Lakers are ailing just a year too late. If Harden could have stayed in Houston one more year this was their best chance. Title is wide open since Lakers aren’t 100% healthy. Nets have the best shot since they have James but could have just as easily been the Rockets.
I don't think there'll ever be a player as great at the game of basketball as LeBron, who is respected so little. It's quite amazing really.
He is disrespected because he's a great black role model that talks about political issues like racism
No he's disrespected because he thinks he's talking intelligently about racism but when he's wrong he can't admit it. Hes also a huge hypocrite. See the whole china,HK, Morey incident. Hes also fake humble and brags about him self passively every chance he gets. Great ball player but annoying ass persona.
The Lakers would dominate the league if they just put AD at center and LeBron at PF. But they insist on playing a paint-clogging wide body that severely limits their offense. I don't get it. I assume it's because AD and LeBron just refuse to play the C/PF roles. And if that's the case, that's very stupid.
I haven't watched too many of Lakers games so I can't really say much, but I read somewhere that AD has a style of PF (or SF?) even though tall enough to play a 5.
It looks like he prefers to play that style, but if he wants to get the absolute most out of himself then he should play center. I think if he just accepted that approach that he would be better off. What happens with them a lot in half court sets when they need a bucket is they go to LeBron (wisely). Unfortunately, since they have a one-dimensional center clogging the paint, this means that AD has to hang around the perimeter. So they effectively turn AD into a spot-up shooter, which is not the way to get the most out of AD. They should just be running 2-man games with LeBron and AD and surrounding them with shooters. This is what they always end up doing when they get desperate - when a game is close at the end or when they are trying to erase a deficit. I just wonder why in the world they don't do this from the get-go? Mike Dantoni is not perfect as a coach, but he always got the most out of his guys by putting them into a position where their strengths are accentuated. I'm assuming that Vogel would do the same if he could, but that LeBron/AD don't want to comply for whatever reason.
Its been fun seeing cp3/booker all year. Constant reminder of how great the cp3/harden pairing was, and then the worst owner in the league decided to split it apart. cp3 will make yet another all nba team team since being gone
He brings it on himself. I used to be a huge fan (even met him a few times) and now I've gotten to the point where I almost can't stand him.
The problem with Anthony Davis playing center, is that his body probably can't take the punishment of driving PGs. Imagine a Westbrook, Harden or even CP3 constantly coming in. It's a lot of energy expended in trying to defend the paint, and you're also getting shouldered, elbowed, backed down, slapped at, etc. Leaves very little energy on offense. There's also anecdotal evidence from Davis' own press conference as the newest Laker: https://www.silverscreenandroll.com...ka-introduction-stats-lebron-james-star-power Davis: “I like playing the four, I’m not even going to sugarcoat it. I like playing the four, I don’t really like playing the five." Pelinka (Lakers' GM): “I’ll just add to that too, when Anthony and I first started talking about the roster, he did say ‘hey, I’d love to have some fives that can bang with some length,’ and he’s 26. We want a decade of dominance out of him here,” Pelinka said. “We’ve got to do what’s best for his body, and having him bang against the biggest centers in the West every night is not what’s best for his body, the team, or the franchise. We wanted to make sure to honor what Anthony asked for when we traded for him: To get some fives that he could play with.”
He is as large as the average NBA center. He could handle it if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to, because... Spoiler
Pelinka got Drummond and Gasol. (Dwight/McGee, last year) for that reason. Is AD ok with Vogel using him as a 5, when playoff life is on the line. Let Ayton outplay them again. They are more effective with him at the 5, but maybe with this reluctance/stubborness. Lakers getting eliminated by the Sun's, would be pretty sweet.
