Trade for Lebron Stopper

[BballTim]

There is no such thing as a "LeBron stopper."  Sometimes LeBron has a bad game, that's all.

IMHO Pierce and Tony Allen can do about as good a job on LeBron as anyone. The best you can do is to turn him into a jump shooter.

If there were such a thing as a "LeBron stopper" the team having that player would not be anxious to trade him, because defenders as good as that don't come along very often.

 

Very true on the fact there is no Lebron stopper, however mentioning TA in a discussion about guys who have a chance at slowing him down is absurd. TA is a gnat buzzing around Lebron as he goes to the rim. He is only a nuisance easily swatted away. He gives up 4 inches and 60 lbs to the guy. Isn't as fast, isn't as strong, can't jump as high, isn't as smart... Your obsession with TA is baffling. He's just not that good.

  TA seemed to do a decent job of slowing LeBron down on opening night. It was limited minutes, but it was as good as most people do against James.

[Bankshot]

There is no such thing as a "LeBron stopper."  Sometimes LeBron has a bad game, that's all.

IMHO Pierce and Tony Allen can do about as good a job on LeBron as anyone. The best you can do is to turn him into a jump shooter.

If there were such a thing as a "LeBron stopper" the team having that player would not be anxious to trade him, because defenders as good as that don't come along very often.

 

Whats with you and Tony Allen? TA can do nothing against LeBron, Pierce and Posey do a good a job as anyone in the league at guarding him...TA not even in the conversation

It wasnt even Tyrus who was the best on him last night either, Luol Deng and Nocioni did a decent job

I like TA's defense. Sure he's light compared to LeBrawn, but who isn't? The trick is to stay in front of him and make hims shoot over you.

 

The problem is, he can shoot over whoever we put on him.  Thomas is quick and athletic enough to stay in front of him and long enough to bother the shot.  This is why we need another long guy to defend Lebron.  Not necessarily a stopper, but someone to slow him down and make it more difficult for him, which Thomas can do.  I really don't want to have Paul do defend Lebron for the whole time he's on the floor, it zaps his offense.

[Chris]

I still want to see Bill Walker on Lebron.  I don't think he is anywhere close to a "Lebron stopper" (not that one exists anyways), but he is strong, and athletic enough to at least be a pest to Lebron for 5-10 minutes per game, giving Pierce a little break, and maybe getting Lebron a little out of his confort zone.

I agree on this. Walker's attitude alone on Lebron would be something to see.

Exactly...although now that I think about it a little more, he would likely foul out in about 3 minutes, since he would try to play him physical...and rookies are not allowed to touch the King.  I believe it is somewhere in the CBA.

[action781]

I agree that he'd be good to get but not realistic. In order to have a chance, Chicago would need to want to use a few of their pieces to upgrade at 1 position, and we'd have to be willing to deal Ray, basically. In that case, we'd need to take back some combination of Thomas with Hinrich, Hughes, Safalosha, Nocioni, Deng, etc. I don't think Chicago would be willing to deal a package for Ray that would make it worthwhile for the Celtics.

For example Ray, Baby, Scal  for Deng, Hughes, Thomas, Safalosha works cap wise, but would either team want that?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=9~3023~3464~2381~2456~3032&teams=4~4~4~2~2~2&te=&cash=

Wouldn't this trade make more sense?  Ray, Powe, Walker for Gordon, Nocioni, and Thomas?

Why Boston does it:  Gets younger at the 2 while downgrading, but not terribly.  Gets (young) frontcourt length we desperately need with some star potential too.  The Posey replacement that we've needed in Nocioni.

Why Chicago does it:  They are currently paying $17-$20 mil per season until 2013 for their combination of Deng and Nocioni at the 3, while still having thefalosha there too. They also have Hinrich locked up for 4 years at the 2, so will have to let Gordon walk this year anyways.  While losing the potential in Thomas, they get some potential returned in Walker.  Ray might be able to help bring Rose along like he did with Rondo.  

I'm undecided on whether I would do this or not.  In an offseason, probably.  But midseason, too many players traded to risk chemistry taking too long to get right.

[jpd985]

I still want to see Bill Walker on Lebron.  I don't think he is anywhere close to a "Lebron stopper" (not that one exists anyways), but he is strong, and athletic enough to at least be a pest to Lebron for 5-10 minutes per game, giving Pierce a little break, and maybe getting Lebron a little out of his confort zone.

I agree on this. Walker's attitude alone on Lebron would be something to see.

Exactly...although now that I think about it a little more, he would likely foul out in about 3 minutes, since he would try to play him physical...and rookies are not allowed to touch the King.  I believe it is somewhere in the CBA.

I don't think anyone is allowed to touch the King.

[Chris]

I agree that he'd be good to get but not realistic. In order to have a chance, Chicago would need to want to use a few of their pieces to upgrade at 1 position, and we'd have to be willing to deal Ray, basically. In that case, we'd need to take back some combination of Thomas with Hinrich, Hughes, Safalosha, Nocioni, Deng, etc. I don't think Chicago would be willing to deal a package for Ray that would make it worthwhile for the Celtics.

