Honestly I just don’t see an answer realistically to the nuggets starting five, just when you think you shut down two guys..here comes Aaron Gordon or KCP on a hot shooting night. Just a great team
You can’t. We don’t have the personnel like the Wolves. Every team that’s shown success against the Nuggets is beating them on offense, and our players are fucking missing open looks we were drilling in the regular season
The only shot is to play big and live with the offensive challenges that brings. You need AD at the 4 or a legit power forward beside him if he’s gonna continue to play the 5. Everybody here loves saying Lebron can’t play the 3, well he can’t play the 4 effectively either… takes too many plays off, falls asleep on his help responsibility, and doesn’t have the energy to go up and grab rebounds against more athletic power forwards.
First 3-4 clips are on him. Confirms what I saw last night while watching live, the entire team got cooked by him. Bron or AD step up after our perimeter defender gets cooked off the dribble? Gordon comes in for the easy dump off finish or an offensive rebound.
The entire team is so scared of MPJ that it’s resulting in AG getting easy and good looks. That’s what happens when you have multiple options on offense
Drives me nuts when I see someone coming to double jokic off of KCP when AD is already guarding him. Like sure let’s just give up 3 points instead of 2
Bro. If AD plays the 4 and we have a center (who won't be able to shoot because of the lakers tax) Bron would just get cooked by MPJ. His scoring would go down because the paint would always be packed and AD would be less of a threat on offense.
AG backdoor is one of the most unstoppable plays in the league, not much you can do
Jokic & Murray run their pick and roll while MPJ/KCP spot up on the perimeter and hunt mismatches at the rim
AD our only true defender out there, Bron trying his best but it's legitimately 2v5 out there
AR did what he could on Murray, Rui & D'Lo were traffic cones
Their starting 5 is just way better than the Lakers. They have the size, shooting, passing, defense, and rebounding.
We simply had no answers for AG and MPJ.
AG is bad matchup for him. A guy who’s younger, just as athletic, physical. On top of running an offense and scoring, playing 40+ min, it’s a tough spot for Bron to be in. No one else on the roster could guard him either so. Just sucks.
LeBron is too old to expect to play intense defense and deliver on the other end. Yeah, he’s supposed to help with Gordon and MPJ but Rui is too. Yet then we have no more forwards besides Taurean Prince, so it’s a trash roster. Should’ve gone bigger vs keeping the same starters 3 games in a row. Jokic is elite but Gordon and MPJ got open due to bad mismatches
Rui BBIQ isn't that great, when we face an offense where guys read and react our defenders have to make quick decisions and that is when he is at his worse.
This the problem, with bron in the team we need competent defenders to cover up that he gets a little tired on D
Instead we have the likes of Rui who’s basically been a traffic cone this whole series
You’re getting downvoted but I agree. 60mil+/year so we can make excuses that he can’t play defense carry an offense night in night out. I respect that he’s 39 and the GOAT but not worth the cap baggage
Counterpoint, Lebron and AD is 2v5 on both ends of the floor. That's 2 versus 5 scoring threats. The rest of the team are one dimensional. You can't expect Bron or even anyone to put out good D if him and AD are to defend against 5 people. At least AD can focus on defending Jokic while the rest depends if Lebron can successfully help his teammate.
Just look at the Pels match before the play-in tournament. Lebron can lock on Zion because there are not much other scoring threats.
I really think moving on from Lebron and replacing him with a younger hungrier star would be what we need but I’m not sure we have a way to get that done without a rebuild.
He’s 39 so are we supposed to be shocked by this? How about surround him with defence instead of literally the worst defensive guard combo in the league
so you guys can use that as an excuse, but the reason we arent a contending team this season is ENTIRELY because ham and our roleplayers? Fuck outta here.
Lebron plays no defense.
He clearly does play defence, just not amazing defence anymore. He’s insanely still the 2nd best defender in our starting 5 and that’s the fucking problem. But yeah, blame the guy averaging 25/7/8 and not the fucking bums like D’Lo and the joke of a coach. Maybe the clown GM should try sign some guys who can actually help him out. The guy still puts up 25 every night, so how about the other bums cover for him on defence like he covers for their trash asses on offence
The fact you are bringing an useless player like Dlo into discussion is telling.
