How much worse would LAL be without AD?

[AussieSteve]

Serious question.

The Lakers big man rotation of AD, Dwight & Javale is the best in the NBA.

All three bring broadly similar things to the court. On D, all three a good to very good rim protectors. On offense all are good at finishing plays.

AD brings more versatility on both ends, being able to defend on the perimeter and create his own shot pretty well also, but my question is... How much does he bring versus an average replacement and giving Javale and Dwight an extra 10 mins each per game?

AD and LeBron's combined on/off might actually shed light on the answer.

LeBron on / AD off = 120 ORtg, 103 DRtg, +17 NetRtg.
LeBron and AD both on = 116 ORtg, 104 DRtg, +12 NetRtg.

I think this is actually revealing about the way the Lakers play with and without AD on the court. When hes on, they play through him a lot, which makes sense because he's great. But he's not as great at creating offense as LeBron, and when he's off LeBron must natural control things more with Dwight or Javale finishing a lot of his plays.

Is a LeBron play finished by Javale or Dwight more effective than an AD play? Is this what the on/off numbers are telling us?

The Lakers are obviously worse without AD. I'm asking how much worse do you think they'd be?

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

they wouldnt make the playoffs and is a high 30 win team at best

see: last years Lakers with Bran and no AD

[LAmbruh]

Same place as last season before Lebron went down with season ending injury


Top 4 seed


Most likely better though since we would have shipped the cancerous Ball/Ingram for another piece anyways.


Top 1-2

[AussieSteve]

they wouldnt make the playoffs and is a high 30 win team at best

see: last years Lakers with Bran and no AD

The team is very different this year. And Bron is in much better condition.

It's fair to say they were well on track to make the playoffs at 20-14 when LeBron went down. They were 20-11 after losing the first 3 games.

[NBAGOAT]

lebron's still too old to sustain such a workload. think they can make the playoffs

[Keno]

Same place as last season before Lebron went down with season ending injury


Top 4 seed


Most likely better though since we would have shipped the cancerous Ball/Ingram for another piece anyways.


Top 1-2

Well said bro

[3ball]

The team is very different this year. And Bron is in much better condition.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]It's fair to say they were well on track to make the playoffs at 20-14[/COLOR] when LeBron went down. They were 20-11 after losing the first 3 games.

20-14 translates to 48-34, so that's the same as the 8-seed clippers, except the Lakers lose the tie-break

so the Lakers wouldn't have made playoffs last year regardless, which means you're overrating Lebron - he isn't as good as you say - the win/loss column tells the story more accurately then the excuses you make for him

btw, the Lakers miss the 19' playoffs at their 20-14 pace, and that's without considering that their tougher schedule later in the year that resulted in lebron's 28-27 record when playing

[East River Livn']

Same place as last season before Lebron went down with season ending injury


Top 4 seed


Most likely better though since we would have shipped the cancerous Ball/Ingram for another piece anyways.


Top 1-2

They were 10-18 when he came back, largely due to the 3-12 stretch after he activated playoff mode




Lebron's old ass can't lead a team like AD, Luka or Giannis anymore. Sowwy

[clipps]

I'm sure we'll find out soon.

[MaxPlayer]

Lebron's old ass can't lead a team like AD, Luka or Giannis anymore. Sowwy

How

[AussieSteve]

20-14 translates to 48-34, so that's the same as the 8-seed clippers, except the Lakers lose the tie-break

so the Lakers wouldn't have made playoffs last year regardless, which means you're overrating Lebron - he isn't as good as you say - the win/loss column tells the story more accurately then the excuses you make for him

btw, the Lakers miss the 19' playoffs at their 20-14 pace, and that's without considering that their tougher schedule later in the year that resulted in lebron's 28-27 record when playing

Do you think the Thunder and Clippers still win 48/49 in a scenario where LeBron isn't injured? They both went 2-1 against the Lakers after Christmas day. If either of those become 1-2 or 0-3 then 48 wins gets the Lakers there. Also, the Lakers were 20-11 after they lost the first 3. You don't they could've gone 28-20 the rest of the season?

[Airupthere]

Without AD, LAL would probably still be a playoff team from 4th to 8th seed.

[AirBonner]

I wonder if this would have been a thread for Pippen when MJ 1st retired

[AlternativeAcc.]

Give or take 3 games

Still 1 seed.

Like lambruh said, if it wasnt AD, it would've been someone else in exchange for blood clots and Lolzo.

No matter how you spin it, lebron saved the Lakers from Kobes cancer singlehandedly. Just no way around it.

[coin24]

They were 10-18 when he came back, largely due to the 3-12 stretch after he activated playoff mode




Lebron's old ass can't lead a team like AD, Luka or Giannis anymore. Sowwy