Poll: LeBron tenure in L.A.

[KG Living Legend]

 Bubble title huge asterisk.  Bronny was hurt that year and wouldn't have been able to compete without Covid. No road games or home games.

 Not a real title for me. The spurs half season was more legit IMO.

[Moranis]

 Bubble title huge asterisk.  Bronny was hurt that year and wouldn't have been able to compete without Covid. No road games or home games.

 Not a real title for me. The spurs half season was more legit IMO.

The Lakers were the best team in the league when covid came and Lebron missed 4 games the entire year. Try again.

[celticsclay]

 Bubble title huge asterisk.  Bronny was hurt that year and wouldn't have been able to compete without Covid. No road games or home games.

 Not a real title for me. The spurs half season was more legit IMO.

The Lakers were the best team in the league when covid came and Lebron missed 4 games the entire year. Try again.

I know you are a big Lebron fan but try to be reasonable on this one. Lebron and AD have been together for 4 ful playoff runs and the one with a 3.5 month break was the only one they weee both fully healthy throughout a playoff run. It’s fair to wonder if that would have been the case without a break. It was the same for all teams so fair in that respective. But that rest period and the home court advantage definitely make it have more variables than the normal
Full season title.

[Roy H.]

Bubble or not, he won a title so I think you'd be hard pressed to give anything lower than a B unless you have an axe to grind with the guy.

Agreed.  Relative to his age, I suspect LA management is thrilled.

[Moranis]

 Bubble title huge asterisk.  Bronny was hurt that year and wouldn't have been able to compete without Covid. No road games or home games.

 Not a real title for me. The spurs half season was more legit IMO.

The Lakers were the best team in the league when covid came and Lebron missed 4 games the entire year. Try again.

I know you are a big Lebron fan but try to be reasonable on this one. Lebron and AD have been together for 4 ful playoff runs and the one with a 3.5 month break was the only one they weee both fully healthy throughout a playoff run. It’s fair to wonder if that would have been the case without a break. It was the same for all teams so fair in that respective. But that rest period and the home court advantage definitely make it have more variables than the normal
Full season title.

The Lakers had the best record in the West basically the entire year.  They would have been the team with home court advantage (at least until the finals).  Lebron and Davis were healthy, which is a big reason why the Lakers had the best record in the west.

Their biggest competition in the West was the Clippers.  Kawhi (57 games) and George (48 games) were both injured for much of the season and benefitted significantly from the break and they both played all 13 playoff games for the Clippers.  The ended up losing in the WCS to Denver in 7, perhaps if the game was in LA instead of the bubble they would have won. 

Those Nuggets who lost in 5 to the Lakers had a bunch of injuries that year as their playoff rotation included, Murray (59), Barton (58), Harris (56), Porter (55), and Millsap (51), all of which greatly benefitted from the time off.  Jokic, Grant, and Morris were the only Nuggets that played even 62 games in the regular season.  The whole team was basically healthy for the playoffs (Harris missed the first 5 games, but played the rest). 

The Lakers played the Blazers in the 1st round.  Nurkic was on the team and was only playing because of the break.  He literally only played the 8 games in the bubble and the 5 playoff games. Dame, CJ, and Melo were all healthy. 

In the 2nd round the Lakers played the Rockets with a healthy Westbrook and Gordon.  Gordon in particular, benefitted greatly from the rest. 

Obviously the Lakers beat Miami in the Finals.  Butler missed his usual 15 regular season games and was well rested for the playoff march when they upset Milwaukee and Boston in the east (Rob was only playing because of the break and plenty of other C's missed a bunch of games including Jaylen who missed the 4 leading into the break).  Herro played 7 minutes in their last game before the break after missing the prior 15 games.  He used the 5 months off to get healthy.  Dragic and Iggy also benefitted from the time off. 

As for the Lakers, Lebron played 67 of their 71 regular season games and 1 of those missed was in the bubble.  Davis missed just 9 games (including 1 in the bubble - he missed 5 straight in mid-January for the big chunk).  Aside from the last game of the bubble, Kuzma hadn't missed a game since mid-December.  KCP and Danny Green were on a role.  And Bradley who started 44 games for the Lakers didn't even play in the bubble.  So the Lakers actually lost a starter when the break happened.  Rondo didn't even play in the bubble regular season and missed the Portland series before he showed up for the last 3 rounds of the playoffs, but he hadn't missed a game for 2 months before the break, so the break actually hurt him. 

The simple reality is, and this is hard for Celtics fans, the Lakers were the best team in the league that year and were by a fairly wide margin. All the talk about discrediting the win because it was in the bubble, just isn't based in reality.  I'm the one that is reasonable about that because mine is the position that is based in reality and not feelings.

[celticsclay]

 Bubble title huge asterisk.  Bronny was hurt that year and wouldn't have been able to compete without Covid. No road games or home games.

 Not a real title for me. The spurs half season was more legit IMO.

The Lakers were the best team in the league when covid came and Lebron missed 4 games the entire year. Try again.

I know you are a big Lebron fan but try to be reasonable on this one. Lebron and AD have been together for 4 ful playoff runs and the one with a 3.5 month break was the only one they weee both fully healthy throughout a playoff run. It’s fair to wonder if that would have been the case without a break. It was the same for all teams so fair in that respective. But that rest period and the home court advantage definitely make it have more variables than the normal
Full season title.

