Wolves would be dope. I just want to see him on a playoff core is all
Random NBA Observations 2019 - 2020
Looking at the standings they already have the first seed sewn up so it's pretty whatever imo. Middle of the pack strength of schedule the rest of the way
Wouldn't happen but if they go into 3/21 @ Hornets at 6-3 I'd just sit LeBron the whole last month of the season and let ppl get their load management memes off. Utah split, Denver loss, and they'll finally beat one of Bucks/Clippers.
lakers out here throwing games to keep the grizz in the 8 spot
If they come out and actually give effort tomorrow then we'll know. Griz had no business winning this game let alone like that lol
Utah and Denver had one job -to not be shyt in February and remain in striking distance in case LAL faltered during this upcoming March stretch.
And both those teams fukked up
Now they may fukk around and be the 4-5 matchup if Hou and LAC keep peaking
And both those teams fukked up
Now they may fukk around and be the 4-5 matchup if Hou and LAC keep peaking
Conscious Pilot
Do Better.
Lakers played memphis like a preseason game. They will play the pels tonight like game 7
who_better_than_me
Time to go!!
If he doesn't get RoTY the NBA media need to get some of their credentials pulledJa with 24 points and 17 dimes
First rookie to go 20+ pts 10+ assists in consecutive gamesJa with 24 points and 17 dimes
LeBron and Zion have never talked? Something doesn’t add up
NEW ORLEANS — There is no personal relationship between LeBron James and Zion Williamson. At all.
“I guess we haven’t crossed paths,” Zion said Friday, after scoring 24 points in an easy win over LeBron’s old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
What Zion said, of course, is not true, and when the Lakers come here Sunday for a showdown with the Pelicans on ESPN, it will mark at least the fifth time since Zion was the No. 1 pick of the 2019 draft that he and LeBron have been in the same building.
Their most recent encounter was Tuesday in Los Angeles, the first time LeBron had ever played against Zion. The Lakers won that game and LeBron enjoyed his first 40-point game of the season. Afterward, both players made it so abundantly clear that they have not ever spoken that it got awkward.
“I’ve never met him,” LeBron said. “I never met him before. Never. Never had a conversation with him. Never met him before.”
During the game, after a LeBron dunk over Josh Hart, he sort of body checked Zion as the two crossed in their way down the court. And LeBron later said he had no memory doing it.
“I did?” LeBron said. “I didn’t even realize I did that.”
Photo: Associated Press /Mark J. Terrill
Juxtapose LeBron’s reaction to Zion with his behavior following a Lakers-Grizzlies game last week at Staples. He was caught on camera speaking with Memphis star rookie Ja Morant, telling him: “Whatever you need, on or off the court.”
It should be said that both LeBron and Zion were complimentary of each other’s games on Tuesday, the way one might be complimentary of the crayons inside a new 64-pack from Crayola.
Oh, that’s nice.
“He’s playing exceptional basketball,” LeBron said of Zion. “I think every game he’s going to get better and better, just having that experience. I think today’s game is a perfect fit for his game.”
“He is an incredible player, his resume speaks for itself,” Zion said of LeBron.
Zion, who is 19, grew tired of the LeBron questions and comparisons that night, at one point saying “come on man” to a questioner.
“What I think you’re talking about is after the game it’s like ‘All right, I’ve played against him, a dude I’ve been watching on TV for a long time,’” Zion said. “I think everybody has the moments, being around who they watched growing up. But just to kind of bounce from team to team and seeing different players, even guys I played against in college, it’s always great.”
In today’s NBA, everybody knows everybody. Friendships have replaced rivalries all over the league. If Kobe Bryant’s death has taught us nothing else, it’s shown us that the modern, younger player craves mentorship. And it is apparently readily available — just ask Morant about LeBron.
Zion, meanwhile, has been compared to LeBron since it became apparent he would be the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s draft. Even if their skillsets are not identical, Zion has a high-voltage smile, ridiculous athleticism and tremendous size, with outsized expectations, just like LeBron did when he came into the NBA in 2003. And Zion has already become the youngest player ever to record 10 straight games of at least 20 points. Not even LeBron did that as a rookie.
If LeBron is still, at age 35, the proverbial face of the NBA, then Zion is, barring injury, his heir apparent.
We don’t know if there is an actual cold war between LeBron and Zion, or even any real animosity. Zion chose not to hire LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, and he also signed with Jordan Brand sneakers, which is complicated but essentially makes him more of a shoe rival with LeBron’s Nike brand than not.
Otherwise, the things LeBron and Zion say about the lack of a relationship between them simply don’t hold up. And at minimum, the lack of a relationship shows a key difference between the teenage LeBron, who took the league by storm 17 years ago and Zion, who if not for his knee surgery that knocked him out for half the year would be Rookie of the Year.
That difference: Zion does not appear to seek the kind of guidance and acceptance from a forefather such as LeBron, the way LeBron did from Michael Jordan and Bryant.
