[Im Your FatherParticipant]

This is kind of vague here and I haven’t really thought about it a lot, but I was thinking about the things I like about the NBA, one of which being that one superstar player can essentially lead a team to the playoffs by himself. 

What I started thinking about was how bad of a team could players like Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Dwight Howard, lead to the playoffs.  

Take Lebron for example, predictably, without him the Cavaliers are one of the worst teams in the NBA, while when they had him they were among the best. I think it is safe to assume that other elite players could have also led the Cavs to the playoffs had they been in Lebron’s position. I 

So my questions is this: What is the minimum supporting task that Lebron would need to get a team into the playoffs?

[TyrekeJonesParticipant]

In terms of players that are surrounding him?

[Im Your FatherParticipant]

^Yes. I’ll try to come up with one of my own.

[IknoBall12Participant]

give a little more info i dont know what you mean by that

[Im Your FatherParticipant]

 Ok, could this team make the playoffs?

PG: Carlos Arroyo

SG: Courtney Lee

SF: Lebron James

PF: Brandon Bass

C: Kwame Brown

 

 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Put LeBron on any team in the league, and they are in the playoffs and probably better than 50 wins. Dwight Howard makes any awful defensive team functional on that end, and it would not take much to find six or seven guys on any team who could work with Howard to be a capable offense. My knock on Kobe, as small as it can be, is that he had Caron Butler and Lamar Odom and missed the playoffs once and had another two years with some talent only to get bounced in the first round. I don’t think I could say – certainly at this point- put him on anyone and they’ll be in the playoffs. Wade did suffer through that awful 2008 season when he was hurt and surrounded by great scoring talents like Dorell Wright, Ricky Davis, and Marcus Banks but also has been carrying a lot of mediocre casts to the playoffs since Shaq got his fourth ring and decided to take a sabattical from working out. 

[andxxxParticipant]

 Don’t forget supporting cast has to come into account atleast up to the 8th man

[Im Your FatherParticipant]

Or this team?

PG: Jason Williams

SG: Mike Dunleavy

SF: Lebron James

PF: Kenyon Martin 

C: Darko Milicic 

 

[Im Your FatherParticipant]

 @Andxxx,

I guess you can assume the team has an average or slightly above average bench.

[I May Be WrongParticipant]

Pg – It had to be someone who can create shots for himself when needed but more importantly, hit the open jumpers when LeBron draws attention. Mo Williams did that pretty well I think, Billups and Steph Curry are two others that come to mind

SG – Has to be a perimeter defender who can knock down open shots. Doesn’t have to be a threat offensively but a player like Aaron Afflao or Thabo may be good to conserve some of

SF – LeBron = ball dominant and can create for others and score

PF – Somebody with good touch for a big man who can hit an open jumper from 20 feet and still play solid defense. I always like LaMarcus Aldrige because he may not put up defensive stats but he has a nice array of moves to score.

C – A big body who isn’t afraid to defend and who will get very easy buckets around the rim and can rebound well. Kendrick Prekins, Tyson Chandler, even Andris Bendris

Bench – a solid back-up PG, two bigmen who hustle and some other role players I think would be enough as a bare minimum

[andxxxParticipant]

 I could see Lebronn leading the Twolves to the playoffs easily once I think about and even the Clippers, but then again the Clippers’ line up isn’t that bad

[TyrekeJonesParticipant]

Well I mean like you said the Cavs weren’t that great of a team, the team he had was probably one of the worst ones you are going to have when you are talking in terms of supporting cast but I will give a basic lowdown of what "types of players" he would need to get a team to the playoffs.

Well Lebron would first and foremost need a knockdown shooter, because when he drives the defense will collapse on him and because of his superior court vision, it would allow him to kick out to an open shooter, a guy like James Jones could fit this role.

Next he would need a guy who could rebound at a fairly decent rate, someone who can bang down low and not be afraid of contact. I feel as though Anderson Vaerajo would fit this role best which Lebron already had as a teammate. This big man would also need to be a solid finisher at the rim because in transition when you are running with Lebron, or if Lebron drives to the basket, have your hands ready for a pass, or if Lebron misses at the rim, you need a guy who can get the ball and either kick it back out for another possession or put it back up for a second chance oppurtunity.

Next you are going to need a good ball handler. Sure Lebron is more then capable of handling the basketball, but at points in games, you want somebody else to handle the ball, who can take care of the basketball and makes smart decisions with it. Someone like Jason Williams (not the Kings Jason Williams with the flashy passes moreso the one who plays for the Magic now in the latter part of his career). He allows Lebron to play off the ball and he will not turn the ball over very often which allows the team to have meaningful possessions.

For the C possession, just somebody who can protect the paint and defend some of the better bigs in the league. 38 year old Shaq fits the bill pretty well.

As I stated before Lebron has had some pretty bad teams that he was able to get to the playoffs but in my opinion the supporting cast I explained would probably be pretty bad, Shaq and Williams are up their in age, Williams is not a good defender, Shaq is by no means even close to the low post threat he once was or even that much of an offensive threat at all. Jones is a knockdown shooter, and that is where it ends, he is a liability on defense and really cannot finish at the rim well. Vaerajo is solid but like Shaq is not a solid offensive threat and is strictly all defense and hustle. I feel as though this team would be as bad as it gets and Lebron would find a way to get them into the playoff hunt.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

@BothTeamsPlayedHard

Kobe did have Odom and Butler as teammates in 2004-05, but let’s not forget the rest of the team… Chucky Atkins. Chris Mihm. Jumaine Jones. Brian Cook. Tierre Brown. And not to mention, Kobe and Odom both missed double figure games that season.  

And those two years the Lakers lost to the Suns in the first round, I’m just not seeing the talent the Lakers had. I mean, he had Lamar Odom, but Andrew Bynum was still in diapers. They weren’t close to being as good as the Suns those two seasons.

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

if darko the great was to ever brace lbj with his great ness lbj would finally get his ring

[iguapops420Participant]

 Anyone who refers to Kwame Brown,Smush,Parker,Luke Walton, and Brian Cook as "some talent" should be taken out back and beat Since those were the main minute guys such which the guys were. Bynum was a rookie and had no idea about the game of basketball. Kid was getting blocked in SPL by guys 5 inches shorter and barely D-League talent. When Lamar Odom is asked to be your second scoring option you’re probably not a very good team. The fact that Kobe took a team that had a career 5 and 5 center, a pg who was out of the league two years later, a sf who is 3rd string on 28 outta 30 teams and a soft,unathletic, no rebounding, perimeter oriented big like Cook is amazing in itself. Kobe did literally EVERYTHING possible with those teams. They were just undermanned against the suns who were MUCH more talented. Plus there were a few questionable calls or missed alls. I still look back to that series with hate. I can remember one play in general where the game was lose and LA was trying to pull away and Kob went up for a dunk and got clearly pushed by Tim Thomas right in front of the ref and got no call. Suns came down and hit a 3 follwed by a foul that should have been and 1 for Kwame, that the ref called a charge because Kwame had Diaw sealed under the basket in the circle already so the inside the circle foul didn’t count. Still have yet to ever see that call before or after. Not to mention everytime anyone tried to post up Bose he’d flop and the refs called charge just because he wasn’t big enough to be guarding those dudes. 

[Demarcus OnealParticipant]

The fact that Kobe nearly beat the Suns in 2006 with a 3-1 lead basically by himself is impressive enough

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