If LeBron cant make the playoffs his 1st year in the west, Harden deserves more credit.

Harden would take that team to the playoffs, no doubt.

 

Harden would have that Laker team a top 2 seed, no joke.

 

To be fair to Lebron he did miss a bunch of games with a groin injury.

 

Narratives tho

 

It would have been interesting to see, Miami Lebron of 26 yrs old not getting into the West Playoffs.

 

Western conf ball is a lot different than in the EC. Lebron thinks he can survive the regular season playing an eastern conf style. West teams are better schematically. And they play a different style the East is still weaker than the west. The east after Boston got no one. The west legit I think the Timberwolves at 12 or Dallas Mavericks would give a solid series to the bucks than the hornets would at the 8 seed.. NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS WOULD BE IN THE PLAYOFF RACE OUT EAST!!! Lebron been sleeping in the regular season his whole career to then win 7 game series Bc those are much easier to game plan for for Lebron. He could lose game 1 but then he is a student of the game so he plays better through out the series. He’s a post season player Bc he needs time to study and figure things out thruout 1-2 games. Lebron can’t do that anymore in the west

 

Lakers were well on their way to making the playoffs before Bron got injured...they were the 4th seed and beating GS’s ass at Oracle on Christmas, but then Bron goes down and they proceed to go 6-12 in his absence falling from 4th to out of the playoffs entirely...then the AD trade saga happened which seems to have completely destroyed the team

I’ll be surprised if they make the playoffs...Harden would definitely make the playoffs with the Lakers, and he’d do it easily...he’s easily the best player in the regular season, and he would never miss 18 games like Bron did

 

I remember hearing recently on ESPN, about if either Paul George or Giannis were on the Lakers, would they be better. Now the analyst didn't mention James, but it created a topic of discussion for me. When I look at the teams that are not making the playoffs and say what if Harden replaced their best player.....Its highly likely that at least 75% of the teams would be in the playoffs...Harden has took us to the playoffs every year he has represented this city, regardless of the supporting cast. When I look at some of the talent that most of these bottom teams have, I look at coaching yes, but Harden has proven the ability to carry so much of a load that he would carry teams like, Dallas, Miami, Minny, Lakers, Chicago, etc to at least an 8th seed....Even with the top teams (take a look at the bucks roster and imagine Harden Replacing Giannis, Or Boston with Harden instead of Kyrie, Philly...Beard instead of Butler)...those teams would all greatly improve... it'll take a Championship and Finals MVP for the world to recognize this, but Harden is the best player in the game today!

 

Harden better than the guy who wore #8 & #24 in purple and gold too.

 

Ya everyone goes to that. But I still dont think they make playoffs even if he didnt miss all those games. Sure they were in the 4th seed but it was still the beginning of the season too.

 

Father time finally catching up to LeBron.

 

They definitely would’ve made the playoffs. They were 20-14 after beating GS. The season was almost at the halfway point. They are not going 6-12 against a schedule like this if Bron was there...@SAC, vs LAC, vs SAC, vs OKC, vs NYK, @ MIN, @DAL, vs DET, @UTA, vs CLE, vs CHI, @ OKC, @ HOU, vs GSW, vs MIN, vs PHX, vs PHI

the way they were playing at the time, they probably win around 11 of those games with Bron instead of 6 and we’re talking about them being around 10 games over .500 instead of out of the playoffs entirely

 

At that time we were at the Bottom, Sac and LAC were also at the top. The first month or two of the the season is not the story of the season. As teams start to find their identity, the talent will round out itself,....as you see now. The Lakers would have fallen off even if LeBron didnt get hurt. Now, they might not of been in the 10th seed, but they would still be fighting for 8th or so.

 

Should have stayed in the East lulz...

 

no, at that time, we were the 7th seed, the Kings were 8th, and LAC was 5th

The Lakers were finding their identity, or are we gonna act like they didn’t start the year off 4-6? Since then they had gone 16-8, and I posted the teams they played when Bron was injured. They would’ve done much better than 6-12 during that stretch with him. They were well on their way to winning around 48 games and being a definite playoff team.

 

With the Lakers roster(pre deadline) Harden wins a championship, IMO.

IMO, I would trade our roster for their roster, Paul included. They are as good or better than us across the board than us THIS season because of all our injuries. The Lakers have a super solid young core on great contracts. They may even have an all star or two among the other effective players.

 

no Wade and Bosh and in the West?

he took his talents to the south in the leastern conference and not to the wild west

 

to be fair thats what happens when you have to play ever game hard...no more coasting in the east