The LEBRON JAMES Thread (Pg. 2020, LBJ tweets everyone doing fine)

[J.C. Smith]

I got a kick out of Lebron passing the blunt tonight.

[miggz23]

[GOODRICH25]

[GOODRICH25]

[Batguano]

[GOODRICH25]

Heat were heavy favorites, even if they met us that year, the hype was off the charts Lakers losing doesn't compare, it would have been like the 2017 Warriors losing
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17 99 19 22 44 13 25 Mic.
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[PenG_]

[Cyberfreak444]

LeBron has been one of the best offensive players in the NBA so far. He looks like the player we haven't seen for a few years again. In fact, he's actually scoring at an efficiency eclipsing some of his best seasons on the Miami Heat. So that got me thinking about why he looks so much better...

1) The five out scheme - Not much has been made of the Lakers implementing a 5 out scheme ala the Warriors this season. But they came into this season committed to moving away from the Bud-style 4 out 1 in to a more 5 out scheme. Now the personnel of the Lakers isn't necessarily a good fit for this scheme and we've seen the Lakers scale back the frequency of those sets. But one guy who has benefitted from a more cleared out paint in some of these sets is LeBron. He also has the strength to drive through stunts at the free throw line (a weakness of five out scheme that has negatively affected DLo and Reaves).

2) Teammates who can (in theory) space the floor - Sure the Lakers team shooting has been abysmal but at least on paper they have shooters that need to be respected. This is a far cry from past years (especially with Westbrook) when the paint was entirely clogged with guys sagging off shooters. As has been proven for more than a decade, if you put credible shooters around LeBron he will score efficiently or punish the defense for daring to send help. But for some reason the Lakers (and GM LeBron) forgot that. This is easily the best team spacing the Lakers have had since the 2020 championship season.

3) He's healthy again - Even after the trade deadline when the personnel around him improved, LeBron didn't look right. He looked to be picking his spots. He didn't have his first step. He didn't explode when finishing. The open question was whether it was due to age or injury. So far it looks pretty clear that his foot was really bothering him. He is flat out blowing by guys at times. And we've seen him return to his usual high efficiency around the rim.

4) His jumpshot is back - Perhaps contrary to his reputation, LeBron has long been a pretty solid jump shooter. Per bball index, for most of his Laker tenure, LeBron was routinely an A quality shotmaker on three pointers despite having F quality shot quality (a function of rarely having guys set him up for quality three point looks). That is until last season when his shooting fell off a cliff. Amongst all the various things the Lakers need to happen to legitimately contend this season, few are more important than LeBron finding his jumpshot again. Thankfully, at least so far, he seems to have done just that. He described it in the postgame as a result of being more healthy and thus being able to work on his off days on his jumper. But his shot looks much more balanced and consistent.

5) Off ball work - LeBron is without question a ball dominant player. But unlike the James Harden types, he has developed into a very useful off ball player as well. He sets great screens and is fantastic at sealing his man if there's a switch. And if there is any sort of a trap or hard hedge on the ball handler, he's deadly in the short role as both a threat to drive and finish and pass. Zach Lowe has said for a few years that LeBron is one of the best cutters in the NBA when he wants to be. When he's not involved in the pick and roll, he's made regular use of the stampede cut from the opposite elbow to the rim. It also helps off ball that his jumper has been falling. While he still often closes games with the ball in his hands, his willingness to be off the ball on the weakside or as the pick setter (for Reaves in particular) has given him easy scoring opportunities.

[Four Decade Bandwagon]

[GOODRICH25]

[kikanga]

Lebron On-Court: +7.1 Net Rating (447 minutes)
Lebron Off-Court: -16.7 Net Rating (235 minutes)
https://tinyurl.com/5yty5z79

The man is a month shy of 39. He's averaging just under 3 quarters a game. Something needs to change. We need to find a way to have + minutes with him off the court. Cause what's he's doing isn't sustainable all season and a championship run after that.
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"knew I was fly when I was just a caterpillar."

[CervantesRises]

That seem skewed by two of the 14 games.

I'd like to see that after we play another 10 and hopefully get Vando back and Rui more minutes.

Would love to see Bron down to 28 a game and no b2bs.
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"If You're Afraid To Fail...Then You're Probably Going To Fail."
- Kobe

#BannersOverBillboards

[governator]

[kikanga]

[defense]

So you're saying we are better when Lebron is on the floor?

[kikanga]

[GOODRICH25]

[GOODRICH25]

[Hard_Butter]

What LeBron is doing at this age...with all that mileage on that body is simply amazing. There hasn't been any athlete in the history of any sport that has this sort of sustained excellence. It's actually kinda ludicrous. He might very well go down as the greatest athlete of any sport, of all time. Has PEDs been involved to aid his freakish gifts to enable him to do this? I shrug, perhaps that will be a debate years down the road. I'm just enjoying the now....probably cause I'm getting older. I'm a Showtime kid who has no allegiance to any one player. My allegiance is to the Lakers. And I thank LeBron James.
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The butter's hard and the eggs are chillin' in the dark.

Kiss my Converse.

[Cutheon]

[defense]

[venturalakersfan]

[venturalakersfan]

[Hard_Butter]

[activeverb]