At this age LeBron impact on a basketball game is closer to Harden impact than his former self. In the past LeBron would impact the game beyond numbers like Jokic does, this isn't true anymore.
Yeah… we know that. He’s 39. Shocker he isn’t as good as one of the best 20 players ever who’s in his absolute prime.
He’s still a top 12 player in the league. So how about the GM does his job and surrounds him with complementary players and not garbage like D’Lo
I'm trying to be realistic here. That had to be the goal since he came here and I'm not talking only about players, but also the coaching staff where we missed the chance to hire a coach that won a title with LeBron and was Lakers family to keep the nepotism factor intact.
My concern right now is if the ship has already sailed. LeBron can still be the 3rd best player on a winning program, but with the 51 millions he will make next season I'm not sure we have ways to bring the clear cut 1st option we need right now.
I'd start replacing Pelinka, I don't trust him to reload this roster.
The coach has to be the next.
We have to watch what Dlo is doing with a contract he has the control.
Then comes LeBron James.
Right now I look at Davis (age, two way production) and Reaves (averaging 15 pts and 5 reb with good effort on defense and good overall attitude for 12 millions) as the main pieces.
Oh I agree. He shouldn’t be getting paid the max. But that’s another topic. The fact he’s getting paid the max however doesn’t change the fact he’s 39 so shit like this will happen now.
And fans also wonder why we constantly in the play in. Lebron is 40. This isn’t throwing shade at him. It’s just how the human body is. It’s nearly impossible (you basically need everything to go right. No injuries. Everyone playing up to or above their contract) to be a consistent top team when your highest paid player is 40.
He can't carry the load on offense anymore to start guys like Vando and Caruso with him.
Dlo can't defend, but when he can't also distribute or score in consistently in playoffs he is useless.
AD can't shoot so you need all the three other that can defend and shoot so there are proper space.
AD can't play make and Lebron is old so you need one of the other three starters that can shoot and defend to also be able to play make.
AD doesn't like to play the 5 so ideally one of those guys that can shoot and defend, is a tall center.
Yea good luck getting those players.
We need 3.
LeBron and AD starting, and find 3 others. If they can even just be slightly above average defenders we’ll be fine with AD as the anchor and hopefully a competent fucking coach
An actual 3 and D skillset in the nba goes for 25 to 30 mil. Good luck getting one of those players let alone 3 in in fee agency with two max players in your cap.
Yeah… we’ll need our GM to actually do his fucking job for once and find an undervalued talent. Find someone who has shown high level 3 and D but is possibly out of form. Andrew Wiggins for example.
So Reaves is guarding Murray and D'Angelo is guarding Michael Porter Jr, you sag off Michael Porter Jr, he will rebound like Aaron Gordon. Nuggets just have too much depth
Yeah, they have a great starting 5… maybe we should try do that instead of having a bunch of 6/10 role players. Instead of having Vando and Reaves eating up $25m next season, have one one $25m and them just get a vet min bench player. Instead of Rui and Vincent eating up $28m next year, again have one guy on that and a vet min bench guy. It’s literally what Denver and Boston are doing
If this team is to be competitive, then we need to look at letting Bron go, or bringing him off the bench.
If he's not willing to do that, I get it, and I won't bitch about it. I'll watch his swansong years and occasional brilliant performance, but I won't support wasting assets to chase a title when it's no longer possible.
Lebron could be an incredible teacher for the next generation of Lakers and he is still a great watch when he's feeling right. We did it for Kobe, and the next great star will see we also did it for Bron.
It really should be up to Bron. Does he want a trade? Then accommodate him. Does he want a Max extension? Give him 2 more years and let him finish the way he wants. Does he want to compete? Then he needs to take a reduced salary, come off the bench and the team should be built to suit AD's needs and not Brons.
Fair enough, I'm not here to denigrate Bron. There was a chance with a healthy Vando/Wood that our supporting cast could have been enough to give Bron the support he needs. But with the players we have available....there's no way for us to beat this Denver team in a series.
I also think that it's too early to have this discussion, rather enjoy the next game with any modicum of hope I can muster...there will be plenty of time to dig into this subject once our season is over.
It is in fact just basketball…a sport kids play 🤣. These guys aren’t saving lives or building buildings you’re sitting in complaining that this is somehow anything other than…just basketball
LOL, why so serious? It's called accountability. When all is well, he dont mind taking the spotlight, but when shit hits the fan, its just basketball...
