 29th in FT%. They turn it over, don’t get possessions back off ORebs, and give away points at the line.

What’s interesting is that the Lakers have been the team that falls off the least offensively when LeBron is off court. BTW, check out the offensive performance of those Cavs Heat sUpErTeAmS without James on court.

LeBron’s Offensive ON-OFF (stats.nba.com for seasons 2008-2022; BKREF for seasons 2005-2007)

2010: 114.0 on, 97.3 off, +16.7 on-off
2009: 114.0 on, 97.9 off, +16.1 on-off
2017: 116.7 on, 100.6 off, +16.1 on-off
2016: 114.0 on, 98.6 off, +15.4 on-off
2008: 107.2 on, 93.0 off, +14.2 on-off
2012: 108.6 on, 94.4 off, +14.2 on-off
2013: 114.2 on, 100.7 off, +13.5 on-off
2015: 113.8 on, 100.3 off, +13.5 on-off
2006: 109.8 on, 96.8 off, +13.0 on-off
2014: 113.2 on, 101.2 off, +12.0 on-off
2018: 113.7 on, 102.5 off, +11.2 on-off
2022: 110.1 on, 100.1 off, +10.0 on-off
2007: 107.6 on, 99.9 off, +7.7 on-off
2011: 111.5 on, 104.0 off, +7.5 on-off
2005: 107.6 on, 100.5 off, +7.1 on-off
2020: 112.1 on, 105.2 off, +6.9 on-off
2021: 112.4 on 105.8 off, +6.6 on-off
2004: 102.5 on, 96.4 off, +6.1 on-off
2019: 109.6 on, 103.6 off, +6.0 on-off

By your criteria 2016-2019 Golden State wasn't a super team, cuz their offense sucked without Curry

Post #2489 » by **Slava** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:10 pm

Fundamentals21 wrote:Caruso, KCP, Harrell, Kuz. I wonder how good the Lakers would be with these 4 players. The Lakers veterans were supposed to have good chemistry but they have collectively compounded into a terrible team.

We've seen that movie last season, haven't we? If we are getting 2020 LeBron and AD, that team could be the top 3 in the West, if not top. However, neither LeBron, nor AD have shown they can emulate that kind of health streak again. I don't mind gambling for a third creator, the problem is that they picked the worst **** option in Westbrook, who has let down every franchise that entrusted him with anything.

TroubleS0me · Post #2490 » by **TroubleS0me** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 4:45 pm

umm..

Read on Twitter

loveandbeer · Post #2491 » by **loveandbeer** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 4:56 pm

TroubleS0me wrote:umm..

Read on Twitter

Just goes to show this dude's mentality and how he thinks about the game / his play. It's all about the stats for him.

Uh, no one's asking you to go 25/15/15. Just please stop making stupid turnovers and losing your man on D (especially in crunch time - how many times is that now?).

Imagine if he could spend all his energy on defense, focus on attacking the rim / drive-and-kick, and shoot the odd corner 3 to keep defenses honest. An efficinet 15/7/12 would be so good...

trickshot · Post #2492 » by **trickshot** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 5:19 pm

Looks like Lebron at center lineups are actually posting better numbers than originally thought. A lot of confusion comes from people not knowing how to distinguish when it's Carmelo playing center and when it's Lebron. It's not really that confusing, most times you just need look at the crossmatches.

Lakers should also have gotten a replacement big wing rather than wait for Ariza to return. It shouldn't have been AD getting mauled by Giannis and other bigs. He was getting beat up pretty bad. Carmelo also shouldn't have had to play as many center minutes as he has. The Jordan signing also caused this.

homecourtloss · Post #2493 » by **homecourtloss** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:33 pm

loveandbeer wrote:
TroubleS0me wrote:umm..

Read on Twitter

Just goes to show this dude's mentality and how he thinks about the game / his play. It's all about the stats for him.

Uh, no one's asking you to go 25/15/15. Just please stop making stupid turnovers and losing your man on D (especially in crunch time - how many times is that now?).

Imagine if he could spend all his energy on defense, focus on attacking the rim / drive-and-kick, and shoot the odd corner 3 to keep defenses honest. An efficinet 15/7/12 would be so good...

Can’t believe Westbrook said this, basically proving the memes true. Unreal.

MoneyMo · Post #2494 » by **MoneyMo** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 9:09 pm

Read on Twitter

feyki · Post #2495 » by **feyki** » Tue Dec 28, 2021 11:45 pm

Lakers with Lebron and without AD in 7 games: -4,8 MOV.
Lakers with AD and without Lebron in 12 games: -3,1 MOV.

Greyhound · Post #2496 » by **Greyhound** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 1:09 am

feyki wrote:Lakers with Lebron and without AD in 7 games: -4,8 MOV.
Lakers with AD and without Lebron in 12 games: -3,1 MOV.

LOL

Context much. AD without LeBron played some of the worst teams the league had to offer.

LeBron without AD has played better teams with a handful of hardship players and a backup coach.

The numbers… Good stuff.

dcstanley · Post #2497 » by **dcstanley** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 1:12 am

Lebron starting at center. Great roster construction, Rob.

Greyhound · Post #2498 » by **Greyhound** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 1:38 am

Why is this moron starting three 6’3” players.

Three!

Greyhound · Post #2499 » by **Greyhound** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 1:41 am

Fizdale cannot disappear soon enough.

His rat ball fetish is worse then anything Vogel has ever done, and part of the reason the team is playing it’s worst ball of the season.

This guy is going to get LeBron hit with a career altering injury playing all of these minutes as an undersized Center.

This is just unbelievable.

trickshot · Post #2500 » by **trickshot** » Wed Dec 29, 2021 2:44 am

This Fizdale dude is a bit bad. The ideas are out of Nba 2k. Realcoach has a good formula of taking offensive initiative with the offensive smallball and playing conventional lineups the rest of the way. Fizdale seems to play smallball start to finish and it's not sustainable winning basketball over 4 quarters.

The fizdale signing also makes sense in context of the roster design. The plan was always to go 3 guards gimmicky smallball.