2018-19 NBA Thread

[33anda3rd]

Kemba my Kemba

Contract year. Somebody’s gonna (over)pay him this offseason.

[Socnorb11]

Apparently Butler has decided to not play hard tonight.

In fact, he's decided to not play at all, indefinitely.

[Jocephus]

[MAGA]

[Jocephus]

So I guess magic Johnson is mad the Lakers started 2-5 (now 3-5) and stuff with Walton and they need to "win now". Is it really fair 8 games in? I dunno how they actually look as a team but still.

[MAGA]

So I guess magic Johnson is mad the Lakers started 2-5 (now 3-5) and stuff with Walton and they need to "win now". Is it really fair 8 games in? I dunno how they actually look as a team but still.

Seems early in the process for lip service to fans but magic had to know Year one would be ugly.

LeBron is a year older and while the Lakers may be more talented overall, the Cavs were built to LeBron’s skill set (shooters) and really had some higher IQ players. Add in the conference change, and this was expected.

LeBron being a year older can’t be dismissed either. Still incredible, still gets what he wants on the court. But he isn’t 25 anymore and he’s been cruising in the regular season for a while now. He led the league in minutes played last year and played every game. But it was a hollow stat because he moved slower than everyone else (slowing for the fourth consecutive year) and doesn’t have the motor to be an anchor on both sides of the court.

Hard conference, poorly constructed roster, iso-guy in his 16th year. I hope Walton isn’t the scapegoat when this fails to improve in a real way

[33anda3rd]

LeBron works best in a system that's him plus four-out. Four guys standing around the 3P line waiting for LeBron to make a play. He wants the ball either in iso or coming off a screen from a big (paging JaVale McGee), and he likes to penetrate and either finish at the rim himself or kick the ball out to someone he trusts--Kevin Love, JR Smith, so on. The Lakers don't have that team. Ingram, Ball, Rondo, they are not knock-down shooters. Josh Hart can be, Kuzma can be, but the personnel LeBron is largely playing with isn't doing him any favors.

When LeBron is on the floor right now, the usage rates for the team are:
LeBron 32.4%
Kuzma 25.5%
Ingram 23.0%
McGee 19.5%
Stephenson 17.6%
Ball 15%
Rondo 14.7%
Hart 13.6%
For your two PG to have ~15% USG rates is pretty darn low. JaVale McGee getting more usage than Rondo and Ball and Hart, all very good and capable ball-handlers and scorers, seems a little skewed. Hart's a good scorer who LeBron doesn't seem to trust. Kuzma and Ingram are good players but they're probably getting a lot of defensive attention as opposing defenses know that LeBron is more focused on them than Ball, Hart, Rondo, Lance and the other options on the floor.

They need a Danny Green. A guy whose role is to play solid D on one end then go stand in the corner and hit open 3s on the other.

[Socnorb11]

[InvincibleCakeEater]

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[Socnorb11]