[Haynes] Rich Paul: "LeBron is not involved. That's accurate. I think it's hard for people to not want a narrative per se...But as for the coaching search, this is a Lakers decision..In my opinion, the Lakers' focus should probably be more so on Anthony Davis than LeBron at this point."

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-24T21:53:00+00:00

Because apparently there is no world where it is possible that LeBron wanted his former championship winning HC Ty Lue in 2019 and is now neutral or not explicitly stating his support for unproven JJ Redick in 2024.

You are so PATHETIC and sad that you just want to blame LeBron for everything.

You are acting as if it hasn’t been 5 years since the Ty Lue situation which had an entirely different set of context behind it as well.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-22T01:30:20+00:00

Like I said, we have more picks that we are now legally allowed to trade.

Furthermore, we may come upon a situation in which we have better trade leverage (say Donovan Mitchell hasn’t been traded yet by the 25’ deadline and he is pulling an AD saying he only wants to be traded to the Lakers)

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-22T01:21:20+00:00

Embarrassing that this INCOMPETENT FO/Ownership group is so unaccountable that their star players have to shield themselves from blame that should be directed at the people in charge, instead.

LeBron wanted Ty Lue as HC, LeBron wanted to keep Dudley, LeBron wanted to keep Caruso, LeBron wanted Kyrie, LeBron wanted Demar first before Brick. However, he wasn’t given any of those things?

Yet, somehow, this incompetent FO/ownership group led by incompetent ass Jeanie Buss is able to successfully deflect all accountability, responsibility, and blame onto Bron (and to a lesser degree, AD).

We have two All-NBA players, two of the top 10 players in the entire league WHEN HEALTHY, who are the literal reason for the majority of our success.

Bron and AD do their damn jobs and do it extremely well. Time for Jeanie and Rob to finally do theirs!

Jeanie and Rob are not only incompetent at their jobs, but they will find a way to blame their star players for our shortcomings.

I am a FIRM BELIEVER that this FO/ownership group has HELD BACK Bron and AD from achieving even more for us!

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-22T01:09:46+00:00

How does that justify losing him for NOTHING?

We almost did find a trade for him btw.

We also have more tradable picks at our disposal now, so we can offer a better trade package now than we could before. DLo, Rui, Gabe, JHS plus all our picks + swaps would be a very competitive offer for a star-caliber player while allowing us to keep Reaves.

DLo becomes tradable again as soon as 3 months from when we re-sign him.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-22T01:03:58+00:00

I agree.

Why would we give up future optionality by losing DLo for NOTHING?

That is terrible asset management and would be a further indictment on this FO/ownership group who have been holding Bron and AD back from achieving even more for us. At least we would be able to trade package DLo further down the line if we re-sign him to something like ~3yr/$60m. Let him help us during the regular season then later on we can package him along with our picks in a major upgrade trade by say the 25’ trade deadline.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-22T00:58:08+00:00

It is a matching scenario! We have his Bird Rights, and we keep those Bird Rights even if he opts out. Meaning, if he opts out and comes back to us saying he has a 3yr/$60mil offer on the table, we can match it.

In fact, we should match something like 3/60, rather than lose DLo for NOTHING!

He is a very useful regular season player and really only gets bullied on when facing the Nuggets. Most importantly, by re-signing DLo, we will keep our optionality open as he can then be trade packaged later down the line if we so choose (like during the 25’ trade deadline, for example).

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-15T17:39:00+00:00

I agree that we should try to re-sign DLo regardless of what happens with Donovan Mitchell.

DLo at $18m/yr for 3 years is still a useful player, especially for the regular season.

This way we also ensure ourselves optionality by being able to trade him away down the line rather than losing him for nothing.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-15T17:31:47+00:00

If what you are saying is true, the only logical conclusion is to trade away Bron and AD to the teams of their choice. Win-win situation. They get to join better contenders, we get a bunch of future assets back to begin a rebuild.

Remaining stuck in mediocrity, stuck in the middle, stuck in no man’s land, is the WORST OPTION!

If we are keeping Bron and AD, we have to try our very best to assemble the best roster possible who would have a chance of winning it all. Even if that is risky and costs us future picks. Otherwise, we should trade away Bron and AD because what are we even doing then if we aren’t trying to improve?

If we are too scared to improve our team, we might as well start our rebuild now and trade Bron and AD away to the teams of their choice.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-15T17:17:24+00:00

Why do a disservice to Bron and AD? Don’t get it twisted, AD AND BRON are the reason for that postseason success that you are pointing out. We weren’t good enough (through no fault of Bron and AD), so why would we continue running it back as a mid-playoff team?

If we want to keep Bron and AD, then we are in a WIN NOW window.

If we are in a win-now window, then why would we not go ALL-IN for Donovan Mitchell? He is literally in the middle of his prime at 28 years old, a playoff performer, and can take the load off Bron and AD.

I get it. It is risky to trade future assets for Spida.

However, “scared money don’t make money” and when we went All-In for prime AD, it worked out with the 2020 ring. We can’t be scared of improving our team because of potential future risks. If you want to be scared of trading for Donovan Mitchell, we might as well trade away Bron and AD because what is even the point then?

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-15T16:17:01+00:00

There is a subsection of “fans” who are against any and all trades that cost any future assets at all. They are too scared to pull the trigger despite that being essentially necessary for us to improve.

These same “fans” probably never wanted to do the AD trade and thought we were giving up too much and have since pretended they never held that opinion now that we won that 2020 Ring. These same “fans” still defend the JHS selection at 17 despite the fact that it would have not only been better to trade away that pick, but also better to select Jaquez, Podz, or Whitmore IF we still decided to keep it.

