LeBron James to the Lakers 4 Years/$154M

[champ11]

4 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

If the Lakers were going to play similar to the Cavaliers, wouldn't have they put more shooters around him?

you can believe Ramona's Lakers PR. Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it. The signings seem simply incompetent to me. 

[CWood21]

11 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Don't think he is capable of playing at a high level in transition? When did I say that? Just because he is the best athlete of his generation doesn't mean he wants to play fast. He will pick his spot and will definitely get easy buckets when they are there to be had, but he likes to preserve his energy and one way to do that is play more half court ball. And LeBron was atrocious on the defensive side of the ball. He had his moments in the playoffs when he locked in, but best defender on the Cavs? They were all trash, no one deserves the moniker as the best defender on the roster. But if we are going that way, then it was Nance or Osman.....Just because they actually gave effort on that end. And will LeBron be helped playing with more athletes? That goes without saying,. 

So Cleveland couldn't play in transition and played in half court because their defense sucked? Okay, so when he was in Miami and they ranked 5th and 4th in defensive efficiency in 2011/2012, what was the excuse for them being 20th and 15th in pace? I mean they had elite defense and plenty of plus defenders. So what held them back from playing so fast? 

Stop trying to overthink this, it is by no coincidence that in 15 years of being in the league, none of his teams have been top 10 in pace. You could blame other players or other elements, but it is clear what kind of style he prefers. In LA, it may not matter what he prefers as they have too many youngsters that want to get up and down. The Lakers will likely be top 10 in pace regardless of how much LeBron wants to slow it down. They were 3rd in pace last year,  I bet that isn't happening next season with LeBron. 

Because you're making the assumption that because he played in slow-paced offense in the past, he's going to play in a slow-paced offense next year.  That's a HUGE assumption to make.  And it's not backed by anything logical.  Look at the current roster composition of the Lakers, the best shooters on the roster right now are KCP, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart.  Of the guys who played in at least 20 MPG, those were only guys who shot 35% or better from beyond the arc.  That's a far cry from what the Cavaliers have on their roster Rodney Hood, George Hill, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith.  Last year, the Lakers were 29th in 3P% and the Cavaliers were ranked 6th.  It was night and day the difference between the two.  Despite that difference in 3P%, the Lakers were 14th in FG% and the Cavaliers were 5th.  The bigger difference was on the defensive ned.  The Lakers were 10th in opposing teams' FG%, while the Cavaliers were 28th.  There's a direct result of being a great 3P% and being a poor defender.  They couldn't put together a 3&D team, they put together a 3 team around LeBron.

As for the Miami Heat, I don't really have a great reasoning as to why they didn't play with more pace.  They certainly could have.  But I'd also make the argument that pace of play isn't as big a deal then as it is now.  Last year, the Knicks were 15th in pace at 99.24.  The Pelicans led the league at 102.73 while the Kings were dead last at 97.03.  In 2012-13 season, the Rockets led the league at 98.64, the Wizards were 14th at 94.41, and the Hornets were last at 90.86.  The average pace of play has gone up tremendously since the Big 3.

[CWood21]

11 minutes ago, champ11 said:

you can believe Ramona's Lakers PR. Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it. The signings seem simply incompetent to me. 

Maybe it is a puff piece to make the Lakers look better.  But the Lakers seemingly have a clear goal this offseson, and it's enough to get LeBron to sign a multi-year deal.  Not just the 1+1 that limited the Cavaliers the past few offseasons.

[champ11]

7 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Maybe it is a puff piece to make the Lakers look better.  But the Lakers seemingly have a clear goal this offseson, and it's enough to get LeBron to sign a multi-year deal.  Not just the 1+1 that limited the Cavaliers the past few offseasons.

I tend to think LeBron made up his mind about his lifestyle more than the Lakers sold him on their basketball vision and that was reinforced by the bad signings. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

4 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Because you're making the assumption that because he played in slow-paced offense in the past, he's going to play in a slow-paced offense next year.  That's a HUGE assumption to make.  And it's not backed by anything logical.  Look at the current roster composition of the Lakers, the best shooters on the roster right now are KCP, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart.  Of the guys who played in at least 20 MPG, those were only guys who shot 35% or better from beyond the arc.  That's a far cry from what the Cavaliers have on their roster Rodney Hood, George Hill, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith.  Last year, the Lakers were 29th in 3P% and the Cavaliers were ranked 6th.  It was night and day the difference between the two.  Despite that difference in 3P%, the Lakers were 14th in FG% and the Cavaliers were 5th.  The bigger difference was on the defensive ned.  The Lakers were 10th in opposing teams' FG%, while the Cavaliers were 28th.  There's a direct result of being a great 3P% and being a poor defender.  They couldn't put together a 3&D team, they put together a 3 team around LeBron.

As for the Miami Heat, I don't really have a great reasoning as to why they didn't play with more pace.  They certainly could have.  But I'd also make the argument that pace of play isn't as big a deal then as it is now.  Last year, the Knicks were 15th in pace at 99.24.  The Pelicans led the league at 102.73 while the Kings were dead last at 97.03.  In 2012-13 season, the Rockets led the league at 98.64, the Wizards were 14th at 94.41, and the Hornets were last at 90.86.  The average pace of play has gone up tremendously since the Big 3.

I'm not making any assumptions just stating facts. I already said I think the Lakers are going to be top 10 in pace just with how many youngsters they have and Lonzo Ball pushing the ball the way he does. However, it is obvious that is not LeBron's preference. It doesn't allow him to take as many breaks by playing slower and being able to walk the ball up the court. You are the one that is trying too hard to find excuses and reasons for why EVERY single LeBron led team has finished outside the top 10 in pace. This shouldn't be hard to understand. 