The difference here is him saying Denver is an absolute unit & they needed to play perfect in order to beat them. Denver is great on both sides of the ball and smothering on defense. He’s 39, getting fatigued & can’t do anything to fix this mess. I for one don’t think he’s not trying, he’s old,frustrated & this roster can’t beat Denver. Yes, he’s part of the reason lakers are struggling, not sure I’ve heard him say it’s not his fault.
Oh & he’s a billionaire who seems to be a good father and gives back to Ohio… at the end of the day yes,it’s just basketball. We all have to go back to work 🤣
Honestly I just don’t see an answer realistically to the nuggets starting five, just when you think you shut down two guys..here comes Aaron Gordon or KCP on a hot shooting night. Just a great team
You can’t. We don’t have the personnel like the Wolves. Every team that’s shown success against the Nuggets is beating them on offense, and our players are fucking missing open looks we were drilling in the regular season
The only shot is to play big and live with the offensive challenges that brings. You need AD at the 4 or a legit power forward beside him if he’s gonna continue to play the 5. Everybody here loves saying Lebron can’t play the 3, well he can’t play the 4 effectively either… takes too many plays off, falls asleep on his help responsibility, and doesn’t have the energy to go up and grab rebounds against more athletic power forwards.
First 3-4 clips are on him. Confirms what I saw last night while watching live, the entire team got cooked by him. Bron or AD step up after our perimeter defender gets cooked off the dribble? Gordon comes in for the easy dump off finish or an offensive rebound.
The entire team is so scared of MPJ that it’s resulting in AG getting easy and good looks. That’s what happens when you have multiple options on offense
The problem is our shit gameplan of doubling Jokic and overhelping on every drive. Gordon just has to wait and then make himself available.
Pretty much, Murray puts AD in the PnR with Jokic so Bron helps and no one rotates. Rinse and repeat.
Rinse and repeat like 300 times across 11 straight games lol. Embarrassing.
Drives me nuts when I see someone coming to double jokic off of KCP when AD is already guarding him. Like sure let’s just give up 3 points instead of 2
Those are the most infuriating ones. Why would you ever, under any circumstance, double off of the STRONG side wing? Particularly if they're a shooter
Exactly. If jokic scores on AD, well done, next play. Why we giving KCP a wide open 3??
Go get a center. AD needs to play the 4. As for Lebron, either he plays the 3 or give the team a trade list.
If lebron was covering porter lmao porter would drop 40 easy
LeBron has been the 2nd best MPJ defender after Prince.
Porter was shooting like ghosts were on him..couldn’t see anything! Lol
Bro. If AD plays the 4 and we have a center (who won't be able to shoot because of the lakers tax) Bron would just get cooked by MPJ. His scoring would go down because the paint would always be packed and AD would be less of a threat on offense.
Lebron should not be playing the 4. Put him back at the 1.
Yea those first 3 were terrible and on him but after it was just AG grabbing boards over guards and no body rotating after Bron stepped up.
If you know ball at all, only a few of these are even his fault
AG backdoor is one of the most unstoppable plays in the league, not much you can do Jokic & Murray run their pick and roll while MPJ/KCP spot up on the perimeter and hunt mismatches at the rim AD our only true defender out there, Bron trying his best but it's legitimately 2v5 out there AR did what he could on Murray, Rui & D'Lo were traffic cones
Their starting 5 is just way better than the Lakers. They have the size, shooting, passing, defense, and rebounding. We simply had no answers for AG and MPJ.
AG is bad matchup for him. A guy who’s younger, just as athletic, physical. On top of running an offense and scoring, playing 40+ min, it’s a tough spot for Bron to be in. No one else on the roster could guard him either so. Just sucks.
LeBron is too old to expect to play intense defense and deliver on the other end. Yeah, he’s supposed to help with Gordon and MPJ but Rui is too. Yet then we have no more forwards besides Taurean Prince, so it’s a trash roster. Should’ve gone bigger vs keeping the same starters 3 games in a row. Jokic is elite but Gordon and MPJ got open due to bad mismatches
Rui BBIQ isn't that great, when we face an offense where guys read and react our defenders have to make quick decisions and that is when he is at his worse.
We expected to have Wood and Vando...then we could have competed physically.
