I thought these “LeBron is the problem” takes were just jokes. Then I started seeing some “LeBron needs to change his game” takes. What exactly do people want him to change? Do people even watch basketball? Is it that people just don’t understand what they are watching? Some people truly believe LeBron still consistently uses up possessions/shot clock at Luka levels.

[These are all of the Lakers possessions in the 1ST and 4TH quarters of the Clippers game (the last game he played), with LeBron on the floor.](https://streamable.com/4xky77)

Watching these possessions, what exactly was LeBron doing that would prevent AD from being AD? There are simple explanations for why AD and the Lakers have looked good lately:

1. No LeBron, more possessions for AD.
2. AD has been more aggressive.
3. Lakers had four days without a game and used that time to watch film, practice and clean up some stuff. You can see their DHOs have improved (not great but better). Nothing more annoying than when teams run DHOs and the guy getting the hand-off stops and allows his defender to get back in front of him. You just defeated the whole purpose of a DHO and took some time off your shot clock, making the offense look even more stagnant.
4. The competition they’ve faced.

Yes, LeBron is going to use up some clock in these situations:

1. On post ups.
2. When he gets a switch on a big guy, he’ll take his sweet time and go for a step back three or a drive. https://streamable.com/gq0ft2
3. When he gets switched onto a little guy, he’ll take his time and back him down.

In all three of the above situations, if he misses the shot or turns the ball over, it looks really bad (as a lot of time comes off the shot clock, oftentimes with teammates standing around watching). Somebody like MITWestBrook would clip that and use it as “evidence” for why LeBron slows down the offense. I remember reading one of the comments on one of his posts and someone said something in the vein of “how is he wrong if he is providing video proof?” You can clip videos and pick stats to tell whatever story you wanna tell, especially with a small sample size. You gotta at least watch whole quarters or stretches, to critique someone’s playstyle. Anyone who has been watching the Lakers can tell LeBron has been offball plenty and has been getting rid of the ball quickly. I actually would like him to run more pick n rolls. I don’t like when he just stands in the perimeter and throw passes, which he’s been doing a lot.

In sum, he is not slowing down the offense. He has just been awful. His FG, FT and 3PT averages are currently below his career average. Yes, in certain situations like the ones I outlined above (and important stretches, like end of quarter, to stop a run or to close a game), he is going to hold the ball. Making the right decisions in those situations is one of the things he does best. Again, he has just been awful so far. Acting like he just routinely stops the flow of this offense just does not jive with the film. There are legit criticisms for LeBron, there’s no need to just make shit up. LeBron cuts, often when he is in the corner. If he cuts and doesn’t get the ball, he will put his head down. If he seals his man in the paint and doesn’t get the ball https://streamable.com/s0qhwf, he’ll put his head down and might take time getting back on defense.

9 comments

  1. All I know is he looks old out there.

    Hopefully as the season progresses it’ll get better

    Edit: damn forgot this is a Lebron sub not a lakers sub

  2. MIT Westbrook has no credibility for me. You can literally cherry pick anything in hindsight

  3. Anybody who’s watched the games knows Lebron isn’t the problem. He had two games earlier in the season where he hurt us with his shot selection, but he was clearly dealing with his foot and illness.

    Although I will say, as a team, we need to fix our crunch-time offense with Lebron. Instead of running our normal offense it turns into Lebron holding the ball for the entirety of the shot clock and taking a contested 3.

  4. Having Thomas Bryant and Schroder back makes a world of difference for our team as well imo.

  5. Honestly having him hustle more and not complain after the call would be nice. but he’s our best player so I’m willing to overlook that tbh.

  6. Bron just needs to get healthy and actually commit to playing smart basketball. He started the season off playing like russ did last year. Taking careless 3s, making difficult/stupid passes, and showing no heart on defense will cause us to lose more. Hopefully the team and Coach Ham let him know he needs to lock in and that the season isn’t over.

  7. LeBron has consistently made power forwards worse look at bosh and love for example building the team around AD moving forward he absolutely needs to change his game. Westbrook did and it’s much better we need lebron to play with who we have instead of trying to make jump shooters out of everyone else and then saying we don’t have lasers on the team.

  9. I don’t know what to say. I’m a Lebron fan first but the offense has been flowing smoother since he’s been sidelined. I thought the roster was the problem but I’m starting to think maybe it’s Lebron. Those stupid long 3s, bitching to the refs every time he doesn’t get a call, it’s really starting to get annoying. The team just has been more fun to watch without him, tbh, as much as it hurts to admit

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