For example Ray, Baby, Scal  for Deng, Hughes, Thomas, Safalosha works cap wise, but would either team want that?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=9~3023~3464~2381~2456~3032&teams=4~4~4~2~2~2&te=&cash=

Wouldn't this trade make more sense?  Ray, Powe, Walker for Gordon, Nocioni, and Thomas?

Why Boston does it:  Gets younger at the 2 while downgrading, but not terribly.  Gets (young) frontcourt length we desperately need with some star potential too.  The Posey replacement that we've needed in Nocioni.

Why Chicago does it:  They are currently paying $17-$20 mil per season until 2013 for their combination of Deng and Nocioni at the 3, while still having thefalosha there too. They also have Hinrich locked up for 4 years at the 2, so will have to let Gordon walk this year anyways.  While losing the potential in Thomas, they get some potential returned in Walker.  Ray might be able to help bring Rose along like he did with Rondo. 

I'm undecided on whether I would do this or not.  In an offseason, probably.  But midseason, too many players traded to risk chemistry taking too long to get right.

One major problem with this (probably not the biggest one, but one that would submarine it anwyways).  Is that Gordon is playing on a 1 year tender.  He also has aspirations of making well over the MLE next year.  That means that he has the right to veto any trade, and he almost certainly will.

If Gordon is traded, he will forfeit all Bird rights, which means he would not be able to resign with Boston next year for any more than the MLE, and could not be sign and traded either.  He would need to hope that one of the few teams with cap room would prefer to use it on him this summer, rather than wait a year for the jackpot next year.

Let's face it, Gordon is not being traded anywhere this season.

[LarBrd33]

LeBron can't be stopped.  The championship is his to lose, imo. 

[BballTim]

There is no such thing as a "LeBron stopper."  Sometimes LeBron has a bad game, that's all.

IMHO Pierce and Tony Allen can do about as good a job on LeBron as anyone. The best you can do is to turn him into a jump shooter.

If there were such a thing as a "LeBron stopper" the team having that player would not be anxious to trade him, because defenders as good as that don't come along very often.

 

Whats with you and Tony Allen? TA can do nothing against LeBron, Pierce and Posey do a good a job as anyone in the league at guarding him...TA not even in the conversation

It wasnt even Tyrus who was the best on him last night either, Luol Deng and Nocioni did a decent job

I like TA's defense. Sure he's light compared to LeBrawn, but who isn't? The trick is to stay in front of him and make hims shoot over you.

 

The problem is, he can shoot over whoever we put on him.  Thomas is quick and athletic enough to stay in front of him and long enough to bother the shot.  This is why we need another long guy to defend Lebron.  Not necessarily a stopper, but someone to slow him down and make it more difficult for him, which Thomas can do.  I really don't want to have Paul do defend Lebron for the whole time he's on the floor, it zaps his offense.

  The problem isn't that he shoots over whoever we put on him. The problem is that he gets to the hoop too much. Doc would be thrilled if Lebron took mainly outside shots against us, even if they were good looks.

[action781]

LeBron can't be stopped.  The championship is his to lose, imo. 

Actually, its ours to defend IMO. 

[Roy Hobbs]

I'm not sure if Thomas is a Lebron stopper.  Here are the other performances Lebron had against the Bulls (I only included games where Thomas played 20+ minutes):

3/31/07:  39 points
3/2/08:   37 points
4/3/08:   33 points
4/11/08:  34 points
11/8/08:  41 points
1/2/09:   16 points
1/15/09:  28 points

Overall, Lebron is averaging 32.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists in games that Thomas plays in.  Link.  Lebron simply had a tough shooting night.

[winsomme]

I'm not sure if Thomas is a Lebron stopper.  Here are the other performances Lebron had against the Bulls (I only included games where Thomas played 20+ minutes):

3/31/07:  39 points
3/2/08:   37 points
4/3/08:   33 points
4/11/08:  34 points
11/8/08:  41 points
1/2/09:   16 points
1/15/09:  28 points

Overall, Lebron is averaging 32.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists in games that Thomas plays in.  Link.  Lebron simply had a tough shooting night.

i think we'd need to know the specifics of those games to know what Ty was doing in those games....

watching the game last night, he was definitely doing a nice job on him.

whether there is any global significance to him as a stopper of LeBron is another story.

but i do think he has the tools to be the kind of player that could bother him. not stop, mind you, but bother...

and another thing to add in is that Chicago's help D was better last night...and Ty was part of that too with a nice block on a LeBron drive that he clearly thought was a layup after dismantling the rest of the Bulls D...

[QuinielaBox]

LeBron can't be stopped.  The championship is his to lose, imo. 

Actually, its ours to defend IMO. 

That is the attitude I want to hear (I gave you a Tommy).

[BrickJames]

 

[dark_lord]

no one player can stop lebron.  the only way to contain him is to have a solid team defense approach, which we did during the playoff.

[pearljammer10]

I agree, team defense is the way to do it...How can we trade for a Lebron stopper when not one team in the league has a Lebron stopper.