GOAT James

👑🐐

[LeBron James @KingJames]

I'm not MJ, I'm LJ

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

My 10 favorite memories of LeBron as a Laker.

A thread.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

My top 50 NBA players rn. Tiers by color. Durability is a factor.

[Kevin Durant @KDTrey5]

I know this may be a reach but this comment is by far the craziest shit I’ve seen this week

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Rant about the trade + grades:

ESPN gave the Lakers an A and the Mavs an F. Their reasoning for the A was that we had no chance of winning this year anyway, so we should build for the future. The only thing they cited in making that claim was our net rating. I think that’s incredibly naive. So much of that is just blowouts. And even beyond that there have been many games where the team just let go of the rope earlier than most other teams would. There’s something about having LeBron on your team that makes you outperform your net rating. Not once in his seven years here have we had a worse record than our projected record based on net rating. This doesn’t surprise folks like myself who watch every game. He’s 40 and has to allocate his energy efficiently. The West behind OKC is wide open and we would’ve had as good a chance as anyone if we just patched a couple of glaring holes, primarily by adding a competent big.

Now we’ve done a complete 180 on our roster, and that glaring hole at center has been ripped open as far as possible. No matter how good Luka is, the trade has made the team worse this year unless another move is made. That has nothing to do with the bullshit national media narratives about LeBron and Luka both needing the ball at all times. It has everything to do with our defense and rebounding. AD did so much to cover up for the rest of our frontcourt being absolutely atrocious rebounders and was effectively our only resistance at the rim. Max was defending the POA almost all of the time. There were literally 0 matchups in which JJ preferred Gabe at the POA, and with good reason. Gabe is simply too small. Even guys like Jamal Murray back him down. Vando obviously will have to shoulder more of that load. The biggest concern is when AR will have to do it, possibly with the starting lineup.

There’s gonna be offensive challenges too. A huge part of the value of bringing in Luka is the absurd number of lobs he creates. The only lob on our roster is Hayes. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be ecstatic about playing him 30 minutes a game. Obviously this could be addressed by a trade, but TBD. I don’t see who replaces the rapidly growing role that Max played in our offense. Pray that Vando steps to the plate as a short roll playmaker and finishes at the rim better.

All that being said, there’s an incredible opportunity for growth for both the remaining LeBron years and beyond. If there’s one thing to complain about with AD, it’s that his post ups were too slow moving. When he’s sat this year, the offense has had a much more lively, but not necessarily better, dynamic. The Mavs offense annihilated the Wolves elite defense in the WCF with a constant flow of drives and kicks. LeBron and Austin will supercharge that to an absurd degree if JJ implements it here. And there’s a great chance of another star coming into the vacated cap space after Bron retires now.

It’s worth mentioning that we do lose something in the long term. It would’ve made a lot of sense to tear it down after 2026 if this trade hadn’t happened and farm high picks. It’s possible that our asset cupboard is so bare that we can’t put a good enough team around Luka after Bron. But avoiding the possibility of never getting a star at all in that scenario makes this 100% worthwhile.

On the Mavs side I don’t like this, though their fans will be shocked by how good AD and Max are. AD will benefit in a lot of ways playing with another big, but Gafford and Lively become complete offensive liabilities without Luka. It’s absolutely not possible to overstate how much of their offense Luka is responsible for. Kyrie will have more on his plate than he ever has in his career. Max’s offensive game takes a huge hit being without LeBron.

If you’re still here, bless your soul. Here are my grades:

Lakers: B+
Mavs: D-
Jazz: who gives a fuck

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

My 10 favorite memories of AD as a Laker.

A thread.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

As LeBron embarks on his 22nd season, he's still an elite defender when it matters.

Here's 5 straight minutes of him making great defensive plays, just from the Denver series in April.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Here’s a thread of all the Lakers’ biggest miscues from the Nets game, their worst loss of the season.

[Lakers Lead @LakersLead]

RT if you see the 2024 DPOY 〰️

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Which is a bigger choke? These are players’ numbers in a specific playoff series relative to their regular season numbers.

Player A:
-7.6 PPG
+3.3 RPG
-1.3 APG
-1.2 SPG
-1 BPG
-4.2% eFG
-5.4% TS

Player B:
-8.2 PPG
-0.3 RPG
-0.2 APG
+0.1 SPG
-0.1 BPG
-1.3% eFG
-5.3% TS

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

LeBron in this series:

22 ppg / 8.7 rpg / 5 apg / 0.3 spg / 1.3 bpg / 55.6% TS / 18.7 Game Score

Steph in this series:

23.3 ppg / 4.7 rpg / 6 apg / 1 spg / 0.3 bpg / 58.3% TS / 15.6 Game Score

LeBron is outplaying Steph even in year 20 with nearly double the career minutes.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Good morning

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Second year players getting rotation minutes in the playoffs:

Austin Reaves: 16.5/5.3/5 57.2% TS
Evan Mobley: 9.8/10/2 47.6% TS
Davion Mitchell: 8.2/1.5/2 53.5% TS
Quentin Grimes: 3.7/3.3/1 39.1% TS
Santi Aldama: 6.5/4.3/1.2 57.6% TS

The best player in the class went undrafted.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

FREE RUI! He don’t deserve this

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

The benefit of playing Bron off the bench is that you can stagger him and AD so that there aren’t any minutes when both are off the floor. But Ham played a Reaves/Beasley/Lonnie/Vando/Wenyen lineup that went -7 in 3 minutes. Coaching is my biggest concern for us in the playoffs.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

A short story

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Jeff Van Gundy states the obvious: LeBron James has had the best NBA career of all time. Since this clip he not only finished the job in 2020 but added 3 more seasons as a top 5 player. But he has to say that “best player” is an open question though as if that’s any different.

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

2012 ECF G6. Stephen A and Skip’s army of “legacy” roaches ready to mutilate him if he didn’t win. 45/15/5 on 19/26 FG 75.1% TS. Maybe not his best playoff statline, but given that he put up 30 in the first half and only let up when the game was out of hand, I’d say his best game

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Jayson “Strong MVP Candidate” Tatum: +6.1 EPM

Giannis “Strong MVP Candidate” Antetokounmpo: +6.2 EPM

LeBron “Not even top 10” James: +6.4 EPM

We have been completely desensitized to the greatness of LeBron James

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

Agent zero? Nah more like zero’s agent

[Formerly LukaToBron @LakersFilm]

I was cookin