The NBA Thread.

You can't be the goat until your family is murdered and you have to change sports for a bit.

 

What planet are you living on where you associate the name "Michael Jordan" with the word "character?"

LeBron is widely considered one of the best leaders in the NBA. I don't even know how to respond to this post. Anybody who keeps up with the NBA knows that LeBron and Chris Paul are considered the best leaders in the league, by players and fans.

But I'm sure the single half of LeBron basketball that you've watched in the past 10 years gives you the expertise to speak to his leadership abilities.

 

Just a few boxes left to check, now that he's lost in the first round of the playoffs. Good thing he went ahead and got that one out of the way.

 

To me, giving a dude your signed jersey after he whooped you is way more of a classy gesture than just being on the court to shake hands at the end. It isn't even comparable. To shake hands is to show that you are unarmed. To give your signed jersey is to give your sword.

 

Ok Indy you are right. Lebrons on court leadership has never been questioned and shouldn't be, because you say so.
Questioned by one of UTs greats last night, yet Indy will argue that it's not debatable.
And yeah, signing a jersey and giving it to a guy and taking a pic is a real gutsy move vs pulling a Pistons and walking off the court, again.

 

Booker considers LeBron a mentor. Guess he's not interested in ever having any strong leadership qualities, or else he would have picked someone else.

 

Srlsy, if you Google "lebrons leadership questioned" there is article after article after article. If you think his first period leadership was on point last night, you may watch a lot, but have no idea what you are watching, which makes it all make sense.

 

Keep watching a sport you don't understand Indy. I suggest rugby next.

 

Didn't he do the same leaving early stuff in Cleveland the first time? Pretty sure he's about to fire his coach again, and probably AD.

 

Kobe and other greats had questions about his leadership throughout the years and it came up again last night.

 

You said:

The character part is comical from the beginning because your GOAT isn't known for being a high character guy.

LeBron gifted his signed jersey to a kid he mentors who was just the key component of knocking Bron's team out of the playoffs. Chris Paul and LeBron are good friends. You don't think he was texting him after the game and offering him congratulations? For all you know, LeBron personally congratulated every last one of those dudes, but because he didn't do it on camera at the end of the game, he lacks character? It's just a completely ridiculous notion.

Then we have leadership. I'll be blunt here - if you watch LeBron for a half of basketball and conclude, based on his body language in that half of basketball, that he's not a great leader, I don't think you have any idea what leadership is. It's just an absolutely clueless thing to say.

There's nothing wrong with criticizing LeBron's body language. There's nothing wrong with saying his leadership skills aren't perfect - they're not. But the stuff LeBron does right as a leader FAR outweighs the stuff he does wrong. He's the king of empowering his teammates, and you would know that if you watched the games and kept up with this shit. Every single playoff series last year started with 1-3 games of LeBron building up his teammates and empowering them to succeed. Go back and watch games 1 and 2 of this series with the Suns - you'll see the exact same thing. Everybody made a big deal about him yelling at KCP one game... he was telling the man to have confidence and shoot the ball. And none of that even takes into account what he does OFF the court, which is just as, if not more important.

His leadership is the reason so many players look up to him, the reason he's been the face of the league for the past decade, and one of the main reasons he's been able to win everywhere he goes, with multiple different coaches and multiple supporting casts.

Ah, good to know that the topics we are discussing, specifically character, leadership, and body language, are unique to basketball and not universal amongst literally every single team sport on planet earth.

What a moronic statement.

 

If Frank Vogel gets fired, that's on him, for reasons I've already outlined multiple times in this thread. And let's not pretend that Frank Vogel is some elite coach that the Lakers would just be using as a scapegoat. If a better option is available, they should absolutely take advantage.

I'm mixed on the AD thing, though I've seen a number of people saying today that they should trade him. He's phenomenal if he's healthy, but that's a big if. He just doesn't have a reputation of being a reliable guy.

 

Haha oh yes, please post Kobe's questions about LeBron's leadership. Let's break that shit down. This will be fun.

 

Also @Ssmiff - I'm still waiting on your reply to my post discussing LeBron's post game. Any feedback?

If not, I'll just wait til you circle back on that nonsense again a few months from now.