[CWood21]

2 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I'm not making any assumptions just stating facts. I already said I think the Lakers are going to be top 10 in pace just with how many youngsters they have and Lonzo Ball pushing the ball the way he does. However, it is obvious that is not LeBron's preference. It doesn't allow him to take as many breaks by playing slower and being able to walk the ball up the court. You are the one that is trying too hard to find excuses and reasons for why EVERY single LeBron led team has finished outside the top 10 in pace. This shouldn't be hard to understand. 

I'm making excuses, by citing the supporting cast he's had around but you're stating facts because of what I'm arguing.  We haven't seen LeBron play with pace consistently, because he hasn't had the supporting cast to do so.  You have to play defense in order to play with the pace.  The Cavaliers were one of the worst teams defensively, so there's a reason why the Cavaliers didn't play with pace.

[CWood21]

6 minutes ago, champ11 said:

I tend to think LeBron made up his mind about his lifestyle more than the Lakers sold him on their basketball vision and that was reinforced by the bad signings. 

The only bad signing was the Lance Stephenson.  And given that it was a 1 year deal, it really isn't that bad.

[J-ALL-DAY]

1 minute ago, CWood21 said:

I'm making excuses, by citing the supporting cast he's had around but you're stating facts because of what I'm arguing.  We haven't seen LeBron play with pace consistently, because he hasn't had the supporting cast to do so.  You have to play defense in order to play with the pace.  The Cavaliers were one of the worst teams defensively, so there's a reason why the Cavaliers didn't play with pace.

Except the fact this is the fastest he has played in his time with Cleveland.....While they were the 2nd worst defensive team. They were 10th defensively in 2016 and 27th in pace. So those two clearly don't correlate with each other. And we already saw how that didn't matter one bit in Miami when they were top 5 defensive teams and still middle of the pack in pace. 

[BleedTheClock]

10 hours ago, CWood21 said:

 If you don't think he's capable of playing at a high level in transition, we're not going to see eye-to-eye.

Nobody would argue this. He would also be unbelievably unstoppable if he worked in the post all the time. But it's also not going to happen. The best player in the world isn't going to magically change the way he has dominated the NBA for the last 15 seasons.

[BleedTheClock]

Oh, and Bron essentially hand-picked the offense we ran and the players around him in Cleveland. If he really wanted to run, he would have implored the Cavs to keep Waiters and Wiggins.

[BStanRamFan]

On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 11:14 PM, BleedTheClock said:

Nobody would argue this. He would also be unbelievably unstoppable if he worked in the post all the time. But it's also not going to happen. The best player in the world isn't going to magically change the way he has dominated the NBA for the last 15 seasons.

Chris Broussard reported before the end of the season that LeBron wanted to play off the ball if he went to Philly; the same logic applies to LAL as they have a young, potential all star PG in place. It would lengthen his career and keep his usage down. He is definetly going to change the way he's played compared to the last 15 seasons if he wants to play 7 more and reach the goal of playing with his son.

You will see a different Lebron offensively next season. He will play off the ball and in the post more. All of the moves made by the Lakers and reports from Broussard point to that change happening.

[BleedTheClock]

6 hours ago, BStanRamFan said:

Chris Broussard reported before the end of the season that LeBron wanted to play off the ball if he went to Philly; the same logic applies to LAL as they have a young, potential all star PG in place. It would lengthen his career and keep his usage down. He is definetly going to change the way he's played compared to the last 15 seasons if he wants to play 7 more and reach the goal of playing with his son.

You will see a different Lebron offensively next season. He will play off the ball and in the post more. All of the moves made by the Lakers and reports from Broussard point to that change happening.

Keep telling yourself this. LeBron is the best player in the world by far. But if you expect him to play more in the post and not dominate the ball, I'd expect you to be extremely disappointed. 

[BStanRamFan]

13 hours ago, BleedTheClock said:

Keep telling yourself this. LeBron is the best player in the world by far. But if you expect him to play more in the post and not dominate the ball, I'd expect you to be extremely disappointed. 

I think he's the smartest player we've ever seen, I think he spends millions of dollars on his health annually, I think he's watched Jordan and Kobe change their game as their physical gifts have warn down. I think he will do the same. The 3 teams he considered playing for outside of Cleveland all had good to great PG's (Ball, Simmons, CP3). Playing off the ball and in the post lengthens his career and also gives him a shot at a scoring title. LeBron likely will not catch Jordan in rings, but will catch him in longevity and overall stats. He needs to play longer to accomplish that.

If you think you're going to see LeBron run the point and all other players spread the floor while he has no 3point shooters currently on the roster, you're going to be disappointed.

[J-ALL-DAY]

LeBron won't all of a sudden just operate out of the post or elbow area for majority of the game like Kobe or MJ, but I do think he will be adjusting his game as his career comes to an end. He will save so much energy not running a thousand of high pick and rolls a game and creating everything from the top of the key. Will in all likelihood play PF for most of his tenure in LA. I mean it isn't even possible for the Lakers with their current roster to start two bigs. LeBron's biggest weakness isn't him holding on to the ball too much and his teams not having great ball movement, but the fact he hardly moves on the offensive end after giving the ball up. Him operating in the post will mitigate some of that. 

[KManX89]

You know, in a sense, I get the motivation behind this signing. He's already won 2 championships in Miami and one championship with his hometown team. Now why not use the last of his prime years to help another team grow from the inside rather than surrounding himself with talent to chase another championship elsewhere? 

If I were in his shoes, I'd probably go in a different direction, but I get it.