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2021 NBA Offseason Thread

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Lebron almost lost LA the game. His ego is so big that he completely disregarded the fact that AD was the much better option in the 4th quarter and especially down the stretch. Lebron doesn't have the explosiveness to get past players at the end of games and his game becomes a mess when he has to settle. Just pass it to AD man.

I get that he wants to be regarded as the best player on this LA team, but that's lame.

Yes LeBron was terrible in the second half. But he’s closed plenty of games down the stretch this year and been dominant in them. Also he has had no problem deferring to AD at various points throughout the season. But if you’ve watched Lakers games throughout the year it was fairly obvious that the offense ran much better through LeBron. AD’s weak passing out of double teams is his major flaw. He’s also prone to some really poor shots selection. Rather the Lakers are at their best when AD is used as the finisher off of passes created by LeBron. I also think they both play a lot better on offense when AD is at the five which they went to a little too late in my opinion.
 
Yes LeBron was terrible in the second half. But he’s closed plenty of games down the stretch this year and been dominant in them. Also he has had no problem deferring to AD at various points throughout the season. But if you’ve watched Lakers games throughout the year it was fairly obvious that the offense ran much better through LeBron. AD’s weak passing out of double teams is his major flaw. He’s also prone to some really poor shots selection. Rather the Lakers are at their best when AD is used as the finisher off of passes created by LeBron. I also think they both play a lot better on offense when AD is at the five which they went to a little too late in my opinion.

Well, basketball doesn't work that way. It changes on a game to game and minute to minute basis. Lebron was clearly not feeling it, and AD on the other hand was fresh and to me had an easier matchup considering he had to work less for his points.

Sometimes Lebron's ego gets the better of him.
 
Damn, that was a great game. Have to feel for the Nuggets. AD looked unstoppable in the second half. It's a whole new thing in the NBA to have 7 footers being your top jump shooters too.

As others said above, Lebron really did look kind of helpless in the second half and especially the fourth quarter. That surprised me. When his jump shot is off and he has to attack the basket against a good defense is when you can see how age is catching up with him. He did defer effectively to AD though. Lebron is really good at deferring to the hot teammate in a game-winning situation, in a way that e.g. Kobe or early Jordan wouldn't be.
 
Lebron doesn't have the explosiveness to get past players at the end of games and his game becomes a mess when he has to settle. Just pass it to AD man.

Yes, his loss of explosiveness is what you can really see when his jumper isn't falling. He looks really bad when he tries to get the jumper going again by settling for random shots. But you can't really blame him for trying at least some to get going again. When it's a critical situation he will pass.

In those situations he needs to fully embrace being a point power forward as opposed to a perimeter player, bully people from inside and try to use size and strength to score when he is off. The thing is that in this LA-Denver series the paint tends to be very crowded with big men which makes that harder to do, especially because Lebron is a bit short for a power forward. In the Houston series where it was all small ball his 3 point shot was off (just 10-34, less than 30% shooting) but he dominated from close in and had an unbelievable 2-point percentage of 64% plus a bunch of foul shots.
 
Yes, his loss of explosiveness is what you can really see when his jumper isn't falling. He looks really bad when he tries to get the jumper going again by settling for random shots. But you can't really blame him for trying at least some to get going again. When it's a critical situation he will pass.

In those situations he needs to fully embrace being a point power forward as opposed to a perimeter player, bully people from inside and try to use size and strength to score when he is off. The thing is that in this LA-Denver series the paint tends to be very crowded with big men which makes that harder to do, especially because Lebron is a bit short for a power forward. In the Houston series where it was all small ball his 3 point shot was off (just 10-34, less than 30% shooting) but he dominated from close in and had an unbelievable 2-point percentage of 64% plus a bunch of foul shots.

He seldomly tries to be the roll man in a PnR and it just works. He should do that more with Rondo. No reason not to.
 
All 8 of AD's 2nd half field goals were from midrange or from 3, but it's only "settling" if you miss, right?
 
That's his game. Plus, he was getting the ball late in the shot clock as a 2nd option.

It is? LeBron has consistently been a higher volume and higher efficiency jump shooter than AD year after year. On any given night AD may shoot better than LeBron, but there's plenty of evidence that a LeBron off-balance 3 is more likely to go in than an AD off-balance 3.

AD's game is attacking the rim and drawing fouls, areas where he's consistently a top-5 player in the league. There's a 100% chance that if he missed that 3, the commentators would've immediately said that the Lakers should've gotten him the ball going toward the basket.
 
