I coach high school basketball. Have been coaching for 10 years now. In that time frame, I’ve had exactly two players who are quick enough to read a play happening and adjust to it. Problem is, it doesn’t matter if the other guys aren’t quick enough to react to instructions.

Thankfully those two guys played together the last 3 years and no coincidence, it’s by far the best our team has ever been. One finished this year and it’s heartbreaking to see talent like that leave but also grateful to have gotten to coach them. He’s gonna be a great college level player (Canadian edition.)

Bron doing this at NBA level without blinking is otherworldly.

People are also spoiled from the broadcast having such a terrific vantage point. The TV audience gets to see all 10 players at once all the time. They see the entire play developing in real time from a bird’s eye point of view. To read a play through the bodies, keep your defense tight, call out to the other players and at the same time working out overall defensive adjustments. It’s just so much processing done so quickly.

LeBron saying “and then when he spins” makes me think back to a late night talk show interview with Charles Barkley. Not on Leno or Letterman, it was one of those where it was just him and the host at a table.

They asked him how much NBA players knew about basketball, and he goes, “You have no idea. You’d be amazed. We know what every guy is going to do out there. We know that when so-and-so comes across the top of the key, he’s going to dribble twice with his left hand and take three steps to his right. And then that’s the hard part, because you’re always trying to out-think the other guy.”

most people would listen to it 10x and still not understand what LeBron and AD are talking about.

What? All he said was JJJ is left hand dominant (or was during this game) and chances were high JJJ would use spin move when pressured on left so he’ll pressure and filter to Davis. The more impressive thing is Davis actually following the direction in the heat of the game when he has to account for his man and monitor other things going on (though in the clip he cuts Biyombo loose) - getting the timing right.

A little play on “adieu” which means farewell and “deux” which means two in French. Because it’s Lebrons goodbye but it’d be the second last dance

who’s the equivalent of ultra man here? someone super strong but dumb as rocks. Westbrook?

I think bron might be different from the other stars. Shump said on his podcast that when he joined the cavs, bron would pull him aside and teach him when he made mistakes, whereas melo would say nothing and just try to do it himself lol

Not making a definitive statement on Lebron but generally this is about players doing things others can’t. You can’t teach Lillard to play like bron because they just aren’t the same. But LeBron is one of the highest BBIQ players of all time, he at bare minimum would be good on the X’s and O’s side

Different skills for different jobs. He just happens to have skills for both.

Bc he doesn’t over power people. He could’ve been like a shaq pf. Or just blow by more people and score more like Jordan. He’s more like Bird than Jordan.

I think he’ll be a phenomenal coach. He’s also not an asshole, unlike Shaq and Jordan. And Bird was an asshole to others, but his teammates loved him.

He still was not a good shooter and was ball dominant, both of which the Lakers already had issues with or too much of.

Because he is a worse passer and terrible fit because he is a shit shooter. LeBron and Luka fit fine but that’s because Luka is a much better shooter and scorer.

I can understand it. Bron knows Browns strengths and weaknesses so Bron figures he can hide it or help Brown.

Every team and player has weaknesses, it’s up to the system to mitigate.

This comment made no sense to me so I looked it up

JB has 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 9 games vs Lebron James since 2019-2020 season, on 54.8% TS and has had a cumulative +78 plus minus over that time period

“Celtics fans” these days are just Jaylen Brown haters I guess

Yes people always forget this. They wanted to match firepower and felt he was someone to help with that. Obviously just didn’t turn out that way

Plus pelinka and jeanie have been outright bad at decisionmaking these past few years. They overpromise to stars and keep getting blessed because of the sheer inertia of being the biggest brand in basketball. Lebron was probably the best basketball mind in the room most of the time, because they never committed to actually bringing in culture guys in the FO level. We can see the culture deficit between them and other big brands like the celtics and knicks.

Edit: its crazy to think that JJ is the best coach they’ve had since Phil Jackson, but its true

Lebron aside, MJ didn’t have that leverage because he and ownership despised each other. I think there are better examples of guys with a bunch of accomplishments that still didn’t have roster leverage despite a good relationship with ownership/FO.

Yeah.

Two month offseason was a recipe for disaster

It was a weird ass season. You could argue the three best teams that year all missed the finals (clippers lakers nets)

hey were somewhere like a half game behind either the Suns or Jazz (I forget) for the best record in the west.

Looks like Lakers started that year 21-6 and were the 2 seed in February, then they finished it 21-24

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2021_standings_by_date_western_conference.html

Agreed

This is why the other trade for Turner/Hield, which was very popular at the time, never made sense to me. The Lakers needed to prioritize wings and they already had them. A backup center for limited expense would have been fine, but they had already had the exact type of players they needed. Another questionable decision was replacing Danny Green with Dennis Schröder. The latter played some legit on ball defense and they did replace Green with another stout wing in Wes Matthews so that wasn’t nearly as bad as the moves they later made. It is crazy that they had five quality wings, Kuzma, Caruso, KCP, Green and Matthews over the course of this time and didn’t see keeping any of them as crucial. In a league which was plenty aware of the value of wings, too.

Danny green was on that roster too!

Ya it was too taxing for AD to have guard the best player in the league, while accounting for all the blowbys that guards gave up 

Offense gets all the glory but I’ve always had an appreciation for watching great defense and hustle guys who do all the little things that gets labeled as “dirty work” but is necessary to win.

Part of the problem was the Lakers defense generally wasn’t that good during Davis’ time on the team. That wasn’t him, but at times other top defenders lead their team to better regular season defenses.  If there was a playoff defensive award, that one would be much easier as his playoff defense seems more obvious and impactful. 

One of my favorite Draymond defensive plays is when he’s 2 on 1 and baits the ball handler to make the pass with a little reach and then jumps towards the pass they’re going to make. The battles between Harden’s lob/floater and Draymond’s savy were incredible. 

That tier is generous too.. Barkley and Dirk are MVPs. Dirk single handedly led his team to a title. AD is in the McHale tier.

they hate gobert here

i have to disagree because it would show how badly the pelicans wasted him

Better offensive skill set than Gianni’s as well