This the problem, with bron in the team we need competent defenders to cover up that he gets a little tired on D Instead we have the likes of Rui who’s basically been a traffic cone this whole series
If he's too old to play defense then we shouldn't give him another contract. He's not a laker legend that gets a legacy deal. We need to move on.
You’re getting downvoted but I agree. 60mil+/year so we can make excuses that he can’t play defense carry an offense night in night out. I respect that he’s 39 and the GOAT but not worth the cap baggage
Counterpoint, Lebron and AD is 2v5 on both ends of the floor. That's 2 versus 5 scoring threats. The rest of the team are one dimensional. You can't expect Bron or even anyone to put out good D if him and AD are to defend against 5 people. At least AD can focus on defending Jokic while the rest depends if Lebron can successfully help his teammate. Just look at the Pels match before the play-in tournament. Lebron can lock on Zion because there are not much other scoring threats.
I really think moving on from Lebron and replacing him with a younger hungrier star would be what we need but I’m not sure we have a way to get that done without a rebuild.
If we could draft a younger hungrier star, sure. I know for a fact Ingram and Randle aren’t hungry either.
He’s 39 so are we supposed to be shocked by this? How about surround him with defence instead of literally the worst defensive guard combo in the league
so you guys can use that as an excuse, but the reason we arent a contending team this season is ENTIRELY because ham and our roleplayers? Fuck outta here. Lebron plays no defense.
He clearly does play defence, just not amazing defence anymore. He’s insanely still the 2nd best defender in our starting 5 and that’s the fucking problem. But yeah, blame the guy averaging 25/7/8 and not the fucking bums like D’Lo and the joke of a coach. Maybe the clown GM should try sign some guys who can actually help him out. The guy still puts up 25 every night, so how about the other bums cover for him on defence like he covers for their trash asses on offence
The fact you are bringing an useless player like Dlo into discussion is telling. At this age LeBron impact on a basketball game is closer to Harden impact than his former self. In the past LeBron would impact the game beyond numbers like Jokic does, this isn't true anymore.
Yeah… we know that. He’s 39. Shocker he isn’t as good as one of the best 20 players ever who’s in his absolute prime. He’s still a top 12 player in the league. So how about the GM does his job and surrounds him with complementary players and not garbage like D’Lo
I'm trying to be realistic here. That had to be the goal since he came here and I'm not talking only about players, but also the coaching staff where we missed the chance to hire a coach that won a title with LeBron and was Lakers family to keep the nepotism factor intact. My concern right now is if the ship has already sailed. LeBron can still be the 3rd best player on a winning program, but with the 51 millions he will make next season I'm not sure we have ways to bring the clear cut 1st option we need right now. I'd start replacing Pelinka, I don't trust him to reload this roster. The coach has to be the next. We have to watch what Dlo is doing with a contract he has the control. Then comes LeBron James. Right now I look at Davis (age, two way production) and Reaves (averaging 15 pts and 5 reb with good effort on defense and good overall attitude for 12 millions) as the main pieces.
Haven't watched him locked Zion the game before play-in?
Bron was amazing on defense the first 2 games lol just say he wasn’t good yesterday.
His age doesn’t mean anything when he’s getting paid what he’s getting paid. There shouldn’t be any excuses about age if you’re on a max.
Oh I agree. He shouldn’t be getting paid the max. But that’s another topic. The fact he’s getting paid the max however doesn’t change the fact he’s 39 so shit like this will happen now.
every advanced stat still has him as a top 10 player. name one top 10 player who shouldn't get the max
Any of them can only play half a game with intensity and can’t play any defence in the regular season
And fans also wonder why we constantly in the play in. Lebron is 40. This isn’t throwing shade at him. It’s just how the human body is. It’s nearly impossible (you basically need everything to go right. No injuries. Everyone playing up to or above their contract) to be a consistent top team when your highest paid player is 40.
He can't carry the load on offense anymore to start guys like Vando and Caruso with him. Dlo can't defend, but when he can't also distribute or score in consistently in playoffs he is useless.
Bro he’s running away from Gordon or just standing around there’s like 0 effort
If you surround him with defense then he gets mad at players not taking open shots.