LeBron’s often told the story of meeting Bryant during the 2002 NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia, while LeBron was in nearby New Jersey for a high school tournament. Bryant gave him shoes. When LeBron was even younger, he met Jordan for the first time at Jordan’s gym in Chicago, an encounter set up by Jordan’s trainer that lasted a good 15 minutes.
“It was like meeting God for the first time,” LeBron has said of meeting Jordan.
But once LeBron reached the NBA, he was already armed with a $90 million contract from Nike and hype that far outpaced the buzz following either Jordan or Bryant when they made the league. Jordan retired for good just before LeBron was drafted, but he was still in direct competition with LeBron to sell shoes. Bryant saw LeBron as the competition, not only for shoes but potentially for titles, even though they never met in the Finals. Bryant felt he would replace Jordan as the face of the NBA. Neither was willing to hand the throne to LeBron.
LeBron has acknowledged that Bryant used to treat him coldly while they were in the league together. There was a significant thawing in 2016, Bryant’s final season, which continued when LeBron joined the Lakers. LeBron has said little publicly about the cold reception he received from Jordan as a young player, and its impact on him. Ultimately it’s LeBron’s story to tell and one day he surely will. The relationship Jordan described with Bryant at a Monday memorial service for Kobe, calling him a “dear friend” and “like a little brother” — LeBron wanted that from either of them when he was young and didn’t get it.
Zion, meanwhile, goes out of his way to downplay the allure of playing against the NBA greats he used to watch on TV. He considers Jordan his favorite player — Zion’s mother ordered him to watch video clips of Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson growing up — even though he was 2 when Jordan played his last game, in April 2003.
“I watched a good bit of Melo (Carmelo Anthony), LeBron, (Trevor) Ariza when he was with the Hornets, with CP (Chris Paul),” Zion said, when pressed about this. “CP too. I think any kid that pretty much wanted to be in the NBA, any player that’s been in the league since ’03, I think they watched him.”
Zion seems to place greater value on the relationships he has with his immediate peers, be they his fellow 2019 NBA draft class members or his Pelicans teammates.
Asked with whom in the NBA, outside of the Pelicans, he has established relationships, Zion said on Friday: “A lot of people.
“Like you said, in the NBA, I think everybody kind of knows each other,” Zion said. “I know a lot of people like Kevin Porter, Darius Garland from that team (the Cavs). Met K Love (Kevin Love) once the day before the draft when he came and spoke to the rookies about the draft process. Larry Nance came and spoke to us as well. CJ McCollum, Melo, yeah I kind of know a lot of people. If our paths cross, I usually get to talk to them.”
Unless it’s LeBron, who last year even went to one of Zion’s college games, when Duke played at Virginia.
Maybe they’ll find time to talk Sunday?
“I guess we haven’t crossed paths,” Zion said Friday, after scoring 24 points in an easy win over LeBron’s old team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
What Zion said, of course, is not true, and when the Lakers come here Sunday for a showdown with the Pelicans on ESPN, it will mark at least the fifth time since Zion was the No. 1 pick of the 2019 draft that he and LeBron have been in the same building.
Their most recent encounter was Tuesday in Los Angeles, the first time LeBron had ever played against Zion. The Lakers won that game and LeBron enjoyed his first 40-point game of the season. Afterward, both players made it so abundantly clear that they have not ever spoken that it got awkward.
“I’ve never met him,” LeBron said. “I never met him before. Never. Never had a conversation with him. Never met him before.”
During the game, after a LeBron dunk over Josh Hart, he sort of body checked Zion as the two crossed in their way down the court. And LeBron later said he had no memory doing it.
“I did?” LeBron said. “I didn’t even realize I did that.”
Photo: Associated Press /Mark J. Terrill
Juxtapose LeBron’s reaction to Zion with his behavior following a Lakers-Grizzlies game last week at Staples. He was caught on camera speaking with Memphis star rookie Ja Morant, telling him: “Whatever you need, on or off the court.”
It should be said that both LeBron and Zion were complimentary of each other’s games on Tuesday, the way one might be complimentary of the crayons inside a new 64-pack from Crayola.
Oh, that’s nice.
“He’s playing exceptional basketball,” LeBron said of Zion. “I think every game he’s going to get better and better, just having that experience. I think today’s game is a perfect fit for his game.”
“He is an incredible player, his resume speaks for itself,” Zion said of LeBron.
Zion, who is 19, grew tired of the LeBron questions and comparisons that night, at one point saying “come on man” to a questioner.
“What I think you’re talking about is after the game it’s like ‘All right, I’ve played against him, a dude I’ve been watching on TV for a long time,’” Zion said. “I think everybody has the moments, being around who they watched growing up. But just to kind of bounce from team to team and seeing different players, even guys I played against in college, it’s always great.”
In today’s NBA, everybody knows everybody. Friendships have replaced rivalries all over the league. If Kobe Bryant’s death has taught us nothing else, it’s shown us that the modern, younger player craves mentorship. And it is apparently readily available — just ask Morant about LeBron.