 

Google it. I suggest you read all the articles and learn a little. Many have for obvious reasons. And when I refer to character, I'm talking about between the lines, and being a flopping beatch is a character flaw people see of a supposed leader, including other players. I believe one referred to him as actor of the year a couple weeks ago.
You aren't capable of seeing anything except how great lebron is, and he is great. It's always his teammates or coach fault to you. His flops make him smart, blah blah. As kobe said, it's more than giving them the ball and saying go score.
Lastly, I've watched plenty of basketball and lebron. I just dont sit amd watch every full game, nor do I need to to assess a players skills, traits and floor leadership.

 

Name his go to post moves and the % of possessions he posts up. I dont care what he worked on in the off-season 8 years ago. Name his great post moves that allow him to dominate games from there, while posting up on 1 of every 11 possessions

 

Oh so you didn't read it? No one - I mean no one - saw that coming.

His go to post moves since his time in Miami have been the baseline spin and the power move to the middle of the lane after head and shoulder faking to the baseline. Those, as well as his favorite - drawing the double team and then finding the open man.

As for the last part - uh, what? He's not dominating games from the post or spending a higher % of his possessions in the post because the game, as a whole, has moved away from the post (which you'd know, if you watched the NBA). Here's another article you won't read that would inform you of this shift in play:

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2019/12/2/20991249/post-up-dead-nba-brooklyn-nets-joel-embiid

Maybe you've heard - everybody shoots more 3's now. Because analytics. That's why LeBron is shooting twice as many 3's now as he did when he was in Miami, and not posting up as much.

If you watched him play, you'd also know that he's now used significantly more as a ballhandler and a playmaker. Remember when he led the league in assists last season? Oh yeah, you. don't. watch. the. games.

So, I've answered your question about his post game. Do you want me to show you highlights as well?

 

I know exactly what you are talking about. I remember Kobe's comments and I remember watching the commentary from analysts and other players at the time. In short, Kobe was wrong, and came across as jealous and weak. I outlined LeBron's leadership above. If you're not going to watch the games, at least read the posts.

I'm also not sure what sort of authority you think the guy who couldn't get along with a teammate well enough to become the greatest dynasty of all time has to speak on leadership, but okay. Kobe was known for talking down about teammates, both publicly and privately, while LeBron has pretty consistently refused to do so. Hell, even in what was probably the most appropriate setting to talk bad about a teammate, in the history of sports, he still chose not to:

Flopping is a character flaw? Is that a serious statement? I don't think you have any idea what character is, if you believe in the nonsense you just posted.

I guess you missed the post on the previous page where I called LeBron's 23-7-8 avg per game performance for the series "less than stellar." You're welcome to point to the post where I said he played well and wasn't at all responsible for the lost.

Multiple things can be true at once:

• LeBron had a bad series.
• AD showed up for 2 games, disappeared for 1, got injured in 1, and was clearly not okay to play in 1.
• Dennis Schroder was a non factor for 2.5 of the last 3 games, all losses.
• The team shot 30% from 3 compared to LeBron's 38%, and 41% from the field, compared to LeBron's 47%.
• Kuzma, specifically, shot 29% from the field and 17% from 3. KCP, specifically, shot 38% from the field and 21% from 3. Caruso, specifically, shot 37% from the field and 29% from 3. Matthews, specifically, shot 30% from the field and 28% from 3.
• Frank Vogel made a number of head scratching decisions that did nothing to positively impact his team's performance.

Fault doesn't fall on one person's shoulders. LeBron didn't play well enough for his team to win the series. Most of his teammates played like complete garbage for most of the series, and AD was a non factor for 66% of the series.

Again with the Kobe? Christ. You're right - if LeBron wants to be a true leader, he will alienate AD and then force the Lakers to get rid of him.

How many times have you watched a half of a Lakers game in the last 2 years? Less than 20 times? Less than 10? Less than 5? We know it's at least one.[/quote]

 

Haha. Power move with his right is his new post move. I'm not wasting my time with the rest. Just order another lebron fathead and move on.

 

New? Who said new? He spins to baseline (often on his right) and either hooks or lays it in with his left, or creates separation with his body and fades. Alternatively, he also head and body fakes to the baseline and then goes back his left. There’s all kinds of video out there, despite your continued desire to acknowledge that LeBron did indeed develop a post game after you stopped watching him play.

Any comments on how the game has moved away from the post, with the exception of like, 3 or 4 teams/players, rendering your question about LeBron’s post game a head scratcher in the first place? Or are you not going to read that article either and just continue posting from a place of knowledge on the current era despite having very little of it?