The Lakers had the best record in the West basically the entire year.  They would have been the team with home court advantage (at least until the finals).  Lebron and Davis were healthy, which is a big reason why the Lakers had the best record in the west.

Their biggest competition in the West was the Clippers.  Kawhi (57 games) and George (48 games) were both injured for much of the season and benefitted significantly from the break and they both played all 13 playoff games for the Clippers.  The ended up losing in the WCS to Denver in 7, perhaps if the game was in LA instead of the bubble they would have won. 

Those Nuggets who lost in 5 to the Lakers had a bunch of injuries that year as their playoff rotation included, Murray (59), Barton (58), Harris (56), Porter (55), and Millsap (51), all of which greatly benefitted from the time off.  Jokic, Grant, and Morris were the only Nuggets that played even 62 games in the regular season.  The whole team was basically healthy for the playoffs (Harris missed the first 5 games, but played the rest). 

The Lakers played the Blazers in the 1st round.  Nurkic was on the team and was only playing because of the break.  He literally only played the 8 games in the bubble and the 5 playoff games. Dame, CJ, and Melo were all healthy. 

In the 2nd round the Lakers played the Rockets with a healthy Westbrook and Gordon.  Gordon in particular, benefitted greatly from the rest. 

Obviously the Lakers beat Miami in the Finals.  Butler missed his usual 15 regular season games and was well rested for the playoff march when they upset Milwaukee and Boston in the east (Rob was only playing because of the break and plenty of other C's missed a bunch of games including Jaylen who missed the 4 leading into the break).  Herro played 7 minutes in their last game before the break after missing the prior 15 games.  He used the 5 months off to get healthy.  Dragic and Iggy also benefitted from the time off. 

As for the Lakers, Lebron played 67 of their 71 regular season games and 1 of those missed was in the bubble.  Davis missed just 9 games (including 1 in the bubble - he missed 5 straight in mid-January for the big chunk).  Aside from the last game of the bubble, Kuzma hadn't missed a game since mid-December.  KCP and Danny Green were on a role.  And Bradley who started 44 games for the Lakers didn't even play in the bubble.  So the Lakers actually lost a starter when the break happened.  Rondo didn't even play in the bubble regular season and missed the Portland series before he showed up for the last 3 rounds of the playoffs, but he hadn't missed a game for 2 months before the break, so the break actually hurt him. 

The simple reality is, and this is hard for Celtics fans, the Lakers were the best team in the league that year and were by a fairly wide margin. All the talk about discrediting the win because it was in the bubble, just isn't based in reality.  I'm the one that is reasonable about that because mine is the position that is based in reality and not feelings.

What ever “feelings” I may have about the lakers are certainly balanced out by your feelings about Lebron. And what I said is all objectively true. The lakers have had two guys that haven’t been able to stay healthy during a normal playoff run since they have been together aside from one with a lengthy break and no travel for the playoffs. I acknowledged this could have also benefitted other teams. This is reality though and we will never know what would have happened with the grind of an extra 30 games and travel around the country for the playoffs. Could they have still won the title in a normal season? Definitely. Could Lebron or AD had one of their lower leg injuries they have constantly had with 30 extra games? Also absolutely. This is all fair to point out and none of it has anything to do with feelings. Sorry you don’t like to read it cause you like Lebron.

[Moranis]

30 extra games? They played 71 regular season games and a full playoffs.  In other words, the season was 11 games shorter. 

They were both healthy for the playoffs last year as well, though did miss a month of games throughout the season.

Until this year, the Lakers have been an excellent team when Lebron and Davis are healthy.  They were healthy in 2020.  And they were healthy for the playoffs last year.  It is not a coincidence that they played in 7 playoff series, winning 6 of them in those seasons. 

Sure anything could happen, but based on what did actually happen, there is absolutely no logical or reasonable reason to discredit that title other than feelings.  They were the best and healthiest team before the break and remained that way after the break despite losing a starter that refused to play in the bubble.  The break benefitted their main competition far more than it did them as it allowed teams to get healthy.  That is simply reality not imaginary what if scenarios.

[celticsclay]

30 extra games? They played 71 regular season games and a full playoffs.  In other words, the season was 11 games shorter. 

They were both healthy for the playoffs last year as well, though did miss a month of games throughout the season.

Until this year, the Lakers have been an excellent team when Lebron and Davis are healthy.  They were healthy in 2020.  And they were healthy for the playoffs last year.  It is not a coincidence that they played in 7 playoff series, winning 6 of them in those seasons. 

Sure anything could happen, but based on what did actually happen, there is absolutely no logical or reasonable reason to discredit that title other than feelings.  They were the best and healthiest team before the break and remained that way after the break despite losing a starter that refused to play in the bubble.  The break benefitted their main competition far more than it did them as it allowed teams to get healthy.  That is simply reality not imaginary what if scenarios.

If Lebron was healthy last year that is news to him cause he talked all playoffs about how injured he was as did shams https://x.com/patmcafeeshow/status/1661787477634605056?s=46&t=dN0oB2tYfalMAsUpayXtaA I should have said 20 instead of 30. But yes having a three month break and then playing 8 game is a big difference than 20 games after you have already played 60. NBA players talk all the time about how difficult the grind is of that. That is a simple reality and not a what if scenario. Again none of this is feelings and it’s kind of obnoxious to keep acting like it is. We can disagree but no need to be condescending about it. We both have reality fact based opinions on this.

[ozgod]

B at least. He won a championship, which drew the Fakers level with us. That alone ensures his legacy in LA.