Zion, meanwhile, has been compared to LeBron since it became apparent he would be the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s draft. Even if their skillsets are not identical, Zion has a high-voltage smile, ridiculous athleticism and tremendous size, with outsized expectations, just like LeBron did when he came into the NBA in 2003. And Zion has already become the youngest player ever to record 10 straight games of at least 20 points. Not even LeBron did that as a rookie.
If LeBron is still, at age 35, the proverbial face of the NBA, then Zion is, barring injury, his heir apparent.
We don’t know if there is an actual cold war between LeBron and Zion, or even any real animosity. Zion chose not to hire LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, and he also signed with Jordan Brand sneakers, which is complicated but essentially makes him more of a shoe rival with LeBron’s Nike brand than not.
Otherwise, the things LeBron and Zion say about the lack of a relationship between them simply don’t hold up. And at minimum, the lack of a relationship shows a key difference between the teenage LeBron, who took the league by storm 17 years ago and Zion, who if not for his knee surgery that knocked him out for half the year would be Rookie of the Year.
That difference: Zion does not appear to seek the kind of guidance and acceptance from a forefather such as LeBron, the way LeBron did from Michael Jordan and Bryant.
LeBron’s often told the story of meeting Bryant during the 2002 NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia, while LeBron was in nearby New Jersey for a high school tournament. Bryant gave him shoes. When LeBron was even younger, he met Jordan for the first time at Jordan’s gym in Chicago, an encounter set up by Jordan’s trainer that lasted a good 15 minutes.
“It was like meeting God for the first time,” LeBron has said of meeting Jordan.
But once LeBron reached the NBA, he was already armed with a $90 million contract from Nike and hype that far outpaced the buzz following either Jordan or Bryant when they made the league. Jordan retired for good just before LeBron was drafted, but he was still in direct competition with LeBron to sell shoes. Bryant saw LeBron as the competition, not only for shoes but potentially for titles, even though they never met in the Finals. Bryant felt he would replace Jordan as the face of the NBA. Neither was willing to hand the throne to LeBron.
LeBron has acknowledged that Bryant used to treat him coldly while they were in the league together. There was a significant thawing in 2016, Bryant’s final season, which continued when LeBron joined the Lakers. LeBron has said little publicly about the cold reception he received from Jordan as a young player, and its impact on him. Ultimately it’s LeBron’s story to tell and one day he surely will. The relationship Jordan described with Bryant at a Monday memorial service for Kobe, calling him a “dear friend” and “like a little brother” — LeBron wanted that from either of them when he was young and didn’t get it.
Zion, meanwhile, goes out of his way to downplay the allure of playing against the NBA greats he used to watch on TV. He considers Jordan his favorite player — Zion’s mother ordered him to watch video clips of Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson growing up — even though he was 2 when Jordan played his last game, in April 2003.
“I watched a good bit of Melo (Carmelo Anthony), LeBron, (Trevor) Ariza when he was with the Hornets, with CP (Chris Paul),” Zion said, when pressed about this. “CP too. I think any kid that pretty much wanted to be in the NBA, any player that’s been in the league since ’03, I think they watched him.”
Zion seems to place greater value on the relationships he has with his immediate peers, be they his fellow 2019 NBA draft class members or his Pelicans teammates.
Asked with whom in the NBA, outside of the Pelicans, he has established relationships, Zion said on Friday: “A lot of people.
“Like you said, in the NBA, I think everybody kind of knows each other,” Zion said. “I know a lot of people like Kevin Porter, Darius Garland from that team (the Cavs). Met K Love (Kevin Love) once the day before the draft when he came and spoke to the rookies about the draft process. Larry Nance came and spoke to us as well. CJ McCollum, Melo, yeah I kind of know a lot of people. If our paths cross, I usually get to talk to them.”
Unless it’s LeBron, who last year even went to one of Zion’s college games, when Duke played at Virginia.
Maybe they’ll find time to talk Sunday?
ALonelyDad
Veteran
Lebron body checked him? Lmao. If that happened, would have been the biggest story
Nero Christ
Sniper out now on all digital platforms brev
need the Clippers to get that 2nd spot to ensure that all LA WCF 
& with the WCF being on TNT
& with the WCF being on TNT
I know the Lakers are hoping for that Clippers/Rockets second round matchup. They should even consider sitting Lebron and AD against the Rockets and conceding that game to them.Utah and Denver had one job -to not be shyt in February and remain in striking distance in case LAL faltered during this upcoming March stretch.
And both those teams fukked up
Now they may fukk around and be the 4-5 matchup if Hou and LAC keep peaking
who_better_than_me
Time to go!!
damn I didn’t even notice or pay attention but at 2:30 shannon makes a good point. I didn’t watch the draft but when I seen the final elections later on that night I thought wtf was Giannis doing. Shannon May be right when said he did he purposely picked the lesser players cuz he don’t like to play with other superstars.
who_better_than_me
Time to go!!
That probably what’s goin happened: I listened to a podcast around all star break suggest that for the lakers and I know Lebron is paying attention too To that