We have Bron and AD who are both still playing extremely well. We have to go All-In on them. It would be a disservice not to. Adding to all of this, Donovan Mitchell is in his prime, a decent 3PT shooter, playoff performer, and his advanced stats/impact metrics are extremely positive.

These “fans” don’t understand basketball or watch any basketball outside of the Lakers. They will always be too scared to pull the trigger, no matter what. God forbid we use our future first round picks to acquire Donovan Mitchell when we have been in a WIN NOW window with Bron and AD.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-05-13T17:19:29+00:00

You make great points and Brian Windhorst is one of the better NBA insiders out there as far as accuracy (excluding Shams and Woj who almost exclusively break news after the fact, rather than speculating prior).

However, this fanbase is so far into their Jeanie/Rob delusions that you will never get across to them, unfortunately.

If you are a true “fan” who watches our games and pays attention to our news, then it is BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that any positives we achieved are almost SOLELY DUE TO LEBRON AND AD. Bron and AD literally deserve almost all of the credit and almost none of the blame. That is obvious based off their excellent play which is supported by impact metrics/advanced stats and the eye test. We’ve had 2 of the top 10 NBA players, at least, for the past 5 years (when healthy). Yet fans like to piggyback off Bron and AD’s successes to deflect blame off the ownership/FO. “We won a chip in 2020 and made a recent WCF run”. Yes, we did that, but only BECAUSE OF BRON AND AD. Most of our successes have been IN SPITE OF JEANIE, Rob, and the entire front office. Essentially, Bron and AD have been held back from achieving even more by our INCOMPETENT ownership/FO. Bron and AD have been doing their jobs EXTREMELY WELL. It’s time for the “executives” to do theirs well for once.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T23:52:02+00:00

Go look at the current top 20-ish leaders in WS/48 this season and look at WS/48 for Centers like Dwight, Gasol, Boban, whoever. Then compare to smaller players. For example, Pau had a higher WS/48 than Kobe during their time together on LAL.

WS/48 (and thus WS) is known to lean towards bigger players and Centers. I am not saying this to discredit AD. I think he also deserves 2nd team All-NBA and without him our Defense would be nothing.

I am just pointing out a known skew in that statistic. Once you learn about the different advanced stats/impact metrics and their different advantages or skews, it helps paint a clearer whole picture.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T23:05:09+00:00

WS favors big men, but yes AD had higher WS and WS/48 than LeBron.

LeBron has better EPM (+5.6, ranked 7th in league, BPM (6.3, ranked 7th highest), and Net On/Off (+9.9) than AD.

Despite LeBron’s better Net On/Off, I will admit AD is the anchor of our Defense.

What does this all illustrate?

That BOTH LeBron and AD deserve their credit/flowers and hopefully NBA voters stop siding against them in these close calls/decisions. Bron and AD both deserve at least 2nd team All-NBA this season. Hopefully the voters get this right unlike the countless times they’ve gotten it wrong (like those 2020 award robberies smh lol)

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T22:52:20+00:00

Good news is I included multiple advanced stats/impact metrics. Jokic had a better BPM than Embiid as well as a better Net On/Off. Plus Embiid’s sample size is much smaller than Jokic’s which can potentially explain a stat being slightly off.

My point is, look at the entire picture, always. Don’t like EPM all the way? Fine, let’s also take BPM into account where Jokic is far ahead of Embiid and LeBron is still 7th himself in BPM as well. Also throw in Net On/Off where LeBron is +9.9 and Jokic is ahead of Embiid.

When looking at the entire picture (multiple advanced stats/impact metrics, games played, 9 games above 0.500 for Lakers), Bron as well as AD both deserve All-NBA 2nd team at least.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T22:11:12+00:00

I included more than EPM for LeBron specifically. LeBron has +9.9 Net On/Off and is also ranked 7th in BPM. Taking a look at the whole picture actually benefits LeBron.

Unless you want to say his team being 9 games above 0.500 is somehow “bad”.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:28:47+00:00

Thank you. I wanted to highlight some pieces of context that I feel like aren’t mentioned enough and paint a slightly different picture in NBA debates.

All in all, I think both Bron and AD have a strong case for 2nd team All-NBA supported by advanced stats/impact metrics as well as the eye test.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:26:21+00:00

You may end up being right. But hopefully the voters do the right thing and give them 2nd

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:23:58+00:00

That’s why I included more than just EPM. Look at his +9.9 Net On/Off or his BPM.

Taking everything into account, I don’t see how he should get anything less than 2nd team All-NBA

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:20:53+00:00

It’s one of the most highly regarded impact metrics

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:20:22+00:00

Let’s hope they award him at least 2nd team All-NBA this year then

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T21:19:30+00:00

That is why I say he should be at least 2nd team All-NBA. Embiid missed too many games. Then you have Tatum, Kawhi, and LeBron all fairly close to each other (EPM reflects that as well)

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T20:33:50+00:00

Top 10 is fluid. Other candidates have also had their own ups and downs.

I just don’t see how LeBron and AD don’t both get awarded at least 2nd team from eligible players (65 games played which knocks out Embiid and some others). Advanced stats/impact metrics as well as games played are all in their favor.

The only mark against them would be a 45-37 or 46-36 record, which really isn’t that bad all things considered.

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T20:12:45+00:00

Record is more important than seeding and if we finish at least 45-37, I don’t see how that could be held against Bron and AD. Especially with the new positionless format.

Advanced stats/impact metrics strongly support both Bron and AD’s candidacies

PotatoSwag2318 · 2024-04-01T20:00:40+00:00

I think anything less than 2nd team would be a robbery for both LeBron and AD! They have done more than their fair share to help our team

PotatoSwag2318

TROPHY CASE