LeBron James Is Slowing Down, and the Lakers Are Paying for It
The King might just be recovering from injury, or he could be entering his post-prime era
More than any other player of his generation, LeBron James has been able to control the speed of everything around him. Since his early days in Cleveland, James has exerted near-autocratic control over widening spheres of influence, from the on-court geometry of individual possessions through leaguewide revolutions in roster construction and player power.
Now, though? Life’s starting to come at LeBron awfully goddamn fast.
Harden makes up for his defensive issues by jockeying with Giannis Antetokounmpo for the title of most unstoppable and devastating offensive player in the NBA.
LeBron has paired that decline in effectiveness inside with a sharply increased willingness to cast away from outside, posting the highest 3-point attempt rate of his career despite shooting just 33.9 percent from long distance. He has grown especially fond of the stepback triple;
[big][big] But as this titanically disappointing season draws to a close, the fear that lives on the flip side of that hope looms ever larger—that the best days of one of the best players ever are already behind him, and that he’ll never reach those heights again in a Lakers uniform.
Jimmer Ferdette is signing with the Suns for the remainder of the season. Dude has just destroyed the CBA. I hope he can do something in the NBA he was dynamite in college. He should get an opportunity to play with all the suns injuries plus there no where near playoffs situation.
The Raptors look so much better with Fred Van Vleet back.
We've watched many NBA-ers including Fred's team mate Jeremy Lin lean heavily on their victimhood credentials. Its rather off putting. That said, Fred's climb into the NBA is inspirational. His father was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong when Fred was 5.
FVV is a very, very smart player. Jeremy Lin might be "book smart" ... Fred VanVleet is "street b-ball smart". Van Vleet makes much better instantaneous decisions under duress than Lin. I'll take VanVleet's BBIQ and street smarts over Lin's fancy Harvard education any day and twice on Sundays.
This is a great look at Freddie.
That speech at the party when he went undrafted and appeared to have totally failed... that is leadership.
Yes, all the raps fan's love FVV. Not sure why it is necessary to diminish what Lin has done and who he is. Most hardcore Raptors fans support all the players not a few and insult the others. That is just hard for me to rap my head around.
“So when you are just kind of getting used to him and you take him out of the equation, and you have young players that are getting used to him, and you take them out of the equation, and you start putting them back, it’s tough. I’m 18 years in, I played with him on Team USA, under different circumstances. It was even difficult for me in 18 years to learn [Rajon] Rondo, learn LeBron, learn Lonzo [Ball]. Learn everybody.”
Haha no.
Unless "the perfect storm" is being teammates with one of two players you are particularly useful against defensively.
Kevin Durant's 'Adopted Brother' Clifford Dixon Fatally Shot Outside Atlanta Bar
Clifford Dixon, who Warriors forward Kevin Durant reportedly considered his "adopted brother", was fatally shot outside a metro Atlanta bar early Thursday, Chamblee police confirmed in a release.
According to the police report, Clifford Dixon arrived to the SL Lounge on Budford Highway for a his birthday celebration and was standing in the parking lot when he was shot multiple times just after 1 a.m. First responders arrived on the scene and transported Dixon to Grady Hospital where we was pronounced dead. The suspect fled the scene on foot.
True. He chose to go to the Lakers over Sixers or Houston.
Magic is the real villain in this timeline. He formed the worst possible team for Lebron off of a misguided and egotistical idea. His megawatt smile has hid it for decades, but seriously he is one of the dumbest sports celebrity out there, and I don't mean dumb like making stupid decisions dumb, but dumb as in literal illiterate know-nothing dumb. Suddenly all the tweet fiasco and all the coy interviews and odd management decisions make sense when we accept that he is just dumb. HOWEVER, it doesn't remove the fact that he is a great basketball player.
traded D’angelo Russell. traded Zubac. let Randle and Lopez walk signed Rondo, Lance, JaVale, and Beasley. failed to get wannabe Lakers PG13 and Kawhi failed to get AD, while destroying team morale in the process get clowned by Pelicans FO with the entire AD fiasco.
Seriously fuck Magic. Lebron has maybe 2-3, good play-offs level career left, and Magic wasted it with some stupid moves.
As a PT for 27 years I have had the good fortune to work with some of the top athletes in the world ... then came Lebron. I want you all to know how bad his injury was and is, the pain he endured. Along with his amazing trainer, Mike Mancias, he was on the court in 6 weeks, it should have been 6 months. Unselfishly, he endured pain, pain, pain. He did not want to let the Lakers down, the fans down. But I know what he went through! I learned about determination, the will to win, how to get the job done. He is a force to be reckoned with. @kingjames @mikemancias1