LeBron James

[cavsfever]

I have always thought Lebron should transition to power forward (or some form of 'power point forward') as he aged, I think that trying to play on the perimeter at 260 pounds is far more damaging to his body. But the question I have now is -- how do you maximize both Lebron and KLove with both of them at power forward? Granted KLove has a better 3 point shot, but you are really kind of wasting his game if you don't use him as a facilitator, in the post, and as a rebounder. And both of them are in the end too small to play center, except in a real smallball lineup. Not saying they couldn't do damage together, but it doesn't seem like a perfect fit.

 

[Cassity14]

I have always thought Lebron should transition to power forward (or some form of 'power point forward') as he aged, I think that trying to play on the perimeter at 260 pounds is far more damaging to his body. But the question I have now is -- how do you maximize both Lebron and KLove with both of them at power forward? Granted KLove has a better 3 point shot, but you are really kind of wasting his game if you don't use him as a facilitator, in the post, and as a rebounder. And both of them are in the end too small to play center, except in a real smallball lineup. Not saying they couldn't do damage together, but it doesn't seem like a perfect fit.

I think that as long as LeBron can still guard perimeter players, it's not a huge concern. Both he and Kevin are capable of playing out on the perimeter in offensive sets, so one of them will always be doing so in a traditional lineup.

The key point being made here, I think, is that we want more of LeBron's offensive possessions coming in the mid to low post, where he's using less effort to create a shot. This also further defines Irving as the primary pick and roll facilitator, which I think most of us agree is the best move going forward.

LeBron trying to orchestrate from the three point line was some of the least efficient offense that this team ran last season after acquiring their complete roster. I think the Cavs have identified that as something to severely limit going forward. If it helps lengthen LeBron's career and keep him fresh, that's just icing on the cake.

 

[TitleTown]

Not saying they couldn't do damage together, but it doesn't seem like a perfect fit.

You answered your own question. It's not a good fit--which is exactly why LBJ wont be playing PF all that much.

 

[NasstyNate]

You answered your own question. It's not a good fit--which is exactly why LBJ wont be playing PF all that much.

Disagree. If a team without a true penetrating pg goes small ball against us, a lineup of Mo/Kryie/JR/Lebron/Love would absolutely rain 3s with Lebron creating with his back to the basket in the post.

 

[Chris Parker]

Not that I think it's a very good stat at all, I think he had something crazy like the highest reb% on opportunities in the league.

That might not be exactlyle what it was, but it was profoundly good

James' rebound % was 74.5 better than just about everyone in the league but the injury-shortened Durant and (strangely) jose Calderon -- the reason that resulted in fewer rebounds was less opportunity because he was initiating the offense a LOT of the time and rarely in the post -- where he posted up significantly more in Miami and played much more PF, where here he was often a point forward.

It takes a while for teams to learn each other and for them to earn James trust. However that wasn't the issue in the playoffs. James repeatedly stated his preference not to shoot so much and inefficiently. He's always talking about his FG% and efficiency. I think he'll be more efficient this year and the Love comments suggested they were on the same page which I read as "more dynamic offense." For me I felt the issue was as someone earlier noted in the Kyrie thread - that the simpler offense was easier to execute and it took time and (according to Mike Miller) different players to run Blatt's offense.

However that limited Love. When the Celtics series came around, however, we saw Love getting more involved (he scored 19.2 per 36, vs. 17.5 in season, and took 6.4 FTA vs. 4.6) -- my sense was that Blatt was saving that. There will be less advantage and reason to do so this year, so I expect to see Love in a more diverse array of offensive settings and James -- my suspicion -- in even more of a chill mode to conserve energy for the playoffs.

 

[Evgeni]

I think Lebron doesn't need more than 20 games and 20 minutes a game to be conditioned for the playoffs. And we don't need more from him, because we are perfectly capable to make the playoffs without him, and it doesn't really matter what seed. Such light schedule would really help Lebron with fatigue and increase his career longevity. However this will not happen, and I think the main reason for this, is that Lebron just wants to play, even if his body takes a beating. I appreciate that, but I think its far from being ideal for us.

 

[tocov]

Blatt's methods had an enormous impact:

https://instagram.com/p/625KNtiTEe/

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Blatt's methods had an enormous impact:

https://instagram.com/p/625KNtiTEe/

Well, LBJ was doing yoga long before he met Blatt. Still, it couldn't have hurt Blatt's credibility with LBJ to have the team do just yoga for a day. I'd be curious as to which NBA teams (if any) do that with any regularity. Everybody use to laugh at athletes who did that, but the pedigrees of some of those athletes and their testimonials are hard to ignore.

 

[cavsfever]

I think Lebron doesn't need more than 20 games and 20 minutes a game to be conditioned for the playoffs. And we don't need more from him, because we are perfectly capable to make the playoffs without him, and it doesn't really matter what seed. Such light schedule would really help Lebron with fatigue and increase his career longevity. However this will not happen, and I think the main reason for this, is that Lebron just wants to play, even if his body takes a beating. I appreciate that, but I think its far from being ideal for us.

If you want to see how to pace Lebron, just look at the Spurs. Pop has a pretty clear policy of holding all his players under 30 MPG. For the past couple of years Tim Duncan has been averaging 28-29 MPG with about 10 games off per season. That's a good goal for our Big 3. If our starters averaged 30 MPG each that leaves 90 MPG to divide up among Delly, Mo, Jefferson, TT, AV, Kaun, and JR (or Shump if JR starts), plus 3 end of bench players. Not hard to do.

It preps your bench better for the playoffs too.

Not that we'll do it...coaches can never resist playing Lebron lots of minutes because the difference in quality when he steps off the court is so obvious.

 

[Kizzle]

If you want to see how to pace Lebron, just look at the Spurs. Pop has a pretty clear policy of holding all his players under 30 MPG. For the past couple of years Tim Duncan has been averaging 28-29 MPG with about 10 games off per season. That's a good goal for our Big 3. If our starters averaged 30 MPG each that leaves 90 MPG to divide up among Delly, Mo, Jefferson, TT, AV, Kaun, and JR (or Shump if JR starts), plus 3 end of bench players. Not hard to do.

It preps your bench better for the playoffs too.

Not that we'll do it...coaches can never resist playing Lebron lots of minutes because the difference in quality when he steps off the court is so obvious.

Our guys aren't that old yet and honestly we probably need them at 35 MPG to take the one seed. If anything I wish we could at least get LeBron to 30 MPG or less but it is what it is.

 

[Adam]

I think Lebron wing want his minutes to drop too much, he loves his stats. I do think they will sit him out games completely though as this does not effect his MVP and career stats as much

 

[Damien O'Connel]

Can't Gilbert just like...fire DJ?

 

[All4One1ForAll]

I'm really hoping we can get LeBron to around 32 mpg. Hell, I wouldn't mind him playing even less than that, but I'm sure he's still got his sights set on a couple more MVP awards, so I doubt he goes for that.

After watching this team play into mid-June last year, you realize how pointless the regular season is, especially when you're in the Leastern Conference.

It's so important that we preserve LeBron for as long as we can. No player has ever had the mileage by age 30 that LeBron currently has on him. Why not let him rest as much as he can during the RS, so he can beast come time for the playoffs?

 

[K1rieIrving>AllOtherPG's]

The King gets a shout out from the fastest man alive

 

[Helium filament]

The King gets a shout out from the fastest man alive

While on the topic of Bolt....