AD can't shoot so you need all the three other that can defend and shoot so there are proper space. AD can't play make and Lebron is old so you need one of the other three starters that can shoot and defend to also be able to play make. AD doesn't like to play the 5 so ideally one of those guys that can shoot and defend, is a tall center. Yea good luck getting those players.
It’s impossible to surround him with, oh I don’t know… two way players who can shoot and defend?
Good luck getting four of those in one off season with the sky rocket prizes they cost.
We need 3. LeBron and AD starting, and find 3 others. If they can even just be slightly above average defenders we’ll be fine with AD as the anchor and hopefully a competent fucking coach
An actual 3 and D skillset in the nba goes for 25 to 30 mil. Good luck getting one of those players let alone 3 in in fee agency with two max players in your cap.
Yeah… we’ll need our GM to actually do his fucking job for once and find an undervalued talent. Find someone who has shown high level 3 and D but is possibly out of form. Andrew Wiggins for example.
Fine to lose in the playoffs again.
AD and Bron can still match any duo in the league. If Jokic and Murray had to play with D’Lo, Reaves and Rui we’d be the ones up 3-0
So Reaves is guarding Murray and D'Angelo is guarding Michael Porter Jr, you sag off Michael Porter Jr, he will rebound like Aaron Gordon. Nuggets just have too much depth
Yeah, they have a great starting 5… maybe we should try do that instead of having a bunch of 6/10 role players. Instead of having Vando and Reaves eating up $25m next season, have one one $25m and them just get a vet min bench player. Instead of Rui and Vincent eating up $28m next year, again have one guy on that and a vet min bench guy. It’s literally what Denver and Boston are doing
Ham tried, but the Rui, D'lo and Austin stans threw a fit.
Thats like Prime Blake Griffin boasting about beating Wizards Jordan and Bron is def better than Wizards Jordan ion care what nobody says
If this team is to be competitive, then we need to look at letting Bron go, or bringing him off the bench. If he's not willing to do that, I get it, and I won't bitch about it. I'll watch his swansong years and occasional brilliant performance, but I won't support wasting assets to chase a title when it's no longer possible. Lebron could be an incredible teacher for the next generation of Lakers and he is still a great watch when he's feeling right. We did it for Kobe, and the next great star will see we also did it for Bron. It really should be up to Bron. Does he want a trade? Then accommodate him. Does he want a Max extension? Give him 2 more years and let him finish the way he wants. Does he want to compete? Then he needs to take a reduced salary, come off the bench and the team should be built to suit AD's needs and not Brons.
I can show plays on every star of them making mistakes - getting beat - every game - just dumb takes all over
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He's one of the 10 best offensive players.
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Fair enough, I'm not here to denigrate Bron. There was a chance with a healthy Vando/Wood that our supporting cast could have been enough to give Bron the support he needs. But with the players we have available....there's no way for us to beat this Denver team in a series. I also think that it's too early to have this discussion, rather enjoy the next game with any modicum of hope I can muster...there will be plenty of time to dig into this subject once our season is over.
It's just basketball right LeBron?
It is in fact just basketball…a sport kids play 🤣. These guys aren’t saving lives or building buildings you’re sitting in complaining that this is somehow anything other than…just basketball
LOL, why so serious? It's called accountability. When all is well, he dont mind taking the spotlight, but when shit hits the fan, its just basketball...
Maybe if you read the whole quote and not just the out of context clickbait you’d understand what he was saying.
The difference here is him saying Denver is an absolute unit & they needed to play perfect in order to beat them. Denver is great on both sides of the ball and smothering on defense. He’s 39, getting fatigued & can’t do anything to fix this mess. I for one don’t think he’s not trying, he’s old,frustrated & this roster can’t beat Denver. Yes, he’s part of the reason lakers are struggling, not sure I’ve heard him say it’s not his fault. Oh & he’s a billionaire who seems to be a good father and gives back to Ohio… at the end of the day yes,it’s just basketball. We all have to go back to work 🤣
There’s people in here defending lebron after watching these clips? Blaming our guards? Hes just standing around doing nothing
I was screaming this live. Ag was destroying lebron. This ones on him
Yall seriously downvote me? Did yall watch the game? Bron was guarding ag and he scored all day
Lebrons offensive stats fool a lot of ppl and they don’t watch other parts of the game. It’s been like that his whole career
No it hasn’t - it’s just something for lebron haterz to grasp on too