Well, basketball doesn't work that way. It changes on a game to game and minute to minute basis. Lebron was clearly not feeling it, and AD on the other hand was fresh and to me had an easier matchup considering he had to work less for his points.

Sometimes Lebron's ego gets the better of him.

I really think this game was more just LeBron playing badly than him not willing to give Anthony Davis late touches. After all AD scored the last ten points of the game. And LeBron said after the game that he needed to lean on AD this game down the stretch. But all year LeBron has been deferring to AD plenty. Like in the first game of the season when he fed him the ball in the post like a million times in a row. He has consistently been fine with AD taking shots in the end of the game including game winning attempts (even when they dont go in like in that game against Brooklyn where AD missed the game winner). The difference between AD and other previous star teammates on LeBron teams is that there really is no “my turn - your turn” offense with AD (unlike Wade or Kyrie). Most plays where AD scores still involve LeBron either making a feed or somehow otherwise being involved in the action. So it’s not like offense for one of them comes at the cost of offense for the other.
 
It is? LeBron has consistently been a higher volume and higher efficiency jump shooter than AD year after year. On any given night AD may shoot better than LeBron, but there's plenty of evidence that a LeBron off-balance 3 is more likely to go in than an AD off-balance 3.

AD's game is attacking the rim and drawing fouls, areas where he's consistently a top-5 player in the league. There's a 100% chance that if he missed that 3, the commentators would've immediately said that the Lakers should've gotten him the ball going toward the basket.

I was talking about the mid range. Antony Davis midrange is a big part of his game, and it has to produce an above average .PPP in a playoffs settings. If you got the numbers, then share.

In regards to Lebron, you can just clearly see when he settles..and i'm not talking about when he decides to shoot early in the game; but when he is tired and lacks the explosiveness and/or stamina to attack the rim...it's apparent. HE is not the same athlete as he used to be..if he was, the game wouldn't be fair.
 
6 wins from title #4, he can taste it. This is absolutely his best chance to get it. And four titles puts him past the Warriors. 11 Finals and only 4 titles....just bad luck
 
I was talking about the mid range. Antony Davis midrange is a big part of his game, and it has to produce an above average .PPP in a playoffs settings. If you got the numbers, then share.

In regards to Lebron, you can just clearly see when he settles..and i'm not talking about when he decides to shoot early in the game; but when he is tired and lacks the explosiveness and/or stamina to attack the rim...it's apparent. HE is not the same athlete as he used to be..if he was, the game wouldn't be fair.

Sure, AD shot 32% from long midrange this season. That's...not good. Overall he shot a blistering 39% on 2-pointers outside of the restricted area.

These playoffs in contrast he's shot a ridiculous 58% (25/43) from long midrange. He's making shots he was missing all season, which is unfortunate for the Nuggets. They're defending him the right way, he just can't miss right now.
 
The biggest storyline moving forward is if AD usurps LeBron for the FMVP. I'm of the opinion that LeBron, despite indisputably having a poor game (for his standards) last night, is actively coasting and letting AD do the heavy-lifting so that he can go full-throttle in the Finals.

I think he'd obviously be happy with a ring, but being the first player to win FMVP for 3 different franchises would be a massive feather in his cap and one of the tentpoles of his "GOAT" argument.
 
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I was talking about the mid range. Antony Davis midrange is a big part of his game, and it has to produce an above average .PPP in a playoffs settings. If you got the numbers, then share.

Anthony Davis is shooting insanely well this post season. He is shooting 58% (!!) on long 2s from 16 feet out to three point range, and 40% from 3.

That is on a lot of attempts too, 73 total attempts (over one-third of his shot attempts) so far from those ranges. This is very different than his previous playoffs with New Orleans where he shot a lot fewer jump shots and made them much less. It is also much better than his shooting during the regular season.

Not sure why this is happening but as long as he is shooting those kinds of percentages he should keep taking those shots.

In regards to Lebron, you can just clearly see when he settles..and i'm not talking about when he decides to shoot early in the game; but when he is tired and lacks the explosiveness and/or stamina to attack the rim...it's apparent. HE is not the same athlete as he used to be..if he was, the game wouldn't be fair.

Agree that 4th quarters when there is a call for him to attack the hoop from the perimeter is when you really do see the loss of athleticism.
 
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